Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies open in Northumberland in 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies in Northumberland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 31 December 2023, there were 68 pharmacies in Northumberland, including five that were contracted to be open for at least 72 hours. On 31 December 2019, there were 71 pharmacies in Northumberland, including six that were contracted to be open for at least 100 hours.
In May 2023 new legislation came into force which enabled 100-hour pharmacies to reduce their minimum number of opening hours to 72, to support the viability of those pharmacies and prevent them from closing.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many properties are being used to house asylum seekers in Wansbeck as of 19 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority, although not broken down into hotels or other accommodation can be found in the attached link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers are housed in Wansbeck as of 19 December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority, although not broken down into hotels or other accommodation can be found in the attached link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#asylum-support.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of medication for people with ADHD in Wansbeck constituency; and what recent estimate he has made of when supplies of this medication will be available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Shortages of medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have primarily been driven by capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites These issues have resulted in global supply disruptions. The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, which should resolve by April 2024.
We have well-established processes to manage supply issues and continue to work with the respective manufacturers and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the supply disruptions are resolved as soon as possible.
We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues with ADHD medicine supply in the United Kingdom as soon as possible and to help ensure patients are able to access these medicines in the short and long term.
We do not hold information or act at a local level but issue regular communication to enable healthcare professionals to make appropriate prescribing decisions.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are being home schooled due to a lack of SEND provision in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) England as of 14 December 2023.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes data on the number of children in the ‘Elective home education’ (EHE) publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education. This includes data at a local authority, regional and national level. Data is collected from local authorities and is not available for parliamentary constituencies.
Data on the primary reason for EHE is collected and is available for Northumberland local authority and England at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ff8aac35-11d4-4d11-af9c-08dbfa4e7cea.
Lack of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision is not one of the specific reasons collected.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in (a) Wansbeck constituency and (b) Northumberland require essential maintenance work as of 14 December 2023; and what estimate her Department has made of the total cost of that work.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided (VA) bodies. The department supports them by providing access to annual capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes, and offering guidance and support.
Responsible bodies in England, depending on their size and type, are either eligible to receive annual School Condition Allocation (SCA) funding to use on improving the condition of their schools, or are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) each year for specific capital projects. Schools in England also receive funding to spend on their capital priorities or contribute to larger projects through an annual Devolved Formula Capital allocation (DFC). Details on SCA, CIF, and DFC can be found on GOV.UK.
In the 2023/24 financial year, Northumberland County Council, which includes Wansbeck constituency, has been allocated £3,901,192 of SCA funding. It is for Northumberland to allocate this funding across its maintained schools based on local knowledge of condition need, prioritising keeping schools safe and operational. Academies and VA schools in Northumberland will have either received SCA funding through their trust or VA group or will instead have been invited to bid into the CIF for their condition need. Outcomes for CIF for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
Local authority schools in Northumberland have also been allocated a total of £594,962 in Devolved Formula Capital in 2023/24 to spend on their own capital priorities. SCA and DFC allocations for 2023/24 are published on GOV.UK.
In addition to condition capital funding, the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) will transform buildings at 500 schools in Engand over the next decade, prioritising schools in poor condition and with evidence of potential safety issues. The department has announced 400 schools to date, including 239 in December 2022. The programme includes Ringway Primary School in the Wansbeck constituency.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were unable to get a place at their catchment school for (a) primary and (b) secondary education in Wansbeck constituency in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold information on the criteria under which school places are offered or refused, such as being within catchment area. The administration of the coordinated offer process, by which school applications are processed and offers made, are the responsibility of the local authorities.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inland bathing water site applications were received in 2022; and how many and what proportion of those applications were accepted.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022 Defra received 16 bathing water applications for inland sites. Three of these sites were designated as bathing waters: Rutland Water Whitwell Creek, Rutland Water Sykes Lane and an area of the River Deben Estuary at Waldringfield, Suffolk.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many of Royal Mail's delivery routes have changed as a result of the adoption of electric vehicles.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Royal Mail is a private company, and the Government does not have a role in its operational decisions including the deployment of electric vehicles and administration of delivery routes.