Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of childcare providers that have closed in Blackpool South constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England.
Blackpool South constituency is within the area covered by Blackpool Council. The department does not hold data for the number of childcare providers that have either opened or closed in the Blackpool South constituency, specifically, or by individual years.
The department continually monitors the sufficiency of childcare in local authorities, and has regular contact with all local authorities in England, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Blackpool Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the adequacy of availability of childcare places in Blackpool South constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the government’s Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By 2027/28, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England.
Blackpool South constituency is within the area covered by Blackpool Council. The department does not hold data for the number of childcare providers that have either opened or closed in the Blackpool South constituency, specifically, or by individual years.
The department continually monitors the sufficiency of childcare in local authorities, and has regular contact with all local authorities in England, about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ‘Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.
If Blackpool Council report any sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues, and where needed, supports them with any specific requirements through its childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of Education, Health and Care Plans were issued outside the 20 week timeframe in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency in the latest period for which that data is available.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to the answer of 19 January 2024 to Questions 9903 and 9904.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average waiting time for an Education, Health and Care Plan in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to the answer of 19 January 2024 to Questions 9903 and 9904.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the average waiting time for an EHC Plan in Blackpool South constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes annual data on the number and proportion of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans issued within 20 weeks, in each calendar year, excluding exceptions at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
EHC plans are administered at the local authority level and therefore figures are not available for Parliamentary constituencies. The department does not collect data on the average time taken.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of education, health and care plans are issued outside the 20 week timeframe in Blackpool South constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes annual data on the number and proportion of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans issued within 20 weeks, in each calendar year, excluding exceptions at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
EHC plans are administered at the local authority level and therefore figures are not available for Parliamentary constituencies. The department does not collect data on the average time taken.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many care experienced 16 and 17 year olds have been placed in unregistered accommodation in Blackpool South constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect this data by Parliamentary constituency area.
The latest information on placements for looked after children, relating to the year ending 31 March 2023, was published on 16 November 2023 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many looked after children from Blackpool South constituency are placed (a) outside and (b) 20 miles or more from the local authority area.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not collect this data by Parliamentary constituency area.
The latest information on placements for looked after children, relating to the year ending 31 March 2023, was published on 16 November 2023 in the annual statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the number and proportion of integrated care boards offering three full cycles of IVF in line with NICE guidelines as of 9 January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, the Government published our in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published integrated care board (ICB) policies on their local fertility treatment offer to keep track nationally of implementation progress.
From the data compiled from published ICB commissioning policy statements, currently three out of 42 ICBs provide three full IVF cycles in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence fertility guidelines.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average waiting time for an education, health and care plan in Kingswood constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes annual data on the number and proportion of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans issued within 20 weeks, in each calendar year, excluding exceptions, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
EHC plans are administered at the local authority level and therefore figures are not available for parliamentary constituencies. The department does not collect data on the average time taken.
The department and NHS England will continue to work with local authorities to monitor and improve the quality, consistency and experience of completing EHC needs assessments, as well as the issuing of completed plans.