Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the care of English local authorities were living in (a) Wales and (b) Scotland on (i) 31 March 2024 and (ii) for each of the preceding four years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living more than 50 and 100 miles from home on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is shown in the table below.
Year | Living more than 50 miles from home | Of which: living more than 100 miles from home |
2020 | 6,850 | 2,920 |
2021 | 7,210 | 2,990 |
2022 | 7,010 | 2,970 |
2023 | 7,210 | 3,060 |
2024 | 7,350 | 3,120 |
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living in Wales and Scotland on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is published annually in section 4.7 of the methodology document that accompanies our statistical release. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions#content-section-4-content-7.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in care in England were living more than (a) 50 and b) 100 miles from home on (i) 31 March 2024 and (ii) for each of the preceding four years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living more than 50 and 100 miles from home on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is shown in the table below.
Year | Living more than 50 miles from home | Of which: living more than 100 miles from home |
2020 | 6,850 | 2,920 |
2021 | 7,210 | 2,990 |
2022 | 7,010 | 2,970 |
2023 | 7,210 | 3,060 |
2024 | 7,350 | 3,120 |
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
The number of children looked after by English local authorities who were living in Wales and Scotland on 31 March 2024 and for each of the preceding four years is published annually in section 4.7 of the methodology document that accompanies our statistical release. This can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions#content-section-4-content-7.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many consultations his Department (a) initiated and (b) completed in the last Parliament between (i) 13 February 2020 and 6 September 2022, (ii) 6 September 2022 and 25 October 2022, (iii) 25 October 2022 and 13 November 2023 and (iv) 13 November 2023 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All Defra consultations are published through the Citizen Space digital consultation platform and are available in the public domain Defra - Citizen Space. The Defra Citizen Space account also hosts consultations for several of Defra’s Arm’s Length Bodies. Other engagement activities such as Call’s for Evidence are also hosted on this platform.
The table below covers volumes for Defra’s public consultations only. Where completed volumes don’t align with initiated, this is as a result of the consultation period extending across date ranges.
Number of Defra Consultations initiated and completed by date range:
Date Range | Consultations Initiated | Consultations Completed. |
13 February 2020 - 6 September 2022 | 98 | 84 |
6 September 2022 - 25 October 2022 | 1 | 14 |
25 October 2022 - 13 November 2023 | 36 | 33 |
13 November 2023 and 4 July 2024 | 16 | 19 |
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse would be to not claim back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon member to the answer given on 24 January to UIN 25010 regarding estimated costs of not claiming back Child Benefit overpayments.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year after the upfront payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon member to the answer given on 23 January to UIN 25009 regarding the policy on Child Benefit overpayments.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) support and (b) help secure the early release of Marcus Fakana.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting the welfare of British nationals detained overseas is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The FCDO cannot interfere in the judicial affairs of other countries, however where there are concerns that an individual's welfare needs are not being met, with their consent, we will raise this with the relevant authorities. We are unable to provide comment on the detail of individual consular cases in line with relevant UK data protection legislation: [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/personal-information-charter].
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the cost to her Department of not claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the original payment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated cost of not claiming back Child Benefit payments from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made is not readily available and could only be produced at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's policy is on claiming back child benefit from parents who have lost a child in the year since the payment was made.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Entitlement to Child Benefit continues for eight weeks after the date of a child’s death. This recognises that the period following such a traumatic event is particularly difficult and avoids causing additional distress from the immediate removal of financial support. After this point, where a death of a child is not made known to HMRC, any overpayments of Child Benefit are ordinarily recoverable. However, HMRC has processes in place designed to limit overpayments in these circumstances. This includes using regular data from the registry of births marriages and deaths to sensitively contact customers where they have suffered the loss of a child. Similarly, where a customer informs DWP through their 'Tell Us Once Service', this information is passed to HMRC and used to end the Child Benefit claim.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to increase economic productivity.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
Boosting productivity growth across the country is a key aim of this government’s growth mission. By reforming the economy and increasing productivity, we will drive up prosperity and living standards across the UK. Our Budget showed that this government has a robust, comprehensive strategy for boosting productivity, and we are taking the steps needed to make up for fourteen years of stagnant productivity growth, including introducing planning reforms, protecting record R&D funding and launching Skills England.
Asked by: Jake Richards (Labour - Rother Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the money raised from the Immigration Skills Charge has been spent over the last five years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Immigration Skills Charge is administered by the Home Office and is classified as Trust Statement income. Government departments are required to surrender all Trust Statement income to the Consolidated Fund (CF).
Receipts surrendered to the CF are not ring-fenced for any specific area of government spending but will be used towards general government expenditure, which includes funding for departments’ budgetary Supply Estimates approved by Parliament.