Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with the Charity Commission on when the Commission plans to provide a substantive reply to the letter from the Conservative Party to the Commission of 14 June 2024, acknowledged by the Commission on 12 July 2024.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Charity Commission responded to the Conservative Party’s Legal Officer on 15th August 2024, providing a full update on the case in question.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of A Level results by county; and what steps she is planning to take to improve standards in areas with lower attainment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Data on local authority attainment at A level is published in the ‘A level and other 16 to 18 results’ statistical release. The latest data relates to the 2022/23 academic year and data for the 2023/24 academic year will be published in November 2024. For example, A level headline measures can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/13ce6b93-cebf-43e0-b4e4-08dccb80a395.
Ofqual also publish data from A level results day by county, which may be found here: https://analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/Alevel/County/.
High and rising standards are at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances for every child and young person, no matter their background. The department want an education system in which all children and young people can achieve and thrive and develop the skills to seize the opportunities they need to succeed in work and life.
The quality of teaching and leaders are the biggest determinants of outcomes for learners within schools and colleges. This government has moved quickly to start driving up standards by beginning work to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers and have already launched an independent, expert-led curriculum and assessment review. Spanning from age 5 through to age 18, the review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve. The government is also determined to continue to strengthen school and college leadership and development opportunities for staff across the profession.
Regional improvement teams, to be launched early 2025, will help drive high and rising standards. These teams will encourage and foster improvement across the system enabling schools and trusts to support each other, learn from their peers and share best practice. To drive up standards across the country, all state-funded schools will be able to draw on these new regional improvement teams for help accessing and understanding the array of available improvement programmes proven to make a real impact.
Regional improvement teams will also work with schools to utilise new school report cards for schools to identify where they are performing well and where there are areas of improvement.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the (a) efficacy and (b) adequacy of the Over Thirty Months Scheme for cattle.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
While cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the UK are now rare, the confirmation of a new case in Scotland in May highlighted the continued importance of the robust BSE control measures we have in place that have greatly reduced the incidence of BSE in the UK. These controls include the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule, which acts as a safeguard to both human and animal health. The OTM rule requires the removal at slaughter from cattle aged over thirty months old, tissues which are designated by the World Animal Health Organisation (WOAH) as Specified Risk Material (SRM), because they contain the highest level of potential BSE infectivity. The removal of SRM from cattle aged over thirty months is an internationally recognised requirement.
No assessment of the OTM rule is currently planned while we await the outcome of the recent application that England, Wales, and Scotland have made to WOAH to have our BSE risk status reduced from ‘controlled’ to ‘negligible’.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to review the performance of the Motor Insurance Bureau against their statutory obligations.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Transport does not currently have any plans to review the performance of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau against their statutory duty.
The Government is clear that addressing the rising costs of motor insurance is a priority and will set out the next steps on this in due course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to impose VAT on private school fees for any part of the academic school year commencing in September 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system.
The Prime Minister has been clear that if a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan that requires them to attend a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, they will not feel an impact from VAT being charged on fees. The Chancellor has also been clear that changes will not come into force until 2025.
Further details on this policy will be set out in due course. The Government engages with a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in Government policy, including VAT, as part of the policy development and implementation process as a matter of course.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of making water companies statutory consultees in planning permission applications for new housing developments.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government committed during the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to consult on whether water companies should become statutory consultees on certain planning applications, and if so, how best to do this. The Secretary of State has since commissioned Sam Richards to undertake an independent review of statutory consultees within the planning system and the recommendations from this will be published in due course.
In the meantime, it is important that water companies engage local planning authorities on their applications at the right time so they can input effectively and not slow down the application process.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of ending the automatic right of new housing developments to connect to the sewage system.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Industry Act 1991 permits owners of premises or of private sewers to connect to the public sewer and to discharge into it foul and surface water. A sewerage company may, however, refuse this connection if it appears that the construction or condition of the connecting drain or sewer does not reasonably satisfy the standards it reasonably requires or if the connection would be prejudicial to its own sewerage system. Where there are questions or disputes about reasonableness, the regulator - Ofwat - would make the final determination.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to commence schedule 3 of the Floods and Water Act 2010.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains firmly committed to delivering standardised sustainable drainage systems in new developments as stated in our Plan for Water (April 2023). A consultation will take place shortly and final implementation decisions will be made on scope, threshold and process.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason kinship carers can only claim the lower rate of Child Benefit if they already have children for whom they claim Child Benefit; and if he will take steps to review this policy.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The higher rate of Child Benefit can only be paid for the eldest child. It is intended to help all families with children, acknowledging the impact on a family’s finances of the arrival of a child/children in the family. The arrival of a child for the first time may mean for instance that many parents have to give up work altogether or work reduced hours. When Child Benefit ends for the eldest child, the higher rate becomes payable for the next eldest child. The government keeps all policies under review in the usual way.
Financial support for kinship carers is paid at the discretion of the local authority and in accordance with their model for assessing support needs. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide. The local authority should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average holding time was for phone calls to the probate office contact line in each year since 2019.
Answered by Mike Freer
The average holding time (Average Speed of Answer (ASA)) for phone calls to the Probate office contact line in each year since 2019 is as follows:
2021 = 17 minutes 28 seconds
2022 = 33 minutes 23 seconds
2023 = 12 minutes 17 seconds
HMCTS does not hold ASA data prior to 2021 due to a change in system in Spring 2021.
HMCTS has recruited over 100 additional staff, between June 2022 and June 2023, to improve both telephone response times and increase the overall volume and speed of grants being issued.
In addition, HMCTS have undertaken additional staff training to ensure probate call agents can resolve more queries at the first time of contact and issue the grant wherever possible.