Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times for grant of probate.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow with higher levels of receipts during January to June 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has significantly increased staffing levels in Probate over the past year to help process applications faster. The training and upskilling of those new and existing staff have led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS have streamlined internal processes to cut down on administrative delay and reduce processing times. We are continuing to invest in improving digital systems and online filing capabilities so users can track progress more easily.
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to June 2023.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen mediation through the SEND Change Programme; and what outcome measures will be used to determine the success of those changes.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Mediation proposals are being tested through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Change Programme. These tests aim to develop a best practice model for delivering high-quality mediation provisions.
The proposals being tested include asking local authorities to: signpost new family friendly guidance on mediation in their local offer; take part in pre-mediation meetings; respond to requests for mediation with available dates within 5 working days; and, where possible, to use mediators listed on the Civil Mediation Council/College of Mediators SEND register.
The department will carefully consider the feedback and findings from the Change Programme. The department expects this to include data on mediation timeliness as well as feedback on outcomes and families' experiences of the process. Testing will also help to better understand the required capacity to deliver timely, high-quality mediation and to identify any delivery challenges.
The department is also testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they choose a placement. To illustrate choice, participating families will receive detailed and relevant information about placements that could be suitable to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected. The department will use the Change Programme as an opportunity to learn how tailored lists can best support family experiences as well as their potential to support local authorities to manage their placements and provision.
Finally, the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan template that local authorities on the Change Programme are now preparing to pilot was extensively coproduced with a wide range of SEND experts, including families themselves. Following this period of testing, the department will finalise and publish the EHC plan template.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reforms on (a) mediation and (b) choice of education placement for children and young people who have an Education, Health and Care plan are being tested as part of the SEND Change Programme.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Mediation proposals are being tested through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Change Programme. These tests aim to develop a best practice model for delivering high-quality mediation provisions.
The proposals being tested include asking local authorities to: signpost new family friendly guidance on mediation in their local offer; take part in pre-mediation meetings; respond to requests for mediation with available dates within 5 working days; and, where possible, to use mediators listed on the Civil Mediation Council/College of Mediators SEND register.
The department will carefully consider the feedback and findings from the Change Programme. The department expects this to include data on mediation timeliness as well as feedback on outcomes and families' experiences of the process. Testing will also help to better understand the required capacity to deliver timely, high-quality mediation and to identify any delivery challenges.
The department is also testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they choose a placement. To illustrate choice, participating families will receive detailed and relevant information about placements that could be suitable to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected. The department will use the Change Programme as an opportunity to learn how tailored lists can best support family experiences as well as their potential to support local authorities to manage their placements and provision.
Finally, the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan template that local authorities on the Change Programme are now preparing to pilot was extensively coproduced with a wide range of SEND experts, including families themselves. Following this period of testing, the department will finalise and publish the EHC plan template.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the new national template for Education, Health and Care plans that is being tested by SEND Change Programme Partnerships.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Mediation proposals are being tested through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Change Programme. These tests aim to develop a best practice model for delivering high-quality mediation provisions.
The proposals being tested include asking local authorities to: signpost new family friendly guidance on mediation in their local offer; take part in pre-mediation meetings; respond to requests for mediation with available dates within 5 working days; and, where possible, to use mediators listed on the Civil Mediation Council/College of Mediators SEND register.
The department will carefully consider the feedback and findings from the Change Programme. The department expects this to include data on mediation timeliness as well as feedback on outcomes and families' experiences of the process. Testing will also help to better understand the required capacity to deliver timely, high-quality mediation and to identify any delivery challenges.
The department is also testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they choose a placement. To illustrate choice, participating families will receive detailed and relevant information about placements that could be suitable to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected. The department will use the Change Programme as an opportunity to learn how tailored lists can best support family experiences as well as their potential to support local authorities to manage their placements and provision.
Finally, the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan template that local authorities on the Change Programme are now preparing to pilot was extensively coproduced with a wide range of SEND experts, including families themselves. Following this period of testing, the department will finalise and publish the EHC plan template.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the tracking of people with neurodiverse conditions on his Department's diversity monitoring forms.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Diversity monitoring forms, which include the Enterprise Resource Planning system used in the Cabinet Office, use question sets in line with the Office for National Statistics harmonised standards. This is considered best practice across government.
As set out in the Autumn statement, the audit of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) spending is coming to its conclusion and, subject to further work, the Government is streamlining EDI training and HR processes with a view to getting value for the taxpayer. As the Minister for the Cabinet Office, I will be outlining the final proposals in due course.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the access to work scheme to people with neurodiverse conditions.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We collaborate closely with external stakeholders, including charities and employer associations, to raise awareness of the support provided through Access to Work across all types of disability and health conditions. We ensure that Access to Work staff, Jobcentre work coaches, health professionals and advisory groups have the information and tools they need to advocate for the scheme. Recognising the need for clear accessible information, the Access to Work pages on gov.uk have been improved to provide clearer signposting for disabled people and employers.
We also promote Access to Work as part of the Disability Confident scheme.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the access to work scheme in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Regarding the information requested, the department has not made an estimate of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the Access to Work scheme in the last 12 months, as this data is not routinely collected.
Access to Work Official Statistics are published annually and include the number of people who received a payment for Access to Work by various customer characteristics, including primary medical condition. However, the publication does not include ‘neurodiverse condition’ as a primary medical condition.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of prioritising support for people with ADHD through the access to work scheme in the context of shortages in ADHD medication.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
No assessment has been made - Access to Work is not intended to act as clinical support or replacement for medication.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of removing DVLA services from the Post Office in March 2024 on (a) elderly people and (b) people without internet access.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Post Office Ltd currently provides a limited range of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) services and an extension to the current contract has been agreed, ensuring that DVLA services will be available at post offices until the end of March 2024.
The DVLA wants its customers to be able to access its services as quickly and as easily as possible and the role of front office counter services will form part of the considerations of future service offerings, utilising government agreements if necessary.
The vast majority of those licensing vehicles already do so online or via the DVLA’s automated telephone service, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The DVLA will continue to ensure that all customers are able to license their vehicles.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 April 2023 on Achieving Smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping, HCWS710, whether his Department has made an assessment of modelling on the potential effectiveness of each of the proposed steps in helping reduce smoking rates to 5% or less by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Annex 1 of ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ sets out the modelling used to forecast changes in smoking prevalence over time based on legislating for a smokefree generation. This modelling is preliminary and will continue to be further refined ahead of publication of a full impact assessment.
Annex 1 is available at the following link: