Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of funding for Admiral Nurses.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made of the adequacy of funding for Admiral Nurses, who are developed and supported by Dementia UK as an independent charitable organisation. Provision of dementia health services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England would expect ICBs to commission services, which may include Admiral Nurses, based on local population needs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is to respond to his Department's consultation on Increasing the weight limit for fuel tankers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is working to publish its response to the consultation on increasing the weight limit for fuel tankers. After the consultation closed, officials undertook further evidence gathering activities to better inform the response. This has led to some delays. Work is well-advanced and the intention is to publish the response before the Easter recess.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many claims for asylum were suspended in each month between September and December 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the outcomes of asylum claims, including grants, refusals and withdrawals, is published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the year ending September 2023. Data up to the end of 2023 will be published on 29 February 2024.
Further information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many job vacancies there are in his Department as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of vacancies is not held centrally and would require significant manual collation and manipulation of data, so could only be retrieved with disproportionate effort.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is to respond to her Department's consultation on Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department’s consultation on measures relating to the land-based gambling sector sought further views on a number of key policy proposals within the Gambling Act Review white paper. A response detailing the government’s position across each area will be published in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish data on the (a) geographical location and (b) age profile of people who have not claimed Universal Credit following required migration.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest published statistics which include geography and age breakdowns can be accessed at: Completing the move to Universal Credit: statistics related to the move of households claiming Tax Credits and DWP benefits to Universal Credit: data to end of August 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many properties have been provided to asylum seekers receiving Section 95 support in (a) Ellesmere Port, (b) the North West and (c) England; and what proportion of these were provided in the last six months.
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. For the safety, security and wellbeing of those we house within the hotels, we do not disclose the individual locations.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Oral Statement of 20 November 2023 on Levelling Up, Official Report, column 25, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of participating in Levelling Up funding rounds 1 and 2 on local authorities' (a) financial costs, (b) resources and (c) workforce.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 7203 on 21 December 2023.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the document entitled Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to July 2023, published on 19 September 2023, what steps his Department is taking to manage increases in the number of new PIP applications.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Despite the increase in new claims, we have seen a decrease in PIP clearance times since August 2021 with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 15 weeks at the end of October. This means that we’re clearing claims faster than we were prior to the pandemic.
This is because we are:
In addition, the Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising Health and Disability benefit services to create a more efficient service, to reduce processing times and improving trust in our services and decisions. As part of this, from July 2023, a limited number of claimants have been able to begin their claim for PIP entirely online.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 introducing a funding mechanism for pay in further education that is separate to per-pupil funding.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Colleges and other Further Education (FE) providers are responsible for setting the pay of their teaching and support staff. The government plays no role in this process. Colleges and other providers can make their own decisions about teacher pay in light of their own recruitment and retention needs and local skills priorities.
The department is investing an additional £185 million in the 2023/24 financial year and £285 million in the 2024/25 financial year to drive forward skills delivery within the sector. This funding is to help colleges and other providers to address their key priorities, including tackling recruitment and retention issues in high-value subject areas critical to our economy.
For academic year 2023/24 there is an 8.3% increase in the average 16-19 programme funding per student compared to academic year 2022/23. This funding supports colleges and other providers with staffing and other delivery costs.
The 2021 Spending Review set out an investment of £3.8 billion in skills across this Parliament to enable learners to access the skills and training they need to transform their lives.
The department is also delivering a programme to directly support the sector to recruit excellent staff, which includes a national recruitment campaign; strengthening and incentivising the uptake of initial teacher education, including through teacher training bursaries in priority subjects worth up to £29,000 each (tax free for 2023/24); and Taking Teaching Further, a programme that supports FE providers to recruit and provide early career support to those with relevant knowledge and industry experience to retrain as FE teachers.
To boost the recruitment and retention of teachers, we will also give eligible early career teachers in key science, technology, english and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, working in disadvantaged schools and colleges, up to £6,000 after tax annually on top of their pay. This will double the existing Levelling Up Premium paid to school teachers and extend it to all FE colleges for the first time.