Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support local authorities to prioritise the provision of high-quality reunification support for children in care to return home.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that looked after children are able to achieve permanence. Where a looked after child’s permanence plan is to return to the care of their family, there should be a robust decision making process to ensure this decision is safe and sustainable and will safeguard and promote their welfare. Local authorities should set out what support and services will be provided following reunification.
In the 2023 update to the statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, the department set out that local authorities may consider whether family group decision making would support the child’s transition home from care and the role the family network could play in supporting this.
The £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder programme will test family network reforms through increased use of family group decision making and implementing Family Network Support Packages. These packages will provide practical and financial support to enable family networks to help children stay safe and thrive at home. This reform area will empower families by prioritising family-led solutions engaging wider family networks throughout decisions made about a child which may support reunification.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that all staff employed on the Bibby Stockholm (a) by his Department and (b) through sub-contracts are paid at least the national minimum wage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All staff are paid at a minimum of the National Living Wage. No accommodation offset is applied to the rate of pay for staff who reside on the Bibby Stockholm.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of berths on the Bibby Stockholm that are reserved for staff to live on board; and whether the accommodation offset is applied to the pay of any staff being paid at the level of the national minimum wage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All staff are paid at a minimum of the National Living Wage. No accommodation offset is applied to the rate of pay for staff who reside on the Bibby Stockholm.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice on 15 December 2021, Official Report, House of Lords, column 401, if he will publish the data his Department has collected on (a) primary carers in prison and (b) the number of their children.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Our most comprehensive prison population data suggests that, over the course of a year, approximately 200,000 children may be affected by a parent being in, or going to, prison. However, this is based on survey data from 2009 and we recognise the need for a more up to date picture.
The Prison Strategy White paper detailed our intention to work with other government departments to commission updated research to improve our collective understanding of the overall number of children affected by parental incarceration.
The Government is delivering on its white paper commitment to improve our data and evidence in this area through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a £19.7 million cross government Shared Outcomes Fund programme which is linking data to enable better evidenced and more join up across government services. Through BOLD, we are exploring data sharing and data linking to improve our understanding of the number of children with parents in prison – including data that does not rely on self-disclosure. We expect findings from the project to be published by the end of Spring 2024.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the graduate visa route on export earnings.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government remains committed to sustainable growth in student numbers and the International Education Strategy ambition to host 600,000 international students a year. The Department for Business and Trade is aware of the potential impact of any changes to the Graduate Route visa via assessments made by stakeholders such as Universities UK. To that end, HMG’s International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, is advising the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Graduate Route.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Professor Brian Bell's letter, published by his Department on 12 March 2024, what assessment he has made of Migration Advisory Committee's concerns on the timescales for its review of the Graduate route.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It is important that we provide certainty on this issue in a timely manner, which is why we asked the MAC to carry out a rapid review. We will consider the evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to increase diversity and inclusion in the STEM workforce.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Science and Technology Framework sets out our commitment to expanding STEM opportunities to as diverse a range of people as possible.
The Government is inspiring people from all backgrounds through continued funding and support of the CREST Awards, STEM Ambassador programme, and our AI and Data Science Conversion Course and scholarship programme.
The Government has consistently emphasised how essential it is to build mathematical capabilities in the UK, and the Prime Minister announced last year an ambition for all young people to study maths to age 18. We are also committed to supporting the establishment of new Academy focussed on the Mathematical Sciences, helping the sector in a long-term and sustainable way.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the murder of Luis Carlos Pineda in Caquetá on 9 March 2024.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During my visit to Colombia earlier this month, I [Minister Rutley] raised the human rights situation with Vice Foreign Minister Coy. At the UN Security Council on 11 January and during the visit of the UN Security Council in February, we stressed the importance of security guarantees for former combatants and reiterated our commitment to supporting efforts to tackle the root causes of violence in Colombia. We will continue to support the Colombian Government in its commitment to implement the 2016 Peace Agreement and ensure the protection and safety of signatories of the Agreement.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the alleged murders of (a) José Roa, (b) Luis Eduardo Sterling and (c) Yilber Silva in Colombia on 14 January 2024.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting the Colombian Government in its commitment to secure a broad and lasting peace remains an important priority of this Government. I [Minister Rutley] raised the human rights situation during my visit to Colombia this month (4-5 February) where I urged the Colombian Government to take further steps to protect vulnerable groups and individuals affected by conflict. In May 2023, the former Foreign Secretary committed £3.6 million from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) in 2023/24 to support the implementation of the Peace Agreement and to improve stability and security, including on human rights. Through the CSSF programme, we continue to support programmes that help to protect former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) combatants and other vulnerable groups affected by violence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14706 on Cancer: Young People, whether the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will study the impact of cancer treatment on young people's (a) cognitive function and (b) ability to learn effectively.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce announced on 6 February 2024 that it will explore how we can improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer. It will draw on expertise from charities, clinicians, academia, and businesses, to set the direction, and define its priorities going forward.
It is important to recognise the support built into National Health Service specifications for children’s cancer. These require children’s cancer services to take a multi-agency approach to support, and address, the wider social, educational, psychological, and emotional needs of the child and their family. This includes providing ready access to a wide range of services and professionals, including educational and rehabilitative support. These services are vital in ensuring that children and families have the support needed, to face the difficult challenges cancer brings.