Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any decisions regarding the quantum and allocation of replacement EU grant funding under the Shared Prosperity Fund will be announced in time for charities and voluntary organisations to continue with existing programmes of work after 2020 when existing grant funding ends.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the importance of providing beneficiaries of EU funding with clarity on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. There are many detailed design questions to come, on which we welcome input from across the UK. It is only right that we take final decisions about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund after a cross-government Spending Review in 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have analysed the value and effectiveness of early intervention approaches in children’s social care; and if so, what actions they have taken as a result.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including giving the EIF almost £2 million in 2018-20, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The evidence on effectiveness in early intervention, including in children’s social care, is the core focus of the EIF.
The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes and suggested that, whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms.
In particular, the EIF highlights that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings. Published research on the value of early intervention can be found in the ‘Realising the potential of early intervention’ report, attached, which can also be found at the following link: https://www.eif.org.uk/report/realising-the-potential-of-early-intervention.
The value of early intervention is reflected in the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’, also attached. The guidance is clear on the fact that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later and that early intervention plays an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. This is why the government has recently confirmed funding for the Troubled Families Programme for 2020-21 as part of the one-year Spending Round, securing continued support for an early intervention programme which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple and high-cost problems.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have considered the causes of the increase in demand for children’s social care services; and if so, what actions they have taken as a result.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In preparation for the 2019 spending round, the department worked with the sector, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and HM Treasury, to understand the level of funding local government needs to meet demand and deliver statutory duties. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now announced that local government social care services are getting an additional £1 billion grant for adults and children in 2020-21. This is on top of the continuation of existing social care grants.
The department will continue to develop our understanding of demand in children’s social care as part of preparation for the next Spending Review. We are also working closely with MHCLG on the Review of Relative Needs and Resources to develop a robust, up-to-date approach to funding distribution for children's services at local government finance settlements.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether children’s social care services delivered and commissioned by local authorities will benefit from additional funding as a result of the Spending Review announcement.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Children’s social care services delivered and commissioned by local authorities will benefit from additional funding as a result of the Spending Review announcement. Local Government is getting an additional £1 billion grant for adult and children’s social care in 2020-21. This is on top of the continuation of existing social care grants.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made with plans for a proposed new link road to connect the M62 westbound to the M606; whether capital funding has been allocated for that link road; and whether a timetable for construction has been determined.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The M62/M606 Chain Bar scheme was included in the first Road Investment Strategy (2015-2020). Subsequently, work on the scheme was paused in October 2017 because it demonstrated low value for money, and therefore no capital funding has been allocated for the remainder of the first Roads Investment Strategy.
The Department is currently making decisions on the content of the second Road Investment Strategy which will include an affordable, deliverable investment plan for 2020 to 2025. We expect to announce final decisions on this strategy in the coming months, on which schemes will be included and their delivery timetables.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the statement, made on 8 June 2015 during consideration of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill by the then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, Baroness Williams of Trafford (HL Deb, cols 652–3), that “Any one-size-fits-all model is destined to failure. Every city and council is different. Through the decentralisation that the Bill will enable, each city will be empowered to forge its own path, to play to its own strengths and to find its own creative solutions to the particular challenges that they face" remains government policy.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Those comments of the noble Baroness set out one of the four key characteristics of the Government’s approach to devolution described in the Department’s written evidence to the Communities and Local Government Committee which was published on the inquiry page of the Committee’s web site along with its report “Devolution: the next five years and beyond. First Report of Session 2015-16” (HC 369).
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the criteria for the selection of successful bids for devolution deals that include a Metro Mayor (1) have been published, and (2) are available for public scrutiny.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government's consistent approach to devolution is that powers and budgets are devolved to a functional economic area and that there must be strong and accountable governance proportionate to the powers and budgets being devolved. These criteria were described in the Department’s written evidence to the Communities and Local Government Committee which was published on the inquiry page of the Committee’s website along with its report “Devolution: the next five years and beyond. First Report of Session 2015-16” (HC 369).
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will allocate any resources in the European Social Fund that remain unallocated by the end of the fund period in 2020; and if so, where such funding will be allocated.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Draft Withdrawal Agreement, as of March 2018, reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to participate in all EU programmes financed by the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 until their closure, subject to a negotiated withdrawal. The agreement means that, subject to final agreement, the UK will remain in the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds (including the European Social Fund) until programme closure, with funding agreed by end of the framework able to run through to the end of 2023.
At the mid-point of the programme we have spent funding on various positive activities that target inequality and support some of the hardest to help and most vulnerable people in society develop new skills and move towards, and into, work. This includes HMPPS’ co-financed projects that help offenders and ex-offenders access employment services assisting them to gain employment; Big Lottery co-financed projects that tackle poverty and promote social inclusion; and projects that enable people to engage successfully with programmes such as Traineeships and the Work and Health Programme.
To ensure that we make full use of available funds, we are developing an approach for any notional allocations which remain uncommitted or for which there are no firm plans, to be brought together towards the end of 2019. This approach will notably enable further funding to be committed in those areas which have the greatest demand. We will continue to work with our partners over the coming years to make the most effective and efficient use of available funding.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the analysis provided by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the teachers' pay award announced in July which states that “about 60 per cent of teachers will receive below-inflation awards of 2 per cent, or in the case of school leaders 1.5 per cent".
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
For all pay awards, the government considered the wider pressures on public spending and the need to ensure they were fair for both public sector workers and the taxpayer. The government provided for a significant uplift in starting salaries to focus on raising pay for the lowest paid teachers at the start of their careers.
43.5% of the teacher workforce, or the 199,000 teachers currently on the Unqualified Teacher and Main Pay Range ranges will see an uplift of 3.5% to their pay range. The remaining 56.5% will see an increase to their pay ranges of between 1.5% and 2%.
Arrangements for teachers’ pay have been fundamentally reformed over the last four years following recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. The freedoms the government have given headteachers over pay mean that there are no restrictions on increases within the minima and maxima of the national pay ranges. Schools are able to choose to give teachers a higher pay rise where this is appropriate to their particular local context and budget, subject to performance.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assumption they have made of the level of funding to be provided for public health in the context of plans for councils to retain 75 per cent business rates and of the Fair Funding Review of councils’ funding baselines.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The assumption of the level of funding to be provided for public health in the context of plans for local government to retain 75 per cent of business rates is based upon the indicative public health grant allocations for 2019/20. This was published by the Department of Health and Social Care in December 2017, and outlines the total value of the public health grant in 2019/20 as £3.1 billion. The exact funding level for 2020/21 will be determined by the next Spending Review, due in early 2019, ensuring budgets can be set out in advance for 2020 onwards.
Our Fair Funding Review of relative needs and resources is determining a new, up-to-date funding distribution for local government finance settlements, with a target implementation of 2020/21. Whilst we are committed to a simple and transparent formula, we are working closely with local government representatives to determine which services require a more sophisticated approach, including Public Health.