The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.
James Wharton
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the contribution of the UK’s membership of the EU to the UK’s work in identifying and detaining criminals.
James Brokenshire
Terrorism and serious organised crime are global threats that cross national borders. Our unique relationship with the EU gives UK law enforcement access to EU tools and instruments that help keep people safe and tackle serious and organised crime, but also mean we are not obliged to participate in new measures when we do not judge them to be in the national interest.
The tools and instruments that the UK participates in include Europol, an EU agency which supports cross-border police operations and intelligence sharing, and can assist in the identification of terrorist threats; the European Arrest Warrant, which allows swift extradition between EU countries of individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence; and the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), which enables law enforcement agencies around the EU to share live alerts, for example, for missing people and stolen vehicles. The UK is also in the process of implementing Prum, which will give us access to fingerprint and DNA data from other member states.
Since 2004, using the European Arrest Warrant, over 1,000 individuals accused or convicted of a criminal offence have faced justice in UK courts and over 7,000 have been extradited from the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which EU intelligence-sharing agreements the UK is part of; and which intelligence-sharing agreements the UK has with other EU countries.
Mrs Theresa May
I cannot disclose specifics of agreements relating to National Security. However, the UK works closely with European counterparts in the common goal of preventing and disrupting terrorist activity. We work with Member States’ intelligence services on a bilateral basis and through the Counter Terrorism Group. We also collaborate with European partners through bilateral policy and law enforcement exchanges on counter-terrorism and exchange threat assessments and information on our respective approaches to counter terrorism. I regularly raise at Justice and Home Affairs Councils the need for better intelligence cooperation and information sharing among Member States to support our CT investigations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she plans to make available for turnaround activity as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy; and what formula or method she plans to use to allocate funding.
Nick Gibb
Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England.
Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund.
For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education.
Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.
For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to close attainment gaps within schools in the north of England that are rated good or outstanding.
Nick Gibb
The Department’s recent White Paper, Educational excellence everywhere, sets out the action we are taking to support all pupils to reach their full potential and close the gaps in attainment that exist between different groups.
The gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is closing at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4. Our protection of the pupil premium at current rates for the remainder of the Parliament will help schools to build on this success. In 2015-16 we provided schools in the north of England with £768 million of pupil premium funding. We are supporting schools to make more effective use of the pupil premium, including by appointing a teaching school in each region to champion the use of the pupil premium. These schools will train successful school leaders to review the way schools are using the pupil premium and to act as regional hubs for effective practice.
Schools will continue to be held to account for the standard of education they provide for all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, through performance tables and Ofsted inspection. Our new headline measure of school performance, Progress 8, will encourage schools to push every child to achieve their best. The results of disadvantaged pupils will be reported separately in the school performance tables, ensuring a focus on the attainment of this group. In line with our high expectations for all pupils, performance data will emphasise the difference between disadvantaged pupils in the school and other pupils nationally, rather than focussing on gaps within the school. Data on the performance of disadvantaged pupils will feed into the risk assessment process that Ofsted uses to assess whether good and outstanding providers have declined since their last inspection. This will inform Ofsted’s prioritisation of short inspections for good schools and the identification of any concerns about outstanding schools.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department makes available for young people diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
David Mowat
Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in October 2012, sets out best practice guidance for clinicians and commissioners in the diagnosis, treatment care and support of patients with Crohn’s disease. The guidance includes a number of specific recommendations concerning young people such as the need to offer age-appropriate multidisciplinary support to deal with any concerns about the disease and its treatment, including concerns about body image, living with a chronic illness, and attending school and higher education.
The speech made by Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.
I thank the Minister for his response. There will be complete agreement, I am sure, on the importance of looking out for those amazing men and women who serve in our armed forces and, critically, their families as well. The Minister will be well aware—he alluded to this in his statement—of the volume of concerns about the state of service family accommodation and single living accommodation. It is particularly concerning given the recent freezing weather and proximity to Christmas, but it is also at a time when our armed forces continue to be busy, not least, potentially, with commitments to Military Aid to the Civil Authorities.
Some shocking recent accommodation cases include: recurring black mould causing viral infections in children; crumbling roofs leaving houses exposed to the elements; burst pipes flooding homes; and broken boilers in sub-zero temperatures. What is worse is that, currently, there is no reasonable way to report and resolve those problems, as there are waits of two hours on Pinnacle’s helpline, if callers can get through at all. Even when a report is lodged, there is no guarantee that a repair will happen urgently.
Such are the concerns that have been expressed about the inaction of various contractors, there is evidence of soldiers signing out sleeping bags. No single contractor is responsible for repairs and maintenance, meaning that there is no central responsibility. However, there is central accountability, and, ultimately, that lies with the MOD.
Those who step forward to serve deserve and expect better. I look to the Minister to act urgently, by which I mean today, to move heaven and earth to ensure that measures are being taken to alleviate this problem. Can I ask him to provide an update on whether the Secretary of State’s meetings with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Amey, Pinnacle and VIVO have taken place? If not, why not? Can he outline a plan for MOD intervention to ensure that the backlog of repairs is dealt with as a priority? Can he say more on how the Department will support service personnel and their families affected by these issues over the Christmas holidays?
The current standards of service accommodation are just not good enough. We are a very long way away from homes fit for heroes. The Government must do better.
Alex Chalk
I thank the hon. Gentleman for those remarks, many of which I completely agree with. He asks whether we will act today. I can say that the Secretary of State has met the DIO, Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO and that some of these issues were becoming apparent quite some time ago. In fact, a rectification plan was imposed in the middle of September. There were 480 or so elements of that plan, of which 200 have been complied with. That does not mean that the situation has been sorted—far from it—because when the cold snap came, we saw that it revealed more difficulties.
The hon. Gentleman asked about the backlog. I can say that the backlog of complaints peaked at a stunning 4,200 or so. That has come down to around 3,100, but I completely accept that that is far too many.
The real issue, it seems to me, is there must be prevention in the first place. In other words, the quality of accommodation must be good enough at the point that service personnel go into the properties in the first place. There are some indications of improvement in that regard. First, in addition to the standard £176 million for accommodation, the MOD has allocated £350 million over and above that annual sum to get on top of the maintenance issues. In July of this year, when 1,276 service personnel went into properties, 4% turned out on the day to have non-habitable failures; by December that figure had gone down to 0.6%. This is about ensuring that the properties are fit for purpose at the outset.
On the issue of mould, which the hon. Gentleman is right to raise, it is unconscionable to think that people should be moving into properties with any mould, and I am pleased to have had a clear assurance from DIO that that will not happen again. Now, if there is a report of mould, a fully qualified inspector should come in to do a proper report and alternative accommodation should be provided, if appropriate. I will end where he did: these are people who come to serve our country, and the least we can do is ensure that they have proper accommodation. I will do everything in my power to ensure that we honour that requirement.
The parliamentary question asked by Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central, in the House of Commons on 20 December 2022.
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)
What recent estimate he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the level of public funding that will be required to build core Northern Powerhouse Rail.
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Cartlidge)
May I begin, Mr Speaker, by wishing you and all of your brilliant House of Commons staff a very merry Christmas?
The integrated rail plan, published last November, set out an estimate of £17.2 billion at 2019 prices for the core Northern Powerhouse Rail network, with a further £5.4 billion for the TransPennine route upgrade. That includes building 40 miles of new, high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and Yorkshire, as well as upgrading and electrifying the rest of the route between Liverpool and York, and the existing line between Leeds and Bradford.
Dan Jarvis
I am grateful to the Minister for that response. The Chancellor has rightly spoken about the importance of capital investment to the long-term growth of the economy but, at the same time, he has downgraded the £40 billion vision of Northern Powerhouse Rail, which was agreed on a cross-party basis with northern leaders, to the much-reduced £17 billion core scheme. Decisions on Northern Powerhouse Rail will shape the future of the railways in the north of England for generations to come and unlock massive economic benefits. Will the Minister look at refocusing Treasury appraisal of NPR on its long-term transformative benefits and whole-life value, rather than on short-term factors? Otherwise, a massive opportunity, not just for the north, but for the whole of the country, will be missed.
James Cartlidge
I commend the hon. Gentleman, who speaks with great passion on these issues. He is right that the Chancellor is absolutely committed to the long-term benefit to the economy of capital investment and infrastructure schemes like these. Just to be clear, the IRP set out the Government’s view that the core NPR network is the most effective way to deliver rail connectivity benefiting the north. Our plans would deliver substantial journey-time saving and capacity benefits all the way from Liverpool to York. It will do so far more quickly and cost-effectively than alternatives.
The comments made by Dan Jarvis, the Labour MP for Barnsley Central, in the House of Commons on 15 December 2022.
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)
May I declare an interest as a former company commander with the special forces support group who served in Afghanistan? As such, I know that the overwhelming number of people who serve in our armed forces, and particularly in the UKSF, do so with huge distinction and extraordinary courage. As the Minister said, we can be very proud of their service. They rightly aspire to maintain the very highest of professional standards and adherence to the rule of law. After all, it is that which differentiates us from our opponents. As the Minister said, it is therefore necessary that, when serious allegations are made, they are investigated, but that needs to be done thoroughly and independently, so I welcome the statement that the Minister has made today.
Clearly, none of us would want to prejudge the inquiry, but, looking slightly to the longer term, has the Minister or the Department given any consideration to the potential merits of tasking the Intelligence and Security Committee to provide oversight of UKSF?
Dr Murrison
I rise again with a sense of trepidation, Madam Deputy Speaker, acknowledging the hon. Gentleman’s service in Afghanistan. The point that he has made has been made before. I think it was made when we covered some of this ground back in July. He will know the way that this part of our armed forces operates and the difficulties and constraints under which they operate. We are going through this process now with a statutory inquiry. That is a big deal. I expect Lord Justice Haddon-Cave to go everywhere he needs to go to discover the truth and make public all of it—so far as he can within the constrictions of national security.
With all due respect, I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman on having a further mechanism of auditing the operations of parts of our armed forces. It is probably right that we assure ourselves that all parts of our armed forces operate within the rule of law and that their rules of engagement are legal. He will be aware of the extraordinary lengths that defence takes, particularly now and in recent years, to ensure that everything it does is lawful. Personally, I am comfortable with that; I am confident that we do that. Although I acknowledge the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion—we keep everything under consideration, and it will be interesting to see what Lord Justice Haddon-Cave comes up with—I am not minded, at this point in time, to accept it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce excess winter deaths.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) publishes the Cold Weather Plan for England to avoid preventable illness and deaths in winter by setting out a series of actions for organisations, communities and individuals, to take throughout the year as well as in response to episodes of severe winter weather. The national annual flu plan aims to minimise the health impact of flu through effective monitoring, prevention and treatment, including the immunisation of groups eligible to receive the flu vaccine.
PHE and NHS England have also developed an integrated marketing campaign, Stay Well This Winter. This campaign aims to help those with long-term health conditions (particularly respiratory conditions), those who are 65 or over, pregnant women and parents of under-5s stay well and keep their loved ones well this winter.