Tag: Barry Sheerman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the contribution of nurseries to improving literacy rates.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The early years are a critical stage for a child’s development. Nurseries have an important role in helping to ensure that all children start school with the knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours a week of quality early education, free of charge, to prepare them for school and improve their life chances. This is extremely successful with 94% of three-year-olds and 99% of four-year-olds taking up the current free entitlement. From September 2017, we are introducing 15 hours of free childcare a week for the working parents of three- and four-year olds, on top of the existing early education entitlement.

The latest Early Years Foundation Stage Profile data reveal that an increasing proportion of children are achieving a good level of development at age five: 66% in 2015, compared to 52% in 2013.

In the specific area of literacy, 76% of children achieved at least the expected level in reading and 71% did so in writing in the academic year 2014/15.

Parents also have an essential role to play in their child’s development. In September 2015, we re-launched our popular guide for parents ‘What to expect, when?’ to include a strengthened focus on language, communication and literacy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average class size is in existing free schools.

Edward Timpson

Data on the size of classes for free schools can be obtained from the underlying data of the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2015’ statistics available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015

Class sizes for free schools can be calculated using the spreadsheet.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to councils on the payment of homecare workers for their travel time.

Alistair Burt

It is for providers to ensure that they are complying with legislation and paying workers for the time they are legally entitled to be paid for.

The Care Act 2014 is clear that local authorities should ensure that care workers are paid at least minimum wage, and are paid for travel time between appointments.

We are working with local authorities and the care sector to improve social care commissioning, including supporting the sector to commission in a way that promotes quality, including meeting legal requirements on staff pay in relation to travel time.

There is clear Government Guidance on the issue of payment for work related travel time. It can be found in full on this website:

http://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work/overview

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department collects on the number of people who use electronic cigarettes.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not collect any data on the number of people who use electronic cigarettes. The Department makes use of various data sources, including that published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre and the Office for National Statistics as an evidence base for policy making. This includes the Opinions and Lifestyles Survey for electronic cigarette use by adults and the Smoking, Drinking and Drugs survey for use by young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2016 to Question 39000, how many interviews with people making accusations of child abuse have been carried out by Operation Pallial under the Achieving Best Evidence guidance with a social worker present.

Karen Bradley

The National Crime Agency, leading Operation Pallial, has informed us that all interviews they have conducted have been under Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) guidelines and, where the need for appropriate adult or other support is identified, this has been provided. It is not possible to provide figures on the number of interviews conducted where a social worker has been present as this information is not held centrally.

Three people convicted as a result of Operation Pallial have previous convictions for sexual offences.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received from scientists and policy experts on her policy on the badger cull.

George Eustice

Ministers meet regularly with both scientists and policy experts to review all aspects of our comprehensive strategy to eradicate bovine tuberculosis, including badger control.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of NHS 111 on reducing the uptake of other NHS services.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS 111 providers are expected to conduct a patient survey every six months for each area they provide services for.

Considering the latest year for which survey results are available (April 2015 to September 2015 and October 2015 to March 2016 surveys), for 11.6% of triaged calls an ambulance was dispatched by the NHS 111 service and in 8.4% of calls the caller was advised to attend accident and emergency (A&E). However, 18% of patients who responded to the survey reported they would have called for an ambulance if NHS 111 had not been available, and 28.3% would have attended A&E.

For the full year period (April 2015 to March 2016), 11.3 million calls were triaged. From this we can estimate the impact of the 111 service. The differences mean that due to availability of the NHS 111 service, over 2.25 million people this year were directed away from using A&E and over 750,000 were directed away from calling an ambulance.

Data about the service to which patients are recommended during an NHS 111 call (“dispositions”) are collected by NHS England and published on a monthly basis. Latest data are for July 2016 and can be found at the following website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-111-minimum-data-set/nhs-111-minimum-data-set-2016-17/

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research his Department has undertaken on the effects on road safety of adopting harsher sentencing for those who break the law by dangerous driving, speeding or driving whilst under the influence of alcohol.

Andrew Jones

I published the Road Safety Statement in December 2015 which sets out the measures Government is taking to improve road safety including the reduction of road traffic offences. Our award-winning THINK! campaigns have also been running throughout the year to educate drivers on the risk and consequences of a number of different type of offences. The Department is in regular contact with a range of organisations and their reports, such as the ‘RAC Report on Motoring 2016’, are provided to the Department. The Department often includes research evidence in its impact assessments, for example the Elvik ‘dose response’ model, which shows that rigorous enforcement increases the deterrent effect on offending. The Government continues to keep road safety and road traffic offences under review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the questioning by police of children and vulnerable adults who are possible victims of child abuse is both effective at gathering evidence and sensitive to the vulnerability of those being interviewed.

Karen Bradley

Tackling abuse is a priority for this Government. We will continue the work of overhauling how our police, social services and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children. To this end, we have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat like serious and organised crime, which means police forces now have a duty to collaborate with each other across force boundaries to safeguard children.

The provision of police training is an operational matter. The College of Policing and the National Policing Lead for child protection and abuse investigation have set the requirement for all forces to train all new and existing police staff to respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse, including call handlers, Police Community Support Officers, police officers, detectives and specialist investigators.

The College of Policing has issued Achieving Best Evidence guidance and training for all officers engaged in interviewing children and vulnerable witnesses. This includes training on the sensitivity needed when dealing with victims and witnesses who may be vulnerable as well as working with partners – such as social workers – and their involvement in interviews.

Specialist courses for child sexual abuse and rape specialist investigators also expand on these requirements in relation to interviewing children and vulnerable adults.

The role of social workers in these investigations, including their training, is a matter for the Department for Education. The guidance issued by DfE in March 2015, “Working Together to Safeguard Children”, sets out how social workers and their managers, as well as other agencies including the police, should work together and follow the Achieving Best Evidence guidance.

The Department of Health are responsible for the training of social workers working with vulnerable adults who may have been sexually abused as children or in adulthood.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training her Department provides to police officers and social workers for interviewing children and vulnerable adults who are possible victims of child abuse.

Karen Bradley

Tackling abuse is a priority for this Government. We will continue the work of overhauling how our police, social services and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children. To this end, we have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat like serious and organised crime, which means police forces now have a duty to collaborate with each other across force boundaries to safeguard children.

The provision of police training is an operational matter. The College of Policing and the National Policing Lead for child protection and abuse investigation have set the requirement for all forces to train all new and existing police staff to respond to child sexual exploitation and abuse, including call handlers, Police Community Support Officers, police officers, detectives and specialist investigators.

The College of Policing has issued Achieving Best Evidence guidance and training for all officers engaged in interviewing children and vulnerable witnesses. This includes training on the sensitivity needed when dealing with victims and witnesses who may be vulnerable as well as working with partners – such as social workers – and their involvement in interviews.

Specialist courses for child sexual abuse and rape specialist investigators also expand on these requirements in relation to interviewing children and vulnerable adults.

The role of social workers in these investigations, including their training, is a matter for the Department for Education. The guidance issued by DfE in March 2015, “Working Together to Safeguard Children”, sets out how social workers and their managers, as well as other agencies including the police, should work together and follow the Achieving Best Evidence guidance.

The Department of Health are responsible for the training of social workers working with vulnerable adults who may have been sexually abused as children or in adulthood.