Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what fiscal steps she is taking to support (a) training programmes, (b) apprenticeships and (c) other efforts to promote (i) job creation and (ii) skills development in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Funding allocations are not available broken down to the level of individual constituencies.
The government is committed to creating a world-leading skills system that is employer-focused, high quality and fit for the future. The department’s reforms are strengthening higher and further education to help more people get good jobs and upskill and retrain throughout their lives; and to improve national productivity and economic growth. The department’s reforms are backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this parliament to strengthen higher and further education.
In the 2023/24 academic year, the department is investing nearly £7 billion for education and training places for 16 to 19 year olds, and up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This funding is allocated to education providers to deliver study programmes and T Levels to young people.
The department is continuing to invest in education and skills training for adults through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which totalled £1.34 billion in the 2023/24 Funding Year. The AEB fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to Level 3, to support adults to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning. This includes funding going to Boston College, which includes the Spalding Campus in the South Holland and the Deepings Constituency.
The Free Courses for Jobs offer gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free, which can support them to gain higher wages or a better job. Around 400 qualifications are available on the offer, chosen specifically as they offer good wage outcomes and address skills needs in the economy. There have been over 61,000 enrolments since April 2021.
Skills Bootcamps are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks in priority skills areas, with a guaranteed interview upon completion. The department is expanding Skills Bootcamps through increased national procurement and grant funding to 30 Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas to meet national and local skills needs in the 2024/25 financial year. The department granted Great Lincolnshire LEP, in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council, £2 million for Skills Bootcamps across Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland in 2023, and a further £3 million for courses starting after April 2024.
The department is increasing investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support more high quality apprenticeship opportunities across the country, including in South Holland and the Deepings. There have been over 11,000 apprenticeship starts in South Holland and the Deepings since 2010.
The department has introduced employer-designed T levels, which are equipping thousands of young people with the skills, knowledge, and experience to access employment or further study in some of the most in-demand skills areas. 18 T Levels are now available, being delivered through over 250 providers across all regions of the country. University Academy Holbeach in South Holland and the Deepings currently offers seven T Levels and is planning to offer three more from September 2024.
Multiply is the government’s programme for improving adult numeracy. Multiply is funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is the government’s flagship fund for supporting people and places across the UK. Up to £270 million is directly available for local areas in England to deliver innovative interventions to improve adult numeracy. Lincolnshire County Council has been allocated £4.02 million of Multiply funding from the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years to improve adult numeracy in their area.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve (a) connectivity and (b) reliability in bus services in (i) York and (ii) North Yorkshire.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the importance of local bus services to ensuring communities can stay connected and has announced over £4.5 billion to support and improve bus services since 2020. This includes over £2 billion to help local authorities deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans, of which City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council have been allocated over £18.5 million and £6.4 million respectively between 2022/23 and 2024/25.
The Government also makes over £200 million available to bus operators every year through the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to help them maintain their network. A further £42 million in BSOG funding is provided directly to local authorities to help subsidise socially necessary bus services that might otherwise be commercially unviable. City of York Council receives £150,416 and North Yorkshire County Council receives over £1 million of this funding every year. City of York have also been allocated a total of £10.3 million through the ZEBRA 1 scheme and North Yorkshire were awarded £7.8 million.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) child criminal exploitation and (b) gang activity on police resources in Oldham.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold specific information on the potential impact of child criminal exploitation (CCE) and gang activity on police resources in Oldham. However, tackling CCE is a priority for this Government which is why we are providing funding to support Greater Manchester Police to help tackle county lines, CCE and serious violence.
Through our Drug Strategy, we are providing a targeted investment of up to £145m over three years to bolster our County Lines Programme. This includes funding a dedicated county lines taskforce in Greater Manchester Police, as well as funding Catch22 to provide a specialist support and rescue service for under 25’s and their families in Greater Manchester to help them safely reduce and exit their involvement from county lines including child criminal exploitation.
We are also driving targeted action to respond to exploitation through the Home Office-funded Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society with a funding of £1.37 million for delivery between 2023-25. Through the programme, a dedicated Northwest Prevention Officer works to support a range of partners to improve the response to multiple forms of exploitation including CCE in the Northwest region.
To tackle the drivers of serious violence, the Home Office has also invested over £20m to develop and run the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (with funding of over £4.38m in 2023-2024).
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March to Question 17451 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, whether Hertfordshire County Council was one of the local authorities from which her Department received a high-quality application through the most recent special free schools application round.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department received a total of 85 applications from local authorities to open a special free school in a very competitive application round, including an application from Hertfordshire County Council.
The department plans to select a further 15 successful applications. This will remain a competitive process. This approach means we can move quickly to appoint trusts to run these schools.
The department plans to announce those local authorities that have been successful for the additional special free schools later this year.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department is taking steps to help ensure residents across West Yorkshire receive enhanced connectivity levels from broadband providers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, over 98% of premises in the West Yorkshire County can access a superfast broadband connection. Additionally, 88% of premises are able to access a gigabit-capable connection, up from 12% in December 2019. There is a thriving market of over 100 providers investing nearly £40bn rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.
As part of Project Gigabit, we recently announced a Project Gigabit contract in West Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire. This contract has a value of £60 million and will further extend gigabit-capable coverage to around 28,000 hard-to-reach premises.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP surgeries in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire have closed since 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data provided shows that within the South Holland and the Deepings constituency, there have been no general practice (GP) closures. This includes those which have become branch practices, and is out of a total of 10 GPs across 14 sites, that were open at some point between January 2015 and March 2024. In the county of Lincolnshire, 17 GPs have closed, five of which have become branch practices. This is out of a total of 97 GPs across 126 sites, that were open at some point between January 2015 and March 2024.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of attacks on Abyei town on 27 January, attacks on Awolnhom, Minyang, Kadian and Abathok villages on 3 and 4 February, and killings and abductions in Rumamer County from 10 January to 14 February, what is their assessment of the capacity of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei at its current troop level to protect civilians in the Abyei administrative area.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei's (UNISFA) mandate was renewed in November last year and amended to better equip the mission to respond quickly to security incidents and to place greater emphasis on community engagement. The UK has used its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to urge both the government of South Sudan and the Sudanese authorities to ensure UNISFA can fully and effectively implement its mandate, in line with the their responsibility as host states. The extension of the UNISFA mandate from six to twelve months will also better enable the mission to develop longer-term strategies.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle littering in Stockport constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Prime Minister’s Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan set out how we will support councils across the county to take tougher action against those that litter. For example, last year we significantly raised the upper limit on fixed penalty notices from £150 to £500 and from 1 April 2024 councils will have to spend this income on enforcement and clean up activity.
On behalf of Defra and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Waste and Resources Action Programme has published guidance for local authorities on the provision of litter bins. The Right Bin in the Right Place guidance is available here.
The Chewing Gum Task Force, established by Defra and funded by producers, has provided almost £2.5 million in grants since 2022 to help nearly 100 councils remove gum stains from high streets and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum being dropped in the first place. The Task Force has recently launched another grant scheme for councils this year. Further information can be found here.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent estimate of the cost of nursery places in (a) North Yorkshire County and (b) the City of York.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s Childcare and early years provider survey 2023 showed that the mean hourly rates for the cost of nursery places in North Yorkshire and the City of York were as follows:
North Yorkshire: 2 year olds:
City of York: 2 year olds:
North Yorkshire: 3 to 4 year olds:
City of York: 3 to 4 year olds:
The department does not currently collate data broken down at this level for under 2s. The mean hourly rate for under 2s for Yorkshire and the Humber was £5.15.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of Durham University's research entitled A report on the impact of RAAC closure on the exam cohorts of St Leonard’s Catholic School, County Durham, published on 31 December 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Thanks to the hard work of school and college leaders, all schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC are providing full time face-to-face education for all pupils. The department is supporting schools and colleges, including St Leonard’s Catholic School, to keep any disruption to education to an absolute minimum. Every case is unique and the impact on schools is highly varied. For example, in some cases there is no impact on teaching space, or it is limited to small areas. In some cases, RAAC may be limited to a single classroom.
Exams and assessments must demonstrate what a student knows, understands and can do, rather than what a student might have known, understood or been able to do should circumstances have been different. In order to maintain qualification standards and public confidence in qualifications, all students taking GCSEs and A levels are assessed to the same standard. If different standards are applied for different groups of students, then the qualification will cease to provide a reliable indication of the knowledge, skills and understanding that it is intended to measure.
Alongside Ofqual, the department has worked with examination awarding organisations to facilitate discussions with affected schools. The department has asked awarding organisations to, where possible, agree longer extensions for coursework and non-examined assessment so that pupils have as much time as possible to complete these tasks.