Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many councils have reduced funding for educational support for visually impaired children in England in the last three years.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Spending by local authorities on children and young people with additional needs is recorded in the local authority’s section 251 return. That does not break down spending by type of need, so we are unable to confirm the level of spending on visual impairment.
Since 2015-16, our high needs funding has risen from £5.2 billion to £6.3 billion. Next year, high needs funding will rise by £780 million to over £7 billion, with every local authority seeing a minimum funding increase of 8% per head of population aged 2 to 18 years old.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to provide psychological support to UK children returning from northern Syria; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Our support will be tailored to the needs of each individual child. A range of specialised support – some of which is funded directly by the Home Office – will be offered to address many concerns ranging from safeguarding and wellbeing to national security.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent young people spending excessively on loot boxes in computer games.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We are aware of concerns about the potential for excessive spending in games, particularly by young people. These concerns, and particularly those regarding the availability of loot boxes, are discussed in the recent DCMS Select Committee report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies. We are currently considering the Report and its recommendations and will respond in due course.
We do not currently have an estimate of the amount spent by people under 18 on in-app or in-game purchases over the last 5 years. However, we note that the Gambling Commission’s new research on Children and Young People found that of the 11-16 year olds taking part in their survey, 52% had heard of the availability of in-game items and of these 44% had paid money to open loot boxes.
We encourage parents concerned about in-game spending by their children to consider using the parental controls available on devices to disable this function.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the amount spent by people under 18 on in-app or in-game purchases over the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We are aware of concerns about the potential for excessive spending in games, particularly by young people. These concerns, and particularly those regarding the availability of loot boxes, are discussed in the recent DCMS Select Committee report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies. We are currently considering the Report and its recommendations and will respond in due course.
We do not currently have an estimate of the amount spent by people under 18 on in-app or in-game purchases over the last 5 years. However, we note that the Gambling Commission’s new research on Children and Young People found that of the 11-16 year olds taking part in their survey, 52% had heard of the availability of in-game items and of these 44% had paid money to open loot boxes.
We encourage parents concerned about in-game spending by their children to consider using the parental controls available on devices to disable this function.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many drug-related deaths there were in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that universities investigate all complaints made by students and staff about racism at universities.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. There is no place in our society - including within higher education (HE) – for hatred or any form of harassment, discrimination or racism. Universities have clear responsibilities in this regard.
HE providers in England are independent and autonomous. They are responsible for addressing student complaints and for meeting their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. The government expects providers to discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to handle student complaints, comply with the law and to investigate and swiftly address incidents reported to them.
Where a student complaint cannot be resolved through the institution’s complaint processes, the student can ask for their complaint to be reviewed by the Office for the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for HE in England. As a result of the government‘s recent HE reforms, all HE providers on the HE Regulator’s register, the Office for Students (OfS), are required to join the OIA.
The government will continue to work closely with partners, including Universities UK and the OfS, to drive progress on matters of racial harassment in HE.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) quantity and (b) quality of employment and training opportunities for SEND students over the age of 16.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice explicitly states that all children and young people with SEND, whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, should be prepared for adulthood, including employment. We know that with the right preparation and support, the overwhelming majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustained paid employment. All professionals working with them should share that presumption and should provide the career advice and support that help young people to develop the skills and experience, and achieve the qualifications, that they need to succeed in their careers.
Work-based learning is available through personalised study programmes for all young people aged 16 to 19, or up to age 25 if the young person has an EHC plan. This includes:
However, we know there is more to do and that is why in September, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced a cross-government review of provision for children and young people with SEND, to ensure that they are supported to thrive and prepare for adulthood, including employment.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to launch a consultation on the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has no plans to decriminalise drug possession. It would not eliminate the crime committed by the illicit trade, nor would it address the harms associated with drug dependence and the misery that this can cause to families and communities. The police and criminal justice system nevertheless have a considerable amount of discretion in how they enforce the law and we support them in taking a proportionate approach.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce levels of fine particulate matter in the air.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our Clean Air Strategy, published in January 2019, proposes a comprehensive suite of actions required across all parts of Government to improve air quality and maximise public health benefits. This includes national regulations to reduce emissions from domestic burning, industry and farming, alongside an improved framework for local Government to tackle more localised issues. By implementing the policies in the strategy, we aim to reduce fine particulate matter concentrations and halve the number of people living in areas above the World Health Organisation guideline level for fine particulate matter by 2025.
The measures in the Environment Bill take forward key aspects of this strategy, and give local authorities more effective tools for tackling domestic burning in smoke control areas, which will help reduce harmful particulate matter pollution. Through the Bill, we will also introduce a framework for setting legally binding environmental targets, along with a specific duty on Government to set a target for fine particulate matter, which will deliver significant public health benefits.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to make it easier for people who cannot take time off work to attend cancer screenings.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Improving access to cancer screening programmes is one of NHS England’s key priorities. To help deliver this, plans for improving uptake in cancer screening during 2019-20 have been developed and shared with regional Public Health Commissioning leads for consideration and action. Plans cover opportunities for improving access that can be implemented locally and regionally in collaboration with charities, third sector organisations, and other parts of the National Health Service. These opportunities include:
Increasing flexibility within existing services (e.g. extending out of hours appointments and making greater use of mobile screening units); and
Improving accessibility to cancer screening via alternative settings (e.g. integrated in sexual health clinics).
In addition to this, Professor Richards’ review of national adult screening programmes, published on 16 October, made a number of recommendations on increasing uptake and accessibility, including how we use financial incentives to promote out of hours and weekend appointments. Professor Richards called for more convenience with regard to screenings, saying patients should be able to choose appointments close to their work, and local screening services should put on extra evening and weekend appointments for breast, cervical and other cancer checks. The report also called for more to be done to drive uptake through social media campaigns and text reminders. The Department, NHS England and Public Health England will consider the recommendations of Professor Richards’ report and publish an implementation plan early next year.