Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to increase access to electrical appliance repair and reuse skills training.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to delivering a world-leading skills system which is employer-focused, high-quality, and fit for the future.
The government is investing £3.8 billion more in further education and skills over this Parliament to ensure people can access high-quality training and education that addresses skills gaps and boosts productivity. The department are working with industry to shape our training offers, creating more routes into skilled employment in key sectors, including green jobs.
The department’s high-quality employer-designed apprenticeships, including the Level 3 Digital Device Repair Technician standard, also continue to support employers and apprentices to develop the skills needed in the green economy.
Employer-led standards have shaped the design of T Levels, which are new level 3 qualifications for 16 to 19 year olds that reflect modern industrial practice and include a 45 day industry placement. Engineering and Manufacturing T Levels in Maintenance, Installation and Repair were introduced in 2022, where students can choose to specialise in electrical and electronics.
The department’s reforms are strengthening higher and further education to help more people get good jobs and upskill and retrain throughout their lives and to improve national productivity.
The department is delivering reforms to increase uptake of high-quality higher technical education. Central to these reforms is the introduction of Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs).
HTQs are new or existing Level 4 and 5 qualifications (such as Higher National Diploma’s, Foundation Degrees and Diploma HE) that have been approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to indicate their alignment to employer-led occupational standards. These qualifications have been developed by awarding bodies in collaboration with employers and businesses so that students get the specific training, knowledge and skills required for their chosen career.
To date, 172 qualifications have been approved as HTQs across Digital, Construction and the Built Environment, Health & Science, Business and Administration, Education and Early Years, Engineering & Manufacturing and Legal, Finance and Accounting occupational routes, for first teach beginning between September 2022 and September 2024.
There are HTQs approved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related subjects, including Engineering and Manufacturing and Construction and the Built Environment that will help provide the skills needed for industries.
The department is investing up to £115 million of funding to help support the growth in higher technical provision across the country.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is his policy to create a UK visa scheme for Palestinian (a) families displaced in Gaza and (b) orphans from Gaza.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office is not currently considering establishing a separate route for Palestinians to come to the UK. In any humanitarian situation, the UK must consider its response in the round. Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK must do so via the existing range of routes available.
Immediate family members of British citizens, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK and do not have a current UK visa can apply under one of the existing family visa routes. UKVI is working closely with the FCDO in supporting family members of British nationals to exit from Gaza who require a visa, signposting the necessary steps and expediting appointments at the Visa Application Centre.
Any application for a UK visa will be assessed against the requirements of the Immigration Rules and our suitability requirements. Consideration will be given to compelling, compassionate and exceptional circumstances raised and may be taken into account where certain requirements are not met.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending regulations to require that cycle helmets be worn when hiring an e-bike.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department looked carefully at the case for making helmet-wearing mandatory for all cyclists in a comprehensive Cycling and Walking Safety Review in 2018. The review is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/governments-response-to-the-cycling-walking-investment-strategy-safety-review.
The review concluded that helmets should continue to be strongly recommended for people who cycle, but that they should remain a matter of personal choice rather than becoming a legal requirement. This is because the benefits of mandating cycle helmets would be likely to be outweighed by putting some people off cycling, thereby reducing the wider health and environmental benefits. The review did not specifically look at the case for mandating helmets only for those who hire e-cycles; but the Department expects the arguments for and against would be similar to the arguments for non-e-bikes.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase breastfeeding rates.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s vision, set out in The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, is that every parent and carer has access to high quality infant feeding services in their local area.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, we are investing £50 million into infant feeding services. This is enabling participating local authorities, including Haringey, to design and deliver a blended offer to ensure all mothers can meet their breastfeeding goals. The investment is being used to increase the range of advice and support available, including peer support. Local authorities are working with the voluntary sector to deliver services.
We are also using programme investment to increase the capacity of the National Breastfeeding Helpline, managed by the Breastfeeding Network. In March 2024, we launched a trial of extended helpline opening hours, so that support and advice is available at any time of the day or night, every day of the year.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department takes steps to support breastfeeding (a) support groups and (b) charities in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s vision, set out in The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, is that every parent and carer has access to high quality infant feeding services in their local area.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, we are investing £50 million into infant feeding services. This is enabling participating local authorities, including Haringey, to design and deliver a blended offer to ensure all mothers can meet their breastfeeding goals. The investment is being used to increase the range of advice and support available, including peer support. Local authorities are working with the voluntary sector to deliver services.
We are also using programme investment to increase the capacity of the National Breastfeeding Helpline, managed by the Breastfeeding Network. In March 2024, we launched a trial of extended helpline opening hours, so that support and advice is available at any time of the day or night, every day of the year.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support the Philippines in their enforcement of territorial waters.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK takes no sides in the sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea but we oppose actions which raise tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation. The UK's commitment is to international law, the primacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to freedom of navigation and overflight. The UK has continued to condemn unsafe, escalatory and dangerous actions by Chinese vessels against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea via our Ambassador in Manila, and in an FCDO Spokesperson statement. The UK continues to support regional partners through an enhanced programme of maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia which provides training and funding to strengthen regional capacity on maritime law and security.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to support freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK takes no sides in the sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea but we oppose actions which raise tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation. The UK's commitment is to international law, the primacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to freedom of navigation and overflight. The UK has continued to condemn unsafe, escalatory and dangerous actions by Chinese vessels against Philippine vessels in the South China Sea via our Ambassador in Manila, and in an FCDO Spokesperson statement. The UK continues to support regional partners through an enhanced programme of maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia which provides training and funding to strengthen regional capacity on maritime law and security.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department provides to NHS A&E departments to ensure staff are aware that A&E services are free of charge regardless of immigration status.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department issues guidance to the National Health Service on charging overseas visitors for some NHS services. This guidance is reviewed regularly and makes it clear that some services, including accident and emergency, are free at the point of delivery for everyone. NHS England works with Overseas Visitor Managers in NHS trusts to operationalise this guidance effectively.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether the Minister for Asia raised the trial and detention of Jimmy Lai with (a) Chinese and (b) Hong Kong officials during her recent visit.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Minister for the Indo-Pacific raised Jimmy Lai's case with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deng Li in Beijing and in Hong Kong with Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui during her visit to China and Hong Kong in April. Further details are available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-minister-for-indo-pacifics-key-meetings-in-mainland-china-and-hong-kong-sar-april-2024.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of families living in temporary accommodation in London.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.
The Government is committed to ensuring that families can move out of temporary accommodation and into stable accommodation, as well as reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs. That is why we are investing £1.2 billon through the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years and, recognising current pressures, including a £109 million top up for 2024/25, giving councils the funding they need to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner. Councils in London have been allocated over £198 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2024/25.
The Local Authority Housing Fund also enables councils in England to buy or build housing stock to provide a lasting affordable housing asset for the future. We recently announced a third round of funding, bringing the total funding to £1.2 billion.