Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment provision for people with endometriosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis, is a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs, so that women can get better access to care for menstrual problems, including women with suspected or diagnosed endometriosis.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is in the process of updating its recommendations on diagnosing endometriosis and surgical management of endometriosis if fertility is a priority. NICE will provide information on the expected publication date of its final guidance in due course.
Additionally, NHS England is updating the service specification for severe endometriosis, which defines the expected standards of care. This update will ensure that specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice and will improve standards of care for women with severe endometriosis.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the number of pubs that have closed in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest ONS data[1] (as of 19 October 2023) shows the overall number of public houses and bars in Coventry North East, Coventry, the West Midlands and in England for each of the last 5 years (Table 1).
Table 1: Number of Public House and Bar Local Units, 2019 – 2023
Date | Coventry - North East | Coventry | West Midlands | England |
2019 | 35 | 120 | 3,515 | 33,305 |
2020 | 35 | 115 | 3,485 | 33,125 |
2021 | 30 | 115 | 3,415 | 32,430 |
2022 | 35 | 125 | 3,485 | 32,790 |
2023 | 40 | 125 | 3,505 | 32,665 |
Business closures (VAT de-registrations) are not available at this level of industrial and geographical detail. However, the Insolvency Service[2] do publish monthly data on the total number of insolvencies in the food and beverage services sector in England and Wales from 2019 to 2022 (Table 2).
Table 2: Food and beverage service activities insolvencies, England and Wales, 2019 – 2022[3]
Date | Food and beverage service activities insolvencies |
2019 | 2,150 |
2020 | 1,542 |
2021 | 1,542 |
2022 | 2,523 |
[1] ONS Business counts via NOMIS. Data relates to SIC 56.302 – Public houses and bars.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-september-2023
[3] This data represents the sum of monthly insolvencies per year for SIC 56 - Food and beverage service activities.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) factors that contribute to long-term unemployment and (b) impact of long-term unemployment on (i) families, (ii) communities and (iii) the economy; and what steps his Department is taking to (A) reduce and (B) minimise the impacts of long-term unemployment.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK employment support offer has several elements: a mixture of jobcentre support, national contracted provision and local contracted or grant-funded provision. The Restart scheme is nationally contracted provision for the long-term unemployed in England and Wales and sits alongside a variety of services that support jobseekers to find and progress in work.
Restart supports those who have been out of work for nine months or more and may benefit from more intensive support than the core JCP offer. Restart seeks to address some of the acknowledged barriers that long-term unemployed people face which may include awareness of current job-seeking approaches, ongoing health conditions, perceptions around confidence or lack of relevant skills.
The Department has previously published evidence on support for the long term unemployed. The Work Programme Impact Assessment, published in November 2020 and was used to inform the business case for Restart: The Work Programme: impact assessment - GOV.UK.
As part of the Restart scheme for the long term unemployed, the department is carrying out a full evaluation to assess the impact of the programme on job outcomes, earnings, and intermediate outcomes such as improvements in confidence, well-being and job-searching skills. Evidence gathered is being fed back into service delivery and future policy development.
From Restart’s launch to the end of April 2023, 450,000 people had started on the programme so far, with 150,000 of those achieving first earnings from employment, and 84,000 achieving a job outcome representing sustained employment.
Additional support for 50+ long term unemployed (LTU) customers was announced in September 2022 as part of the Growth Plan. This will provide access to additional intensive support for long-term unemployed jobseekers in jobcentres across Great Britain.
Finally, the Government recognises the important role that childcare plays for parents seeking or trying to stay in work which is why this year’s Spring Budget saw generous additional financial support for parents on Universal Credit. These changes include a 47% rise in the monthly maximum amounts that parents can be reimbursed for their childcare costs - now £951 a month for families with one child and £1630 for families with two or more children. Importantly, additional financial help with upfront childcare costs is now also being made available for parents moving into work or increasing their hours, removing a crucial barrier for many.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the levels of loneliness and social isolation in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps her Department is taking to tackle loneliness and social isolation in those areas.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS collects data on levels of loneliness in England through its annual Community Life Survey (CLS), which suggests that prevalence of loneliness in 2021-22 remained similar to pre-COVID levels, with 6% of adults reporting that they are always or often lonely. Levels of loneliness in the West Midlands in 2021-22 were similar to levels in England (7% always or often lonely). Data is not available to estimate loneliness levels at a constituency level.
The government launched the Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund in March 2023, an up to £30 million package of funding designed to widen participation in volunteering and tackle loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas across England. The KYN Fund will run until March 2025, with funding allocations taking place up until March 2024. A key focus of the programme is to generate and share learning on how people in disadvantaged areas can be supported to volunteer and improve their social connections, which will help to support sustained action beyond the lifetime of the Fund. Four areas in the West Midlands fall in scope of the KYN Fund: Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent and Cannock Chase.
Furthermore, the government continues to take action to tackle loneliness across England through public communications to reduce the stigma about loneliness, building the evidence base on loneliness and supporting other government departments and external organisations to consider loneliness in their work.
Copies of the fourth annual report on the government's world-first tackling loneliness strategy are available in the Libraries of the House of Commons and Lords and online.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of NHS workforce vacancies in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what steps he is taking to fill such vacancies in those areas.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England publishes vacancy statistics for England on a quarterly basis. These present the difference between funded establishment posts and those filled by substantive staff. They do not indicate where vacancies are currently filled with temporary staffing and therefore do not equate to unfilled shifts.
The statistics are published at a national and a regional level. The data does not allow a differentiation between West and East Midlands. Data is also not available by city; however, NHS England has published trust level vacancy rates for March 2023.
The latest statistics show that as of June 2023, there are 125,572 full time equivalent (FTE) vacancies across National Health Service trusts in England, representing a rate of 8.9%. For NHS trusts in the Midlands, there are 23,639 FTE vacancies, also representing a rate of 8.9%. As of March 2023, the vacancy rate for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, was 6.3%.
The NHS published the Long Term Workforce Plan in June this year, backed by over £2.4 billion over the next five years to fund additional education and training places. The Long Term Workforce Plan will double medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031, increase the number of general practitioner training places by 50% to 6,000 by 2031 and almost double the number of adult nurse training places by 2031, with around 58,000 nurse and midwife training places a year by 2031/32.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of closures of (a) bank branches and (b) free-to-use ATMs in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
While the government does not make direct assessments of branch networks, it believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities across the UK, including free withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts.
Decisions on opening and closing branches and ATMs are a commercial issue, and the government does not intervene in these. However, under FCA guidance, firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on the everyday banking and cash access needs of their customers and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This seeks to ensure that the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly.
Alternative options for access to banking can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people who have been made redundant to (a) access training and skills support and (b) find suitable alternative employment in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions stands ready to support anyone affected by redundancy with our Rapid Response Service offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
This service is co-ordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Delivery partners include The National Careers Service, local training providers, Money Helper and the skills bodies in England.
The Rapid Response Service offer is flexible and can include a range of options (see below) that can be pulled together into an appropriate support package. This package will be tailored to meet the needs of the employer, the individuals affected and the local community.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s policies on living standards in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is committed to promoting living standards and fostering inclusive growth across the country. Taken together, support to households to help with higher bills this year and last is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average – one of the largest household support packages in Europe.
Distributional analysis published at Spring Budget 2023 shows that the typical UK household at any income level will see a net benefit in 2023-24 following government decisions made from Autumn Statement 2022 onwards. Low-income households will receive the largest benefit in cash terms and as a percentage of income from government decisions.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in employment that are living in poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency and (b) Coventry; and what recent estimate his Department has made of the effect of the rising cost of living on the levels of in-work poverty in those areas.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
The latest available statistics show that full-time work substantially reduces the chances of poverty – the absolute poverty rate (after housing costs) of children in households where both parents work was 10%, compared to 53% for children living in workless households.
This Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of in-work poverty and understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. This is why we are providing support totalling over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments, totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. In the instance of Coventry City Council £6,448,445 has been allocated for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and £3,224,222.30 was allocated for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the welfare system in helping to alleviate levels of (a) pensioner, (b) in-work, (c) food and (d) child poverty in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessments have been made.
National Statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. Statistics are not available at the constituency level.
This government takes the issue of food security very seriously and is committed to understanding and addressing food poverty. This is why we added food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 2019/20, and also why we have published official estimates of foodbank use for the first time in March 2023. National statistics on food security and food bank use for 2021/22 are available here. We aim to publish statistics for 2022/23 in March 2024.
Furthermore, the Government is committed to action that helps to alleviate levels of pensioner, in-work, and child poverty, and understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. This is why we are providing support totalling over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living. Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits will receive additional Cost of Living Payments, totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year.
Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England this financial year bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. In the instance of Coventry City Council £6,448,445 has been allocated for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and £3,224,222.30 was allocated for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023.