Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department has taken to ensure first-time offenders entering the prison system are (a) made aware of gang culture in prisons and (b) discouraged from becoming involved in that culture.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
Safety in prisons is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system and a vital part of our reform plans. We do not tolerate violence or bullying in prisons and take appropriate action against victimisation of any kind.
Gang membership and youth violence cause serious harm to those involved and their communities. The Government is committed to reducing the likelihood of young people joining gangs, and to responding effectively when they do.
Many young and vulnerable people come into contact with the criminal justice system as a result of their involvement with gangs.
Prison gives young people the opportunity to leave gangs behind and lead safe and productive lives in their communities. Prison staff work with the police to tackle gang related activity in prison, and to provide new opportunities for young people.
All offenders entering prison participate in induction programmes designed to help them make the most from their time in that prison. Some prisons have appointed a gangs officer, and prison staff work closely with the police to respond where gang members are coming into prison.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will shortly issue guidance to all prison staff to help them identify gang members, take action against gang related violence and help them use their time in prison to leave gangs behind. The Identity Matters programme is specifically designed to help prisoners disengage from gangs and stop offending.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that apprenticeships in Derby North constituency are undertaken by people from less-affluent households.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Apprenticeships are paid jobs that give people from all regions and backgrounds the opportunity to reach their potential - acquiring transferable skills much valued in the labour market without having to contribute to the costs of their learning. The locations and sectors where apprenticeships are available are determined by employers choosing to offer opportunities and employ apprentices.
We will be publishing details of our funding policy for apprenticeships in England from May 2017 shortly, which will demonstrate how we will provide opportunities for people regardless of their background.
We will also continue to demonstrate, with Traineeships and our national campaigns, that an apprenticeship can be a very worthwhile and achievable goal for those from less well-off households.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing life skills into secondary education.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We are clear that as part of schools’ duty to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, all young people should be provided with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life. High quality personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) teaching has a vital role to play in this, helping young people understand the world around them, building resilience and helping them to make good choices and stay safe. We have made it clear in the introduction to the national curriculum that all schools should make provision for high quality, age appropriate PSHE, drawing on examples of good practice.
During the Education Select Committee hearing in September 2016, the Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high quality PSHE. We are considering all the options and will come to a view in due course..
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust response times for stroke victims for whom 999 emergency services are requested.
Answered by Philip Dunne
This is a matter for East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, working with its commissioners and other local partners and supported by NHS Improvement.
The Trust intends to deliver improved performance for all patients, including patients who have had a stroke. This includes increasing the resources available to respond to patients by recruiting more frontline staff and investing in new ambulances to increase the fleet size. The Trust is also working with the local acute hospitals and commissioners to help reduce the delays experienced by ambulance crews when handing over patients at hospitals and reviewing its stroke care practice to ensure that stroke patients are taken to specialist centres within the ideal timeline.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
One person without a home is one too many, and nobody should ever have to sleep rough. That is why the Government is clear that prevention must be at the heart of everything we do to reduce homelessness. We are investing £500 million to prevent, relieve and reduce homelessness in this Parliament, including protecting £315 million homelessness prevention funding for local authorities to help them continue to provide quality advice and assistance to everyone who approaches them for help.
We have also increased central government investment to tackle homelessness to £139 million. This includes £10 million to help those new to the streets, or at imminent risk of sleeping rough, building on the success of projects such as No Second Night Out. Alongside this, we have £10 million of Social Impact Bond funding to support entrenched rough sleepers with the most complex needs, building on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority.
In addition, we committed £100 million at Budget to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to provide at least 2,000 places for people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis.
I am also considering Bob Blackman MP's Homelessness Reduction Bill and the role that further legislation might play in preventing homelessness.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the additional £1.25 billion made available in the March 2015 Budget for child and adolescent mental health services has been spent in Derby North constituency.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
This information is not available in the format requested.
We are advised by NHS England that from this additional funding the amount allocated to Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group in 2015/16 was £1.029 million and for 2016/17 the amount is £1.370 million.
This Government has made £1.4 billion funding available over the course of the Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health, with total investment to date of £453 million.
Investment in 2015/16 included:
- £75 million to transform local services through delivery of Local Transformation Plans (LTPs);
- £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and
- £68 million to fund expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme (CYP IAPT); improvements to perinatal mental health care; investment in inpatient services for children and young people; increased workforce capability; and innovation and development of online support.
Investment for 2016/17 includes:
- £119 million for LTPs;
- £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and
- £131 million for workforce and system development to support LTPs; a proportion of this will be allocated to commissioners for CYP IAPT and perinatal mental healthcare.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to locate missing refugee children in the UK.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The government takes the issue of missing children extremely seriously and has published a cross government strategy on missing children and vulnerable adults.
Migrant children over the age of 5, including asylum seeking children have their biometrics captured by the Home Office. If a child goes missing, the local police and UK Missing Persons Bureau will be notified and the child’s details will be circulated on the Police National Computer.
Home Office guidance requires staff to maintain contact with the local authority and the police until the child is found.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the effect that inability to access GP appointments is having on the levels of people presenting at Accident and Emergency services in Derby; and if he will take steps to increase access to GP appointments in Derby.
Answered by David Mowat
The commissioning and provision of primary medical care services, including general practitioner (GP) appointments, is a matter for NHS England and local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). As such, the Department itself makes no assessment of the effect of accessibility of GP appointments on accident and emergency services in Derby.
Southern Derbyshire CCG acknowledges that results from this year’s GP Patient Survey varied across its 55 GP practices, although the CCG believes that overall it is in line with average national performance. The CCG is therefore focusing support on those practices in greatest need. My hon. Friend may wish to contact the Chief Officer of her local CCG, Southern Derbyshire CCG, for the relevant information.
To implement the Government’s commitment to transform GP access, £175 million has been invested in the GP Access Fund from April 2014 to test improved and innovative access to GP services in schemes across the country. Across the two waves of the Access Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices. 18 million patients, a third of the population, have benefited from improved access and transformational change at local level including evening and weekend appointments.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that the review of fair funding for early years education includes steps to close the attainment gap in children at age five.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
This Government is committed to narrowing the gap in attainment between the most disadvantaged children and their peers, including in the early years. We will be investing over £1 billion more per year by 2019-20 to fund our commitments on the early years entitlements – this includes £300 million per year from 2017-18 for a significant increase to the hourly rate paid for the two, three and four year old entitlements.
The 2014-15 Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results tell us that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 66% in 2015, compared to 60% in 2014 and 52% in 2013. A higher proportion of children eligible for free school meals are achieving a good level of development – 51% in 2015 compared to 45% in 2014.
We need to continue this improvement. This is why we propose an additional needs factor in our new early years national funding formula, to channel funding towards local authorities with a higher relative proportion of children with additional needs.
The Government already provides additional funding for the most disadvantaged three- and four-year olds through the Early Years Pupil Premium. This will continue as a separate funding stream, additional to the early years national funding formula.
Asked by: Amanda Solloway (Conservative - Derby North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential of the early years workforce strategy to increase recruitment and retention of early years teachers in (a) Derby North and (b) England.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government recognises the importance of the early years workforce in improving quality and delivering better outcomes for children. That is why we are committed to publishing an early years workforce strategy. The national strategy will set out how we will help to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff. As part of the strategy, we will look at the barriers to growing the body of graduates in the workforce in England.
The Government currently delivers early years initial teacher training places in England. We fund eligible graduates to undertake the training, and provide student bursaries. Information about training routes is available on the Get into Teaching website, available at: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/