The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on publishing a cycling and walking investment strategy.
Mr Robert Goodwill
I was delighted that the Infrastructure Act included a firm commitment to deliver a Cycling & Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). We will be ready to commence a formal consultation on this in Spring 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the comparative merits of universities using (a) postcodes and (b) household incomes to determine whether a student lives in a low-participation neighbourhood for the purposes of eligibility for bursaries; and if he will make a statement.
Joseph Johnson
Universities wishing to charge fees above the basic fee level must agree an access agreement with the independent Director of Fair Access, setting out the support they will give to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Director of Fair Access has said that universities should use any evidence they have about the impact of financial support on widening participation when making decisions on their support packages. They should also include details of the evidence used in their access agreements.
It is for universities themselves to decide the criteria for awarding bursaries and, in respect of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to set these out in their access agreement. Each university will decide its criteria taking into account the make-up of its own student body and its individual mission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the effect on children of court-ordered contact with a perpetrator of domestic abuse.
Caroline Dinenage
The family courts take the issue of domestic violence extremely seriously. Where domestic violence is an issue in the family court, judges follow guidance in Practice Direction 12J. This guidance makes clear that where violence or abuse is admitted or proven, any child arrangements order must protect the safety and wellbeing of the child and the parent with whom the child is living, and must not expose them to the risk of further harm. In particular, the court must be satisfied that any contact ordered with a parent who has perpetrated violence or abuse is safe and in the best interests of the child.
Where the court does conclude that direct contact is safe and beneficial for the child, it can impose conditions such as supervised contact to protect the child.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve supported accommodation for homeless young people in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) London Borough of Lewisham, (c) London and (d) England.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Government is committed to preventing homelessness and is taking specific action across England to support young homeless people into stable accommodation, education, training or employment.
We have invested £14 million to enable Crisis to support 10,000 vulnerable single people into privately rented tenancies, of which 41 projects are specifically targeted at young people.
Our £15 million Fair Chance Fund payment by results scheme is supporting 1,600 vulnerable homeless 18-25 year olds into accommodation, education, training and employment. Projects for the scheme are being delivered across England including Greenwich.
In addition, the Government is investing £40 million in Platform for Life, a lower rent shared accommodation programme to provide young homeless people with a stable base for work and study.
We have also implemented the ‘Youth Accommodation Pathway’ good practice model that supports young people to remain in the family home where it is safe to do so and offers tailored support for those who cannot. This has been disseminated across all English local authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children aged between four and seven in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) the London Borough of Lewisham and (c) London received free school meals in each of the last five academic years.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Prior to the 2014/15 academic year, the department did not collect data on the number of free school meals given out to pupils below school level. The department does not, therefore, hold information on receipt of free school meals by pupils of different ages for earlier years.
Data from the January 2015 school census at regional and local authority level can be found in table 8e of ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2015 statistics’[1]. Constituency level data can be obtained by aggregating the underlying school level data from the same publication. This is available in the ‘SFR16_2015_Schools_Pupils_UD’ file within the underlying data, which contains information on each school within constituencies and the number of infant pupils who took a free school meal on census day.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2015 to Question 7788, whom his Department has consulted on the matter of compensation packages for people affected by NHS contaminated blood.
Jane Ellison
The Department is considering wider reform of the ex-gratia financial assistance and other support for those affected with HIV and/or hepatitis C by infected NHS-supplied blood or blood products. We are doing this within the context of the spending review and in a way that is sustainable for the future.
In order to help develop the shape and structure of any new scheme, we plan to consult publicly on scheme reform soon. The Department has alrady engaged with representative groups of infected/affected individuals. These individuals were nominated from the Contaminated Blood Campaign, Tainted Blood and The Haemophilia Society. The event was held in a neutral venue and had an independent facilitator. A report from this one off event will be made public soon. Discussions are ongoing with other interested parties.
While we are working to establish a full and fair resolution, liability has not been established in the majority of cases, so it would not be appropriate to talk about payments in terms of compensation, particularly on the scale that some may envisage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have taken their own life in (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) the London Borough of Lewisham and (c) Greater London in each of the last three years.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent (a) meetings and (b) correspondence she has had on the setting up of buffer zones around abortion clinics; and if she will make a statement.
Mike Penning
I refer the Hon Member to the answers I gave to 5385 and 7247 on 13 July and 22 July 2015. We have also received correspondence from Members of Parliament on behalf of their constituents on this issue. The Home Office has not issued guidance to the police on this matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.44 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects of changes to child tax credits on the incidence of (a) in-work poverty and (b) homelessness.
Damian Hinds
The Government is making changes to Child Tax Credits which will help put welfare spending on a more sustainable path. The Government wants to move from a low wage, high tax, high welfare society to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society.
The changes will ensure that work will always pay more than a life on benefits, support will be focused more on those on the very lowest incomes and the system will be fairer upon those who pay for it, as well as those who benefit from it. Taking the welfare changes in the Summer Budget together with the record increases in the income tax personal allowance and the introduction of the New Living Wage, 8 out of 10 working households will be better off by 2017/18.
The Summer Budget publication also sets out illustrative examples (Table 1.8, p.40) of the combined impact of the changes to welfare, the personal allowance and the National Living Wage on individual households.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.110 of the Summer Budget 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of limiting backdating in housing benefit to four weeks on homelessness provision reliant on funding from that benefit.
Justin Tomlinson
No assessment has been made. Housing Benefit is not designed to provide support for homelessness funding – that is a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government and the devolved Governments in Scotland and Wales.