Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to update to the List of named tax avoidance schemes, promoters, enables and suppliers of 1 December 2023, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the loan charge that came into effect on 5 April 2019 on the financial wellbeing of freelancers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Loan Charge was independently reviewed by Lord Morse, who considered the impacts of the policy on individuals. The Government accepted 19 of his 20 recommendations. These changes, such as removing loans made before 9 December 2010 from the scope of the Loan Charge, reduced the impact of the policy and removed aspects which were of wider concern.HMRC puts support for those affected at the core of its work to collect the Loan Charge and bring cases to settlement.
HMRC can agree an affordable and sustainable instalment plan based on taxpayers’ specific circumstances and for as long as they need. HMRC can also refer taxpayers for free debt advice that is independent from HMRC.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) education providers have been (i) investigated and (ii) inspected under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 and (b) unregistered schools have been identified in each year between 2015 and 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Ofsted publish statistics twice a year on the number of those settings that have been investigated and inspected under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 since January 2016. The published statistics include information relating to the number of warning notices that been issued because of Ofsted inspectors concluding that an unregistered school may be operating on the premises.
The published statistics which cover each year since 2016 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unregistered-schools-management-information.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has provided for (a) mental health services (i) for children and young people and (ii) in total and (b) all NHS services in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is for individual local commissioners to allocate funding to mental health services to meet the needs of their local populations and this information is not collected centrally. Integrated care boards are expected to continue to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard by increasing their investment in mental health services in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.
The following table shows the actual expenditure on mental health services for the period 2019/20 to 2022/23:
Year | Mental health spend for children and young people, excluding learning disabilities and eating disorders (£ billion) | Total mental health spend (£ billion) |
2019/20 | 0.79 | 13.32 |
2020/21 | 0.88 | 14.31 |
2021/22 | 0.92 | 14.93 |
2022/23 | 1.04 | 15.97 |
Source: NHS Mental Health Dashboard
Note: Total actual mental health spend reported here includes spending on learning disabilities and dementia, which is not included in the mental health investment standard or the baseline spend for the commitment in the NHS Long Term Plan to increase mental health spending by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, how much and what proportion of the additional £2.3 billion of funding for mental health services has been spent on services for (a) children and (b) other young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increasing funding to support the expansion and transformation of National Health Service-funded mental health services for adults, children, and young people in England by an additional £2.3 billion a year by March 2024. The proportion of this funding that has been spent on children and young people’s services is not separately identifiable.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on (a) local authorities and (b) people accessing local authority services.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since October 2021, Government has provided over £2 billion to local authorities in England via the Household Support Fund (HSF) for them to provide discretionary support with the cost of essentials to those most in need. As with all government spending in England, the HSF has led to consequential increases in Barnett funding, which the Devolved Administrations can spend at their discretion. The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024.
No such assessment has been made of the potential impact of the ending of the Household Support Fund on local authorities and people accessing local authority services. The government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to respond to Thames Water's s35 application for its Teddington Direct River Abstraction proposal.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Thames Water have requested that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs gives a direction under Section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 for the Teddington Direct River Abstraction. The Secretary of State will respond to Thames Water in line with the statutory timeframe required.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to issue a decision on Thames Water’s revised draft Water Resources Management Plan.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We expect to decide the next steps on Thames Water’s draft water resources management plan in the new year.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent on advertising campaigns to (a) recruit new teachers and (b) bring retired and former teachers back to teaching in each academic year since 2015.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The attached table sets out total spend for teacher recruitment and returners advertising campaigns from the 2015/16 to 2022/23 academic years.
The objectives of the teaching advertising campaign are to raise the status of teaching and contribute to overall Initial Teacher Training numbers. Due to the often-lengthy candidate journey from initial consideration through to applying for and starting initial teacher training, several methods are used to assess campaign impact. They include regular brand tracking studies and other market research, econometric modelling to identify and quantify the factors affecting sign ups to the Get Into Teaching service, analysis of the flow of candidates between Get Into Teaching and the Find and Apply services, and tracking of site traffic to the Get Into Teaching website.
From financial year 2021/22 onwards, the department incorporated some paid search activity for returners into the recruitment budget.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 21 February 2023 to Question 140337 on Schools: Closures, how many additional state-funded schools have (a) temporarily or (b) permanently closed (i) all or (ii) part of their school site because one or more buildings were deemed unsafe in the period since February 2023; and which schools have been affected.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary aided school bodies – to manage the maintenance of their schools and alert the department if there is a concern with a building. Local authorities and academy trusts do not need to report building closures to the department; therefore the department does not hold this data. The department does provide support on a case by case basis, working with the sector if it is alerted to a serious safety issue.
The government published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC as of 16 October 2023. The list is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
The department always puts the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unregistered schools there are in England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
An unregistered school is defined as a setting that is operating as an independent school without having registered with the department. It is a criminal offence under section 96 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 for a person to operate an unregistered independent school. The department does not therefore retain data about unregistered schools.
The department funds a joint team with Ofsted to target unregistered schools. Ofsted has powers under section 97 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 that allows for unannounced inspections of settings believed to be operating in breach of registration requirements. A team of inspectors are employed to identify, investigate and inspect any setting where there is evidence to suggest that an unregistered independent school is operating.