Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department allocated to installing audio-visual equipment on buses in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since 2018, the Department has allocated £3.55m to the Real Time Information Group to support smaller operators with the provision of audible and visible information on local bus and coach services across England, Scotland and Wales. Accessibility policy is devolved in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken (a) to process asylum claims and (b) between asylum claims and (i) interviews and (ii) decisions.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
To accelerate decision making we are driving productivity improvements by simplifying and modernising our system. This includes measures like shorter, more focussed interviews; removing unnecessary interviews; making guidance simpler and more accessible; dealing with cases more swiftly where they can be certified as manifestly unfounded; recruiting extra decision makers; and allocating dedicated resources for different nationalities.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department has made any assessment of the potential merits of introducing a National Sleep Strategy including recommendations to help ensure all children have their own bed to sleep in.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not have policy responsibility for this area. Therefore, it has not carried out an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a National Sleep Strategy.
The government provided a written response to a petition on the creation of a sleep strategy on 23 March 2022. The response can be found here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/604509.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of a child not having their own bed to sleep in on educational achievement in primary school.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department has not undertaken a specific assessment of the impact of a child not having their own bed to sleep in on their educational achievement in primary school, but we have evaluated the impact of poverty on educational outcomes.
Evidence shows that disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs are more likely to fall behind and need extra support to reach their full potential. That is why there is a range of support in place to support pupils, families, and schools.
Overall, core schools funding (including funding for both mainstream schools and high needs) is increasing by £4 billion in 2022/23 compared to the previous year. In 2022/23, the department will be allocating approximately £2,000 per pupil, for all pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years through the national funding formula, the pupil premium and the 2022-23 school supplementary grant together. The Pupil Premium enables schools to provide extra support for disadvantaged pupils to help improve their academic and personal achievements.
The department is also investing in 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) where outcomes in literacy and numeracy are the poorest, where a package of measures will be implemented to drive school improvement and improve pupil outcomes.
Providing support for vulnerable children and young people is a priority for this government. The department recognises the strain that families are under and will continue to work collaboratively with local areas to ensure children, young people and families have access to the support they need to recover from any negative effects of the pandemic and respond to cost of living pressures.
The government spends over £1 billion annually delivering free meals to pupils in schools as we know that the provision of nutritious food ensures pupils are well nourished, develop healthy eating habits and can concentrate and learn. In addition, the department recently announced a further investment in the National School Breakfast Programme, extending the programme for another year until July 2024. Overall, we are investing up to £30 million in the programme, covering the period from July 2021 to July 2024. This funding will support up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas meaning that thousands of children from low-income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.
The department is also investing over £200 million a year in the holiday activities and food programme providing healthy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their heath, wellbeing and learning through the provision of healthy free meals, nutritional education, and physical activities on a daily basis.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that families which use infant formula and are facing food poverty are able to access enough formula to safely feed their families.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Healthy Start scheme can be used to buy or towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, plain cow’s milk and infant formula.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for new mortgage applications to after 31 December 2022.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continues to keep policy under review, and remains committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.
The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme – launched in April 2021 – continues to support homebuyers and movers with deposits as small as 5%. To date, the scheme has directly helped over 24,000 households to buy their homes, 85% of which have been by first-time buyers.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the levels of patient awareness of the MR-Guided Focussed Ultrasound for Essential Tremor centre in Liverpool; and what steps he is taking to inform patients that this treatment is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
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 reduce waiting times for NHS treatment.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In the Autumn Statement we committed an additional £3.3 billion per year until 2024-25 to respond to significant pressures facing the NHS. This is on top of the £8 billion already committed until 2025 to reduce waiting times. This funding will increase capacity to get patients diagnosed and treated quickly, by creating new Community Diagnostic Centres and Surgical Hubs and prioritising the patients waiting longest.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
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 resolve shortages of Hormone Replacement Therapy products.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
There are over 70 hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products available in the United Kingdom and while most remain in good supply, a range of factors has led to supply issues with a limited number of products.
We have been working with suppliers and other stakeholders such as the National Health Service and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to maintain overall HRT supply, including expediting resupply dates of the disrupted products. We have continued to engage with suppliers, wholesalers and community pharmacists to discuss any challenges and ensure that supply meets demand. We are encouraged by suppliers’ plans to further build capacity such as a new production facility for Oestrogel and plans to introduce new products to the UK.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason he has not included representatives of (a) housing charities, (b) debt charities and (c) trade unions on his new Economic Advisory Panel.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 17th October, the Chancellor announced that he would establish an Economic Advisory Council. This will act as a consultative forum for the government to be advised on UK and international economics and financial markets. The Council will consist of leading and respected economists.
The Chancellor has announced the initial members to form the council, with further members to be added in due course. All members have been chosen for their personal knowledge and expertise, as relevant to advising the government on the UK economy. Members can be added or removed at the Chancellor’s discretion.
The Council members, alongside the role and purpose of the Council, will be reviewed after six months.