Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has taken to support rural households in Selby and Ainsty constituency with increases in the cost of energy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The outlook for energy prices has improved significantly since the last Autumn Statement. The Q1 2024 price cap of £1,928 has more than halved compared to the Q1 2023 price cap which stood at a high of £4,279, which is good news for households who have seen their energy prices fall.
However, Government recognises some households still require extra support so vulnerable households will receive up to £900 in further Cost of Living Payments, £250-£600 through the Winter Fuel Payment, the £25 Cold Weather Payment and the annual £150 Warm Home Discount scheme which has been extended to 2025/26 and expanded to support more households.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of medicine supply in (a) Selby and Ainsty constituency and (b) nationally.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works at a national level to address medicine supply issues and help prevent, manage, and mitigate medicine shortages. Medicine supply problems can occur for several reasons; for example, they can be due to manufacturing difficulties, regulatory problems, problems with the supply of raw materials, sudden demand spikes or from issues which are related to the distribution of the product.
The production of medicines is complex and highly regulated, and materials and processes must meet rigorous safety and quality standards. Occasionally, the National Health Service experiences temporary shortages of specific medicines.
We know how distressing the possibility of shortages can be and we have well-established processes for working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to improve children's oracy skills in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department recognises the importance of oracy, which is why spoken language is already part of the National Curriculum for English for 5 to 16 year olds. For Early Years, the Department is investing up to £17 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, improving the language skills of reception age pupils who need it most following the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the Department has secured over £28 million to support the speech and language of pupils worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which are today’s 3 and 4 year olds, delivered through the new family hubs network.
In secondary schools, the GCSE English Language qualification ensures that pupils are able to listen to and understand spoken language and use spoken Standard English effectively. Provisional 2023 data published by Ofqual shows that overall entries to GCSE English Language increased by 4.9% since summer 2022. The data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series/provisional-entries-for-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2023-exam-series#gcse-entries.
The Department funds the National Poetry Recitation Competition, which encourages both primary and secondary schools to participate, to improve pupils’ knowledge and enjoyment of poetry and to improve oracy through poetry recitation and recall.
The £67 million English Hubs Programme, launched in 2018, is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Since its launch, the English Hubs Programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousand schools in England.
Selby and Ainsty's local English Hub, Outwood English hub, is working to engage and support primary schools across the region to improve the teaching of phonics, including offering showcase events especially for local schools. Outwood English Hub is planning to host a showcase at the Parsonage Hotel and Spa in Escrick later in the Autumn term.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Recent data shows that there are now over 468,000 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since 2010. This makes it the highest number of FTE teachers on record since the School Workforce Census began in 2010. The number of FTE teachers in North Yorkshire Local Authority rose to 4,582 in 2022, an increase of 342 (8%) since 2010.
The Department is taking action to increase teacher recruitment and retention.
The Department recently announced that the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023/24 pay award for teachers and head teachers have been accepted in full. This means that teachers and head teachers in maintained schools will receive a pay award of 6.5%. This is the highest pay award for teachers in over 30 years. The award also delivers the manifesto commitment of a minimum £30,000 starting salary for school teachers in all regions in England, with a pay award of up to 7.1% for new teachers outside London.
The Department announced a financial incentives package worth up to £181 million for those starting initial teacher training (ITT) in the 2023/24 academic year. The Department is providing bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000 to encourage trainees to apply to train in key secondary subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing.
The Department is also providing a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 annually for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools nationally, including within Education Investment Areas (EIAs). North Yorkshire is an EIA. There are 30 schools in the North Yorkshire Local Authority area eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, including three schools in the Selby and Ainsty constituency. The eligibility criteria and list of eligible schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/levelling-up-premium-payments-for-teachers.
The Department has created an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support, and professional development for all new teachers, underpinned by the Initial Teacher Training (ITT), Core Content Framework (CCF) and the Early Career Framework (ECF). Together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence based training, across ITT and into their induction.
To support teacher retention, the Department has worked with the education sector and published a range of resources to help address staff workload and wellbeing and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices. This includes the workload reduction toolkit and the education staff wellbeing charter. More than 2,800 schools have signed up to the charter so far. The education staff wellbeing charter can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter. The workload reduction toolkit is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.
The Department recently announced that it will also convene a workload reduction taskforce to explore how we can go further to support trusts and head teachers to minimise workload.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of inflation on pensioners in (a) Selby and Ainsty constituency and (b) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. Overall, we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of bills. This includes 8.7m pensioner households who received a £300 Cost of Living Payment last winter as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment. Pensioners will also receive a further £300 additional payment later this year in their Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) financial and (b) other steps her Department is taking to help prevent rural crime in (i) Selby and Ainsty constituency, (ii) North Yorkshire, and (iii) England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government are committed to driving down rural crime. Whether someone lives in the countryside, a town, or a city, they should have the same peace of mind when going about their daily lives, and they should get the same high-quality service from the police if they fall victim to a crime.
While it is for Chief Constables to decide how to allocate their resources, up to £193.4 million funding is available for policing in North Yorkshire, an increase of up to £8.1m when compared to 2022/23. Overall police funding available to PCCs will increase by up to £550.2 million this year. As at the end of March 2023, there were a record 149,500 police officers in England and Wales, 1,669 of whom were in North Yorkshire.
In addition to the funding for forces, the Government has provided £287,037 for the National Wildlife Crime Unit and £200,000 for the new National Rural Crime Unit. This will support all forces in their response to rural crimes such as theft of farming construction machinery, livestock theft and rural fly tipping. Funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit is in addition to funding provided on a long-term basis for the National Rural Crime Unit.
The Government has also acted to address specific points of concern raised by stakeholders in relation to rural crime and it supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023. The Act aims to prevent the theft of all-terrain vehicles such as quad bikes, by requiring immobilisers and forensic markings to be fitted as standard to all new all-terrain vehicles.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
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 support the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of mental health specialists in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Health Service has published a Long Term Workforce Plan which outlines the steps the Government has taken to support the recruitment and retention of mental health specialists, including in Selby and Ainsty.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to support (a) vulnerable and (b) disabled passengers affected by the potential closure of railway ticket offices in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours – including closures – train operators are required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of passengers who are disabled, and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. When consulting, operators should have also clearly considered other equality-related needs. Operators prepared Equality Impact Assessments, and these were available on their websites during the consultation.
The consultations closed on 1 September and the independent passenger bodies, Transport Focus and London TravelWatch, are currently assessing the proposals and consultation responses. We expect train operators to work collaboratively with the passenger bodies in the coming weeks, to listen to the concerns raised and to refine their proposals accordingly.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the prevalence of damp and mould in social housing in (a) Selby and Ainsty constituency and (b) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
We assess levels of damp by tenure through the English Housing Survey, which can be found at English Housing Survey - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Regulator of Social Housing also published information on damp and mould in social housing, in February 2023.
I also refer the Hon Member to the answers to Question UIN 181418 on 24 April 2023, and Questions UIN 185446 and UIN 185074 on 22 May 2023.
Asked by: Keir Mather (Labour - Selby and Ainsty)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of care recipients who are in fuel poverty in Selby and Ainsty constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Information on the number or proportion of care recipients who are in fuel poverty is not held.
The latest statistics for the number of households in fuel poverty in parliamentary constituencies in England can be found in the published sub-regional fuel poverty Official Statistics.