Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of earmarking funding to local authorities for funding SEND school places at independent institutions.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities have considerable flexibility to use the high needs funding within their Dedicated Schools Grant allocations to fulfil their statutory duties. This includes using their high needs budgets to discharge their special educational needs duties under the Children and Families Act.
Local authorities are able to fund educational placements for children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans in independent schools. Where they choose to name an independent special school on an EHC plan, the local authority must fund the cost of the placement.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing SEND state school provisions in Bradford South constituency.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that there is a growing need for specialist special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across the country and establishing sufficient school places is one of the government’s top priorities. This is why the department has invested £2.6 billion of high needs capital funding between 2022 and 2025. As well as supporting 41 new special free schools, this will enable local authorities to deliver new places for SEND pupils in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and also to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings. As part of this, the department has published over £1.5 billion of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, of which Bradford have been allocated £12.1 million.
In addition, to support local authorities to manage their specialist provision the department has started to collect data on the capacity of special schools and SEND units/resourced provision in mainstream schools, as well as forecasts of the numbers of specialist placements local authorities expect to make in SEND units/resourced provision, special schools (of all types) and alternative provision. This is expected to be an annual data collection, forming part of the existing School Capacity Survey (SCAP). The department is working closely with local authorities and other sector stakeholders to ensure the data we collect best supports the needs of users across the 0-25 system and will explore options for improving and broadening the data we collect in future years. Guidance on completing the SCAP survey, including tools to support local authorities in assessing the capacity of special schools, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-capacity-survey-guide-for-local-authorities#:~:text=The%20annual%20school%20capacity%20survey%20(%20SCAP%20)%20collects%20information%20on%3A,the%20next%205%20academic%20years.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish (a) the membership of, (b) a list of the regular participants of, (c) the key stakeholders who have engaged with and (d) the number of meetings held to-date of the Responsible Dog Ownership working group.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Publication of the membership, regular participants and key stakeholders who have engaged with the Responsible Dog Ownership working group is expected later this year alongside their conclusions. We are currently working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to address all aspects of tackling irresponsible dog ownership effectively, from prevention to robust, consistent enforcement, focussing on owners as well as on their dogs.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what timeframe her Department set the Responsible Dog Ownership working group for reporting its recommendations.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We expect the Responsible Dog Ownership working group to publish its findings later this year.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reinstating the Universal Credit uplift of £25 per week and (b) extending the uplift to cover Employment Support Allowance.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has always been clear that the £20 increase was a temporary measure to support those households most economically affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Since then, the Government has announced support to households to help with higher bills worth £94 billion across 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2023 to Question 191359 on Housing: Disability and Older People, what guidance his Department published in 2019 for local authorities on (a) assessing the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community and (b) planning for those who require supported housing.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In 2019, the government published Guidance on Housing for Older and Disabled People, to help local authorities plan for the housing needs of these groups.
Among other things, this guidance set out the range of needs local authorities should assess, as well as the evidence that local authorities can consider when identifying the housing needs of older and disabled people.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on proposed technical changes to the Building Regulations to mandate the higher M4(2) accessibility standard.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government has commissioned research that includes demographics, ergonomic requirements and experiences of disabled people, as part of a full review relating to Part M of the Building Regulations. Results from that research will be published in due course.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the median cost of carbon in the (a) UK and (b) EU.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the EU Emissions Trading System are the main carbon pricing initiatives in the UK and EU respectively. Their traded units are UK Allowances and EU Allowances – both equate to 1 tCO2e. Benchmark prices for each scheme are the front December Futures contracts (currently December 2023) traded on the Intercontinental Exchange.
The median End-of-Day settlement price of UK Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £68.18.
The median End-of-Day settlement price of EU Allowances, calculated from the start of 2023 until the end of June 2023, is £77.92/€89.32.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 2.6 of Reforms to subcontracting education for learners over 16, what steps she has taken to ensure that lead 16-19 education providers have direct contractual relationships with third parties providing specialist input.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has updated the subcontracting rules to stipulate that when a subcontractor wants to appoint and work with a third party, which could include a sports club, it is the provider who must have a direct contractual relationship with the third party and not the subcontractor (point 86). This rule is monitored through the standard subcontracting reporting and audit requirements, including the individualised learner record and subcontracting declaration, which from 2022 must also include the declaration of subcontracting of any employability, enrichment and pastoral activity. The department has also introduced the subcontracting standard which Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA) providers must meet if the aggregate total of all subcontractors delivering ESFA funded provision exceeds or is anticipated to exceed £100,000 in any single funding year.
The department is reviewing sports provision with the Football Association and the Association of Colleges. All subcontracted sports provision must adhere to the relevant subcontracting rules.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 2.6 of Reforms to subcontracting education for learners over 16, what steps she has taken to develop a good practice guide for sports provision with the Football Association and the Association of Colleges.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has updated the subcontracting rules to stipulate that when a subcontractor wants to appoint and work with a third party, which could include a sports club, it is the provider who must have a direct contractual relationship with the third party and not the subcontractor (point 86). This rule is monitored through the standard subcontracting reporting and audit requirements, including the individualised learner record and subcontracting declaration, which from 2022 must also include the declaration of subcontracting of any employability, enrichment and pastoral activity. The department has also introduced the subcontracting standard which Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA) providers must meet if the aggregate total of all subcontractors delivering ESFA funded provision exceeds or is anticipated to exceed £100,000 in any single funding year.
The department is reviewing sports provision with the Football Association and the Association of Colleges. All subcontracted sports provision must adhere to the relevant subcontracting rules.