Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities with finding homes for children with complex needs.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children should live somewhere that meets their needs and keeps them safe. Under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989, it is the duty of each local social services authority to provide suitable accommodation for children in their care. However, the government recognises the challenges local authorities face, and the need for system-wide reform.
To support local authorities, the department has allocated £259 million in funding to maintain capacity and expand provision across open children’s homes (OCHs) and secure children’s homes (SCHs) within England, up until March 2025. Funding to develop OCH provision is provided on a match-funding basis with the department and the local authority local authority contributing 50% funding. For SCH provision, the department provides local authorities with 100% funding. Additional capacity has already been developed, with 36 smaller projects being complete and becoming operational within the SCH estate since the programme launched in 2021.
The government recognises the need for long-term, system-level reform of children’s social care. In February 2023, the government published “Stable Homes, Built on Love – Implementation Strategy and Consultation”, which set out the government’s proposals to reform children’s social care following reviews from the Competition and Markets Authority and Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The report recommends system changes to ensure suitable placements are available to meet the needs of children.
The department recognises that some children and young people can fall between gaps in a complex system of education, social care and justice services, and there is a lack of evidence-based, integrated, co-commissioned models of care. These gaps are being addressed through a jointly led departmental and NHS England cross-government work programme to improve how system partners work together to improve outcomes for children who are in the most complex situations.
The department has established an ‘‘Improving support for Children in Complex Situations with Multiple Needs” Task and Finish Group (TFG), which aims to enhance support for children in complex situations. The goal is to improve collaboration among system partners to better serve children, particularly those at risk of losing their freedom. The group aims to align government efforts to design, commission and deliver integrated care models, including social care, health, education and youth justice, with the support of key stakeholders.
Transparency data has been published online which provides more information about the TFG and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/improving-cross-sector-support-for-children-in-complex-situations-with-multiple-needs-task-and-finish-group?cgfc.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has conducted an equality impact assessment of the use of machine learning in benefit fraud investigations.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has robust processes to ensure ethical use and impact of data is considered which includes Equality Impact Assessments for transformative initiatives that involve personal data, aligned with data-ethics frameworks, codes of practice, and working principles for analytical communities within the department that work with personal data.
We do not use algorithms to make decisions regarding fraudulent claims, these are always made by humans.
We will be providing further information in our 2023-24 Report and Accounts - committees.parliament.uk/publications/42012/documents/208912/default/
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle health inequalities in the North East.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) financial and (b) other support his Department is providing to women's refuges in City of Durham constituency.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has provided £3,531,383 since 2021/22 to County Durham and have committed a further £1,216,337 for 2024/25. This funding is for County Durham to commission support for victims of domestic abuse who are residing in refuges and other types of domestic abuse safe accommodation locally.
Statutory Guidance and Regulations provide further details to local authorities on how the duties should be delivered on the ground. The Department continues to work closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, the domestic abuse sector and the LGA in supporting local authorities, including best practice workshops.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to financially support community and voluntary organisations that support homeless people in City of Durham constituency.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognises that local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what services they provide and what community and voluntary organisations they commission, based on local priorities and circumstances. We are investing over £2 billion over three years in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 provides local areas and their community and voluntary partners with resources to offer accommodation, support, and a route off the streets for people sleeping rough; the City of Durham has been allocated £680,591.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's Circular 01/2013, whether it remains Government policy that a 30 mph speed limit should be the norm in villages.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
30mph remains the default speed limit in built-up areas. Unless an order has been made and the road is signed to the contrary, a 30 mph speed limit applies where there is a system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 200 yards apart.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many government contracts have been awarded to Fujitsu for Post Office Ltd since 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Post Office operates as a commercial business at arm’s length from Government and the company is responsible for its own commercial relationships. As such, there are no Government contracts with Fujitsu relating to the Post Office.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many government contracts have been awarded to Fujitsu since 2010.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This historic information is not held centrally.
Details of central government contracts where the contract value is above £12,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Child Maintenance Service has taken to help recover arrears in child maintenance payments.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMS compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours. CMS applies a Continuous Improvement focus to Enforcement strategy and processes.
In the quarter ending September 2023, of 180,000 Paying Parents due to pay via the Collect and Pay service:
Depending on a Paying Parent’s employment status we use Deduction from Earnings orders or deductions from bank accounts. We have collected in excess of £16m via deduction orders in 2023. We move cases swiftly to Legal Enforcement. Securing a Liability Order (LO) for 11k cases in the courts, cases are referred to Enforcement Agents (Bailiffs) who have collected almost £5m in 2023. Where house ownership is established, charging orders and orders for sale are instigated. CMS will quickly move to taking court action for the removal of driving licence, committal to prison or removal of passport. £4.5m collected from cases at this stage.
As a result of this intense effort to increase enforcement activity £36m collected from arrears.
The planned introduction of the Administrative Liability Order in 2024 will remove the need to apply to the courts and will reduce the current average time of 20 weeks to secure an LO to 6 weeks.
The published statistics below provides data to September 2023 Section 9 Enforcement and the National tables 7.1 and 7.2.
Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to September 2023 - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Question 5041 on Pensions, with reference to the Pension Schemes Act 2015 (Transitional Provisions and Appropriate Independent Advice) 2015 Post Implementation Review, published on 4 April 2023, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the disproportionate response to low-risk pension transfers noted in the last paragraph of that Review.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst conducting the statutory review of the requirement DWP determined the original intention, ensuring members are aware of the benefits they may be giving up by transferring their pension assets to schemes with flexible benefits still applies.
DWP continues to engage with His Majesty’s Treasury (HMT), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pensions Regulator (TPR) to determine if there are alternative ways to deliver the protections that smooth the process.