Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to support children's services in (a) Sandwell MBC and (b) other areas which have been declared as inadequate.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education takes any failure to deliver services at the required level extremely seriously. The department is currently considering all the available evidence in order to act in a way which provides sustainable improvements for the children of Sandwell, ensuring that the services received by children, young people and their families improve to the required level.
The department believes that Sandwell has had sufficient time to make the necessary improvements. Sandwell was originally rated as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in January 2010. During the five years in which Sandwell has been subject to intervention arrangements, a large number of local authorities have managed to improve their services to meet the required standard.
The department currently intervenes in 20 local authorities in which children’s social care services have been identified by Ofsted as failing children and young people. The interventions include a range of strategies, from enhanced oversight by department officials, independent advisors or commissioners, through to more extreme cases which have required the department to remove services from the local authority’s control. The level of support provided will depend on the scale of the issues identified by Ofsted and the capacity of the authority to address them.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Sandwell Children's services to improve by their next inspection.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education takes any failure to deliver services at the required level extremely seriously. The department is currently considering all the available evidence in order to act in a way which provides sustainable improvements for the children of Sandwell, ensuring that the services received by children, young people and their families improve to the required level.
The department believes that Sandwell has had sufficient time to make the necessary improvements. Sandwell was originally rated as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in January 2010. During the five years in which Sandwell has been subject to intervention arrangements, a large number of local authorities have managed to improve their services to meet the required standard.
The department currently intervenes in 20 local authorities in which children’s social care services have been identified by Ofsted as failing children and young people. The interventions include a range of strategies, from enhanced oversight by department officials, independent advisors or commissioners, through to more extreme cases which have required the department to remove services from the local authority’s control. The level of support provided will depend on the scale of the issues identified by Ofsted and the capacity of the authority to address them.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to promote regional growth and create a Northern Powerhouse.
Answered by George Freeman
Rebalancing the economy by creating a Northern Powerhouse is part of our long-term economic plan, to pool its strengths and become greater than the sum of its parts. This could add £44bn to the Northern Economy by 2030, or £1,600 per person living there -in real terms. Our £20 million investment in Health North will make a valuable contribution to these efforts.
Complimenting this, on 1st June my Rt hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced proposals for making the Midlands an Engine of Growth. Working with Local Enterprise Partnerships across the Midlands, we are seeking to align investments and devolve decision-making, to create the strongest possible environment for economic growth across the region.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the terror threat to Jewish targets in Europe.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We work closely with our international partners in the EU and beyond to tackle the threat that terrorism poses to all communities, with regular discussions on security and counter-terrorism issues. Currently, we are working with European partners to further strengthen areas of operational and policy co-operation, to support information and international data sharing, to implement a common strategy to counter the threat from ‘foreign fighters’, and to counter radicalisation both within and outside the EU.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Egyptian counterparts on the closure of the Rafah crossing.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are concerned about the closure of the Rafah Crossing and the impact that has on urgent medical and other priority cases in Gaza. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the importance of reopening the Rafah crossing when he spoke with the Egyptian Foreign Minister on 14 January. We continue to raise this issue in our contacts with the Egyptian government.
Asked by: James Morris (Conservative - Halesowen and Rowley Regis)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress his Department has made on supporting public sector mutuals.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The number of public service mutuals has increased from 9 in 2010 to nearly 100 today, operating in sectors ranging from youth services to social care. My department's Mutuals Support Programme continues to provide professional support and training to live and developing mutuals, supporting over 65 to date.