Tag: Oliver Colvile

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many affordable rent-to-buy houses are being constructed.

Brandon Lewis

Through the Autumn Statement 2015, the Government has committed to investing £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2020/21. This includes £1.7 billion to deliver around 100,000 homes for affordable or intermediate rent, of which 10,000 are to be affordable rent to buy homes that enable tenants to have the opportunity to save for a deposit while renting.

Bids into the Rent to Buy 2015-2017 programme are currently being considered. The prospectus for the new Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21 will be launched shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many specialist centres for severe asthma there are in England.

Jane Ellison

Services for people with severe asthma are commissioned by NHS England in line with a national specification to ensure patient numbers are sufficient to support safe services. NHS England has no plans to change the way it commissions these services in south west England.

Nationally, there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services. NHS England is revising the national service specification to assist local teams in verifying and redefining the local service model to confirm the severe asthma services within each region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of drugs in prisons.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Justice Secretary is clear that safety is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans. There are a number of factors, including the availability of drugs in prisons, which must be tackled in order to make our prisons safe and places of rehabilitation.

We have introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including new psychoactive substances, face up to two years in prison. Those who involve themselves in the distribution of drugs in our prisons should know that they could face prosecution and extra time behind bars. We have a range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons.

I am looking closely at this important issue, and will be setting our further plans in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support lottery regulations permit to be given to gaming, live digital and other features of cultural technology.

Tracey Crouch

National Lottery funding supports projects within the four good causes – arts; sport; heritage; voluntary and community. The arts good cause covers a broad range of arts and media forms and there are no specific regulations against funding gaming, live digital and other features of cultural technology. Decisions on which individual projects to fund are made by the twelve Lottery distribution bodies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to create a specialist centre for severe asthma in the South West of England.

Jane Ellison

Services for people with severe asthma are commissioned by NHS England in line with a national specification to ensure patient numbers are sufficient to support safe services. NHS England has no plans to change the way it commissions these services in south west England.

Nationally, there are 27 trusts that have identified themselves as providing severe asthma services. NHS England is revising the national service specification to assist local teams in verifying and redefining the local service model to confirm the severe asthma services within each region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department is doing to narrow the 12 year difference in life expectancy between council wards in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency.

Nicola Blackwood

Addressing health inequalities is a Government priority. This was clearly set out in the Prime Minister’s inaugural speech in July. Key to this message was the importance of addressing the gap in life expectancy.

Achieving measurable and sustained reductions in health inequalities by 2020 and reducing the gaps in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are priority objectives in the Department’s Shared Delivery Plan: 2015 – 2020. Action is largely led locally to ensure that the solutions put in place reflect the needs of individual communities.

To address the differences in life expectancy across Plymouth, Plymouth Clinical Commissioning Group and health services have introduced the ‘Thrive’ initiative. This aims to tackle the four lifestyle choices (inactivity, diet, alcohol consumption and smoking) that lead to respiratory diseases, cancer, stroke and heart disease. The work, currently in its second year, is the start of the long term drive to improve health and reduce inequalities in Plymouth. Health organisations such as Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Livewell Southwest and general practitioner Practices have signed up in support of the Thrive initiative.

In order to ensure that health services are supporting those communities with the highest need, the ‘Success Regime’ has been introduced across Devon, which aims to protect and promote services for patients in local health and care systems that are struggling with financial or quality problems. Additionally, the Sustainability and Transformation Plan for Wider Devon includes a requirement to ensure that sustainable general practice is in place for all populations with equitable access times for routine and urgent treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the age of 16 in Plymouth who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or have been identified as having autism-related needs are being home educated.

Edward Timpson

Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.

All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.

As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.

The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Plymouth City Council for pothole maintenance since 2010; and what estimate he has made of how many potholes have been repaired as a result of that funding.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport allocated funding of £4.7 billion for local highways maintenance to local highway authorities in England from 2010 to 2015 which would be enough to repair approximately 89 million potholes based on an average of £53 per pothole. A further £6.1 billion is being allocated between now and 2021, including £250 million as part of a Pothole Action Fund, which could fix a further 115 million potholes. For Plymouth City Council we are providing over £25 million for local highways maintenance between 2010 and 2021 enough to help them repair over 400,000 potholes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is giving to dispersal centres for asylum seekers to help foster community cohesion.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office funds strategic migration partnerships which are local authority-led partnerships designed to provide structures and support services for those organisations working with migrants and refugees in local communities.

The Home Office also provides a dedicated integration loan directly to recognised refugees. The loan is designed to help refugees integrate into UK society by offering financial support towards housing costs, employment and training.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the age of 16 in Plymouth who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or have been identified as having autism-related needs are not in education.

Edward Timpson

Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.

All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.

As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.

The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.