Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reports of concern have been submitted to the Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Board on (a) Morecambe Bay Primary School and (b) West End Primary School in the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally. Safeguarding concerns are a matter for local determination and would not be routinely reported to government.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on rolling out a programme of placing an officer of her Department into local food banks to assist with benefits (a) access and (b) problems as first piloted in Morecambe.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Working with Trussell Trust we undertook a 12 week telephony hotline trial during the summer 2017, in three Districts (Durham and Tees Valley, Northumberland and Cambridgeshire), to assess the volume and nature of enquiries made by claimants from their linked food banks.
The small number of calls made to the hotline seemed to indicate that demand for Jobcentre resource in food banks was low. However, it was agreed that we would remind colleagues of the signposting process, and District Partnership teams would continue to engage with food banks as part of their portfolio of local partners and stakeholders.
Jobcentres continue to engage with food banks or organisations hosting food banks as part of their normal partnership work. To ensure a consistent offer, an assurance was received in February 2018 that each Jobcentre Single Point of Contact had made contact with their linked food banks to increase and maintain partnership working.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the reasons why Morecambe Bay Primary School failed to meet the threshold to retain the support of a social worker team to reduce the number of children on child protection plans to zero.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has received any reports of rickets in the Carnforth area in the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
Information is not held in the format requested. The information available is shown in the table below. This shows a count of finished consultant episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of rickets, for the Lancashire Area Team of treatment, for the financial years between 2012/13 and 2016/17. The Lancashire Area Team of treatment includes the Carnforth area. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care in the same year.
Financial year | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
Lancashire Area Team of Treatment | 10 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has plans to lower the pension age for prison officers from 67 to 60.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
To consider introducing a lower normal pension age for prison officers, would require a change to legislation and as the Civil Service Pension covers a number of government departments and agencies, any legislative change to the scheme would affect all members of the Civil Service Pension and not just prison officers.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has any plans to introduce a mandatory retirement age for prison officers.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
There are no plans to introduce a mandatory retirement age for prison officers.
For Government to consider introducing a mandatory pension age would require a change to legislation and as the Civil Service Pension covers a number of government departments and agencies, any legislative change to the scheme would affect all members of the Civil Service Pension and not just prison officers.
Members of the Civil Service Pension scheme are able to apply for retirement at any time after reaching the age of 55. However, their pension would be actuarially reduced to take into account the fact that their pension benefits would be paid for longer due to taking early retirement.
Introducing a mandatory retirement age for prison officers could lead to potential age discrimination claims being brought against the service.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect of riparian ownership laws on the number and extent of cases of flooding; and whether there are plans to transfer ownership of culverts with the potential to cause flooding to (a) the Environment Agency or (b) local authorities.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The government has no plans to undertake an assessment of the effect of riparian ownership laws on the number and extent of cases of flooding. There is a common law duty on owners of land to keep watercourses clear of anything that could cause an obstruction, either on their own land or downstream if it is washed away. Land owners have the same responsibilities for the upkeep of a culverted watercourse as if it were an open watercourse.
There are no plans to transfer ownership of culverts to the Environment Agency or local authorities. The Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities and Internal Drainage Boards have powers to require landowners to maintain the flow of their watercourses.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the former Skerton High School site is used for educational purposes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has no information as to what the local council propose to do with this closed school site. Should the local council wish to use the site for non educational purposes there is legislation in place to protect against the disposal of school land used for education. The local council are required to seek the consent of the Secretary of State before disposing or changing the use of school land.
Schedule 1 to the Academies Act 2010 requires consent where any school land has been used by a maintained school within the last eight years and Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requires consent to be obtained for school playing field land used by (or for) a maintained school within the last 10 years.
We have not received any application from Lancashire County Council seeking consent to dispose of the former Skerton High School site. Further information about the protection of school land can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-land-and-property-protection-transfer-and-disposal.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Morecambe and Lunesdale will be eligible for funding from the additional £76 million announced for flood defence schemes in the Autumn Budget; what the (a) qualifiying criteria and (b) process for application for that funding will be; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
£36 million will be invested in schemes using the same criteria as for other projects in our current record level six-year capital improvement programme to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021. This funding is focused on maximising the economic benefits of Government’s investment and the number of homes better protected.
The remaining £40 million will be particularly focused on deprived communities at a high risk of flooding. We will announce the criteria for this funding in due course.
Regional flood and coastal committees will liaise with the Environment Agency locally to clarify their flood and coastal defence improvement needs, and ensure these are well understood when funding becomes available.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HGV companies have successfully applied for a bespoke allowance agreement since HM Revenue and Customs changes for overnight allowances for HGV drivers.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Information is not available on applications for approval of bespoke agreements from haulage companies. HM Revenue and Customs does not record the sector or type of business of applicants for bespoke scale rates.