Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Warrington Borough Council to help (a) support families with disabled children and (b) reduce the time taken to process education, health and care plans.
Answered by David Johnston
Following the Area Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) inspection of Warrington Local Area Partnership (LAP), conducted by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission and published in May 2023, departmental officials have been working alongside NHS England SEND advisers to provide support and challenge to the LAP to address the areas for improvement highlighted in the report. These areas for improvement include:
Responding to the inspection report, Warrington LAP have updated their SEND strategy and published a strategic SEND improvement plan. This sets out how the Partnership will improve services for children and young people with SEND in the area and address the areas for improvement highlighted in the inspection report. The department monitors progress against these plans at regular intervals. Both documents are available at: https://www.warrington.gov.uk/send-inspection-review.
In 2022, the rate of EHC plans, excluding exceptions, issued within 20 weeks in Warrington was 48.2%, compared with a national average of 49.2%. This data is accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
The department has increased Warrington's dedicated schools grant from £190 million in 2021/22 to over £238 million in 2024/25. This includes an increase of 33% in the high needs block from £25.6 million in 2021 to over £34.2 million in 2024/25.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to support the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Veterans)
We are clear that CCUS is a priority for this Government, and we are progressing at pace. In March 2023 we announced up to £20 billion funding for early deployment of CCUS across all sectors, and in December we outlined how we will get to a competitive carbon capture market by 2035.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve the court estate.
Answered by Mike Freer
The condition of the court estate matters – for the standing of the justice system in our society, but also for all court users, including the victims and witnesses who rely on the courts to see justice done.
We have significantly increased the budget to maintain the court and tribunal estate. The £220m two-year settlement is already enabling major estates projects to be planned with certainty and efficiency.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on (a) increasing the availability of driving tests and (b) reducing the wait time between bookings for people retaking their tests.
Answered by Richard Holden
As of 23 October 2023, there were 571,820 car practical driving tests booked, and 72,787 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is taking all the measures it can to reduce driving test waiting times. This includes carrying out overtime, such as at weekends and on public holidays, buying back annual leave from driving examiners (DE) and, inviting recently retired DEs to return to work.
Since April 2021, measures put in place by the DVSA to reduce waiting times for its customers, together with the ongoing recruitment of DEs, is creating on average over 40,000 extra car test slots each month.
The DVSA has also deployed all eligible managers and administrative staff back on the front line to do driving tests from the beginning of October 2023 until the end of March 2024, which will create around 150,000 test slots.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure consistency of collection of tax on the interest of savings that are not due until maturity of the savings bond.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The taxation of interest arising on savings bonds depends on the terms and conditions applying to each and may differ as not all savings bonds are the same.
Income tax is charged on the full amount of interest ‘arising’ to a person in a tax year and interest normally ‘arises’ when the amount is received or is credited to an account on which the holder is free to draw.
The terms of a savings bond may be that interest is credited each year and, once credited, the bondholder is able to draw on it. In this case, the interest arises each year and is taxed each year as it is credited.
On the other hand, it is possible that interest may be credited each year, but the terms of the bond may mean the bondholder cannot draw on it or benefit from it until the end of the term. In that case all the interest paid on the bond would be regarded as ‘arising’ when it became available to the bondholder on maturity of the bond.
This long-standing position is explained in HMRC’s guidance at SAIM2440, and there have been no recent changes.
In either case, to the extent that the interest arising in any year is not covered by personal allowances, such as the Personal Savings Allowance, the tax will be collected in the same way, usually through a taxpayer’s PAYE code or a self-assessment tax return.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce endoscopy waiting lists in (a) Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System and (b) Warrington.
Answered by Will Quince
In July 2023, Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System (ICS) delivered 1,997 more gastroscopy procedures in July 2023 than in July 2018. Alongside this increase of almost 2,000 procedures, 70% of patients who require a gastroscopy are now seen within six weeks.
Cheshire and Merseyside ICS has also secured funding to support the delivery of more than 1,000 additional endoscopy procedures across Cheshire and Merseyside by the end of December 2023. Cheshire and Merseyside’s Diagnostic Programme is also progressing a number of workforce initiatives including a collaborative staff bank for the endoscopy workforce and an endoscopy academy to provide training and upskilling for the endoscopy workforce.
Cutting National Health Service waiting lists, including for endoscopy services, is one of this Government’s top priorities. This is a shared ambition amongst ICSs, including the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS.
£2.3 billion was awarded at the 2021 Spending Review to transform diagnostic services over the next three years to increase diagnostic capacity, including for endoscopy services. This funding will also increase the number of community diagnostic centres up to 160 by March 2025, including a number delivering endoscopy services.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the operation of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Up to the end of May 2023 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme had received 18,433 applications and paid £58.9 million in grants.
Industry reacted positively to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme during its first year, with suppliers developing competitive offers alongside the grant. Consumers can now install a heat pump for an increasingly similar price to a gas boiler.
The Government is conducting an independent evaluation of the scheme, delivered through an external contractor, to inform decisions about future improvements.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the installation of smart-enabled hot water cylinders.
Answered by Graham Stuart
I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave to my hon Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) on 16 June 2023 to Question UIN 188254.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the support provided to households to cover increased energy costs has taken into account the regional variations in the energy price cap.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Ofgem’s licence conditions require that energy charges are cost-reflective in the price cap. As it costs more to distribute energy to some regions than others, there are regional variations in charging to reflect higher costs to serve.
The Energy Price Guarantee applies a fixed discount to tariffs, so these small differences continue to exist.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help ensure that gas networks are ready for a 20% hydrogen blend by the end of this year.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is aiming to reach a policy decision in 2023 on whether to allow blending of up to 20% hydrogen by volume into the gas distribution networks. This could generate carbon-savings of up to 6-7% on current GB grid gas consumption. The Government is working with the networks and industry to build the necessary evidence base to determine whether blending meets the required safety standards, is feasible and represents value for money.