Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) access to justice and (b) waiting times for hearings of the removal of civil matters from Warrington courts.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HM Courts & Tribunals Service keeps the performance of courts and tribunals under constant review.
We are committed to making sure that our court and tribunal services can be accessed by those that need to do so. Our assessment is that effective access to justice has been maintained following the relocation of civil hearings from Warrington to St Helens.
The removal of civil matters from Warrington has not had an impact on waiting times for hearings for people in the local area.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
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 (a) adequacy and (b) accessibility to prisoners of mental health services in prisons.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Improving the mental health of people in prison is a top priority for this Government.
We recognise that there are high numbers of people in prison with mental ill health. When people do go to prison, they should receive the same standard and access to National Health Service healthcare and mental health treatments and care as people in the community. The Department has not made a formal assessment of adequacy and accessibility of mental health services for people in prison.
However, work is underway to improve mental health services in prison. NHS England are focussing on an offender mental health pathway which will ensure that offenders are directed to the most appropriate intervention to their needs at the right time in the criminal justice system. The programme of work includes ensuring timely and appropriate transfers to a mental health hospital, timely remission to prison as part of a planned episode of care, and ensuring that those requiring treatment for mental ill health have access to high quality care.
New service specifications have been published for both low and medium secure hospitals as well as prison mental health services. The Prison Mental Health Specification embeds the Quality Standards for Prison Mental Health Services developed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to ensure high quality care for all. Draft Guidance for Timely and Appropriate Transfers and Remissions of care to and from a mental health hospital is currently in production.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of waiting times for personal independence payment appeals to be heard in (a) St. Helens, (b) Liverpool and (c) Wigan county courts; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Latest figures indicate that since PIP was introduced, 3.5 million decisions have been made up to June 2018, and of these 9% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned at tribunals.
The volume of appeals against Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions has built up since it was introduced as a new benefit, incrementally over time, from 2013.
Waiting times are monitored continually, and in response to recent increases, we have conducted a national recruitment exercise of judicial office-holders as a result of which, 225 new medical members and 119 disability-qualified members have been appointed to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) (SSCS). Additionally, 250 fee-paid judges and 100 salaried judges are being recruited across tribunals more widely.
Five of the newly-appointed fee paid judges, 29 medically qualified panel member and 14 disability qualified panel members have been deployed to sit at SSCS tribunal venues serving the St Helens, Wigan and Liverpool areas.
In addition, we have recently launched a new digital service with the aim of enabling speedier processing of appeals and to provide a better service for all parties to the proceedings. This will increase capacity, helping to reduce waiting times for appellants. Information on the new digital service can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-online-service-launched-for-pip-appeals
We are also taking forward initiatives with potential to increase the capacity and performance of the tribunal: for instance, introducing case management “triage” sessions, with the aim of reducing the time taken for appeals to reach final determination. All these measures will increase the capacity of the tribunal, with the aim of reducing waiting times for appellants.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect on the level of indebtedness of people in Warrington of waiting times for personal independence payment appeal hearings in local county courts.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise as a result of a long-term health condition or disability. There are nine possible award outcomes and, where applicable, claimants continue to receive their award during the appeal process. Whilst it is acknowledged that waiting for an appeal to be heard can be stressful, equally it would be wrong to pay the benefit at a rate other than that which has already been determined within the law.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to protect women Rohingya refugees that are repatriated from gender-based violence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK is deeply concerned at Bangladesh and Burma's announcement that the repatriation of refugees will begin in mid-November. I have registered our concerns with ministers from both governments, and issued a statement expressing concerns on 14 November. The UK shares the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' assessment that the conditions for safe and dignified returns do not yet exist. The UK supports the UN High Commissioner's call for his agency to be given unfettered access to northern Rakhine, which would enable it to monitor the safety, including from gender-based violence, of any refugees that do return.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made tho his Bangladeshi counterpart on the proposed forced repatriation of Rohingya refugees from that country.
Answered by Mark Field
On 14 November I released a public statement expressing deep concern at reports that returns of Rohingya refugees to Burma were imminent. I called on Bangladesh and Burma not to return any refugees until the conditions were in place for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable returns that uphold human rights. I am pleased that no repatriations began on 15 November, but I remain concerned that such repatriations might commence before appropriate conditions are in place. I agree with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that the conditions for safe and dignified returns do not yet exist. Neither is the access in Burma required for necessary independent monitoring by UN agencies in place.
I contacted Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Ali on 15 November to welcome the fact that repatriations had not taken place and received his assurance that the Government of Bangladesh remained committed to the principle of voluntary returns with UNHCR monitoring.
Previously, I spoke to Bangladesh Minister of State Shahriar Alam and Burmese Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin on 1 November and stressed the UK's assessment that conditions in Rakhine State were not currently suitable for refugee returns.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Yazidi women have been admitted to the UK under the vulnerable persons resettlement scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The UK’s resettlement programmes follow the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality, which means that we resettle solely based on needs identified by UNHCR through their established processes, rather than on the basis of ethno-religious origin.
We believe that one way to protect the privacy of those being resettled and support their recovery and integration is to limit the amount of information about them that we make publicly available.
We therefore do not routinely publish a religious and ethnic breakdown of those who have been resettled, however internal management information indicates the proportions of refugees who are recommended for resettlement and those who are subsequently accepted for resettlement are broadly consistent across religious denominations.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of local authority suicide prevention plans: and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has worked in partnership with the local government sector to develop an approach to ensure the effectiveness of local suicide prevention plans.
In October 2018, local authorities were invited to complete a self-assessment of their local plans. The self-assessment responses and the local plans will be analysed by an independent researcher and the results will be considered by an expert panel. This process will help to identify areas for improvement for local plans and areas of best practice which can be shared across the local government sector. The results will also be used to inform a programme of mutual support over the next two to three years to enable local areas to learn from each other and to further develop their plans.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received on increasing the level of national funding for sixth form colleges; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department has not made those specific estimates. I am aware of representations on the subject of funding for 16 to 19 year olds including the Raise the Rate campaign, and incoming letters from MPs and the 16 to 19 sector.
We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. We are considering the funding and resilience of the further education sector ahead of the next Spending Review, and as with other areas of departmental spending, 16 to 19 funding for subsequent years will be considered as part of that review.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost of raising the national funding rate for students in sixth form colleges to (a) £4,760 per year for 16 and 17-year-olds and (b) £3,000 per year for 18-year-olds.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department has not made those specific estimates. I am aware of representations on the subject of funding for 16 to 19 year olds including the Raise the Rate campaign, and incoming letters from MPs and the 16 to 19 sector.
We have protected the base rate of funding for 16 to 19 year olds for all types of providers until the end of the current spending review period in 2020. We are considering the funding and resilience of the further education sector ahead of the next Spending Review, and as with other areas of departmental spending, 16 to 19 funding for subsequent years will be considered as part of that review.