Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department has taken to support the hospitality sector in the context of the rise in the cost of living.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Department meets regularly with the hospitality sector and understands the challenges businesses face. The Hospitality Sector Council is focusing on steps to build the sector’s resilience.
In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced a business rates support package worth £4.3 billion over the next five years to support small businesses and the high street. The small business multiplier will be frozen for a fourth consecutive year, and Retail,
Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief will be extended, ensuring the most vulnerable
businesses continue to be supported.
The Chancellor also announced a freeze on alcohol duties until 1 August 2024 to give businesses time to adapt to the duty system introduced on 1 August 2023.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure there is adequate funding for the provision of SEND services in rural schools.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Funding for specialist Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services is allocated to local authorities through the high needs funding block of their Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).
Local authorities are responsible for deciding how much of that funding to spend on appropriate local SEND services, to ensure there is effective support for the education of children and young people with SEND in all local schools, including rural schools.
Nationally, high needs funding is increasing to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, which is an increase of over 60% since the 2019/20 allocations. The department has already announced provisional 2024/25 high needs allocations for local authorities, and Lancashire County Council’s allocation is £203 million, which is over £10 million more than the Council will receive for 2023/24.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure equitable standards of SEND provision in (a) urban and (b) rural communities.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published in March 2023, the department set out plans to build a consistent national SEND and AP system which parents and carers can trust, easily navigate, and have confidence in, whether they live in an urban or rural area.
The foundation for the new nationally consistent SEND and AP system will be new evidenced-based National Standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will include clarifying the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support.
This will help families, practitioners and providers understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education, no matter where they live or what their needs are. By the end of 2025 the department will publish a significant proportion of the National Standards.
New local SEND and AP partnerships will support this work by bringing together Education, Health and Care partners with local government to produce evidence-based Local Area Inclusion Plans setting out how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and in AP in the local area, in line with National Standards.
The department is testing and refining reforms through the £70 million Change Programme to collect evidence about what works for children and young people with SEND and their families at a local level. The department is working with 32 local authorities and their local areas in each of the nine regions. To form a Change Programme Partnership, in the majority of cases, a lead local authority will work in partnership with up to three neighbouring local authorities which will ensure impact is spread across a range of local areas, with differing levels of performance and demographics.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number of (a) members of staff and (b) officers in Lancashire Constabulary for whom (i) the correct level of vetting has not been applied and (ii) vetting clearance has expired.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data in relation to the number, status or levels of vetting for individuals working in policing. Vetting and recruitment matters are handled independently, and on a case-by-case basis, by each force. Decisions on vetting should be made in accordance with the statutory Vetting Code of Practice and vetting authorised professional practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) carries out regular inspections on the effectiveness of forces’ vetting arrangements. Details of these inspections are available on its website: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/
The vetting APP outlines the criteria that forces should consider when determining the level of vetting clearance which is to be applied to a post rather than a particular rank. This includes whether the post requires access to particularly sensitive information and/or assets.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether management vetting is required for all officers who hold the rank of sergeant in the police force.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data in relation to the number, status or levels of vetting for individuals working in policing. Vetting and recruitment matters are handled independently, and on a case-by-case basis, by each force. Decisions on vetting should be made in accordance with the statutory Vetting Code of Practice and vetting authorised professional practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) carries out regular inspections on the effectiveness of forces’ vetting arrangements. Details of these inspections are available on its website: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/
The vetting APP outlines the criteria that forces should consider when determining the level of vetting clearance which is to be applied to a post rather than a particular rank. This includes whether the post requires access to particularly sensitive information and/or assets.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was to process a probate application in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce the average waiting time.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow with significantly higher levels of receipts during January to March 2023. Whilst HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand the training and upskilling of those new and existing staff has led to applications taking longer in the short term.
HMCTS is focused on increasing outputs to reduce overall timeliness on all types of applications and the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, following receipt of the documents required, is 9 weeks during January to March 2023.
Average waiting times for probate grants, are routinely published on gov.uk via Family Court Statistics Quarterly and currently cover the period up to March 2023.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing student maintenance loans above the planned 2.8 per cent given the current level of inflation.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Decisions on student support for higher education courses are taken on an annual basis and changes for the 2023/24 academic year were made through regulations laid in January 2023. The department has continued to increase maximum loans and grants for living and other costs on an annual basis, with a 2.3% increase for the 2022/23 academic year and a further 2.8% increase for 2023/24.
The government recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have impacted students. On 11 January 2023 the department announced a one-off funding boost of £15 million to this year's student premium. There is now £276 million of student premium funding available this academic year to support disadvantaged students who need additional help. This extra funding will complement the help universities are providing through their own bursary, scholarship and hardship support schemes.
Furthermore, students who have been awarded a loan for living costs for the 2022/23 academic year that is lower than the maximum, and whose household income for the tax year 2022/23 has dropped by at least 15% compared to the income provided for their original assessment, have been able to apply for their entitlement to be reassessed.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what impact the Government's announcement on scrapping new smart motorways will have on existing smart motorways.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 April 2023.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his counterparts in EU countries on allowing UK support crew members working with touring musicians and performing artists to work in Europe for more than 90 days without applying for a visa.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK Government is committed to supporting the creative sector to adapt to requirements for touring in the EU. The vast majority of Member States including the UK's biggest touring markets offer visa and work permit free routes for musicians and creative performers. The Government has engaged with the remaining Member States on allowing creative professionals to tour more easily, however ultimately it is up to these countries to align their requirements more closely with the UK's generous rules.