Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2024 to Question 15040 on Autism and Learning Disability: Community Care, whether the funding flows task and finish group have developed plans to (a) fund support effectively across the health and social care system and (b) improve oversight of expenditure on the Building the Right Support Action Plan.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The aim of the Funding Flows task and finish group was to look at how to improve national oversight of the National Health Service and local authority spend on services and support for people with a learning disability and autistic people who are, or are at risk of being, admitted to mental health inpatient services.
The Funding Flows task and finish group has been looking at relevant data currently collected for the NHS and local government, to explore whether it could be brought together to help meet this objective. The final report from the Funding Flows task and finish group will be shared with the Building the Right Support Delivery Board in due course.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on the potential merits of including the voice as one of the eligible instruments for Orchestral Tax Relief.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is not currently considering expanding the scope of eligible instruments to include the voice, however the government keeps the tax system under review.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has committed to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for Music Hubs this academic year.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has secured £1.25 billion to support eligible settings with the increased Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate in the 2024/25 financial year. This includes additional funding of £9.3 million to local authorities for their centrally employed teachers, including those employed in local authority based music hubs.
The Teachers’ Pension Employer Contribution Grant 2024 will provide funding to local authorities in respect of teachers categorised as centrally employed on the schools workforce census 2023. The department expects local authority based music hub teachers to be recorded on the census.
The department has also committed to providing funding to cover the increase in employer contribution rates for existing non local authority hubs for the current academic year (until August 2024), and departmental officials are working to agree the precise amount. Further details, including funding rates and allocations, will be provided soon.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2024 to Question 13692 on National Insurance, for what reason he was unable to provide the information requested.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pursuant to my answer to PQ 13692, HMRC has seen a significant rise in the number of A1 applications and in other National Insurance work which has impacted processing times. The current processing time for A1 certificates is 10 weeks for applications received online. This is an improvement against September 2023 where the processing time was 15 weeks.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings in the Red Quadrant report entitled, Building the Right Support: An analysis of funding flows, published by her Department, in July 2022, whether she is taking steps to improve financial oversight of expenditure for the Building the Right Support programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In our response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report, The Treatment of Autistic People and People with Learning Disabilities published 27 July 2022, we noted the wide range of capital and revenue funding sources, as well as the range of support that a person who is, or is at risk of being, admitted to a mental health hospital may draw on. This makes assessing the costs and expenditure associated with the Building the Right Support (BtRS) programme practically challenging. The response, which referenced RedQuadrant’s report, set out that we are clear that there must be credible alternatives to inpatient care, so that people can live independent, fulfilled lives in their community, without financial incentives or disincentives which prevent this from happening.
We recognise the case for improving how data is collected, in order to better understand the specific costs related to BtRS. That is why the BtRS Delivery Board set up a Funding Flows task and finish group to look at improving national oversight of the National Health Service and local authority spend on services, and support for this group of people.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times the Funding Flows Task and Finish Group has met since 20 January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Funding Flows task and finish group has met five times since its inception in September 2022. Two of those meetings took place after 20 January 2023.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) autistic people and (b) people with learning disabilities were placed in an inpatient unit rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Assuring Transformation data shows that there are 130 people with learning disabilities or autism reported in a mental health inpatient setting which the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rates as inadequate. This is based on inpatients at the end of November 2023, and CQC inspection ratings on 17 January 2024. These units may not have been rated as inadequate at the point of the person’s admission.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to issue A1 forms on the UK’s live music sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Many musicians travel internationally for performances, and HMRC acknowledges that access to A1 certificates is important to them in accessing their social security rights in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
HMRC has seen a significant rise in the number of A1 applications and in other National Insurance work which has impacted processing times.
While progress has been made, HMRC acknowledges that more needs to be done to meet its service standards and is aiming to do so for all types of A1 applications by the end of April 2024. To address this the department has implemented a recovery strategy, including providing additional resources. HMRC has also recently introduced new online versions of the A1 application forms based on customer feedback, along with additional features to improve the application process.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average processing time was for issuing an A1 form in (a) January 2023, (b) September 2023, (c) December 2023 and (d) January 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Many musicians travel internationally for performances, and HMRC acknowledges that access to A1 certificates is important to them in accessing their social security rights in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
HMRC has seen a significant rise in the number of A1 applications and in other National Insurance work which has impacted processing times.
While progress has been made, HMRC acknowledges that more needs to be done to meet its service standards and is aiming to do so for all types of A1 applications by the end of April 2024. To address this the department has implemented a recovery strategy, including providing additional resources. HMRC has also recently introduced new online versions of the A1 application forms based on customer feedback, along with additional features to improve the application process.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to deliver his Department's service standards for the issuing of A1 forms by April 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Many musicians travel internationally for performances, and HMRC acknowledges that access to A1 certificates is important to them in accessing their social security rights in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
HMRC has seen a significant rise in the number of A1 applications and in other National Insurance work which has impacted processing times.
While progress has been made, HMRC acknowledges that more needs to be done to meet its service standards and is aiming to do so for all types of A1 applications by the end of April 2024. To address this the department has implemented a recovery strategy, including providing additional resources. HMRC has also recently introduced new online versions of the A1 application forms based on customer feedback, along with additional features to improve the application process.