Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for announcing the outcome of bids submitted to the Water Restoration Fund in spring 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Restoration Fund, which launched in April 2024, was established to reinvest water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment. Defra is continuing to work with His Majesty’s Treasury regarding continued reinvestment of the water company fines and penalties on water environment improvement.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to ensure sustainable funding is provided to local authorities for domestic abuse and sexual violence services.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
This Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade and will treat it as the national emergency that it is. We will deliver a cross-government, transformative approach, underpinned by a new VAWG Strategy published later this year.
We are already driving forward activity which supports local government to tackle VAWG. The government has increased funding to local authorities to £160 million for 2025-26, an uplift of £30 million from the previous year, to provide further support in safe accommodation for domestic abuse survivors. The Home Office has confirmed a number of grants held for the next financial year (2025-26) with charities supporting victims of VAWG. We have sought to protect frontline services and give them certainty, so they can plan ahead effectively.
Furthermore, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 will, once in force, require local policing bodies, local authorities, and integrated care boards to collaborate in relation to the commissioning of certain victim support services, and to prepare and publish a joint commissioning strategy for victims of domestic abuse in their area. This strategy will be informed by a joint needs assessment.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
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 help ensure the recognition of overseas medical qualifications of Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of doctors, physician associates, and anaesthesia associates in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for setting standards that must be met by both domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to their registers to ensure registrants are safe to practise.
A page has been published on GOV.UK specifically for Ukrainian refugees which aims to provide an overview of the processes required by specific healthcare professional regulators, and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-in-healthcare-in-the-uk-homes-for-ukraine.
The GMC provides help with fees associated with registration. Individuals can seek further information from the GMC’s website.
It is our ambition that all Ukrainian refugees who are healthcare professionals in their home country and meet the standards required in the UK are able to achieve registration efficiently and use their skills within our National Health Service.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether additional funding will be made available to students from England on graduate entry medicine courses under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Under the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, the government will make available an additional entitlement for priority subjects and longer courses, above an individual’s core four year entitlement.
Learners will be able to access this additional entitlement to study a limited number of priority subjects, such as medicine. This will ensure that learners can always gain skills in priority areas, regardless of remaining entitlement or previous qualifications.
In 2025, the department will outline in more detail the specific courses that will be eligible for this additional entitlement.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of students whose Universal Credit has been affected by receipt of a student loan in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not readily available as student loan income is not separated in the data we have and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) farmers and (b) landowners are aware of relevant funding initiatives under the ELM scheme which are available to help them comply with environmental objectives.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra regularly communicates and engages with farmers and landowners through a range of methods. Links to Defra’s grants and schemes are available through https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers, a single webpage designed to make it easier for farmers and landowners to be aware of opportunities available. Regular updates explaining schemes and updating on changes are made through https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/ , which includes a subscription function so users can receive e-mail updates when new posts are published. Defra ministers and engagement teams regularly meet with stakeholders and members of the agricultural community in order to share and discuss Defra’s grants and schemes, including attending agricultural shows and other stakeholder events.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) school and (b) higher education leavers are supported into meaningful employment, and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of piloting initiatives to address barriers to workforce entry for young people nationally.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is developing a comprehensive strategy for post‐16 education and skills, to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce and drive economic growth through the government’s Industrial Strategy.
The department is committed to working collaboratively with the sector to bring forward this strategy, building on the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the introduction of Skills England and with a continued focus on lifelong learning.
The department’s vision for a Youth Guarantee will ensure all young people aged 18 to 21 have the opportunity to access the education, training, apprenticeship or employment support they need to open up job and career opportunities. It also looks to strengthen the support for 16 to 17-year-olds who are at risk of or have disengaged from sustained participation in education and learning.
The guarantee will bring together and enhance provision and support for young people by providing tailored support for 18 to 21-year-olds into further learning and onto fulfilling work who may need additional help. The guarantee will address personal barriers, such as mental or physical health, care giving responsibilities, homelessness or transport. Additionally, it will enable preparation for employment and, through work experience, offer additional careers advisers and a new National Jobs and Careers Service.
The guarantee will also help 18 to 21-year-olds to access education and training opportunities locally and will build on wider system improvements including Skills England, the new foundation apprenticeship, the Lifelong Learning Entitlement and the Growth and Skills offer.
The Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions are developing the guarantee with mayoral authorities to provide local, tailored support and will work with local areas on future expansion. The department will launch eight Trailblazers in England from spring 2025 backed by up to £45 million in funding.
High-quality careers advice is an essential part of the government’s missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. Secondary schools are legally required to provide independent careers guidance on the full range of education and training options and offer at least six opportunities for providers of technical education or apprenticeships to speak to all pupils during years 8 to 13.
Additionally, in secondary education, the department is boosting work readiness with its plan to guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person. The department wants to see multiple, targeted workplace experiences with all types of businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises and growth sectors. The department is funding pilots initially with a focus on identifying what works. To ensure every young person can get the expert advice they need, the department will train 1,000 careers advisers. These ambitions are vital to ensuring that young people develop relevant skills for work and are supported to make successful transitions from education and training into meaningful employment.
The Office for Students also holds higher education providers to account for students' employment outcomes. Providers are expected to offer high-quality careers support and ensure that at least 60% of their students’ progress into professional employment or further study within 15 months of graduating.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will relaunch the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to relaunch The Kickstart Scheme.
The Kickstart Scheme was a time-limited response to the effects of the pandemic economic downturn on young people. The scheme came to an end in September 2022 with over 163,000 Kickstart jobs started by young people since its launch.
There continue to be a range of initiatives businesses can get involved in to give opportunities and experience to young people, including apprenticeships, mentoring circles, and work experience. Our Strategic Relationships Team continuously work to connect DWP with employers and partners to strengthen working relationships and to build new opportunities to support young people back to work. This will be strengthened with the introduction of the Youth Guarantee which was announced in The Get Britain Working White Paper.
The Youth Guarantee is for all 18-21 year olds to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work to reduce the number of young people not earning or learning.
Learning from the evaluation of the Kickstart scheme is also being utilised in the design of other employment support.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications have been received in South Devon constituency since 22 August 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 28 November we published national Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes from 29 July 2024 to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK
Data is captured weekly and cannot be broken down further to give a figure from 22 August 2024 exactly. The statistics show that 128,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 19 August 2024 and 17 November 2024. This figure has been rounded to the nearest 1000.
Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.
We do not currently hold data at a constituency level.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the third round of Landscape Recovery will open for applications.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government reconfirmed its commitment to Environmental Land Management schemes in the recent Spending Review, where we prioritised directing investment to these schemes as part of the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.
As a core element of the Environmental Land Management schemes, Landscape Recovery is uniquely placed to provide large-scale, long-term benefits for nature, delivering improvements to biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality, flood resilience and food security.
Landscape Recovery projects that were awarded funding in rounds one and two are continuing, and we are continuing to move into the delivery phase with the first round of projects. Plans for a third round of Landscape Recovery will be confirmed in due course.