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Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Teachers
Friday 1st April 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the upcoming SEND Review and Green Paper, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of revising the Initial Teacher Training framework to ensure that all teachers are equipped to teach children with (a) speech, language and communication needs and (b) other special educational needs.

Answered by Robin Walker

Since September 2020, all courses offered by initial teacher training (ITT) providers have been aligned to a mandatory core content framework (CCF), which was published in November 2019. The framework sets out a minimum entitlement for all trainee teachers.

Evidence shows that teacher quality is the most important factor within schools in improving outcomes for all children, particularly those from a disadvantaged background, or for those with additional needs. The CCF is therefore key to the government’s plans to improve school standards for all.

The CCF is based on the best peer-reviewed evidence about what works and is designed to emphasis the importance of high quality teaching. The framework therefore deliberately does not detail approaches specific to particular needs, but what makes the most effective teaching. The department expects ITT providers and their partners to continue to tailor their curricula to the needs of their trainees and the children in the schools where they train and will work, which may include pupils with specific speech, language and communication needs.

Additionally, courses must continue to be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the end of their course, including standard 5, which is clear that teachers must have an understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs.

In July 2021 we published the government response to the ITT Review which set out new quality requirements for all ITT from September 2024 and the government's aim to ensure that all trainee teachers experience consistently high-quality ITT that incorporates the ITT Core Content Framework in full.

This week, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Green Paper for full public consultation. These proposals set out a system that offers children and young people the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support, in the right place, and at the right time, so they can fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.


Written Question
Children: Speech and Language Disorders
Friday 25th March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the £1 billion allocated to schools as part of the Recovery Premium will be spent to help children’s speech and language.

Answered by Will Quince

The £300 million Recovery Premium for this academic year is additional funding to help schools deliver evidence-based approaches to support education recovery. In October 2021, as part of our broader Spending Review settlement, we announced an extension to the Recovery Premium, worth £1 billion for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years.

Recovery Premium eligibility builds on that of pupil premium, but school leaders have flexibility to use the funding to support any pupil where a need is identified, including those with speech and language difficulties.

Schools are expected to spend their Recovery Premium, alongside their pupil premium, in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s recommendation to fund activities that support high quality teaching, provide targeted academic support, and address non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour, and social and emotional support.

Schools should therefore use their funding to assess and address immediate needs, such as those relating to speech and language difficulties, as well as longer-term strategic improvements, such as boosting the quality of oracy teaching.

We are also investing up to £180 million of recovery support in the early years sector, with new programmes focusing on key areas such as speech and language development for the youngest children. This includes:

  • an expansion of the professional development programme, which has a focus on early language and mathematics, as well as personal, social, and emotional development
  • a significant expansion in the number of staff in group-based providers, and childminders, with an accredited level 3 Special Educational Needs Coordinator qualification
  • programmes to train early years practitioners to support parents with the home learning environment, and improve children’s early language, social and emotional development, and
  • the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme, aimed at reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development.

The NELI programme includes training for staff on identifying speech and language difficulties, and is proven to help children make around 3 months of additional progress.


Written Question
Children: Speech and Language Disorders
Friday 25th March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of how the Recovery Premium benefit children with a speech and language difficulty or whose development in speaking and understanding language has been adversely affected as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and associated schools closures.

Answered by Will Quince

The £300 million Recovery Premium for this academic year is additional funding to help schools deliver evidence-based approaches to support education recovery. In October 2021, as part of our broader Spending Review settlement, we announced an extension to the Recovery Premium, worth £1 billion for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years.

Recovery Premium eligibility builds on that of pupil premium, but school leaders have flexibility to use the funding to support any pupil where a need is identified, including those with speech and language difficulties.

Schools are expected to spend their Recovery Premium, alongside their pupil premium, in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s recommendation to fund activities that support high quality teaching, provide targeted academic support, and address non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour, and social and emotional support.

Schools should therefore use their funding to assess and address immediate needs, such as those relating to speech and language difficulties, as well as longer-term strategic improvements, such as boosting the quality of oracy teaching.

We are also investing up to £180 million of recovery support in the early years sector, with new programmes focusing on key areas such as speech and language development for the youngest children. This includes:

  • an expansion of the professional development programme, which has a focus on early language and mathematics, as well as personal, social, and emotional development
  • a significant expansion in the number of staff in group-based providers, and childminders, with an accredited level 3 Special Educational Needs Coordinator qualification
  • programmes to train early years practitioners to support parents with the home learning environment, and improve children’s early language, social and emotional development, and
  • the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme, aimed at reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development.

The NELI programme includes training for staff on identifying speech and language difficulties, and is proven to help children make around 3 months of additional progress.


Written Question
Tax Avoidance: Prosecutions
Tuesday 22nd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many promoters and operators of schemes subject to the loan charge have been prosecuted for promoting and operating those schemes.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Loan Charge was announced at Budget 2016 as part of a package of measures to tackle Disguised Remuneration (DR) tax avoidance. The forecast was last revised at Spring Budget 2021. There was an estimated overall Exchequer yield of £3.3 billion for the entire package, including the Loan Charge.

In September 2019, the Government commissioned an Independent Review into the Loan Charge which was led by Lord Morse. The Government accepted 19 of the 20 recommendations made by the review. Changes to the Loan Charge were estimated to reduce the forecast yield. At Budget 2020, the changes were costed as a separate measure, with an estimated reduction to the Exchequer yield of £745 million.

HMRC is committed to continuing to tackle promoters and operators of tax avoidance schemes. This includes challenging the entities and individuals who promote disguised remuneration loan schemes.

Promotion or operation of mass marketed tax avoidance schemes is not in and of itself a criminal offence. However, there are a range of offences which might be committed by those who promote tax avoidance schemes or advise on their use.

On that basis, while to date there have been no prosecutions of individuals directly related to the promotion of schemes subject to the Loan Charge, a number of individuals are currently under criminal investigation by HMRC for offences linked to schemes subject to the Loan Charge.

In addition to schemes subject to the Loan Charge, since 1 April 2016, more than 20 individuals have been convicted for offences relating to arrangements which have been promoted and marketed as tax avoidance, including offences related to DR. These have resulted in over 100 years of custodial sentences, the majority of which relate to promoters.


Written Question
Tax Avoidance
Tuesday 22nd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the revenue that will accrue to the Exchequer from the loan charge.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Loan Charge was announced at Budget 2016 as part of a package of measures to tackle Disguised Remuneration (DR) tax avoidance. The forecast was last revised at Spring Budget 2021. There was an estimated overall Exchequer yield of £3.3 billion for the entire package, including the Loan Charge.

In September 2019, the Government commissioned an Independent Review into the Loan Charge which was led by Lord Morse. The Government accepted 19 of the 20 recommendations made by the review. Changes to the Loan Charge were estimated to reduce the forecast yield. At Budget 2020, the changes were costed as a separate measure, with an estimated reduction to the Exchequer yield of £745 million.

HMRC is committed to continuing to tackle promoters and operators of tax avoidance schemes. This includes challenging the entities and individuals who promote disguised remuneration loan schemes.

Promotion or operation of mass marketed tax avoidance schemes is not in and of itself a criminal offence. However, there are a range of offences which might be committed by those who promote tax avoidance schemes or advise on their use.

On that basis, while to date there have been no prosecutions of individuals directly related to the promotion of schemes subject to the Loan Charge, a number of individuals are currently under criminal investigation by HMRC for offences linked to schemes subject to the Loan Charge.

In addition to schemes subject to the Loan Charge, since 1 April 2016, more than 20 individuals have been convicted for offences relating to arrangements which have been promoted and marketed as tax avoidance, including offences related to DR. These have resulted in over 100 years of custodial sentences, the majority of which relate to promoters.


Written Question
Energy Bills Rebate
Tuesday 15th March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason local authorities are not able to make the £150 council tax rebate via residents' council tax bills rather than making a direct payment to council tax payers.

Answered by Simon Clarke

In most cases the rebate will be delivered as a direct payment. This allows support to be provided up front rather than spread across the usual council tax instalments and means that households that don’t pay council tax are not disadvantaged.

Councils can, however, offer the option of a credit to council tax accounts to non-direct debit holders as part of the claims process. This is intended to help speed up the claims process (and limit the administrative burden on local authorities), and in recognition that not all taxpayers will want to provide payment details where not already held.


Written Question
Public Houses: Closures
Thursday 3rd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department provides support to local community groups that seek to purchase closed pubs in their local areas.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

We recognise the central role that pubs play in our towns and villages and welcome more applications. Our Community Ownership Fund helps community groups to buy or take over local community assets at risk of being lost. Across the first bidding round we have funded 5 pubs valued at £990,696 and will support many more in future rounds.


Written Question
Derelict Land: Regeneration
Wednesday 2nd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to local authorities to help regenerate derelict land.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

At Spending Review 2021, the Government announced £1.5 billion to regenerate underused land and deliver transport links and community facilities. This funding will help to unlock sites across the country that the private sector alone will not deliver, alongside a further £300 million locally led grant funding that will be distributed to Mayoral Combined Authorities and local authorities to help unlock smaller brownfield sites


These announcements build on our existing, extensive support for growth and regeneration, including the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund that has funded town and city centre regeneration schemes in places across the UK. Future rounds of the Levelling Up Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will build on this investment and the billions of pounds of investment made through the Towns Fund, Future High Streets Fund, Getting Building Fund and Brownfield Housing Fund.


Written Question
Derelict Land: Regeneration
Wednesday 2nd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what powers local authorities posses to purchase derelict buildings and land for regeneration purposes.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Local authorities have various compulsory purchase powers which they can use to acquire and develop derelict buildings and land, including for regeneration purposes. These include powers under Part 9 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to compulsorily purchase land for development and other planning purposes. As announced in the recent Levelling Up White Paper, we intend to bring forward improvements to compulsory purchase powers to enable more effective land assembly and support regeneration. Further details will be announced in due course.


Written Question
Housing Estates: Regeneration
Wednesday 2nd March 2022

Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what support his Department provides to local authorities for the regeneration of existing housing estates.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

£100 million for the Brownfield Land Release Fund includes support for local authorities for estate Regeneration. In 2021 / 2022 £14.2 million of capital grants has been allocated to 14 existing social housing estates across England.

The Levelling Up White Paper sets out the importance of regeneration on the economic and social missions of Levelling Up and we will be exploring with local leaders how we can support places further.