Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a national register of children not in school.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government supports the right of parents to educate their children at home. The department knows that many who do so are very committed and educate their children well, sometimes in difficult circumstances.
However, this government is committed to ensuring local authorities ensure all these children are in receipt of suitable education.
As such, the government supports the principle of a system of registration for children not in school and issuing statutory guidance to accompany this. Local authority-maintained registers of children not in school would help local authorities undertake their existing duties to ensure all children receive a suitable education and are safe, regardless of where they are educated.
The department has already published non-statutory guidance for local authorities and parents to help them understand their roles and legal responsibilities around elective home education.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing statutory guidance for parents on home schooling.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government supports the right of parents to educate their children at home. The department knows that many who do so are very committed and educate their children well, sometimes in difficult circumstances.
However, this government is committed to ensuring local authorities ensure all these children are in receipt of suitable education.
As such, the government supports the principle of a system of registration for children not in school and issuing statutory guidance to accompany this. Local authority-maintained registers of children not in school would help local authorities undertake their existing duties to ensure all children receive a suitable education and are safe, regardless of where they are educated.
The department has already published non-statutory guidance for local authorities and parents to help them understand their roles and legal responsibilities around elective home education.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the hospital admission rates at the Royal Preston Hospital for young people due to violent crime.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of hospital admissions for young people due to violent crime is published at a national level only, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of free school meals on educational attainment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has not recently made a formal assessment of the links between free school meals and educational outcomes.
Nutritious food plays an important role in the development of healthy eating habits and ensures that pupils can concentrate and learn. That is why the department spends over £1 billion annually providing free meals to the greatest ever proportion of school children. Over one third of children are now eligible for free school meals, compared to one in six in 2010. This increase has been driven by the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals in 2014, as well as the department’s generous Universal Credit transitional protections put in place in 2018.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle inequalities in access to digital technologies in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston; and what estimate she has made of the number of households without internet access in (i) the North West, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) Preston.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been clear that no one should be left behind in the digital age. We will take steps to ensure support for the most urgent priorities. For example, we are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to bring gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach communities.
According to thinkbroadband.com, only 0.5% of premises in the North-West, 0.6% in Lancashire, and less than 0.1% in Preston are unable to access a decent broadband connection of 10Mbps download, 1Mbps upload. These premises may be able to request an improved connection through the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) if their current connection falls below these speeds.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his fiscal policies of the report by Oxfam International entitled Inequality Inc., published on 15 January 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Distributional analysis published at Spring Budget 2024 shows that the overall level of public spending received and tax paid by households continues to be highly redistributive.
The UK has mechanisms for taxing wealth across many different economic activities, including acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets and income derived from assets. The UK also has a progressive income tax system – the top 5% of taxpayers were projected to pay nearly half of all income tax in 2023-24.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to help ensure that public services are available to (a) individuals and (b) households without internet access.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
All new public services therefore must adhere to the Government Service Standards, which require Departments to provide a service that meets the needs of all users, across a range of channels. These channels include phone, paper, and face-to-face as options for both individuals or households that do not have access to the internet, or lack the confidence to use it.
Service teams are required to provide evidence that their service meets these standards, as part of which they undertake rigorous user testing for both online and offline services.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans her Department has to (a) expand and (b) improve autism services in (i) Lancashire and (ii) Preston for (A) adults and (B) children.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including services to support autistic people, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB advises that it is currently reviewing its all-age autism pathway, and is in the initial stages of completing consultations with system partners and stakeholders. The ICB is aiming to complete the review, and proposals for a future pathway for 2025/26, by the end of this calendar year. In addition to this work, the ICB is reviewing the service specifications in place for the keyworker team, specialist autism team, and forensic autism team with the local provider, to ensure that the commissioned offer reflects the current needs of their population.
Nationally, we are taking steps to improve autism services. NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services on 5 April 2023. These documents are intended to help the National Health Service improve autism assessment services, and improve the experience for adults and children who are going through an autism assessment. They also set out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism.
We are currently updating the Autism Act Statutory Guidance to support the NHS and local authorities to deliver improved outcomes for autistic people. This will include setting out what NHS organisations and local authorities must and should be doing to support autistic people.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the backlog in issuing education, health and care (EHC) plans for children; and whether she plans to make an assessment of the impact of delays on the (a) short and (b) long term development of children.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – including failing to produce timely Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessments – the department will work with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses.
The department’s SEND and alternative provision (AP) Improvement Plan recognised the need to reduce delays in children and young people receiving timely assessments and support and has a clear focus on early intervention. Through the SEND and AP Change Programme, the department is testing a range of reforms to improve the EHC plan process, including standardised templates and guidance, the use of multi-agency panels to improve decision-making, digital reforms, and strengthened mediation arrangements.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to increase the number of places for (a) children with autism and (b) children with special needs in schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In March 2024, the department announced trusts to run 30 new special free schools, which included 17 designated to cater for pupils with autism. The Spring Budget announced funding for 15 special free schools. The department will announce the location of these new schools in May.
In March the department also published just under £850 million of High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years. This funding forms part of our transformational investment of £2.6 billion in new high needs provision between 2022 and 2025. Local authorities can use the funding to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.