Tag: Steve Reed

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of (a) the level of funding required to cover local authority spending on social care in the period to 2020 and (b) how much the proposed two per cent increase in council tax intended for the social care levy will have raised in funding by 2020 if every authority implements that proposal to the full.

Mr Marcus Jones

Ahead of the Spending Review, the Local Government Association estimated the gap in adult social care funding to be £2.9 billion – arising from a growing elderly population and introduction of the National Living Wage.

At Spending Review the Government outlined a package of support worth up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their older and most vulnerable residents. That included giving authorities with social care responsibilities the flexibility to raise council tax in their area by up to 2% above the referendum threshold for each year between 2016-17 and 2019-20, to fund adult social care services. It is also providing £1500 million additional funding for local authorities to spend on adult social care by 2019-20, to be included in an improved Better Care Fund. Taken together, these measures provide significant resources to address the demographic pressures facing the social care system.

In terms of what the social care flexibility could raise, I refer the hon. Member to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark), announced to the House on 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of full-time members of staff in his Department work on the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

James Wharton

The Northern Powerhouse is a key ambition of this Government and requires input from officials across my Department and other Government Departments across a wide range of policy areas. This enables bottom-up ownership of the Northern Powerhouse agenda by Northern areas to drive evidence and strategic policymaking to ensure the North can influence, direct and benefit from the Northern Powerhouse, including through Devolution Deals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the methodology used by his Department to calculate the distribution of the Transitional Grant announced in the local government finance settlement 2016-17.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Secretary of State has published an explanatory note setting out the method of calculation of the Transition Grant. It is available to view at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/510870/Explanatory_note_on_the_allocation_of_the_Transition_Grant.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the funding gap between research spending on adult autism and other health conditions.

Nicola Blackwood

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including adult autism. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the potential impact of the proposal on patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Research currently funded by the NIHR includes a £0.8 million study entitled Supporting adults with high functioning autism and asperger syndrome: mapping and evaluating specialist autism team service models, and a £0.4 million study of guided self-help for depression in adults with autism spectrum disorders.

The Department’s Policy Research Programme has recently funded a project which aimed to synthesise both research evidence relevant to low-level support for people with high functioning autism and information on current practice and service provision in England. This research was undertaken by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York and the Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University College London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken in response to the recommendations and key findings of the National Audit Office’s report, Financial sustainability by local authorities 2014, published in November 2014; and what work his Department has carried out on improving its understanding of the financial stability of local authorities.

Mr Marcus Jones

The National Audit Office report, Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities made four key recommendations.

In line with my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State’s (Greg Clark) statement to the House on 17 December, Official Report, Columns 1722-1724, we have noted the criticism of the Public Accounts Committee and the DCLG select committee about previous inclusions of the existing Better Care Fund and the Public Health Grant in councils’ spending power. So we will follow their advice, and henceforth report only resources over which councils have discretion.

In relation to transformation projects, the overall local government finance system sets the conditions to achieve value for money through strong pressure to improve outcomes, whilst delivering services more efficiently

We have learnt from previous spending reviews. In preparation for the Spending Review 2015 officials had early and extensive engagement with all departments that rely on local government to deliver services. This enabled the department to build up a clear picture of whether local authorities core funding was sufficient to deliver their statutory services.

The Department monitors the financial stability of local authorities as part of its oversight of local government expenditure. Officials use the detailed data returns that provided by local authorities throughout the year and they gather intelligence through routine interactions with local authorities, representative bodies and other departments. This helps them to anticipate and act on potential problems.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Attorney General, what steps the CPS has taken to ensure that administrative errors do not prevent victims from giving evidence at trial.

Robert Buckland

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does all that it can to make sure that administrative errors do not prevent victims from giving evidence at trial.

The CPS introduced a national standard operating practice for magistrates’ court activity in May 2015. The process is digital and task-based and is designed to ensure consistency of approach and timing of activity in managing casework which will further reduce the risk of administrative errors being made. Testing of Crown Court standard operating practice commenced at the beginning of February 2016.

Joint police/CPS Witness Care Units (WCUs) provide a single point of contact for victims and witnesses and ensure they have access to tailored support to make sure they are able to attend court and give their best evidence. Most WCUs use the Witness Management System (WMS) to record the contact they have with victims and witnesses. WMS is a bespoke IT system designed to support WCUs in managing their cases, thereby reducing the risk of administrative errors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the potential effect on business rate revenue of converting all schools to academies.

Mr Marcus Jones

Loss of business rates income to local authorities under the existing 50% business rates retention scheme will be considered under the new burdens doctrine. This assesses how much new policies will cost local authorities and how they will be funded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has received a copy of the report by the Westminster Commission on Autism, entitled A Spectrum of Obstacles, published in July 2016; and what plans he has to implement that report’s recommendations.

David Mowat

The Department welcomes the Westminster Commission report as a valuable addition to the autism debate. Departmental Officials met with the co-ordinator of the report in July to discuss the report and work is underway to consider the report’s recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to conduct a revaluation of council tax bands in 2016.

Mr Marcus Jones

There are no plans to carry out a revaluation of council tax bands in 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what official domestic visits he has made since May 2015; and what the purpose of each such visit was.

Greg Clark

I have carried out a wide range of domestic visits since May 2015. Transparency data is recorded on the Department’s website.