Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to publish the Stocktake report on Hertfordshire County Council's SEND improvement plan.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected local arrangements for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in Hertfordshire in July 2023 and found widespread and/or systemic failings. Area SEND inspection reports are published on Ofsted’s website and the department publishes formal intervention decisions on GOV.UK. Local area partnerships are expected to publish their SEND strategic plan and their local offer, including on the local authority website. However, internal working documents such as post-stocktake reports are not routinely published. This is to allow the necessary space for frank and open discussions that maximise the opportunity for the local area to improve. For example, stocktake reports can include personal reports from children and families about their experiences of the SEND system, which are shared in confidence.

The department continues to provide support and challenge to the Hertfordshire local area partnership by monitoring progress against its priority action plan and improvement plan, and by providing advice and guidance via a SEND expert advisor.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for announcing what proportion of SEND funding from Autumn Budget 2024 will be allocated to Hertfordshire.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Hertfordshire County Council is being allocated a provisional high needs funding amount of over £205 million through the national funding formula (NFF), which is a 9.8% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 financial year NFF allocation. The allocations have been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2025-to-2026.

Hertfordshire County Council will also be allocated extra funding for pay and pensions costs in special schools and AP. This funding is additional to the allocations through the high needs NFF, and the department will confirm shortly how the funding allocations will be calculated.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) older people and (b) people with legacy visas are not (i) disadvantaged and (ii) prevented from accessing services by the eVisa system.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Home Office is committed to ensuring everyone, including the elderly, those who hold legacy documents and the most vulnerable, are properly supported as we transform our immigration system. I have recently met with Age UK and other stakeholders to discuss how we can ensure support is reaching those who need it.

People can nominate a ‘helper’ and give them limited access to their account, so that they can assist with creating a UKVI account, completing details to access an eVisa, and with any immigration application. Where a person is unable to manage their own affairs due to, for example, age or disability, a ‘proxy’, who is authorised, can create and manage the account on behalf of the person. People can also contact the UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre (https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk) for support via email and webchat, and telephone. They can also support people through the online process by helping them to access or recover their account, update their personal details and assisting them with technical issues with their online immigration status, and where necessary, verify the person’s status through alternative means.

For those inside the UK our Assisted Digital service is available to provide support by phone and email to those who need help with IT-related aspects of creating a UKVI account. Access needs can include any disability that requires support to use online services, a lack of device or a lack of internet access. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/assisted-digital-help-online-application.

We are also developing services to make the relevant immigration status information available automatically through system to system checks with other government departments and the NHS.

On 18 September 2024, we announced that the Government is providing up to £4m in dedicated grant funding to a UK wide network of voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver valuable support to those who need it, during the transition from physical immigration documents to eVisas. The list of organisations is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evisa-community-support-for-vulnerable-people.

We encourage holders of legacy paper documents, including passports that contain an ink stamp or vignette sticker (for those with Indefinite Leave to Enter or Indefinite Leave to Remain), to transition to an eVisa given the benefits this offers. They can do this by making a free ‘No Time Limit’ application via: GOV.UK - The best place to find government services and information (homeoffice.gov.uk). However, Legacy document holders can prove their rights as they do today using their physical documents where these are permitted. This includes for proving the right to rent, or for travel to the UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support older people without internet access to (a) apply for and (b) access eVisas.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Home Office is committed to ensuring everyone, including the elderly, those who hold legacy documents and the most vulnerable, are properly supported as we transform our immigration system. I have recently met with Age UK and other stakeholders to discuss how we can ensure support is reaching those who need it.

People can nominate a ‘helper’ and give them limited access to their account, so that they can assist with creating a UKVI account, completing details to access an eVisa, and with any immigration application. Where a person is unable to manage their own affairs due to, for example, age or disability, a ‘proxy’, who is authorised, can create and manage the account on behalf of the person. People can also contact the UK Visas and Immigration Resolution Centre (https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk) for support via email and webchat, and telephone. They can also support people through the online process by helping them to access or recover their account, update their personal details and assisting them with technical issues with their online immigration status, and where necessary, verify the person’s status through alternative means.

For those inside the UK our Assisted Digital service is available to provide support by phone and email to those who need help with IT-related aspects of creating a UKVI account. Access needs can include any disability that requires support to use online services, a lack of device or a lack of internet access. More information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/assisted-digital-help-online-application.

We are also developing services to make the relevant immigration status information available automatically through system to system checks with other government departments and the NHS.

On 18 September 2024, we announced that the Government is providing up to £4m in dedicated grant funding to a UK wide network of voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver valuable support to those who need it, during the transition from physical immigration documents to eVisas. The list of organisations is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evisa-community-support-for-vulnerable-people.

We encourage holders of legacy paper documents, including passports that contain an ink stamp or vignette sticker (for those with Indefinite Leave to Enter or Indefinite Leave to Remain), to transition to an eVisa given the benefits this offers. They can do this by making a free ‘No Time Limit’ application via: GOV.UK - The best place to find government services and information (homeoffice.gov.uk). However, Legacy document holders can prove their rights as they do today using their physical documents where these are permitted. This includes for proving the right to rent, or for travel to the UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2024 to Question 6534 on Land Drainage: Property Development, whether he (a) has made and (b) plans to make an assessment of the potential regulatory burden of implementing Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to require the formation of sustainable urban drainage systems.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A full regulatory impact assessment, including consideration of costs and benefits, would be prepared as part of any implementation of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

No such assessment is available at this stage.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has received recent representations from Hertfordshire County Council on levels of demand for in-year state school places.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has had no recent representations from Hertfordshire County Council on levels of demand for in-year state school places. The department has offered a routine meeting with the local authority to discuss in-year admissions, which we expect to take place in the New Year.

Bowel Cancer UK report into NHS services

Review into breast cancer screening

Family visas

Found: NEW SCHEDULES RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THOSE CLAUSES AND THOSE SCHEDULES _NC1 Daisy Cooper

Found: NEW SCHEDULES RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THOSE CLAUSES AND THOSE SCHEDULES _NC1 Daisy Cooper

Found: New Amendments: 1 to 3 _1 Daisy Cooper Ed Davey ★.