Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with international partners about securing Red Cross access to hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government strongly supports and advocates for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) being given access to hostages. Ministers and senior officials have discussed this in multiple meetings with ICRC officials in the UK and overseas. In line with their mandate, the ICRC has called for the immediate release of all the hostages and for access to them whilst in captivity. So far, the ICRC has been denied access to the remaining hostages in Gaza. The ICRC has no means to compel conflict parties to provide it access and requires agreement from the respective parties to the conflict to visit hostages. The ICRC facilitated the release of 105 hostages as part of the deal agreed between Hamas and Israel in November 2023. The Government continues to call for a humanitarian pause to allow for the release of the remaining hostages.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government in what format Armed Forces personnel receive advice about their pensions when they leave the services.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The single Services provide holistic support to their respective leavers and signpost to the services available to them. Although individual units may have their own bespoke processes, the Tri Service Resettlement policy (JSP 534) available at the link below explains the minimum level of support.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/tri-service-resettlement-manual-jsp-534
All Service leavers are given the opportunity to attend a Financial Aspects of Resettlement Brief by the Forces Pension Society. Briefs can be attended at any point in a Service person's career, however priority is given to Service leavers with nine months or less to discharge. Briefings are tailored, where numbers permit, to different rank groups, and spouses are welcome to attend.
All Service leavers are issued a Service Leavers' Guide designed to provide help and advise on a range of topics to assist with planning the transition to civilian life, and contains pension information and signposting. This was last reviewed in September 2023 and can be found at the following link:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651c1168e4e658000d59d888/Service_Leavers_Guide_-_Sep_23.pdf
On discharge, Service leavers also receive a letter from the Joint Personnel Administration Centre (JPAC) detailing their pension entitlement and when this will be paid.
Further information and guidance relating to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) is readily available on gov.uk at the following link:
www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans
The Armed Forces Pension Calculator can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/armed-forces-pension-calculator
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a time limit within which former Armed Forces personnel can transfer their service pension to a new pensions provider.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) benefits can be transferred out up until 12 months before the date the member reaches pension benefit age.
If a member wishes to transfer their AFPS benefits into another Public Sector scheme, this must be done within 12 months of them joining the new Public Sector Scheme.
Both the Pension Schemes Act 2015 and the Taxation of Pensions Act 2014 stipulates the rule that prevents transfers from unfunded public service defined benefit schemes (such as the AFPS) to funded defined contribution schemes in the UK or abroad.
Once an AFPS pension is in payment, this cannot be transferred out.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current level of training on autism that teachers receive; and what consideration they have given to introducing whole school staff training on autism.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer of 22 February 2024 to Question 14564.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing national guidance on how to adapt school environments to support the needs of autistic pupils.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer of 12 February 2024 to Question 11638.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Autistic Society's Cullum Centres; and what consideration they have given to rolling out the Cullum model in mainstream schools across the country.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department works closely with the National Autistic Society (NAS) and is aware of the Cullum Centres and the evaluation currently being undertaken by Goldsmiths, University of London, but has made no assessments of the Centres to date. The department engages regularly with NAS and other autism stakeholders to understand the issues faced by autistic children and young people and to understand possible solutions.
The department supports local authorities to provide sufficient school places for all children, including autistic children, through capital funding. The department has published over £1.5 billion of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. This funding is allocated to local authorities to support them to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with autism, or who require alternative provision (AP). This funding forms part of the department's transformational investment of £2.6 billion in new high needs provision between 2022 and 2025 and is on top of the department’s ongoing delivery of new special and AP free schools.
Reaching over 70% of schools and further education (FE) colleges, the Universal Services programme helps the school and FE workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND earlier and more effectively. The programme will also help the schools to successfully prepare children and young people for adulthood, including employment. Universal offers online training, professional development groups, bespoke school and college improvement projects, sector-led research, autism awareness training and an embedded focus on preparation for adulthood, including employer-led webinars for college staff. The programme commenced in May 2022 and runs until Spring 2025, with a budget of nearly £12 million.
The department has begun collecting data from local authorities on available capacity in special schools, SEND units and resourced provision, along with corresponding forecasts of demand for these places. This data will help the department to effectively support local authorities to fulfil their statutory duty to provide sufficient specialist places.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the budget for the Access to Work scheme has been underspent, and if so, by how much, in each of the past five years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work grant expenditure has been underspent against budget in three of the past five years.
£m | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
Budget (mid-year adjusted) | 117.1 | 145.3 | 108.6 | 151.9 | 178.3 |
Full year outturn | 124.5 | 146.8 | 104.5 | 146.5 | 177.3 |
(Over) / Underspend | (7.4) | (1.4) | 4.1 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
Other than years impacted by the Pandemic, the grant expenditure has increased year on year.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any delays, and the reasons for such delays, in paying funds to employment support providers who have successfully applied for help from the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated average time span from application to payment for employment support providers seeking help from the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many employment support providers have received support from the Access to Work scheme in each of the past five years.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not routinely collect data on the funding provided directly to employment support providers. Access to Work funding is, in most cases, paid directly to the customer, unless the customer requests that the funding is paid directly to an employment support provider.
Access to work has recruited additional staff to ensure a high level of customer service. The digital payments portal was introduced in June 2023 and is available for all customers that choose to claim online.
Access to Work has received significant increase in payment claims over the last year and have recruited new staff to meet the increased demand and reduce the time it takes to make payments.