Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to publicise the illegality of driving under the influence of cannabis; and what evidence is available of the effectiveness of this messaging.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
THINK! is the government’s flagship road safety campaign, playing a vital role in tackling the attitudes and behaviours that lead to road casualties.
A £1M drug drive campaign ran in February 2015 to support the introduction of new legislation and raise awareness of the new laws amongst drivers. The campaign ran again in 2016, with a £1.3M investment, including a reminder to drivers on the presence of roadside testing. Some additional social media communications, focused on festival goers, ran in the summer of 2017.
- The 2016 campaign achieved good levels of recognition (73% awareness), driven by the “Paranoia” film, and overall recognition was higher than in 2015
- The “Paranoia” film communicated a general anti-drug drive message, while the online and print elements complemented this by showing the roadside swab which acted as a deterrent and improved credibility
- Knowledge of drug driving penalties increased over the campaign period, and these practical aspects were deemed more concerning than the emotional repercussions of being caught and convicted of drug driving
- As drug driving is perceived as a niche behaviour (with less of the audience knowing someone who drug drives when compared with other road safety behaviours), the campaign continued to lack relevance among some young male drivers
There are a number of issues and behaviours that warrant communications investment and spend is prioritised according to the following key principles:
- The scale of the issue
- Ability of communications to influence behaviour
- Public priorities
- Value for money
- Policy priorities and changes in supporting legislation
- Wider trends, for example the impact of the pandemic
THINK! communications for the next three -year period are currently being planned and will include a review on the status of drug driving within that planning and prioritisation process.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take, if any, to increase the number of care leavers at high tariff higher education institutions.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We have published guidance for higher education (HE) providers, setting out areas where care leavers are likely to need additional support, including examples of the types of additional support that have been put in place, drawing on best practice from across the sector. We have also introduced the Care Leaver Covenant, which enables organisations, including HE providers, to make offers of support to care leavers.
The National Network for the Education of Care Leavers has developed the Quality Mark: a developmental accreditation process for universities and colleges to demonstrate their support for the inclusion and success of care experienced students. The Quality Mark has a focus on getting the right information to students on academic and pastoral support available to them, along with tailored mentoring and financial advice.
As autonomous bodies independent from government, HE providers are responsible for their own admissions decisions. However, the department encourages HE providers to put the interests of students at the heart of their decision-making, including providing the appropriate support for care leavers.
All HE providers in the approved (fee cap) category of the Office for Students’ (OfS) register are required to have an access and participation plan (APP) agreed by the Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS. In order to be approved, APPs must represent a credible, ambitious strategy to reduce gaps in access, participation and attainment for disadvantaged and under-represented groups.
As care leavers are underrepresented within HE, APPs will often address specific interventions by the provider for improving equality of opportunity for care-experienced individuals. This may take the form of targeted outreach, additional pastoral, accommodation or financial support while studying, or support through mentorship or buddy schemes.
Care leavers attending HE courses are treated as independent students when their entitlement to living costs is assessed. This means that in nearly all cases they will qualify for the maximum loan for living costs. Care leavers undertaking HE also qualify for a £2,000 HE bursary from their local authority. Additional bursaries are offered by some HE providers for care leavers in higher education.
The enclosed attachment contains the department’s analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record showing the number of care leavers who entered courses at English HE providers in each academic year from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Coverage refers to entrants domiciled in England prior to study and care leavers are defined as codes 01 and 04 in the HESA care leaver collection documentation. Further information can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20051/a/careleaver.
The summary table below shows the number of care leavers who entered courses at high tariff[1] English HE providers in each year, along with total care leavers entering courses at all HE providers. A full breakdown by institution can be found in the attachment.
Academic year | Care leavers entrants at high tariff providers | Care leavers entrants at all providers |
2018/19 | 435 | 3,570 |
2019/20 | 505 | 3,895 |
2020/21 | 580 | 4,290 |
We will take account of the recommendations from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which is due to report shortly, when assessing what further support can be provided to increase the number of care leavers who attend university.
[1] The tariff grouping used here is the same as that which the Office for Students defined in Annex A (pg 20) of their technicaly guidance, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6591e671-624a-4ebf-a5fb-1be904a5eb9f/technical-gudiance-to-accompany-provider-modelling-finalforweb.pdf.
They are based on the average UCAS tariff score of their young (aged under 21) UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 academic years. Providers in the top third of the ranking by average tariff score form the ‘High tariff’ group.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what data they collect on the average level of educational attainment for looked after children (1) at Key Stage 5, and (2) in post-16 education.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold information centrally on the types of qualifications looked-after children study and complete beyond key stage 4. The department does hold and publish information on pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 in the 2018/2019 academic year and reports on their destinations in the following academic year (2019/2020).
The figures show in the 2019/20 academic year, 5,450 children looked after were in a sustained education destination in the year following the end of key stage 4. Of these, 2,910 were in further education, 860 were in a school sixth form or sixth form college and 1,240 were in some other form of education. The full figures can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d583af1d-ad7d-4f1f-990b-2b27586d6c69.
The department does not hold information on the educational attainment of looked after children beyond key stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many looked after children (1) started, and (2) completed, A-Level courses in each of the last three years for which the data are available.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold information centrally on the types of qualifications looked-after children study and complete beyond key stage 4. The department does hold and publish information on pupils who were at the end of key stage 4 in the 2018/2019 academic year and reports on their destinations in the following academic year (2019/2020).
The figures show in the 2019/20 academic year, 5,450 children looked after were in a sustained education destination in the year following the end of key stage 4. Of these, 2,910 were in further education, 860 were in a school sixth form or sixth form college and 1,240 were in some other form of education. The full figures can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/d583af1d-ad7d-4f1f-990b-2b27586d6c69.
The department does not hold information on the educational attainment of looked after children beyond key stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many care leavers entered high tariff higher education institutions in each of the last three years for which the data are available; and how many entered each institution.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The enclosed attachment contains the department’s analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record showing the number of care leavers who entered courses at English higher education providers (HEPs) in each academic year from 2018/19 to 2020/21. Coverage refers to entrants domiciled in England prior to study and care leavers are defined as codes 01 and 04 in the HESA care leaver collection documentation. Further information can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c20051/a/careleaver.
The summary table below shows the number of care leavers who entered courses at high tariff[1] English HEPs in each year, along with total care leavers entering courses at all HEPs. A full breakdown by institution can be found in the attachment.
Academic year | Care leavers entrants at high tariff providers | Care leavers entrants at all providers |
2018/19 | 435 | 3,570 |
2019/20 | 505 | 3,895 |
2020/21 | 580 | 4,290 |
[1] The tariff grouping used here is the same as that which the Office for Students defined in Annex A (pg 20) of their technical guidance, available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/6591e671-624a-4ebf-a5fb-1be904a5eb9f/technical-gudiance-to-accompany-provider-modelling-finalforweb.pdf.
They are based on the average UCAS tariff score of their young (aged under 21) UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 academic years. Providers in the top third of the ranking by average tariff score form the 'High tariff' group.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS of remedial surgical interventions following surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria, and improve health, quality of life and social functioning in people who have gender dysphoria, in each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria commissioned by the National Health Service are recorded in three categories: masculinising genital surgery; feminising genital surgery; and masculinising chest surgery. The following table shows the number of surgical interventions in each category and the associated costs in 2019/20.
Surgical interventions Cost
Masculinising genital surgery 573 £4,892,000
Feminising genital surgery 528 c. £8,944,381*
Masculinising chest surgery Not known*
Note:
*The cost of feminising genital and masculinising chest surgery is combined as some surgical providers offer both interventions therefore the costs are not recorded separately in data held by NHS England. The combined cost does not include the full cost of masculinising chest surgery, as this was partially funded by clinical commissioning groups in 2019/20.
Information on the number of surgical interventions for feminising genital surgery and masculinising chest surgery in 2020/21 is not currently held centrally. However, this data is expected to be available within the first quarter of 2022/23. While the allocated budget for specialist surgical procedures on the gender dysphoria pathway in 2020/21 was £19 million, actual spend can only be determined once the data on surgical numbers is available. The information requested on revision surgery is not available in the format requested this procedure was not recorded via a separate pathway until October 2020.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many remedial surgical interventions were commissioned by the NHS following surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria, and improve health, quality of life and social functioning in people who have gender dysphoria, in each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria commissioned by the National Health Service are recorded in three categories: masculinising genital surgery; feminising genital surgery; and masculinising chest surgery. The following table shows the number of surgical interventions in each category and the associated costs in 2019/20.
Surgical interventions Cost
Masculinising genital surgery 573 £4,892,000
Feminising genital surgery 528 c. £8,944,381*
Masculinising chest surgery Not known*
Note:
*The cost of feminising genital and masculinising chest surgery is combined as some surgical providers offer both interventions therefore the costs are not recorded separately in data held by NHS England. The combined cost does not include the full cost of masculinising chest surgery, as this was partially funded by clinical commissioning groups in 2019/20.
Information on the number of surgical interventions for feminising genital surgery and masculinising chest surgery in 2020/21 is not currently held centrally. However, this data is expected to be available within the first quarter of 2022/23. While the allocated budget for specialist surgical procedures on the gender dysphoria pathway in 2020/21 was £19 million, actual spend can only be determined once the data on surgical numbers is available. The information requested on revision surgery is not available in the format requested this procedure was not recorded via a separate pathway until October 2020.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost to the NHS of surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria, and improve health, quality of life and social functioning in people who have gender dysphoria, in each year since 2019.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria commissioned by the National Health Service are recorded in three categories: masculinising genital surgery; feminising genital surgery; and masculinising chest surgery. The following table shows the number of surgical interventions in each category and the associated costs in 2019/20.
Surgical interventions Cost
Masculinising genital surgery 573 £4,892,000
Feminising genital surgery 528 c. £8,944,381*
Masculinising chest surgery Not known*
Note:
*The cost of feminising genital and masculinising chest surgery is combined as some surgical providers offer both interventions therefore the costs are not recorded separately in data held by NHS England. The combined cost does not include the full cost of masculinising chest surgery, as this was partially funded by clinical commissioning groups in 2019/20.
Information on the number of surgical interventions for feminising genital surgery and masculinising chest surgery in 2020/21 is not currently held centrally. However, this data is expected to be available within the first quarter of 2022/23. While the allocated budget for specialist surgical procedures on the gender dysphoria pathway in 2020/21 was £19 million, actual spend can only be determined once the data on surgical numbers is available. The information requested on revision surgery is not available in the format requested this procedure was not recorded via a separate pathway until October 2020.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria, and improve health, quality of life and social functioning in people who have gender dysphoria, have been commissioned by the NHS in each year since 2019; and of these, how many were (1) masculinising genital surgery, and (2) feminising genital surgery.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Surgical interventions intended to reduce gender dysphoria commissioned by the National Health Service are recorded in three categories: masculinising genital surgery; feminising genital surgery; and masculinising chest surgery. The following table shows the number of surgical interventions in each category and the associated costs in 2019/20.
Surgical interventions Cost
Masculinising genital surgery 573 £4,892,000
Feminising genital surgery 528 c. £8,944,381*
Masculinising chest surgery Not known*
Note:
*The cost of feminising genital and masculinising chest surgery is combined as some surgical providers offer both interventions therefore the costs are not recorded separately in data held by NHS England. The combined cost does not include the full cost of masculinising chest surgery, as this was partially funded by clinical commissioning groups in 2019/20.
Information on the number of surgical interventions for feminising genital surgery and masculinising chest surgery in 2020/21 is not currently held centrally. However, this data is expected to be available within the first quarter of 2022/23. While the allocated budget for specialist surgical procedures on the gender dysphoria pathway in 2020/21 was £19 million, actual spend can only be determined once the data on surgical numbers is available. The information requested on revision surgery is not available in the format requested this procedure was not recorded via a separate pathway until October 2020.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they have provided in total for family hubs since 2020; and how much of this has been allocated, broken down by fund.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
At Budget, the government announced £82 million to create a network of family hubs. This is part of a wider £300 million package to transform services for parents, carers, babies and children in half of council areas across England.
Further information on funding profiles and how funding will be allocated will be made available in due course.