Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of raising undergraduate student maintenance loan amounts in line with inflation.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Maximum grants and loans for living costs were increased by 3.1% this academic year (2021/22) and we have announced that they will increase by a further 2.3% in the 2022/23 academic year. We are currently reviewing options for uprating in future academic years.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of encouraging local authorities to allow parents to apply for free childcare midway through a school term.
Answered by Will Quince
As set out in the regulations underpinning the entitlements to free early education and childcare, children become eligible for a free early education place at different points in the year. Depending on when the child turns three, the 30 hours free childcare entitlement begins from 1 September, 1 January or 1 April following their third birthday.
These termly deadlines link closely with that of the department’s other early entitlements to create consistency across the offers. The merit of delivering the entitlements in this way are that it allows local authorities and childcare providers to better plan and ensure sufficient early years places are available for parents each term, as there are clear periods for when children are likely to enter into a place.
This is intended to ensure that all children are entitled to at least three years of early education and/or reception before they reach statutory school age.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to increase exports of digital services.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The UK has been at the forefront of seizing the benefits of digital trade, including through our FTA programme. For example, the UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, signed in February, represents the most innovative digital trade agreement ever signed. Already, DIT has engaged nearly 100 companies through a webinar and trade mission on the benefits of the deal for business. The Department also has a Digital Exporting Programme which helps SME to increase exports through digital channels, for example those in the music industry. So far, the Programme has supported in excess of 10,000 companies.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
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 maximise NHS capacity.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department continues to focus on recovery of services, as we have throughout the pandemic. The NHS and the Department have sought to maximise availability of capacity by all practical means, including virtual wards, the use of independent sector capacity, a focus on maximising safe discharge, coupled with investment in up to 160 community diagnostic centres, innovation in surgical hubs, and through growing our NHS workforce.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that rural ambulance services (a) are prompt and (b) receive the resources they need.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
National Health Service ambulance service trusts are commissioned and funded by NHS clinical commissioning groups in both rural and urban areas. This is supported by a further £55 million of national funding to increase ambulance trust capacity and response times in winter 2021/22.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
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 ensure that the building regulations on trickle vents are consistent with making houses more efficient.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2021, Government published its response to the Future Buildings Standard consultation, including a suite of new regulations and standards to improve energy efficiency, ventilation and other matters covered by the Building Regulations
When windows are replaced in existing dwellings, it is necessary to ensure that the ventilation provision in the dwelling is no worse than it was before the work was carried out. A common way of meeting this requirement will be to install trickle ventilators. Approved Document F: volume 1 sets out the detail of the new standard
The purpose of ensuring ventilation provision is maintained is to protect the health and safety of people in the dwellings they occupy. The purpose of the new guidance is to make sure that any ventilation lost when replacing the window is replaced with purposeful ventilation. The standards do not require any more ventilation to be provided than is necessary. An assessment of energy demand due to replacement windows with ventilators can be found within the final stage Part F impact assessment
As part of the standards published in December 2021, we also increased the thermal efficiency standard for various types of work to existing buildings, including when replacing windows
New guidance and requirements for Part F and Part L of the Building Regulations are due to come into effect on 15 June 2022
Further information can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-buildings-standard
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the level of risk posed to households reliant on heat pumps during power outages.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the event of a power outage a heat pump, like a gas or oil boiler, will not work if a home does not have a back-up power supply. The UK has one of the most resilient electricity networks in the world, so the risk of power outages is small. The Government will continue to build resilience into the system as it evolves and dependence on electricity increases.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of clarifying IVF eligibility guidance to allow individuals with partners who have children from a previous relationship to be eligible for IVF across England.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department undertook an internal policy review about the variation in access to National Health Service fertility services, which was completed in 2021. The results of this internal review will inform future policy. We will set out our initial ambitions in the Women’s Health Strategy, due to be published in the spring. The Government expects local NHS commissioning bodies to commission fertility services in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines, so that there is equitable access across England.
We are aware that some commissioners set additional non-clinical criteria, which can include having children from previous relationships. This is outside the best clinical practice within the NICE fertility guidelines.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether providers will be prohibited from charging those in adult social care settings extra charges for powercut-resistant telephones after the end of the analogue network.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom has issued guidance on how telecoms companies can fulfil their regulatory obligation to ensure that their customers, including those in social care settings, have access to the emergency services in the event of a power cut following the transition from analogue to digital telephony. This guidance states that providers should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises, and that the solution should be suitable for customers’ needs and should be offered free of charge to those who are at risk as they are dependent on their landline.
Ofcom’s power resilience guidance does not distinguish between types of user, however they have issued additional guidance which states that providers should take steps to identify vulnerable consumers and engage in effective communications to ensure all are protected in the migration process.
Although migration is an industry led initiative, the government is clear that the PSTN migration should not be used as an opportunity for providers to raise their prices or otherwise exploit vulnerable consumers with disproportionate costs for the necessary upgrades.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that there is sufficient social housing stock available for larger families.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. The Programme supports a wide range of affordable housing, including social housing for homes of all sizes.
Local authorities should determine the types of social housing needed for their communities. In March 2020 Government set out a clear expectation that local planning authorities must have an up-to-date plan in place by the end of 2023. This will ensure that they will be in the best possible position to adapt to the new plan-making system, further details on which we will set out in due course. Having an effective, up to date plan in place is essential to planning for and meeting housing requirements; in ways that make good use of land and result in well-designed and attractive places to live. The Government expects local authorities to work together to plan for and deliver the housing and infrastructure our communities need.