Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to bring forward an NHS workforce plan at the earliest opportunity.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan next year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking into account improvements in retention and productivity.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who can register a child for a school; and what effect a statement of special educational needs has on the rights of the parent.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
Section 86 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, which covers admission to schools in England, enables the parent of a child to express a preference as to which school(s) they would like their child to attend. It also requires school admission authorities in England to comply with that parental preference subject to certain limited exceptions, for example, where the school is oversubscribed. Young people, as well as their parents, can apply for a place at a school sixth form.
The Children Act 1989 states that anyone who has parental responsibility for a child can exercise ‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property’. For a looked-after child, the local authority is the corporate parent.
Statements of Special Educational Need (SEN) were phased out in England after the Children and Families Act 2014. There is now a broader system of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Where a child has an EHC plan, the parent can request a place at a state school, or various other education settings. The local authority must then name that requested placement on the EHC plan unless it is unsuitable for the child’s age, ability, aptitude or SEN, or the attendance of the child at the school would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others or with the efficient use of resources.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals on early intervention measures to help safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no plans to do so. We have accelerated the deployment of mental health support teams to schools and colleges for approximately 35% of pupils by 2023. We are working with the Department for Education to provide early intervention and mental wellbeing support in education settings. In addition, a call for evidence on long term measures to support mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention closed on 7 July 2022. We are currently analysing over 5,000 responses received.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on the introduction of an energy price cap for businesses in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Applying a price cap in the non-domestic market is impractical given the number of different contractual arrangements, the range of prices offered and the risk of market distortion. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme has been designed to offer a comparable level of support to the domestic Energy Price Guarantee and legislation came into force on 1 November, shielding businesses across the United Kingdom from soaring energy prices and saving some around half of their wholesale energy costs. The scheme applies to energy usage from 1 October 2022 for an initial 6-month period.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps with Cabinet colleagues to help support sight loss research in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Will Quince
Sight loss research undertaken in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the national curriculum has any compulsory aspects on the study of citizenship of the UK.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Citizenship forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4. Within citizenship, pupils in secondary maintained schools in England will be taught the workings of Parliament, voting and elections; the role of police, courts and justice; free press, human rights and international law; and the governments of other countries. Citizenship teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. Economic and financial education within citizenship prepares pupils to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions.
The Department does not prescribe how the National Curriculum should be taught, but schools are expected to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of their pupils.
The Department has published Political Impartiality in Schools guidance to support teachers in tackling sensitive issues in the classroom in a politically impartial way. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had discussions with her counterpart in Bahrain on the arrest of Hasan Mohammed.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Officials and ministers have regular discussions with Bahraini counterparts on human rights issues, most recently during Lord Ahmad's meeting with Bahrain's Foreign Minister Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani in September in New York and discuss individual cases, as appropriate, both with the Bahraini Government as well as with the independent oversight bodies. We encourage those with concerns to raise them directly with the relevant oversight bodies.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average daily cost was for the provision of housing for people awaiting the processing of their asylum application in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Costs are subject to change depending on numbers being accommodated within the asylum system. Accommodation costs are considered to be commercially confidential, therefore the Home Office does not publish this information. However, total expenditure on asylum is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ho-annual-reports-and-accounts (opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has concluded his annual review of benefits; and whether this review considered how many blind and partially sighted people use disability benefits intended to cover the additional costs their disability incurs on basic essentials
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The outcome of the Secretary of State’s annual review of State Pension and benefit rates will be announced shortly. Under the Equality Act 2010, public authorities are required to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and to consider the effects of his decisions on those with protected characteristics, which includes disability.
In England and Wales, as of February 2022, there were 43 thousand people with Attendance Allowance who report visual disorders as their primary condition and 21 thousand claiming Disabled Living Allowance. As of July 2022, there were 51 thousand people claiming Personal Independence Payment who report visual disorders as their primary condition. These figures exclude Scotland and Northern Ireland because these benefits are devolved to the Scottish Parliament and are a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the next round of awards from the Levelling Up Fund for Northern Ireland will be announced.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
All bids submitted to the second round of the Levelling Up Fund are being assessed in line with our published guidance. We will announce the successful bids in due course.