Tag: 2016

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of isolation in the workplace on disabled people and the effect of such isolation on developing skills and career progression for disabled people.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Department for Work and Pensions has not made a recent assessment of the effect of isolation in the workplace on disabled people.

    However, we are committed to halving the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people. The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health have created a cross departmental Work and Health Unit to develop a strategy for system-wide reform on health, disability and employment, in order to reduce the numbers of people who are economically inactive due to a health condition or disability. The treatment of disabled people in the workplace will be among the factors the unit takes into account.

    Meanwhile, employers and disabled employees continue to benefit from the support offered through Access to Work, which provides practical support, advice and guidance for both disabled people in work or entering work and their employers.

    In addition, the Government’s Disability Confident scheme supports our commitment to halve the disability employment gap by focusing on employers, who have a crucial role to play in ensuring disabled people are recruited, retained and developed in their careers. Employers signing-up to Disability Confident on Gov.UK get access to a wide range of information, good practice and other resources, including links to DWP programmes which offer practical support.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of children who will be homeless between 1 December 2015 and 1 January 2016.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have maintained homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

    We have increased central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the Spending Review period.

    There were 103,430 children and expected children in temporary accommodation arranged by local authorities in England as at 30 September 2015. The Department does not produce forecasts of homelessness.

  • Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lingfield on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to ensure that Education Health and Care plans, in particular for young people transferring to post-16 and post-19 provision, meet the requirements for what must be specified under sections 37–48 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

    Lord Nash

    The Department is monitoring the implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms and securing a wide range of feedback. This feedback is collected through statutory data collection; regular surveys of local authorities, parents and carers; regular inputs for the Special Educational Consortium (which represents more than 30 organisations); and reports from contractors such as the Council for Disabled Children, which provides Independent Support services in all local authority areas, and Contact a Family, which runs a national helpline for parents of children with SEND.

    The Department provides support to local areas in a range of ways, such as voluntary and community sector experts and a team of specialist SEND Advisers.

    Local authorities must include information about Personal Budgets in their Local Offers, including information on how to request one. Parents and young people have the right to request a Personal Budget for elements of an Educational Health and Care (EHC) plan; local authorities are under a duty to prepare a budget when requested. Our termly surveys collect responses on the number of EHC plans which carry a Personal Budget.

    Since April 2013, the Government has provided nearly £1.5 million in funding to a number of projects with voluntary sector organisations to develop materials to support local areas to introduce Personal Budgets. We regularly promote these projects in our communications to families and to organisations in the sector. For example, KIDS produced guidance in 2015, through the Making it Personal 2 project. The Department is currently funding KIDS to build on this project, to develop further guidance and training resources, including some specifically aimed at young people with SEND, in a range of accessible formats. The SEND Gateway, which is run by the National Association for Special Educational Needs, also offers practical resources on Personal Budgets to assist both users and professionals.

    Through our regional support networks, we have funded a number of workshops aimed at local authorities, parents and others about Personal Budgets and we will continue to offer support for of this kind.

    Following publication of the Children and Families Act 2014, the Government set out the statutory duties to which local authorities and those working with children and young people must adhere, in the SEND Code of Practice: 0-25 years[1]. The Code of Practice includes clear information on the processes of EHC plan assessment and production. The Department’s team of specialist SEND Advisers are working with local areas to improve the quality of EHC plans, and are currently leading workshops on this across England.

    The SEND Code of Practice includes clear requirements that all local authorities must meet when developing, publishing and reviewing their Local Offer. All local areas have Local Offers in place, but we recognise that the quality varies. This is another area we are monitoring through our termly surveys, our voluntary and community sector experts and specialist SEND Advisers. We have provided regular advice to local areas about how to improve the quality of Local Offers. We are confident that local authorities are working with their partner bodies and with families and young people to continue to improve their Local Offers to ensure they respond to local needs.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf

    “

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what amount of direct pay arrears has accrued on the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme; and to how many case groups those arrears relate.

    Priti Patel

    A case is classed as ‘Direct Pay’ when the maintenance calculation has been derived by the Child Maintenance Service (after assessment of the case) and the Paying Parent pays child maintenance directly to the Receiving Parent. These cases are assumed to be fully meeting their current liability since clients can come back to the CMS if there is a default on their payment or to request a revised calculation.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the only current option for English farmers who wish to plant trees with CAP support is to have forestry as a separate enterprise on their holding, with densities of around 400 trees per hectare, rather than integrate the trees into their arable or livestock areas in a less dense planting.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    English farmers can plant trees with Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support either to create woodland habitat under the forestry measure of the Rural Development Regulation or to deliver a range of benefits such as landscape or the provision of nesting and habitat for farm wildlife under its agri-environment measure. Both these measures are available to farmers and other land managers as part of the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Tree-planting options do not require a minimum density (or number) of trees to be planted except when used to create new woodland.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 32463, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on his announcement of 23 April 2015 of a special scheme to help small businesses in Runcorn and Widnes using the new Mersey Gateway Bridge and the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge from 2017.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Secretary of State for Transport met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29th February 2016 and discussion included discount schemes on the Mersey Gateway Crossing.

    Officials in the Department for Transport and Her Majesty’s Treasury are continuing to work through the implications of any further extension of user discounts to the cost of the scheme and to the commercial structure of the contracts already signed for the scheme.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has service standards in place for considering fee waiver applications.

    James Brokenshire

    There are no service standards for fee waiver applications.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar has retained his role as the Government’s Anti-Corruption Champion.

    Ben Gummer

    The Prime Minister will consider all such appointments, including that of the anti-corruption champion, in due course.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he or his officials have had with UK businesses on the consequences on them of leaving the EU Customs Union.

    Margot James

    My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and his officials have on-going discussions with businesses operating in multiple sectors to understand their views on a range of issues following the referendum.

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people have been killed as a result of UK airstrikes in Syria since 3 December 2015.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We do not maintain total counts of enemy combatants killed in UK military action. We are not aware of any reports of civilian casualties resulting from UK air strikes in Syria since 3 December 2015.