Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of library provision in primary schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. The national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There are a number of strong links between reading for pleasure and attainment. For example, the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study report found a 34 point difference in reading performance between pupils in England who “very much” liked reading and pupils who “do not” like reading. Additionally, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study found that enjoyment of reading links to pupils’ reading engagement, and that reading engagement was strongly positively correlated with reading performance. There is also a strong evidence base linking reading for pleasure to other positive effects, such as improved text comprehension and grammar, increased general knowledge and character development.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries or school librarians. There are currently no plans to make it a statutory requirement for primary schools to have a library, although we will continue to keep this matter under review.
The government’s reading framework offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with University Hospitals of Liverpool on the Critical Incident declared on 7 January 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s regional teams have worked closely with the integrated care boards to ensure that appropriate action is taken to address and mitigate the issues identified within each declared critical incident, including at the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the US Surgeon General’s recommendations to include health warnings on alcohol labels; and whether he has plans to re-visit his Department's closed consultation entitled Updating labelling guidance for no and low-alcohol alternatives, published on 28 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to building a National Health Service fit for the future, with a greater emphasis on the prevention of avoidable health harms, supporting people to live well for longer.
We have noted the United States Surgeon General’s recommendations, and will continue to consider how alcohol labelling can be improved to support consumers in making informed decisions about the products they are purchasing, whilst also promoting low risk consumption.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) access to (i) deposit and (ii) withdraw cash and (b) the availability of trained people to help with cash access services in Liverpool Walton constituency.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The Government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those in vulnerable groups, and is committed to protecting access to cash for individuals and businesses. Furthermore, the Government recognises that businesses need access to cash deposit services in order to continue accepting cash.
The Financial Conduct Authority is responsible for protecting access to cash. In September 2024, it introduced new rules which require the UK’s largest banks and building societies to assess the impact of a closure of a relevant cash withdrawal or deposit facility and put in place a new service if necessary.
Furthermore, where a community, or interested party, feels that access to cash in their area is not sufficient, they are able to submit a cash access assessment request to LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, who undertake these assessments. Further information about submitting a cash access assessment request can be found at the following link: https://www.link.co.uk/helping-you-access-cash/request-access-to-cash
LINK publishes data on the number of ATMs across each parliamentary constituency. In the constituency of Liverpool Walton, LINK data identifies 46 free-to-use ATMs out of 75 cash access facilities across the constituency. There are also 40 Post Office branches in the wider Liverpool area where you can deposit and withdraw money.
The Government recognises that some individuals may need assistance, including in-person assistance, to support their access to cash, and is committed to ensuring appropriate services are in place to support this.
This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. These hubs will provide small businesses and individuals who need face-to-face support with critical cash and in-person banking services. Over 100 Banking Hubs are already open across the UK.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government's consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, published 17 December 2024, what assessment has she made of the potential impact on the UK's creative industries of the proposals included in that consultation.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government’s consultation on Copyright and AI, launched 17 December and closing 25 February, was published alongside an accompanying options assessment. One of the main reasons for the consultation is to gather further evidence on the potential impact on the creative industries of any change to the copyright regime in the context of AI training.
Following the consultation, if legislative changes are needed to bring clarity to the UK copyright regime, a full economic impact assessment will be undertaken.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of (a) work, (b) education and (c) training in Liverpool Walton constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes national statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey for young people aged 16 to 24. However, these are only published at national and regional level due to limitations with sample sizes for lower-level geographies. Therefore, NEET rates for young people aged 16 to 24 cannot be provided for the area requested. The available statistics can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief.
Local authorities are required to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training and return management information for young people aged 16 and 17. This data shows that of the 10,372 young people aged 16 and 17-years-old who were known to Liverpool local authority around the end of 2022 (average of December 2022, January 2023 and February 2023), 885 were NEET or their activity was not known (530 known to be NEET and 355 young people whom the local authority could not confirm their activity). This data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-and-participation-local-authority-figures. These are not national statistics but published as transparency data so some caution should be taken if using these figures. Data is not available for Liverpool, Walton constituency.
In addition, 16 to 18 destination measures are published. These official statistics show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. This can be used as a proxy for NEET at age 18. Data for Liverpool Walton is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/55eab43f-7467-408e-90c8-08dd184e91f8. This shows that out of 357 pupils completing 16 to 18 study in the 2021/22 academic year in Liverpool Walton, 39 pupils were not recorded as having a sustained destination in the 2022/23, and 23 pupils did not have their activity captured.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase uptake of Pension Credit in winter 2024-25.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department’s campaign to promote Pension Credit has been running across Great Britain since September. The latest phase of the campaign, which launched on 8 November, is aimed at friends and family - especially adult children of eligible pensioners - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim. It is running on TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube and on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens.
The Department’s ‘Invitation to Claim’ initiative was launched on 30 October. Since then, we have written to around 120,000 pensioner households across Great Britain who are in receipt of Housing Benefit but not Pension Credit. The letter and accompanying leaflet urge these households to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment in winter 2024/25.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Youth Guarantee on young people in Liverpool Walton constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Get Britain Working White Paper, the Government announced £45 million of funding for eight trailblazers in England to test delivery of the Youth Guarantee. Liverpool City Region are one of the eight areas set to receive a proportion of this funding to support 18-21 year olds access education, training and employment opportunities in their area.
Working closely on the detail of the design and delivery in the Liverpool City Region, we will be able to maximise the difference it makes to young people’s lives locally. Further analysis will be available through the course of the trailblazer.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Get Britain Working White Paper on the services provided by Jobcentres in Liverpool Walton constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The reforms to Jobcentres across Great Britain that we have announced in the recent Get Britain Working White Paper will be transformative.
Key to the White Paper’s successful delivery will be ensuring it is locally responsive and engaged. This will mean it will operate differently in different areas to reflect local systems and needs.
We will work closely with key partners, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, as we design, develop and test the new service into the next year. These tests will help us discover how we can shape a local service, while the UK Government maintains overall accountability for it.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will have discussions with the Electoral Commission on the potential implications for (a) her and (b) the Commission's policies of Transparency International's position paper entitled Cheques and balances: Countering the influence of big money in UK politics, published in December 2024.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Effective regulation and enforcement of political finance are crucial for maintaining public trust in our electoral systems. The Government is committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections and, as stated in our manifesto, we intend to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties to protect our democracy. My department is working closely with the Electoral Commission on developing proposals to give effect to this commitment. We are also seeking, and remaining open to, evidence from key stakeholders, particularly in relation to threats to our democracy.