Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many recorded incidents of violent crime there have been in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, (b) Bexley Borough and (c) South East London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 13 September is attached.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of asylum seekers that have entered the UK via small boats in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals is published in table Irr_D02 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed dataset’ with the latest data up to the end of June 2023.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were awaiting the outcome of their asylum application in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, (b) Bexley Borough and (c) Greater London on 1 September 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Whilst we hold information regarding the number of people awaiting the outcome of their asylum claim in each parliamentary constituency, this information is not held in a reportable format.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people receive Universal Credit in (a) the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Bexley.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2023 there were 7,346 people on Universal Credit who live in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and 18,790 people on Universal Credit who live in the London Borough of Bexley.
The latest available statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit, by various geographical breakdowns including Westminster parliamentary constituency and local authority, are published monthly on Stat-Xplore.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of closing train station ticket offices on passengers in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
We are now in a period where the independent passenger bodies (Transport Focus and London TravelWatch) are engaging with train operators on the basis of the consultation responses they have received and the criteria they have set out. We expect train operators to work collaboratively with the passenger bodies in the coming weeks, to listen to the concerns raised and to refine their proposals accordingly.
When proposing major changes to ticket office opening hours, including closures, operators were required to take into account the adequacy of the proposed alternatives in relation to the needs of all passengers; and to include this in the notice of the proposal sent to other operators and passenger groups. All operators prepared Equality Impact Assessments and published these on their websites.
Together with the industry, we want to improve and modernise the passenger experience by moving staff out from ticket offices to provide more help and advice in customer focused roles. No currently staffed station should be unstaffed as a result of industry changes. We expect train operators, including Southeastern who manage several stations in the Bexleyheath and Crayford area, to ensure staff are well located to meet passenger needs in future.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were in receipt of Carer's Allowance in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The caseload statistics for Carer’s Allowance are available on DWP Stat-Xplore. The most recent refer to November 2022. Figures for the Carer’s Allowance in payment caseload for Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency are shown below:
Time period | Carer’s Allowance in Payment Caseload |
Nov ‘17 | 1,195 |
Nov ‘18 | 1,221 |
Nov ‘19 | 1,238 |
Nov ‘20 | 1,297 |
Nov ‘21 | 1,293 |
Nov ‘22 | 1,354 |
The link to access Stat-Xplore is https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
Guidance for using Stat-Xplore is available at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support pensioners with increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with their rising bills.
From April 2023, State Pensions, including the Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee, were increased by 10.1%, in line with prices in the year to September 2022.
Over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits, including the 1.4 million pensioners currently in receipt of Pension Credit, will receive additional Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 in the 2023/24 financial year.
In addition, over 8 million pensioner households will receive a £300 pensioner Cost of Living Payment as a top up to their winter fuel payment later this year increasing payments to £500 for households with someone aged 66-79 and £600 for households with someone aged 80 and over.
Specific statistics relating to the pensioner Cost of Living Payments are not available. However, the latest available winter fuel payment statistics (2021/22) show that 14,271 customers in Bexleyheath and Crayford received a winter fuel payment. We expect a similar number of customers will receive the pensioner Cost of Living Payment in 2022/23 and 2023/24.
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to pensioners on a low income and we want all eligible pensioners to claim it. That is why we have been running a comprehensive communications campaign since April 2022. Earlier this year we boosted our campaign with extensive television adverts which highlighted that Pension Credit is worth £3,500 a year on average. Most recently on 17 July we launched a new and innovative Pension Credit “Invitation to Claim” trial which will involve DWP sending letters to approximately 2,500 pensioner households in 10 Local Authorities across Great Britain identified via Housing Benefit data as being most likely to be entitled to Pension Credit encouraging them to contact DWP and make a claim.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of childcare in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In the government’s Spring Budget, on 15 March, the government announced a number of transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children, the economy and women. By 2027/28, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This announcement represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
This measure will expand the free early education entitlements offer, so that eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is nine months old to when they start school.
This will be rolled out in stages:
The government will also substantially uplift the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers, to deliver existing free entitlements offers. In 2023/24 £204 million of additional funding will be provided, paid from September 2023, rising to £288 million by 2024/25.
This will include an average of 30% increase in the two-year-old rate from September 2023, and means that the average hourly rate for two year olds will rise from the current £6 per hour in 2023/24 to around £8 per hour. The average three to four year old rate will rise in line with inflation to over £5.50 per hour from September 2023, with further uplifts beyond this.
The early years workforce makes a huge contribution to young children’s lives. Supporting and growing this workforce to deliver the transformative reforms announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget is a priority for the department.
The department will launch a new national recruitment campaign early next year to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff. Alongside this, we will consider how to introduce new accelerated apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship routes so everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into a career in the sector.
The department has also launched a consultation on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to offer providers increased flexibility and alleviate known burdens, exploring giving providers more choice over how they operate and making it easier for them to deliver the EYFS. The intention is that these changes will support settings to deliver the new entitlements announced at the Spring Budget.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the Early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The guidance can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1149556/Early_education_and_childcare_statutory_guidance_-_April_2023.pdf.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing, including Bexley local authority, who oversee the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals given sentences of imprisonment for public protection have been deported in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) are published in table Ret_D03 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to December 2022.
An FNO is someone who is not a British citizen and is, or was, convicted in the UK of any criminal offence, or convicted abroad for a serious criminal offence. We do not publish information about whether FNOs have served prison time or not.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: David Evennett (Conservative - Bexleyheath and Crayford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school students receive free school meals in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes figures on the proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM). The most recently published figures are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. In the 2022/23 academic year, 1,557 primary and 1,350 secondary pupils were eligible for FSM in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.