Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applicants for compensation under the Windrush compensation scheme died while waiting for a decision on their application.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Windrush Compensation Scheme staff are working hard to ensure where they are aware of claimants with critical or life-limiting illnesses, their cases are prioritised.
In the unfortunate circumstances where a claimant has passed away after submitting a compensation claim, but before the claim is fully resolved, the team continues to work closely with the appointed representative, usually members of the family, to ensure the compensation payment is made as quickly as possible to the family member.
The latest Transparency data is available at Gov.UK: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: May 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note that this data is manually recorded and is reliant on the person receiving the information on a claimant’s death, notifying the Windrush Compensation Scheme to record this information.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to take steps to support (a) De Montfort University and (b) the University of Leicester to increase the availability of degree apprenticeships.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Degree apprenticeships provide people with high-quality training and are important in supporting productivity, social mobility and widening participation in higher education (HE) and employment.
The department has seen year-on-year growth of degree-level apprenticeships (Levels 6 and 7), with over 188,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year, and wants to further accelerate the growth of degree apprenticeships.
The department invested £8 million in the 2022/23 financial year through the Strategic Priorities Grant to enable HE institutions to grow degree level apprenticeship provision and form new employer partnerships. Both De Montfort University and the University of Leicester were successful in receiving funding.
The University of Leicester also recently launched the Space Systems Engineer degree level apprenticeship, which will offer new, exciting opportunities for people wanting to start or progress in the space industry.
To support providers to further expand their existing apprenticeship offers, the department is now providing an additional £40 million over the next two years through the Strategic Priorities Grant, and encourages both universities to apply for this funding when the competitive bidding process is launched later this year.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on ending no fault evictions in the private rented sector.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 191614 on 6 July 2023.
We remain committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness. We have given councils over £2 billion over three years to help them tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, targeted to areas where it is needed most. In Leicester, this includes £2,383,257 funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to take steps to help support the building of homes in Leicester to help tackle overcrowding in Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government's plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country. We would encourage Local Authorities in Leicester to work with social housing providers to bid into the Affordable Homes Programme.
The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.
Since 2010, we have delivered over 659,500 new affordable homes, including over 468,700 affordable homes for rent, of which over 166,300 homes for social rent. Of these over 2,700 have been delivered in Leicester.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) protect renters from eviction and (b) support people who are homeless in Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 191614 on 6 July 2023.
We remain committed to ending rough sleeping and tackling homelessness. We have given councils over £2 billion over three years to help them tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, targeted to areas where it is needed most. In Leicester, this includes £2,383,257 funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant for 2023/24 and 2024/25.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been sectioned under mental health legislation in Leicester East constituency in each of the last four years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested has been provided for Leicester City Council, as the nearest equivalent to the Leicester East constituency for which data is held.
| Number of detentions under the Mental Health Act | Number of people subject to detention |
2018/19 | 380 | 335 |
2019/20 | 425 | 385 |
2020/21 | 470 | 420 |
2021/22 | 420 | 375 |
Source: NHS England
The difference between the number of detentions and the number of people subject to detention is due to patients who have been repeatedly detained.
Notes:
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
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 (a) ensure that staffing levels in maternity services are sustainable in Leicester East constituency and (b) help support families affected by (i) miscarriage and (ii) stillbirth.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government has added £165 million of recurring investment to the annual maternity budget, beginning in 2021, to grow and support the maternity workforce and improve neonatal care, including in Leicester East.
Additionally, the NHS People Plan has been developed to focus on improving the retention of National Health Service staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. £45 million has been invested in 2022/23 to support the continuation of 40 mental health hubs across the country, the Professional Nurse Advocates (PNAs) programme, and expanding the NHS Practitioner Health service.
Mental health services around England are being expanded to include new mental health “hubs” for new, expectant or bereaved mothers. The 33 new maternal mental health services will provide psychological therapy, maternity services and reproductive health for women with mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These will be available across England by March 2024.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers were employed in Leicester (a) as of 1 July 2023 and (b) in 2010.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office collects and published data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area (PFA), on a bi-annual basis in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: Police workforce England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
These data are collected by PFA only, and lower levels of geography, such as towns or boroughs are not collected. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officers working in Leicester.
Data is collected as a snapshot as at 31 March and 30 September each year. The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officers as at 1 July 2023.
Information on the number of police officers in Leicestershire as at 31 March each year, from 2007 to 2022, on a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis, can be found in the ‘Workforce Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1093587/open-data-table-police-workforce-270722.ods.
The latest figures, as at 30 September 2022, are available in the data tables accompanying the latest ‘Police Workforce’ bulletin which can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1130953/police-workforce-sep22-tables-300922.ods.
The next release of ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which will cover the situation as at 31 March 2023, is scheduled for release on Wednesday 26th July.
While the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin remains the key measure of the size of the police workforce, as part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office also publishes a quarterly update on the number of officers (headcount terms only) in England and Wales, also broken down by PFA. Data as at 31 March 2023 are available here: Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The latest provisional data from the ‘Police Officer Uplift’ statistics shows, as at 31 March 2023, across England and Wales, there are over 149,500 police officers, the highest number of police officers on record, surpassing the previous peak of 146,030 in March 2010.
The deployment of officers is an operational matter for local Chief Constables.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
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 increase the availability of community child health services in Leicester East constituency.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to reducing community health care waiting lists for children and young people. That is why the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets commitments to expand the community workforce, with increases in training places for district nurses and allied health professionals, as well as a renewed focus on retaining our existing staff.
NHS England has asked systems to develop and agree plans to reduce waiting lists for community health services, including considering transforming service pathways and improving effectiveness and productivity. Commissioning community services is the responsibility of local integrated care systems.
Asked by: Claudia Webbe (Independent - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to provide additional funding to help improve transport infrastructure between Leicester and (a) London and (b) other cities in the Midlands.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Yes.