Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on protests that disrupt (a) sporting and (b) music events.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is unacceptable that athletes who put tremendous effort into their training, as well as spectators who spend their hard-earned money to attend, are having their experiences spoiled by a selfish minority. The Government is committed to tackling the guerrilla tactics used to disrupt major British events. That is why we recently introduced new legislation through the Public Order Act 2023, criminalising actions such as ‘locking on’. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 also made it easier to tackle public nuisance caused by protesters.
The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent. They have recently worked with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to publish the National Protest Operational Advice document (National protest operational advice (college.police.uk)), which provides operational guidance on the handling of protests, including those that disrupt major events, and the application of the Public Order Act 2023.
In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing(opens in a new tab)) has recently been updated and provides guidance on the policing of major events. The document signposts to both the Public Order Act 2023 and the National Protest Operational Advice document.
The Home Secretary recently chaired a roundtable with cabinet colleagues, police and sports representatives. The Home Office will continue to work with event organisers and police to ensure plans are in place to protect sporting events.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the participation of young people in (a) summer schemes and (b) clubs during the school holidays; and what funding she has provided to help such activities in St Helens.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, backed by £200 million per year to 2025, provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families over the holidays. Local authorities have flexibility in how the programme can be delivered to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or additional needs who are in receipt of free school meals, ensuring it is tailored to meet the needs of those children and their families.
HAF is a voluntary programme for eligible children, and families can therefore choose whether their children attend. It is pleasing that the programme reached so many children last summer.
This year, the department has allocated £751,570 to the St Helens local authority, building on the £743,290 that was allocated to them for 2022/23.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of maternity hospitals in England which (a) have, (b) do not have and (c) are planning to create Bereavement Suites.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This information is not held by NHS England. We previously funded SANDs, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity to work with other baby loss charities and Royal Colleges to produce and support the roll-out of a National Bereavement Care Pathway (NBCP) to reduce the variation in the quality of bereavement care provided by the National Health Service.
The pathway covers a range of circumstances of a baby loss including miscarriage, stillbirth, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons, neonatal death, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). As of 1 January 2023, 84% or 108 NHS England trusts have committed to adopting the nine NBCP standards. One of the nine standards is that bereavement rooms are available in every healthcare setting where a pregnancy or baby loss may occur.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what percentage of people in (a) St Helens, (b) Merseyside and (c) the UK have been on antidepressants for more than 12 months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The data requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing bus fares for students aged between 16 and 19.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In England, the majority of bus services outside London operate on a commercial basis, and decisions about offering reduced or discounted fares for commercial bus services are predominantly for operators to take. Many bus operators currently offer discounted travel cards for younger people. Our most recent set of statistics shows that operators in 70 out of 84 travel concession authority areas in England, outside London, offered some form of discounted travel for young people.
Policy for home to school transport sits with the Department for Education. However, the statutory responsibility for transport to education and training for those aged 16 to 19 rests with local authorities. This enables them to make reasonable decisions based on the needs of their population, the local transport infrastructure and the resources they have available
The Government introduced the £2 fare cap on 1 January to help passengers save on their regular travel costs and to help increase patronage on buses. This scheme was due to end on 30 June, however on 17 May we announced a further investment of up to £200 million to extend the current £2 bus fare cap in place on single tickets 1 July until 31 October. This will be followed by a longer term fare cap of £2.50 from 1 November 2023 to 31 November 2024
We are also investing in the bus sector to deliver the ambitions of the National Bus Strategy to make bus services more reliable and cheaper. We have allocated over £1 billion of funding for English Local Transport Authorities outside London to support the delivery of Bus Service Improvement Plans, some of which include the introduction of measures to reduce bus fares for young people. For example, the North East have recently introduced a £1 fare for single bus journeys for the under 22s.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average funding per pupil in mainstream schools was in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West in the 2022-23 academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The average funding per pupil provided for mainstream schools in the North West through the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Schools Supplementary Grant (SSG) in the 2022/23 financial year was £5,524.
Per pupil funding excludes growth funding.
Through the schools National Funding Formula (NFF), the Department calculates notional funding allocations for each mainstream school. These are then aggregated for each Local Authority. Regional average per pupil figures are based on the actual funding schools receive, in total, from these aggregated allocations.
Each Local Authority then determines individual schools’ final funding allocations through their own local formula. The Department does not calculate actual constituency level per pupil averages.
The average notional funding per pupil for mainstream schools in the St Helens North constituency through the schools NFF in 2022/23 was £5,289. On top of this funding, all schools in St Helens North received additional funding through the SSG in 2022/23, worth an average additional £156 per pupil.
Maintained schools are funded on a financial year basis, and academies are funded on an academic year basis.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is providing support for the promotion and playing of (a) Gaelic football, (b) hurling and (c) camogie in England.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects so that everyone, regardless of background, is able to access and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Since 2001, Sport England has invested:
£95,760 in gaelic football with a further £1,550,240 through multi-sport funding investment;
£10,748 in hurling through multi-sport funding investment;
£46,407 in camogie through multi-sport investment.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his Department's policy is on development on (a) greenbelt and (b) brownfield sites in St Helens and Merseyside.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Details of the Government’s planning policy are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what incentives her Department plans to introduce to encourage businesses to offer flexible working arrangements that help enable jobseekers with SEND to access employment.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is taking steps to encourage businesses to discuss and agree suitable flexible working arrangements with all workers and jobseekers, including those with SEND.
In December 2022, we published our response to the “making flexible working the default” consultation. This committed to a range of measures, including making the right to request flexible working a ‘day one’ entitlement, by removing the existing 26-week qualifying period.
We are also supporting the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, which will make further changes to improve access to flexible working.
Certain jobseekers with SEND may have the right to reasonable adjustments when applying for jobs, which businesses have a duty to consider.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what non-educational funding is available to support small businesses in St Helens North constituency that wish to (a) exhibit and (b) export trade overseas.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon. Member for St Helens North to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn on 17 April 2023 to Question UIN 176783.