The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with which individuals and organisations his Department is consulting to inform the life chances strategy.
Priti Patel
As is customary in the development of any Strategy, we have engaged in discussions with a range of organisations and individual experts as we develop the Life Chances Strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to develop a UK games archive to preserve computer and online games and the creative process which is part of their development as part of the UK’s cultural identity.
Mr Edward Vaizey
This Government recognises the cultural value of video games and the importance of the industry to the UK economy. The games sector is particularly well placed to deliverfurther prosperity in the regions and help increase UK exports. The creation of a video games archive and additional support for video games from public agencies were proposed in the recent industry report, A Blueprint for Growth.It also highlighted the contribution video games make to British culture and our economy, as well as the potential for further growth. We are currently reviewing the evidence in the report, its various recommendations and any implications for our future policies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with (a) NHS England and (b) Health Education England on tackling workforce shortages within radiology and endoscopy to improve early diagnosis for cancer patients; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations in the independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, and has appointed Cally Palmer CBE as NHS National Cancer Director to lead on managing implementation. She is currently setting up a new Cancer Transformation Board to lead the roll-out of the recommendations of the new strategy, including on workforce, and a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, will oversee and scrutinise their work.
We announced in September that Health Education England (HEE) is developing a new national training programme for an additional 200 staff to get the skills and expertise to carry out endoscopies by 2018. The content of the next mandate from the Government to HEE is currently being determined.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, if she will publish the review of Education, Health and Care plans carried out in 2014.
Edward Timpson
Since September 2014, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans have been regularly monitored and reviewed. This is part of the Department’s ongoing work to support and challenge local authorities’ implementation of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The Department also gathers information about EHC plans from parents and young people, through termly surveys of Parent Carer Forums, correspondence, and regular dialogue with parents’ and young people’s groups.
Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on how to improve them has been provided directly to the local authorities concerned by the Department’s team of SEND advisors. Thus far, our SEND advisors have noted issues around non-compliance for 29 local authorities, all of which were subsequently given advice about improving their EHC plans in order to fulfil statutory requirements
Our advisors are currently delivering a number of workshops for local authorities on how to write high quality, legally compliant EHC plans, and to share good practice. The training resources from these workshops will be published shortly.
There are a number of places where local authorities can find guidance about EHC plans. This includes the statutory SEND Code of Practice, which clearly sets out what must be included in a plan, and provides detailed guidance on the process that must be followed to produce one. There are also examples of good quality EHC plans produced by the SEND Pathfinder local authorities.
The review of EHC plans carried out in 2014 looked specifically at EHC plan templates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the Local Safeguarding Children Board review.
Edward Timpson
The independent review of the role and functions of Local Safeguarding Children Boards, undertaken by Alan Wood, has been submitted to the Secretary of State for Education, and will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the life chances strategy will be published.
Priti Patel
My Department’s forthcoming Life Chances Strategy will be published later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to coordinate additional support for and recognition of the importance to modern British culture of the video games industry from (a) the BFI, (b) Arts Council of England and (c) other public agencies.
Mr Edward Vaizey
This Government recognises the cultural value of video games and the importance of the industry to the UK economy. The games sector is particularly well placed to deliverfurther prosperity in the regions and help increase UK exports. The creation of a video games archive and additional support for video games from public agencies were proposed in the recent industry report, A Blueprint for Growth.It also highlighted the contribution video games make to British culture and our economy, as well as the potential for further growth. We are currently reviewing the evidence in the report, its various recommendations and any implications for our future policies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department plans to respond to each of the recommendations in the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report entitled, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes, a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, published in July 2015.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations in the independent Cancer Taskforce’s report, Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015 to 2020, and has appointed Cally Palmer CBE as NHS National Cancer Director to lead on managing implementation. She is currently setting up a new Cancer Transformation Board to lead the roll-out of the recommendations of the new strategy, including on workforce, and a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Dr Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, will oversee and scrutinise their work.
We announced in September that Health Education England (HEE) is developing a new national training programme for an additional 200 staff to get the skills and expertise to carry out endoscopies by 2018. The content of the next mandate from the Government to HEE is currently being determined.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff were employed by her Department to collate and publish statistical data on children with special educational needs in (a) 2010 and (b) 2015.
Edward Timpson
Department staff were involved in activities covering requirements gathering; technical development and helpdesk facilities to upload data onto Department systems; liaising with school census staff to develop SEN requirements for the school census and monitoring data quality; publishing the statistical first releases in May and July; publishing Special educational needs: an analysis and summary of data sources.
It is not possible to calculate the number of full time equivalent staff because it would not include staff employed to collect the school census, which also collects SEN data, as it is difficult to separate out the SEN specific work.
The figures for 2010 are not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much each local authority in England has received from the Adoption Support Fund since its creation.
Edward Timpson
The table below shows how much each local authority in England has received from the Adoption Support Fund since its creation:
|
LA |
ASF Total Spend to Date (£) |
|
Barking and Dagenham |
44,196.20 |
|
Barnet |
166,813.26 |
|
Barnsley |
29,235.00 |
|
Bath and North East Somerset |
40,261.47 |
|
Bedford |
81,340.50 |
|
Bexley |
70,451.00 |
|
Birmingham |
160,325.87 |
|
Blackburn with Darwen |
81,696.80 |
|
Blackpool |
57,601.98 |
|
Bolton |
55,920.00 |
|
Bournemouth |
28,727.76 |
|
Bracknell Forest |
21,444.10 |
|
Bradford |
309,173.00 |
|
Brent (prev Herts) |
43,973.00 |
|
Brighton and Hove |
123,200.90 |
|
Bristol |
199,771.70 |
|
Bromley |
12,314.00 |
|
Buckinghamshire |
205,907.10 |
|
Bury |
70,376.30 |
|
Calderdale |
102,775.50 |
|
Cambridgeshire |
251,323.18 |
|
Camden |
93,988.70 |
|
Central Bedfordshire |
88,479.91 |
|
Cheshire East |
184,035.96 |
|
Cheshire West and Chester |
151,425.46 |
|
City of London |
– |
|
Cornwall |
260,491.05 |
|
Coventry |
66,094.00 |
|
Croydon |
37,369.65 |
|
Cumbria |
362,150.10 |
|
Darlington |
25,810.00 |
|
Derby |
58,166.80 |
|
Derbyshire |
301,734.86 |
|
Devon |
458,850.32 |
|
Doncaster |
182,252.82 |
|
Dorset |
19,004.00 |
|
Dudley |
77,882.90 |
|
Durham |
145,119.27 |
|
Ealing (prev Herts) |
387,675.71 |
|
East Riding of Yorkshire |
147,132.67 |
|
East Sussex |
374,962.27 |
|
Enfield |
95,085.44 |
|
Essex |
276,241.07 |
|
Gateshead |
8,984.00 |
|
Gloucestershire |
1,213,955.86 |
|
Greenwich |
91,407.75 |
|
Hackney |
165,218.00 |
|
Halton |
32,759.50 |
|
Hammersmith and Fulham |
35,313.56 |
|
Hampshire |
244,384.30 |
|
Haringey |
203,142.10 |
|
Harrow (prev Herts) |
57,459.50 |
|
Hartlepool |
17,631.96 |
|
Havering |
1,170.00 |
|
Herefordshire |
58,998.20 |
|
Hertfordshire |
293,849.02 |
|
Hillingdon (prev Herts) |
8,301.84 |
|
Hounslow (prev Herts) |
5,640.25 |
|
Hull |
116,738.65 |
|
Isle of Wight |
36,944.00 |
|
Isles of Scilly |
– |
|
Islington |
78,032.34 |
|
Kensington and Chelsea |
18,535.01 |
|
Kent |
367,991.20 |
|
Kingston |
56,034.14 |
|
Kirklees |
294,390.30 |
|
Knowsley |
30,508.70 |
|
Lambeth |
75,001.00 |
|
Lancashire |
440,242.16 |
|
Leeds |
199,474.72 |
|
Leicester |
105,823.75 |
|
Leicestershire |
189,426.69 |
|
Lewisham |
139,396.50 |
|
Lincolnshire |
109,876.35 |
|
Liverpool |
50,392.10 |
|
Luton |
19,413.60 |
|
Manchester |
263,742.75 |
|
Medway |
113,923.40 |
|
Merton |
121,835.40 |
|
Middlesbrough |
24,273.84 |
|
Milton Keynes |
129,924.42 |
|
Newcastle upon Tyne |
132,122.00 |
|
Newham |
29,051.00 |
|
Norfolk |
472,360.80 |
|
North East Lincolnshire |
169,037.20 |
|
North Lincolnshire |
3,603.50 |
|
North Somerset |
82,103.50 |
|
North Tyneside |
61,443.20 |
|
North Yorkshire |
612,921.58 |
|
Northamptonshire |
209,503.74 |
|
Northumberland |
28,498.90 |
|
Nottingham |
172,346.00 |
|
Nottinghamshire |
97,291.97 |
|
Oldham |
20,030.50 |
|
Oxfordshire |
34,818.65 |
|
Peterborough |
51,391.02 |
|
Plymouth |
221,433.97 |
|
Poole |
13,321.38 |
|
Portsmouth |
77,709.42 |
|
Reading |
26,652.00 |
|
Redbridge |
54,632.80 |
|
Redcar and Cleveland |
16,840.00 |
|
Richmond |
320,954.40 |
|
Rochdale |
61,243.50 |
|
Rotherham |
201,774.40 |
|
Rutland |
– |
|
Salford |
89,485.40 |
|
Sandwell |
26,059.00 |
|
Sefton |
29,383.92 |
|
Sheffield |
300,284.78 |
|
Shropshire |
92,774.00 |
|
Slough |
16,578.00 |
|
Solihull |
247,751.00 |
|
Somerset |
144,238.40 |
|
South Gloucestershire |
90,356.73 |
|
South Tyneside |
86,296.60 |
|
Southampton |
42,207.80 |
|
Southend-on-Sea |
69,489.25 |
|
Southwark |
264,437.46 |
|
St. Helens |
17,909.80 |
|
Staffordshire |
248,092.20 |
|
Stockport |
37,947.87 |
|
Stockton-on-Tees |
42,182.60 |
|
Stoke-on-Trent |
131,143.67 |
|
Suffolk |
390,301.42 |
|
Sunderland |
165,319.14 |
|
Surrey |
302,995.50 |
|
Sutton |
52,715.00 |
|
Swindon |
58,167.50 |
|
Tameside |
127,575.59 |
|
Telford and Wrekin |
– |
|
Thurrock |
21,901.60 |
|
Torbay |
51,134.40 |
|
Tower Hamlets |
16,004.00 |
|
Trafford |
59,046.76 |
|
Wakefield |
260,394.68 |
|
Walsall |
30,730.00 |
|
Waltham Forest |
5,552.00 |
|
Wandsworth |
273,035.42 |
|
Warrington |
63,546.60 |
|
Warwickshire |
344,023.10 |
|
West Berkshire |
40,060.00 |
|
West Sussex |
400,439.03 |
|
Westminster |
38,383.88 |
|
Wigan |
30,686.85 |
|
Wiltshire |
69,687.65 |
|
Windsor and Maidenhead |
59,604.50 |
|
Wirral |
8,334.40 |
|
Wokingham |
51,360.90 |
|
Wolverhampton |
63,073.60 |
|
Worcestershire |
201,224.60 |
|
York |
188,133.45 |
|
TOTAL |
19,892,053.92 |
* Shropshire provides Telford and Wrekin’s Adoption Service
* Leicestershire County Council provides Rutland’s Adoption Service
* Cornwall make applications on behalf of the Isles of Scilly
* City of London have had no adoptions from care during the relevant period.