Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for children to receive (a) SEN assessments and (b) mental health treatment.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time. We are doing this through working together to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which was published on 2 March 2023. This sets out the Government’s mission to establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with SEND and in alternative provision, so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for adulthood and employment.
The Department of Health and Social Care is also investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year in expanding National Health Service mental health services by March 2024, compared to 2018/19, and have set out our aim in the NHS Long Term Plan for an additional 345,000 children and young people to be able to get the mental health support they need. NHS England is also developing a new waiting time standard for children and their families to start receiving community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of primary and secondary school places in Nottingham.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Section 14 of the Education Act 1996 places a statutory duty on local authorities for providing enough school places for children in their area.
The department knows that local authorities have to create more school places, which is why the department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. This Basic Need investment supports the government’s priority to ensure that every child has the opportunity of a place at a good school, whatever their background.
In addition, the free schools programme remains an important part of the government’s plan to level up standards and respond where there is need for more school places. The programme has delivered hundreds of new schools and provided thousands of good school places across the country.
The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisers engage with local authorities on a regular basis to review a local authority’s plans for creating additional places. The Pupil Place Planning advisor for the East Midlands region is engaging with Nottingham local authority on their statutory duty and providing them with the offer of support and advice.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department conducted a women-specific impact and health needs assessment prior to the roll out of the use of alcohol monitoring tags.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
There have been two equalities impact assessments, both of which considered offenders’ sex, prior to the Department’s introduction of alcohol monitoring.
An Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out on the alcohol monitoring measures introduced by the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, it is published and available using this link: Alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement (justice.gov.uk).
A further Equalities Impact Assessment was carried out and published alongside the Statutory Instrument to commence the Alcohol Abstinence and Monitoring Requirement, The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020, and is available using this link: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Commencement No. 14) Order 2020 (legislation.gov.uk).
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will increase UK aid to Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.
Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.
We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the neutering deadline for XL bully dogs which are not currently medically fit to undergo a neutering procedure.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are already extended deadlines by which owners must ensure that their XL Bully type dogs have been neutered. Dogs that were older than one year old on 31 January 2024, must be neutered and evidence received by 30 June 2024. Dogs that were younger than one year old on 31 January 2024 must be neutered and evidence received by 31 December 2024. We are considering whether a further extension to this is necessary. We will carefully assess the exemption scheme data on dogs that remain to be neutered to inform our decision.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme have been denied in each quarter since the scheme was launched.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information relating to the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claim outcomes which have either been rejected on the grounds of eligibility as they do not quality for consideration under the Scheme, or found to have zero entitlement to compensation following a full consideration, is included in Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data which is published regularly. The latest published data, covering the period up to November 2023, is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2023. The relevant page is WCS_04.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with representatives of car insurers on the affordability of car insurance renewals for older drivers.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance.
It is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set their premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies. The Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
However, the Government is determined that insurers should treat customers fairly. Firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority rules.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a price cap on insurance premiums for elderly drivers.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Insurers make commercial decisions about the pricing of insurance based on their assessment of the likelihood and expected cost of a claim. The Government does not intervene in these commercial decisions by insurers as this could damage competition in the market.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent regulator and responsible for supervising the insurance industry. The FCA have introduced several reforms, including the Consumer Duty rules, to ensure consumers are treated fairly in regard to pricing.
In 2012, the Government agreed the Age Agreement with the insurance sector. This signposts older consumers struggling to access motor insurance to specialist providers.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what diplomatic steps he is taking to encourage the Indian Government to co-operate with the Canadian investigation into the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minster spoke to Prime Minister Trudeau on 6 October 2023 regarding the serious allegations raised in the Canadian Parliament. All countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law. It is important Canada's investigation runs its course, with the perpetrators brought to justice. We have raised this matter with the Government of India at all levels, including through the Foreign Secretary, and we encourage them to cooperate fully with the investigation.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to mental health professionals across (a) primary school, (b) secondary school and (c) further education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The mental health of children and young people is a priority for this government and schools play a vital role in this, particularly by providing calm, safe and supportive learning environments.
To expand access to early mental health support in and around schools and colleges, the department is continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). These teams include trained professionals who can deliver evidence-based interventions for mild-to-moderate mental health issues and liaise with external specialist services to get children and young people the right timely support and stay in education. As of April 2023, MHSTs covered 35% of pupils in schools and learners in further education in England. The department is extending coverage of MHSTs to an estimated 44% of pupils and learners by the end of this financial year and at least 50% by the end of March 2025.
The department is also continuing to offer primary schools, secondary schools and colleges a grant to train senior mental health leads who can put in place effective whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. This training covers how to ensure children and young people can get timely and appropriate support, including by working in partnership with and making effective referrals to local service providers and mental health professionals. 14,400 settings have claimed a grant up to 31 August 2023, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.
Schools and colleges are best placed to decide what pastoral support to put in place to meet the needs of their pupils. To support them in doing so, the department has commissioned a new targeted mental wellbeing toolkit, which launched just before Christmas. This practical guide and tool is designed to help schools and colleges identify and embed the most effective targeted support options for their setting, including how to access mental health professionals. It is available at: https://mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/targeted-support/.