Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities which are holding elections in May 2023 on the new voter identification requirements; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which those local authorities are adequately prepared to implement those requirements.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As set out previously, this department is working closely with local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations to support their successful implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.
In line with longstanding government policy, New Burdens funding has been provided.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many cases of possible voter personation have been investigated in each of the past ten years; and what estimate he has made of the number of voters likely to be unable to vote due to new voter identification requirements in the local elections to be held in May.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to urgent question response given on the floor of the House on 21 February 2023 (Official Report, HC, Volume 728, Column 138).
The Electoral Commission collects data from all UK police forces about allegations of electoral fraud and publishes an annual report on the numbers, types and outcomes of these allegations. The reports can be found on their website here.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of legal advice available to people making an asylum claim.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to ensuring that those seeking asylum in this country have access to publicly funded legal advice and representation.
Access to legal aid is a key part of a fair immigration system, which is why we are spending around £8m expanding access to legal aid, helping victims of modern slavery, individuals prioritised for removal and individuals appealing an age assessment decision.
The Legal Aid Agency keeps market capacity and the provision of services under constant review and takes immediate action when gaps appear, working with providers to ensure provision nationally.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government is taking steps to increase the availability of legal advice to people making an asylum claim.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to ensuring that those seeking asylum in this country have access to publicly funded legal advice and representation.
Access to legal aid is a key part of a fair immigration system, which is why we are spending around £8m expanding access to legal aid, helping victims of modern slavery, individuals prioritised for removal and individuals appealing an age assessment decision.
The Legal Aid Agency keeps market capacity and the provision of services under constant review and takes immediate action when gaps appear, working with providers to ensure provision nationally.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on the number of undocumented people living in the UK without immigration status.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We will publish an economic impact assessment in respect of the Bill in due course.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2022 to Question 37614 on Schools: Buildings, which schools in Leeds East constituency had at least one construction element in (a) condition grade C and (b) condition grade D when that data was collated; and which of those schools (a) have already received funding from the School Rebuilding Programme and (b) are expected to receive funding from the School Rebuilding Programme in the next two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Condition Data Collection (CDC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive data collection programmes in the UK’s public sector. It collected data on the building condition of government funded schools in England. It provides a robust evidence base to enable the Department to target capital funding for maintaining and rebuilding school buildings.
The key, high level findings of the CDC programme were published in May 2021 in the ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey: Key Findings’ report. This is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/989912/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Individual CDC reports have been shared with every school and their responsible body to use alongside their existing condition surveys to plan maintenance schedules and investment plans. The Department plans to publish detailed school level CDC data. The Department is still preparing the data and will publish it as soon as possible.
Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the Department. Our funding is directed both to maintaining the condition of the school estate and rebuilding schools. The Department has allocated over £13 billion for improving the condition of schools since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed this financial year.
The ten year School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is condition led. 400 of the 500 available places on the programme have been provisionally allocated. A list of these schools and the methodology used to select them is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
The following table shows the constituencies specified that have schools or colleges selected for the SRP:
Parliamentary constituency | Schools selected for SRP |
Huddersfield | Greenhead College, announced February 2021 |
Rochdale | Kingsway Park High School, announced February 2021 Littleborough Community Primary School, announced February 2021 |
The 239 schools announced in December 2022 will enter delivery at a rate of approximately 50 per year, over a five year period from 2023. The Department is currently undertaking due diligence on these schools prior to scheduling them, with schools prioritised according to the condition of their buildings, readiness to proceed, and efficiency of delivery. The scope and funding for each project will be confirmed following detailed feasibility studies and condition surveys of buildings.
Where a school identifies significant safety issues with a building, that cannot be managed within local resources, the Department considers additional support on a case-by-case basis. This includes applications for Urgent Capital Support (UCS) from eligible institutions. Schools eligible for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) can apply for UCS where there are urgent health and safety issues that threaten school closure and cannot wait until the next CIF bidding round.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for the NHS.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has and will continue to prioritise investment into the NHS. We worked closely with NHS leadership to agree £3.3 billion per year of new funding for the NHS in England at the Autumn Statement. This is on top of the historic funding settlement that the NHS received at the last spending review. All in all, The NHS resource budget in England will increase to £165.9 billion in 2024-25, up from £123.8 billion in 2019-20.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of GDP was spent on health and social care in each year since 2010.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the overall Department of Health and Social Care’s spend in England as a proportion of England’s GDP in each year. This does not include spend on adult social care funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, funding for children’s social care funded by the Department for Education or spend on social care funded from council tax.
Financial year | Spend |
2010/11 | 7.3% |
2011/12 | 7.2% |
2012/13 | 7.1% |
2013/14 | 7.1% |
2014/15 | 7.0% |
2015/16 | 7.0% |
2016/17 | 6.9% |
2017/18 | 6.9% |
2018/19 | 6.9% |
2019/20 | 7.3% |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the cumulative number of years of experience held by all NHS nursing staff in each year since 2010.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of extending the £20 Universal Credit uplift to legacy benefit claimants during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made and it would incur disproportionate costs to make an estimate at this stage.