Tag: Tom Blenkinsop

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of bus services in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Teesside.

Andrew Jones

The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions about the provision of subsidised services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.

The Government is committed to supporting bus services in England. We are taking forward a Buses bill to provide local authorities with the tools they need to improve local bus services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Lord Heseltine’s report, Tees Valley: Opportunity unlimited, published on 7 June 2016, what assessment her Department has made of the feasibility of a University Technical College or Institute of Technology in the Tees Valley area.

Nick Boles

Lord Heseltine’s report recommends that, following the Tees Valley Post-16 Area Review, universities and local employers should consider whether technical based education provision in the form of either a University Technical College (UTC) or Institute of Technology (IoT) may help to address skill gaps and contribute to meeting the future needs of business.

The Government is committed to establishing a UTC or technical academy within reach of every city. As with other new academies, proposals to establish new UTCs and technical academies are submitted to the Department twice a year. The Department for Education would consider any proposals from the Tees Valley area as it would from elsewhere. The strongest applications that demonstrate a clear need and demand for their chosen specialisms in their local area are approved to develop their plans further.

The Baker Dearing Educational Trust is funded by the Department to support applicant groups and can be contacted to discuss future UTC proposals. The process for establishing IoTs has not started yet, so no assessment has been made regarding the feasibility of an Institute in the Tees Valley area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the British steel industry to future transport infrastructure projects in the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department has been working closely with BIS, Cabinet Office and industry to consider how Government can help the UK steel industry meet the challenges it has been facing.

The bulk of infrastructure projects within the Department are being delivered by the Department’s Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB), in particular, Network Rail, Highways England and HS2. Cabinet Office guidance on the approach to steel procurement has been circulated to the Accounting Officers of each ALB and procurement and commercial teams within these organisations are aware of the need to:

• Signal the future pipeline of requirements on steel sourcing and best practice in pre-procurement market engagement;

• Ensure there is clear visibility of opportunities at sub-contractor level where the source of steel has not been defined by a Tier 1 contractor;

• Assess the health and sustainability of potential suppliers in the supply chain at selection stage, including compliance with relevant health and safety and employment legislation;

• Ensure that the price or cost calculations are based on an assessment of the whole-life cost and not lowest purchase price;

• Take account of appropriate social and environmental impacts at the award stage where they are linked to the subject of the contract.

As with the rest of the materials for construction, steel is procured by the supply chain for the majority of our infrastructure projects. The Department and its ALBs are complying with the Cabinet Office guidance and ensuring that, for instance, where appropriate, assessment of social and environmental impacts are considered as part of the evaluation criteria. The Department and its ALBs also positively encourage bids from British companies and are holding discussions with UK suppliers to make sure they are in the best possible position to win contracts.

Activity currently underway is as follows:

Network Rail

• Network Rail buys approximately 120,000 tonnes of steel for rails per annum directly from British Steel in Scunthorpe, which is around 96% of Network Rail’s total aggregated demand by value.

Highways England

• Highways England does not procure steel materials directly, however over the last five years Highways England has used a category management framework as the main method of procuring steel gantries for the Strategic Road Network.

• To date circa 95% of this steel has been drawn from British Steel in the UK, which equates to approximately 11,000 tonnes of steel. The approximate framework spend is £30 million, of which about 35% will be steel procurement i.e. raw materials, and will equate to around £10.5 million.

Crossrail

• The 57km of steel required for the rails of Crossrail’s brand new central tunnel section is being sourced entirely from British Steel in Scunthorpe. This equates to 7,000 tonnes of steel.

• Crossrail Ltd does not directly procure steel as this is undertaken by their tier 1 contractors and their supply chains. However, Crossrail keeps an oversight of its critical contracts and estimates that 85% of its supply chain providing steel to the project is UK based.

HS2

• It is estimated that HS2 will need approximately 2 million tonnes of steel over the next 10 years. The procurement for the main civil engineering works between Euston and Birmingham is now underway with procurements for the stations and rail systems expected to commence later this year and for rolling stock in early 2017. Subject to Royal Assent, the project will start construction in 2017.

• As with the rest of the materials for construction, steel is procured by the supply chain. HS2 positively encourages bids from British companies and is already holding discussions with UK suppliers to make sure they are in the best possible position to complete for contracts for the steel that will be needed for track, concrete reinforcements, overhead wires and other structures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to amend the Lifetime ISA proposal so that the 25 per cent government bonus can be used towards a deposit on a first home.

Jane Ellison

As is usual with new financial products, the Government continues to work closely with industry on the finer details of the policy, including on the operation of withdrawals for first house purchase. Ministers will provide a statement on the position in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of children who rely on public transport to get to school in (a) England and (b) the North East.

Caroline Dinenage

The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of children who use public transport for their home to school journeys. While we do oversee the school transport policy and legislative framework which determines the duties of local authorities and we support this through the Local Government Finance Settlement, we do not prescribe the type of arrangements or modes of transport that can be used locally.

The Department for Transport does however, undertake an annual National Travel Survey which includes data on the modes of school travel. The 2015 survey, including regional level data, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-survey-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the White Paper on supporting people with health conditions and disabilities to get into work.

Priti Patel

As announced in the Spending Review, the Government will publish a White Paper in 2016 that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medical assessors and people considering appeals have sufficient knowledge of muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

Justin Tomlinson

The assessment for Personal Independence Payment is carried out by registered health professionals who have specialist training in assessing the impact of disability and health conditions on an individual’s functional ability, including conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

All health professionals receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions, and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions, affect their ability to perform day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment they routinely refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar.

The Department’s Decision Makers and Appeal Writers receive training in health conditions to assess each case individually using the evidence provided by the claimant and the Health Professional, and can call on additional support from a Health Professional as necessary.

In all Personal Independence Payment assessments consideration is given to whether claimants can complete activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period.

We have also worked closely with medical experts and charities to make significant improvements to the Work Capability Assessment, including strengthening the training programme to put more emphasis on making sure that assessors do not just focus on how someone manages on a ‘good day’ but also consider their ‘bad days’ if they have a health issue that fluctuates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to support the Teesside Carbon Capture Storage Collective since the announcement of the reduction in government funds in that sector.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department of Energy and Climate Change continues to work closely with Teesside, including through providing funding to the Collective for further work on how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), carbon usage, hydrogen production and other technologies could reduce carbon emissions from industrial processes.

This support follows £1m previously awarded to Teesside as part of the 2013 Tees Valley City Deal, to undertake engineering and commercial studies into the scope for industrial CCS for the Tees Valley industrial cluster, and the October 2015 Tees Valley Devolution Deal, which committed DECC to work with Tees Valley to explore how it can continue to develop its industrial CCS proposals.

Lord Heseltine’s recent report “Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited” welcomed the support that the Government is continuing to provide on industrial CCS in the Tees Valley area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports of sexual offences Cleveland Police received in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those reports led to prosecutions.

Brandon Lewis

The number of sexual and violence against the person offences recorded by Cleveland police from 2011/12 to 2015/16 are given in the table.

The Home Office does not hold data on the number of prosecutions resulting from offences recorded by the police. Information on crimes assigned a charge or summons outcome is available from April 2014, when data on outcomes were first collected linked specifically to their associated crimes. Previously, outcomes data supplied by forces related to the volume recorded regardless of when the crime was committed. The new method of collection was implemented to provide greater transparency and highlight how each crime recorded in any period is resolved by the police.

The table shows the proportion of sexual and violent offences that resulted in a police charge or summons in 2014/15 and 2015/16. In addition, it shows the proportion of each offence group that has not been assigned an outcome. This is important to note, in particular for sexual offences, because length of investigations mean that the most recent year has more crimes that have yet to be assigned an outcome than the previous year.

Not all charges or summonses will lead to a prosecution, the Ministry of Justice hold and publish data on prosecutions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider changing adult learning funding to fund British Sign Language courses for families of children who are born deaf.

Robert Halfon

This Department funds British Sign Language (BSL) qualifications in England through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). In the current economic climate, our funding must be focussed where it can have the most impact, so we support young adults aged 19 and over to gain the skills and qualifications they need to get work or to progress in their chosen career.

Learners who need lip reading skills to access work or stay in work are eligible to receive public funding through the Skills Funding Agency, and we are introducing changes that will make BSL qualifications acceptable, for the purposes of apprenticeship completion requirements, as an alternative to Functional Skills English for apprentices whose first language is BSL.

Colleges and training providers are independent and autonomous bodies and are responsible for their course provision. They are required to respond to the needs of learners, employers and communities to ensure that provision meets the need of local people, and we would expect every college or training organisation that receives public investment to consider offering lip-reading and sign language provision if there is a demand for it locally. Our more flexible adult education budget funding rules for 2016/17 enable broader types of learning activities that re-engage people in learning, build confidence, and enhance well-being.