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  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times magistrates have issued warrants to utility companies permitting the forcible installation of prepayment meters in the homes of their customers in each year since 2002–03.

    Lord Faulks

    Utility companies apply for warrants of entry to magistrates’ courts. When the application is heard the outcome is recorded on the court register. They are not recorded or collated centrally so this question could only be answered by manually inspecting records at each magistrates’ court, which would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government upon what evidence they have based their proposals to outsource children’s services to private firms.

    Lord Nash

    The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (CYPA) allowed some local authorities to contract out looked after children and care leaver functions for a five-year pilot period. As a result, small autonomous practitioner-led organisations (Social Work Practices) were encouraged to develop. Between 2008 and 2012, 15 local authorities were involved in the pilot to create more tailored social work approaches.

    The evaluation of Social Work Practices identified evidence of positive change through delegated arrangements for looked after children and care leavers. As a result, in November 2013, the freedoms in the CYPA were extended to all local authorities.

    Staffordshire County Council have also recently received a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted under the new single inspection framework, which included the social work practice ‘Evolve YP’.

    Some local authorities have asked the Government to extend these freedoms to other areas of children’s social care. The current proposals will encourage greater innovative approaches for all local authorities to take the step from adequate or good children’s services to excellent ones. The consultation on these proposals closed on 30 May and the Government is currently considering the responses.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to respond to concerns expressed by the leaders of the social care profession that profit-making companies should not determine sensitive family matters.

    Lord Nash

    The Government’s proposals regarding the delegation of children’s social care functions would enable local authorities to delegate children’s social care functions to a third party. The intention is to broaden the range of approaches available to secure the best outcomes for children in their area. The proposals do not oblige local authorities to delegate any functions and do not remove responsibilities from local authorities for ensuring their statutory obligations on child protection and children’s social care are met.

    The consultation on the proposals closed on Friday 30 May and the Government is currently considering the responses.

  • Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Meacher – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support the recommendations of the Munro Review of Child Protection; and how the Review’s recommendations will be reflected in their plans.

    Lord Nash

    The Government is committed to promoting the welfare of children and protecting them from harm. The Government published its response to the Munro Review of Child Protection in July 2011, shortly after the publication of Professor Munro’s final report. That response accepted Professor Munro’s argument that the child protection system has lost its focus on the things that matter most: the views and experiences of children themselves. It also set out the Government’s plans for implementation.

    Of the fifteen recommendations made by Professor Munro, eleven have been implemented in full, including:

    1. In March 2013, we published the revised statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, which focuses on the core legal requirements that all professionals should follow to keep children safe;
    2. In September 2013, Isabelle Trowler began work as the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families. Lyn Romeo started her role as the Chief Social Worker for Adults at the same time; and
    3. In November 2013, Ofsted began inspecting local authority children’s services under the new ‘single’ inspection framework.

    Substantial progress is being made on implementing the other key recommendations, including supporting local areas in the redesign of their social work practice. In respect of Professor Munro’s recommendation on introducing a duty to secure provision of early help services, the Government has concluded there is sufficient legislation in place to deliver early help services to children and families. We are continuing to work with sector partners to reinforce existing legislation and understand how early help offers in local areas can be improved.

  • Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laming on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure there are sufficient beds in acute mental health services.

    Earl Howe

    The Government has made it clear that beds must always be available for those who need them. The 2014-15 Mandate to NHS England states that every community must develop plans to ensure no one in mental health crisis will be turned away. In February 2014 we published the mental health Crisis Care Concordat, which describes the roles and responsibilities for improving outcomes for people experiencing a crisis. This makes it clear that local commissioners should commission a range of mental health services that allows beds to be readily available for people in urgent need. Local areas are expected to commit to and agree to deliver their own ‘Mental Health Crisis Declaration’.

  • Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laming on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to improve the services for sufferers of dementia and their carers.

    Earl Howe

    On 26 March 2012, the Prime Minister launched his Challenge on Dementia. The Challenge sets the commitment to increase diagnosis rates, raise awareness and understanding and double funding for research for dementia by 2015.

    On the 28 February 2014, the Secretary of State announced his ambition for improving dementia care and support for people with dementia, their family and carers. This signalled the importance of a tailored plan of care as part of a package of high quality, personalised dementia care and support.

    The co-chairs of the three Champion Groups supporting delivery of the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia have reported their progress to the Prime Minister on the second year of the Challenge. They have also set out their ambition for driving improvements in year three of the Challenge and beyond and to highlight cross-cutting themes and challenges shared across the champion groups, which they will continue to work on together. For example, working together to support the work on global action on dementia; increasing public and professional awareness and understanding of dementia and; the need to accelerate learning across the system on making integrated care and support a reality.

    Since the launch of the Challenge, we have also made significant progress across all three strands of the challenge, but there is still work to be done.

  • Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Laming – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laming on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take to reduce the number of children and young people who currently disappear from public care.

    Lord Nash

    It is every Council’s responsibility to provide looked after children with safe, secure care. This includes protecting them from the risks of going missing. New guidance was issued in January 2014 on children who go missing from care. The guidance places a duty on local authorities to offer all children an independent interview when they return from going missing. These interviews can reduce the likelihood of the child going missing again, as well as identify risks to which they may have been exposed whilst missing. We have also now started to collect national data for all children who go missing from care, not just those missing for 24 hours. This data will help build a clearer picture of the extent to which children go missing from local authority care.

    The new Ofsted inspection framework has a focus on missing children. To be judged as “good” local authorities will have to show that:

    “Comprehensive records are held and shared between agencies to help and protect children and young people. Together they take steps to ensure that all children, including those who are excluded from school, are safe and that for those who are missing or often missing there is a clear plan of urgent action in place to protect them and to reduce the risk of harm or further harm.”

    Where Ofsted find poor practice they make specific recommendations to the local authority in their report.

  • Lord Stevens of Ludgate – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Stevens of Ludgate – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevens of Ludgate on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the European Union’s balance of trade with the United Kingdom of any United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union.

    Lord Deighton

    The Government has made no assessment of the impact on the European Union’s balance of trade with the United Kingdom of any withdrawal from the European Union.

    The EU represents a market of over 500 million people with a combined GDP of around £10.5 trillion. It is the largest single market in the world.

    The EU is the UK’s most important trading partner; 45% of our exports are destined for the EU and seven of the UK’s top ten individual trading partners are EU member states.

  • Baroness Thornton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Thornton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thornton on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what monitoring they are conducting on the effect of the increase in tribunal costs on cases being brought concerning harassment in the workplace.

    Lord Faulks

    The Justice Secretary is committed to reviewing the impact of the introduction of fees in the employment tribunals system. The Ministry of Justice is currently finalising arrangements for the timing and scope of this review, to enable the impacts to be properly assessed, and we will be making an announcement in due course.

  • Baroness Parminter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Parminter – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of sixth form colleges in England offered Religious Studies at A-level in 2009 and 2013.

    Lord Nash

    The Department for Education does not hold information on the proportion of sixth-form colleges that offer religious studies at A level.