The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were absent from school due to having a mental health condition in each year since 2010.
Edward Timpson
The Department does not hold information on absence due to a mental health condition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to relaxing visa restrictions for those seeking to come to Britain as carers in order tackle nursing and care home staffing shortages.
Lord Bates
Tier 2 of the Points Based System for immigration – the skilled work route – has been reserved for graduate occupations since 2011. Carers do not qualify for entry to the UK under this route and sponsors are therefore unable to bring in workers from outside the EEA to fill such roles.
While the Government acknowledges that care work requires certain skills, it should be possible to source those skills from the resident workforce. The care sector, like others, needs to reduce its dependency on migration and develop a sustainable strategy for tackling high vacancy and turnover rates by doing more to attract, train and retain resident workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the EU Commissioner on Competition on plans for recovering unpaid taxes and preventing multinationals avoiding tax.
Mr David Gauke
The UK is supportive of Commission action against illegal state aid, including recovery where illegal state aid has been found. This is an important part of ensuring that the single market works effectively and on the basis of fair competition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to launch his Department’s consultation for target numbers of apprenticeships in the public sector.
Nick Boles
The consultation was published on 25 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding the Government has allocated specifically to child protection in Yemen.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has more than doubled its humanitarian support over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16. This includes funding for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Save the Children to raise awareness of child rights, to monitor and support displaced children and to provide children with food, nutritional support, water and sanitation.
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 Paul Flynn on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his Oral Statement of 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 26, on the Panama Papers, from which departmental budgets the Government plans to draw the resources to support the new cross-agency taskforce to analyse the information that has been made available in those papers.
Mr David Cameron
This is new money provided by the Treasury. It will be spent on bringing together some of the most sophisticated technology, experts and resources to tackle money laundering, tax evasion and wider forms of financial crime anywhere in the world.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the mental and other health services that will be needed to assist the unaccompanied children who will be brought to the UK from refugee camps (1) in Europe, and (2) outside Europe.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The United Kingdom has been operating resettlement schemes for many years and we already have established and effective networks to accommodate and support resettled people. The increase in numbers will require an expansion of current networks and the impact on local communities and infrastructure will need to be managed carefully. That is why we are working with a wide range of partners to ensure that people are integrated sensitively into local communities and that we have the right support in place for unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK from Europe whilst ensuring we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
The guidance, Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, sets out the health duties for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England. The guidance sets out that local authorities and the National Health Service should take account any particular needs of the child, including if they are unaccompanied asylum seekers. This guidance is attached.
Whilst there are a range of health care professionals, for example youth workers and teachers, who deliver interventions and support for children and young people with mental health conditions, clinical need should be determined by a specialist initial assessment in line with guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Local areas have published Local Transformation Plans that set out how mental health services will be delivered for their population. As part of their plans, local areas were asked to set out how they planned to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children (UASC).
NHS England ensures that all commissioners of health services have appropriate arrangements and resources in place to meet the physical, emotional and mental health needs of looked-after children, including UASC. They will work with local commissioners to raise awareness of the Resettlement Programme and highlight the additional numbers of children who will require their attention and support.
Decisions about the resources needed to meet the mental health and other health needs of all children and young people, including UASC, are taken at a local level by CCGs. This may include decisions to recruit additional staff where necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2016-07-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the monitoring and oversight mechanisms in place in respect of the use of EU funds to ensure that the Khartoum Process complies with human rights norms.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is continuing its Chairmanship of the Khartoum Process, and remains committed in its support for human rights. Our focus remains on the implementation of the actions agreed at last year’s EU-Africa Valletta Summit on migration.
We are working with EU and international partners to ensure that EU funding underlying the Khartoum Process is properly monitored and overseen, including compliance with the EU Treaties which includes respect for human rights.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government plans to appoint a new Special Envoy to (a) Yemen and (b) Oman.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
There are no current plans to appoint a new special envoy.