Tag: Frank Field

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of replacing the NHS bursary with student loans on the number of healthcare students; and what steps he is taking to (a) maintain and (b) increase the number of such students.

Ben Gummer

The Government assessment undertaken to date is that nursing is consistently one of the most popular courses on University Central Administration Service with 57,000 applicants for around 20,000 nursing places in 2014. Midwifery and Allied Health Professional courses receive higher than average applications as well.

Health Education England (HEE) funding for healthcare students is currently determined at a local level based on local need and is subject to annual workforce planning. For 2016-17, HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17. HEE will set out its plans for 2017/18 training commissions in its next annual Commissioning and Investment Plan or Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published in December 2016 prior to the start of the financial year.

We estimate that this reform will enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing and other health professional training places this Parliament. This reflects estimates on the level of unmet demand for places in the current system where, as an example, for nursing, around two out of three nursing applicants who currently apply for a place are turned down.

Under the reforms full time students will have access to more upfront living cost support, typically 25% or more.

A public consultation was published on the 7 April 2016. Preliminary Equalities Impact Analysis and Economic Impact Assessment were published alongside the consultation document.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Mr Marcus Jones

My department does not employ any staff earning less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, or any staff employed on zero-hour contracts.

One of our agencies, the Planning Inspectorate, currently has four agency staff employed on a temporary basis earning above the National Living Wage but less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. They will be paid the higher Living Wage Foundation rate after 12 weeks employment.

Another of our agencies, the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, has an outsourced contract for catering on-site. The contractor employs 42 staff earning the National Living Wage, but less than the Living Wage Foundation rate. These staff are on zero-hour contracts.

At present, there are 154 staff employed by an outsourced company to work within the DCLG Facilities Management contract. Of these 111 are paid at or above the National Living Wage but beneath the Living Wage Foundation rate. There are 28 zero hour contracts in place.

The Department maintains a position that the level of employee payment is for our external contractors to determine, while encouraging payment of a living wage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many border staff were employed exclusively on checking the immigration status of beggars in (a) Westminster and (b) the UK; and how many of those checked were (i) illegal immigrants, (ii) committing criminal acts and (iii) deported in each of the last six months for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

This information is not held on Home Office systems.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the Children’s Society, The cost of being care free, published in June 2016, if he will take steps to provide additional protection for care leavers to reduce the number of benefits sanctions being applied to such people.

Damian Hinds

Our primary goal is to help care leavers get into work wherever possible and our interventions are tailored to achieve this. Care leavers aged between 18 and 21 have the opportunity to join the Work Programme from day one of their benefit claim, so that they receive tailored, locally-appropriate employment support at the earliest opportunity. We also provide additional support, over and above the standard Jobcentre Plus offer, to young claimants, including care leavers, aged 18-24. Work Coaches tailor interventions to the needs of the individual to address a variety of barriers to work, including improving job search skills, referral to skills and other work-related training such as Traineeships, Apprenticeships and work experience.

We have safeguards in place for care leavers along with other claimants who may be considered vulnerable. Work Coaches support all claimants with complex needs, or who require additional support, to ensure that they fully understand what they have been asked to do to enable them to access DWP benefits and use our services.

Care leavers, like all claimants, take ownership of planning how they will meet their requirements and ultimately secure employment. They will be supported by their Work Coach who will assist them in meeting their requirements through providing encouragement and direction, using a range of communication methods.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11226, for what reasons decisions were not made on 118,039 of the applications his Department received in the period between October 2014 and September 2015 for Short Term Benefit Advance.

Priti Patel

We only collect limited data on those requests for a Short Term Benefit Advances that are refused although we do know that the vast majority of refusals are either because:
(i) There was a doubt about whether the claimant would be entitled to the benefit being claimed and, therefore, we could not be sure that there was any benefit to advance or
(ii) Actual benefit was paid instead, which is a better outcome for the claimant.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are entitled to receive free school meals but do not receive them.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The January 2015 census recorded that there were 2,755,021 children registered for free school meals (FSM). We do not hold information on the number of FSM entitled pupils who did not receive a school meal.

Further information is available in the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many training places were commissioned in England for new entrants to become (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2010 and 2015.

Ben Gummer

The following table shows the number of pre-registration nursing and midwifery places (degree and diploma courses) that were commissioned by year, for the period 2010/11 to 2015/16.

	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Nursing	20,327	18,069	17,546	18,056	19,206	20,033
Midwifery	2,493	2,507	2,578	2,588	2,563	2,605

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

The latest planned training commissions for 2015/16 were published in December 2014 by Health Education England as part of their Workforce Plan for England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many training places he plans to commission in England for new entrants to become (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2016 and 2020.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for ensuring that the workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours to meet the needs of patients.

HEE produces an annual Workforce Plan for England, with the 2016/17 plan scheduled to go to the HEE Board in December 2015 and published shortly after. This will include details of the nursing and midwifery commissions for 2016/17.

As a result, there is no forecast available beyond the 2015/16 commissions data published in the 2015/16 workforce plan in December 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many places were available for new entrants to study medicine in England in each year between 2010 and 2015; and how many places for new entrants to study medicine are planned to be available in each year between 2016 and 2020.

Ben Gummer

The number of places available for new entrants to study medicine in England from 2010 to 2015 are as follows:

Year (academic)	Commissions
2010/11	6,195
2011/12	6,195
2012/13	6,195
2013/14	6,071
2014/15	6,071
2015/16	6,071

Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England, Medical and Dental Survey

The number of medical students planned for 2016/17 entry to undergraduate training in England is 6,071. Health Education England (HEE) will be establishing a review of medical student numbers as part of their wider workforce planning process to inform future year intakes. Any changes to student intakes will require careful consideration by HEE, Department of Health, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications were received per individual training place in England for (a) nurses and (b) midwives in each year between 2010 and 2015.

Ben Gummer

Information relating to the number of applications for pre-registration nursing and midwifery training is not collected by the Department.

Information on applications and admissions to full time education courses in the United Kingdom is collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).