Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment the Government has made of the impact of (a) smartphone and (b) social media use by under 16s on their (i) mental health and (ii) safety.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be a child online, as evidenced by the landmark Online Safety Act.
Harmful and age-inappropriate online content and activity can be particularly damaging for children. That is why the Online Safety Act places robust, much-needed responsibilities on technology companies – including social media platforms, search services and other services which host user-generated content – to keep all users, but particularly children, safe online.
In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers noted that the available research did not present evidence of a causal relationship between screen-based activities and mental health problems; however, some research found associations between screen-based activities and negative effects such as increased risk of anxiety or depression.
The government is committed to ensuring that children have a positive experience online, using the internet for connecting with peers, as well as to access educational resources, information, and entertainment.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Government has taken to ensure that families living in poverty in the UK have sufficient (a) food (b) energy and (c) basic household goods.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.
Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024. We are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that, in 2021/22, children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
Our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to help people into work, including face-to-face time with Work Coaches and targeted employment support. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.
To further help parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours, the Government is providing additional support with upfront childcare costs. We have also increased the childcare costs that parents on Universal Credit can claim back by nearly 50%, up to £951 a month for one child and £1,630 for two or more children.
As announced in Spring Budget, £500m of additional funding also enables the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the halting of cross-border humanitarian operations on (a) the delivery of UK aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad and (b) those displaced within Sudan.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK condemns in the strongest terms the decision of the de facto authorities to stop humanitarian personnel and supplies from entering Sudan from Chad. The UK will do all we can to press for this further serious restriction on humanitarian access to be urgently lifted. On 27 February, the UK called the UN Security Council to convene for a closed consultation in response to this issue. We used this opportunity to condemn the decision and called for the re-instatement of permission for humanitarian supplies and workers to cross from Chad as well as for crossline access from Port Sudan into areas of Sudan under control of the Rapid Support Forces. We are currently urgently reviewing UKAid that may be affected to ensure our aid can still reach those in need. Given further increased risk of famine in Darfur as a result of this decision, we have also been urging the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to make a formal warning of the risk of famine in Sudan, through the issuance of a White Note under UNSC Resolution 2417.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the safety of the railways.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), as the railway safety regulator, produces an annual health and safety report that assesses the safety of the railways in Great Britain. The latest report findings published in July 2023 confirms that our railways remain one of the safest in Europe. However, we cannot be complacent, so the Department continues to regularly monitor safety trends and statistics, working closely with the ORR, the Rail Safety and Standards Board and wider rail sector, to identify where safety can be improved.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the most recent data is that his Department holds on the number of (a) unreleased people and (b) recalled people serving a serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The most recent data was published in the Department’s Offender Management Statistics Quarterly on 31 December 2023. As of that date, there were a total of 2,852 prisoners serving a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection in custody, comprising 1,227 unreleased people and 1,625 recalled people.
The next publication is due on 25 April 2024 and will publish prison population figures as of 31 March 2024. The publication will be accessible using the following link: Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We have significantly reduced the number of IPP prisoners since we scrapped the sentence in 2012 and have taken decisive action to curtail licence periods to give rehabilitated people the opportunity to move on with their lives.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the brightness of car headlights on road safety.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Police recorded collision statistics do not suggest that there is an underlying road safety issue associated with the brightness of headlamps. All types of road vehicle headlamps are designed, tested and approved to internationally recognised standards to help prevent undue glare. However, the Government is aware of concerns raised by members of the public and we are examining options for addressing this.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support care leavers move into (a) further and (b) tertiary education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', the strategy for the reform of children’s social care, the department gave a commitment to improve the education, employment and training outcomes of children in care and care leavers by 2027. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/650966a322a783001343e844/Children_s_Social_Care_Stable_Homes__Built_on_Love_consultation_response.pdf.
The department set out a number of actions to take this forward, including:
In addition to the bursary, the department pays businesses and training providers £1,000 for every care leaver apprentice they employ or train. Employers and providers are free to use their additional funding wherever needed to support their apprentices, including contributions to travel or childcare costs, or the provision of additional mentoring.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent steps his department has taken to improve the efficiency of UK aid programmes with regards to (a) reducing poverty and (b) increasing prosperity
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Last November, the UK published the International Development White Paper which set out our agenda to re-energise progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, including the central aim of eliminating extreme poverty. To this end, the UK has committed to spend at least 50 per cent of our bilateral ODA in the Least Developed Countries by 2030.
Our goal, as set out in the White Paper, is to help countries transform the productivity of their economies at a pace sufficient to meet the needs of their growing populations, mobilise investment, provide quality jobs and deliver quality public services for their citizens.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, What recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that Equitable Life policyholders are reimbursed.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equitable Life Payment Scheme has been fully wound down and closed since 2016 and there are no plans to reopen any previous decisions relating to the Payment Scheme or review the £1.5 billion funding allocation previously made to it. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has with (a) the Local Government Association and (b) leaders of local authorities on the potential merits of extending the Household Support Fund beyond March 2024.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way. Equality analysis was considered as part of the decision to implement the current Household Support Fund, which runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024.