Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what protections he plans to introduce in the Domestic Abuse Bill to provide for the mental health needs of victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to improving the response to victims of domestic abuse through the provisions set out in our draft Domestic Abuse Bill and consultation response.
We are carefully considering the recommendations from the Joint Committee on the draft Domestic Abuse Bill about improving access to public services for victims of domestic abuse and their children and will be responding to the Committee’s report in due course.
We want to improve the provision of mental health services to ensure that they are available to anyone in need of such services, including domestic abuse victims. We have therefore committed to investing at least an additional £2.3bn per year in mental health services by 2023/24
On 17 June the Prime Minister announced a wide-ranging package of measures to strengthen the response to mental health, including training for all new teachers on how to spot the signs of mental health issues, additional funding to support local authorities to deliver local suicide prevention plans and updated professional standards for social workers across England to increase their knowledge and skills when helping those with mental health issues.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to place on a statutory basis the good practice guidance to local authorities in relation to their use of powers on unauthorised encampments.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
As stated in the Government response to the consultation on powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments , we will in due course create a power to place new guidance on a statutory footing.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the timetable is for publishing the details of the £1.5 million fund for local authorities to enforce planning rules and tackle unauthorised development; how local authorities will be able to bid for that funding; and when that funding will be allocated.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We will announce further details of the £1.5 million fund for planning enforcement over the summer.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to undertake a public consultation on proposals to strengthen police powers in response to trespassing.
Answered by Nick Hurd
On 6 February, the Home Secretary announced a set of measures to extend powers available to the police, which we believe will enable unauthorised encampments to be tackled more effectively. The Written Ministerial Statement can be found at https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-02-06/debates/19020635000011/EnforcementAgainstUnauthorisedEncampments.
The Home Secretary also made clear that the Home Office would conduct a review into how the Government can criminalise unauthorised encampments. This review is currently underway, and a public consultation will be launched on the final set of proposals this summer.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timeframe is for his Department to undertake a review of the potential criminalisation of unauthorised developments.
Answered by Nick Hurd
On 6 February, the Home Secretary announced a set of measures to extend powers available to the police, which we believe will enable unauthorised encampments to be tackled more effectively. The Written Ministerial Statement can be found at https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-02-06/debates/19020635000011/EnforcementAgainstUnauthorisedEncampments.
The Home Secretary also made clear that the Home Office would conduct a review into how the Government can criminalise unauthorised encampments. This review is currently underway, and a public consultation will be launched on the final set of proposals this summer.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has planned to support the alcohol and drug treatment system.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Government is giving local authorities £16 billion over the current five-year spending review to fund public health activities and services. Local authorities shall receive over £3.1 billion in 2019/20, ring-fenced exclusively for use on public health. As part of the Public Health Grant conditions, services must have due regard for the uptake, investment and improvement of their local services. Decisions on investment in particular services are a matter for individual local authorities. Future investment will be determined by the forthcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What diplomatic steps he is taking to support a peace process in Yemen.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The security situation in Yemen is of great concern. Working with partners and agencies, we are monitoring developments and doing all we can to end the conflict. The UK has played a leading role in diplomatic efforts and will continue to do so. My Right Honourable Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Yemen in March. He also hosted a ministerial Quad meeting last month to discuss implementation of the Hodeidah agreement and next steps in the political process. I welcome reports over the weekend that the Houthis have begun their withdrawal from Hodeidah.I look forward to receiving independent verification from the UN and hearing the assessment of the UN Special Envoy during his briefing to the Security Council.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps his Department is taking to support women at work.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Industrial Strategy aims to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase earning power for all.
This includes removing barriers faced by women in accessing and progressing at work and in starting and growing a business, as explored in the recent Rose Review.
We are also giving parents more choice about who is the primary carer in the first year of their babies’ lives through the Shared Parental Leave and Pay scheme.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people who have benefited from pensions auto-enrolment are (a) women and (b) men.
Answered by Guy Opperman
10.4 million workers have been automatically enrolled into workplace pension by more than 1.4 million employers. By 2019/20 an estimated extra £18.6 billion a year is estimated to go into workplace pensions as a result of Automatic Enrolment. Automatic Enrolment has reversed the decline in workplace pension saving.
Automatic Enrolment was designed specifically to help groups who historically were poorly served or excluded from workplace pension saving, such as women and lower earners. It is equalising workplace pension participation among eligible men and women. In 2017, 81 per cent of eligible men and 80 per cent of eligible women in the private sector were saving into a workplace pension. This compares with 43 per cent and 40 per cent respectively in the private sector in 2012.
The Government’s 2017 review of Automatic Enrolment https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668972/print-ready-automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.pdf
set out our ambition for the mid-2020s, with proposals to strengthen financial resilience for traditionally excluded groups including women.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children are unaccompanied asylum seeking children in each local authority area.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The latest information on the number of looked-after children who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children, by local authority, can be found in table LAA4 of the statistical release ‘Children Looked-After in England: Including Adoption: 2017 to 2018’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2017-to-2018. These figures show the numbers at 31 March 2018.
The available population estimates for the number of children in each local authority are mid-year estimates published by the Office for National Statistics and these are reproduced in the underlying data that accompany this release.