Nov. 29 2023
Source Page: Price inflation and competition in food and grocery manufacturing and supplyFound: This is because (unlike the other product categories), own -label infant formula is only sold by one
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether children in low-income families are permitted to use funding from the apprenticeship levy to stay on at secondary school.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are jobs with training that are open to anyone aged 16 and over. The apprenticeship levy was introduced to support employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The department’s annual budget for apprenticeships in England has increased to over £2.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This budget is ringfenced for spend on apprenticeships training and assessment only to meet employer demand for high-quality apprenticeships and cannot be used for other purposes.
To ensure that every child, regardless of their background, can excel at school and achieve their full potential, the department has targeted a greater proportion of the schools national funding formula towards deprived pupils than ever before. In total, 10.2%, over £4.4 billion, of the formula will be allocated according to deprivation factors in the 2024/25 financial year and 17.8%, or £7.8 billion, will be allocated for additional needs overall. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps and level up educational opportunities.
The pupil premium grant, introduced in 2011, also offers direct funding to schools to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged 5 to 16 year olds in state-funded schools in England. The department increased the premium pupil funding to over £2.9 billion this financial year to ensure the most disadvantaged pupils receive the support they need to succeed at school.
The department is providing funding to ensure that every 16 to 18 year old has a place in further education or training if they want one. The department invested over £7 billion on 16 to 19 programme funding during the 2023/24 academic year, which included over £590 million to support students who are economically deprived and to account for low prior attainment in English and mathematics. Over £35 million has also been allocated in the 2023/24 academic year to provide free meals for 16 to 19 year olds in further education. Additionally, the department allocated over £159 million of bursary funding to institutions in the 2023/24 academic year to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with costs such as travel, books, equipment and trips, which is nearly 12% higher than published allocations for the 2022/23 academic year.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in each of the past 12 months for which data are available, how much money was (1) credited to NHS Healthy Start cards, (2) used by entitled beneficiaries within the period of time they have available to spend that money on valid items, and (3) not used.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Healthy Start scheme, pregnant women and children aged under four years old and over one years old, each receive £4.25 every week, and children under one years old each receive £8.50 every week. Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruits and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, milk and infant formula. The money is loaded onto a pre-paid payment card. Beneficiaries are not required to spend the money each week and it can be accumulated and put towards more expensive Healthy Start items, such as infant formula. The legislation states that only after 16 consecutive weeks of the pre-paid payment card not being used can the card be cancelled.
This flexibility in how and when the money can be used means that the total amount spent in any one month can exceed the amount added in that month, if beneficiaries have accumulated funds in previous months. The following table shows the latest data for how much was added onto Healthy Start cards and spent, per month, during 2023:
Month | Total added | Total spent |
January | £7,859,474.75 | £8,353,475.29 |
February | £7,435,669.76 | £7,320,424.91 |
March | £10,626,362.86 | £8,971,140.57 |
April | £11,665,242.36 | £10,012,024.12 |
May | £8,137,362.11 | £8,218,389.00 |
June | £7,805,625.26 | £7,873,571.30 |
July | £9,171,390.95 | £8,021,060.44 |
August | £8,535,237.75 | £7,985,449.52 |
September | £7,549,456.50 | £7,887,565.69 |
October | £8,289,498.25 | £7,715,832.34 |
November | £7,954,638.13 | £7,131,207.48 |
December | £7,750,004.57 | £7,013,663.46 |
This flexibility also means that from month to month some of the money may remain on the payment cards without being used. During 2023 the average outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards was £12.6 million. This equates to around £37 per household. If a card was unused for 16 weeks as permitted in the legislation, it would accumulate £68 for a pregnant woman or a family with a child over one and under four, or £136 for a family with twins under one years old. The average balance of £37 per household is less than 16 weeks’ entitlement, although these are aggregate figures and there will be variation across households. The following table shows the total outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards, per month, during 2023:
Month | Total outstanding balance |
January | £11,876,537.16 |
February | £11,456,639.28 |
March | £11,444,727.51 |
April | £12,465,403.05 |
May | £12,238,144.26 |
June | £12,123,823.55 |
July | £12,777,017.89 |
August | £13,193,581.26 |
September | £13,677,365.89 |
October | £13,066,802.63 |
November | £13,418,231.23 |
December | £13,850,960.26 |
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what happens to any money credited to NHS Healthy Start cards that is not used by entitled beneficiaries within the period of time they have available to spend that money on valid items.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Healthy Start scheme, pregnant women and children aged under four years old and over one years old, each receive £4.25 every week, and children under one years old each receive £8.50 every week. Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruits and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, milk and infant formula. The money is loaded onto a pre-paid payment card. Beneficiaries are not required to spend the money each week and it can be accumulated and put towards more expensive Healthy Start items, such as infant formula. The legislation states that only after 16 consecutive weeks of the pre-paid payment card not being used can the card be cancelled.
This flexibility in how and when the money can be used means that the total amount spent in any one month can exceed the amount added in that month, if beneficiaries have accumulated funds in previous months. The following table shows the latest data for how much was added onto Healthy Start cards and spent, per month, during 2023:
Month | Total added | Total spent |
January | £7,859,474.75 | £8,353,475.29 |
February | £7,435,669.76 | £7,320,424.91 |
March | £10,626,362.86 | £8,971,140.57 |
April | £11,665,242.36 | £10,012,024.12 |
May | £8,137,362.11 | £8,218,389.00 |
June | £7,805,625.26 | £7,873,571.30 |
July | £9,171,390.95 | £8,021,060.44 |
August | £8,535,237.75 | £7,985,449.52 |
September | £7,549,456.50 | £7,887,565.69 |
October | £8,289,498.25 | £7,715,832.34 |
November | £7,954,638.13 | £7,131,207.48 |
December | £7,750,004.57 | £7,013,663.46 |
This flexibility also means that from month to month some of the money may remain on the payment cards without being used. During 2023 the average outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards was £12.6 million. This equates to around £37 per household. If a card was unused for 16 weeks as permitted in the legislation, it would accumulate £68 for a pregnant woman or a family with a child over one and under four, or £136 for a family with twins under one years old. The average balance of £37 per household is less than 16 weeks’ entitlement, although these are aggregate figures and there will be variation across households. The following table shows the total outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards, per month, during 2023:
Month | Total outstanding balance |
January | £11,876,537.16 |
February | £11,456,639.28 |
March | £11,444,727.51 |
April | £12,465,403.05 |
May | £12,238,144.26 |
June | £12,123,823.55 |
July | £12,777,017.89 |
August | £13,193,581.26 |
September | £13,677,365.89 |
October | £13,066,802.63 |
November | £13,418,231.23 |
December | £13,850,960.26 |
Asked by: Eagle, Tim (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - Highlands and Islands)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many applications to the University Innovation Fund were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful in each year since 2016-17.
Answered by Dey, Graeme - Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans
The University Innovation Fund is one of the Scottish Funding Council’s core grants designed to support research and knowledge exchange activity across all institutions and is allocated according to a formula developed in consultation with the sector. Therefore Scotland’s 19 universities have received funding each academic year since 2016-17 through the UIF. Individual funding allocations for universities for each academic year are managed through the Scottish Funding Council and made publicly available on the SFC’s website, accessible here: University Indicative Funding Allocations 2024-25 - Scottish Funding Council (sfc.ac.uk)
Mentions:
1: Jane Hunt (Con - Loughborough) Redaction is one example. - Speech Link
2: Chris Philp (Con - Croydon South) of police time.There are other administrative changes that we can make, and the redaction issue is one - Speech Link
3: Alex Norris (LAB - Nottingham North) that shows how badly broken the formula is. - Speech Link
4: Steve Double (Con - St Austell and Newquay) That needs to be reflected in the funding formula. - Speech Link
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ban the advertising of nicotine products in (a) Formula One and (b) other sports; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of nicotine advertising on public health.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, but the Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children, with youth vaping tripling in the last three years and one in five children having now used a vape. This is extremely worrying given the unknown long-term health impacts and the addictive nature of the nicotine contained in vapes.
Collectively, the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, the Communications Act 2003, the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising, and the Broadcast Code outline restrictions on the marketing and promotion of vapes. This includes a ban on advertising on television, radio, and through information society services, such as internet advertising or commercial email.
It is still concerning, however, that vapes are still being marketed and advertised to children, including in sports settings. As the Government stated during the Commons Committee Stage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we have committed to explore the steps we can take to further restrict vape advertising and sponsorship, and we will revert with further updates on proposals for the Report Stage.
Nov. 29 2023
Source Page: CMA sets out Autumn update in review of competition in groceries sectorFound: CMA to examine further whether ineffective competition in the baby formula market could be leading to
Correspondence Jan. 26 2024
Committee: Culture, Media and Sport Committee (Department: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport)Found: There would be an increase from that starting point of one point for every £5 million by which the club