Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 (a) monitor and (b) reduce the average call waiting time for the Child Maintenance Service helpline.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service is committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload. We continuously monitor telephony performance and through this we fully recognise that call waiting times are, at times, longer than we would like. To address this, we are working to improve the efficiency of our customer interactions through both telephone and digital channels.
In September, we introduced the Digital Assist Telephony Service, which has been a significant step forward in our mission to support and encourage customers to use our online services. In October, we restructured our call routing to make more caseworkers available to answer telephone calls. By promoting self-service options online and efficient call routing, we have freed up valuable resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone.
Additionally, we have extended the hours of the telephony service to 6pm on weekdays in order to meet demand, and our online services are available to all customers 24/7. This has been extremely successful with just over 1 million customers logging on to their online My Child Maintenance Case account in November. As a result, we have seen a reduction in call volumes, as well as improved customer service delivery through the combination of telephone and digital channels.
We will continue to review, evaluate, and enhance our telephony service to meet demand and deliver a quality customer service.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 improve the provision of care for people with ME.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made on the adequacy of the implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE guidelines are not mandatory, but the Government does expect healthcare commissioners to take the guidelines fully into account in designing services to meet the needs of their local population, and to work towards their implementation over time.
There are steps that the Government is taking to improve care for patients with ME/CFS. It is a priority for the Department to publish the final ME/CFS delivery plan. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, but it will be shaped by the consultation responses, along with continued close engagement with stakeholders, with three broad themes of attitudes and education, research, and living with ME/CFS. We aim to publish it at the end of March 2025.
The Department is also currently working with NHS England to develop an e-learning course on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes.
Additionally, the Government funds research into ME/CFS through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. In 2020, the NIHR and the MRC came together to fund the world’s largest genome-wide association study of ME/CFS. This £3.2 million study, termed DecodeME, will analyse samples from 25,000 people with ME/CFS to search for genetic differences that may indicate underlying causes or an increased risk of developing the condition. Further details of the study are available at the following link:
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of implementation of NICE guideline NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made on the adequacy of the implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance NG206 on myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). NICE guidelines are not mandatory, but the Government does expect healthcare commissioners to take the guidelines fully into account in designing services to meet the needs of their local population, and to work towards their implementation over time.
There are steps that the Government is taking to improve care for patients with ME/CFS. It is a priority for the Department to publish the final ME/CFS delivery plan. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, but it will be shaped by the consultation responses, along with continued close engagement with stakeholders, with three broad themes of attitudes and education, research, and living with ME/CFS. We aim to publish it at the end of March 2025.
The Department is also currently working with NHS England to develop an e-learning course on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes.
Additionally, the Government funds research into ME/CFS through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. In 2020, the NIHR and the MRC came together to fund the world’s largest genome-wide association study of ME/CFS. This £3.2 million study, termed DecodeME, will analyse samples from 25,000 people with ME/CFS to search for genetic differences that may indicate underlying causes or an increased risk of developing the condition. Further details of the study are available at the following link:
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to tackle online risks faced by children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is focused on implementing the Online Safety Act as quickly as possible, so children benefit from its wide-ranging protections. The Act will ensure that companies take steps to protect their child users from harm on their platforms, including protecting children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Ofcom has consulted on its draft codes of practice for protecting children which set out the steps companies must take to protect children on their platforms under the Online Safety Act. We expect the child safety codes will be finalised and in effect by summer 2025.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on recruiting 6,500 teachers.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. The within-school and college factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s education is high-quality teaching, but this government inherited years of rising teacher vacancies and low recruitment resulting in shortages of qualified teachers across the country. This is why this government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament.
This government has already made good early progress towards this key pledge by ensuring teaching is once again an attractive and respected profession. We have accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, which is effective from September. The department has expanded its school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’ and the further education teacher recruitment campaign ‘Share your Skills’. The government has also reformed the school inspection system to remove Ofsted’s single headline grades.
This government has recently announced the Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, which is worth up to £233 million, a £37 million increase on the last cycle. This includes a range of measures, including bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £31,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees into key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.
This government wants to support retention alongside recruitment so that teachers stay and thrive in the profession. As of 14 October, eligible early career teachers in priority science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical subjects can claim targeted retention incentive payments worth up to £6,000 after tax, with payments made available to college teachers in key STEM and technical subjects for the first time.
In addition, the department is supporting teachers to improve their workload and wellbeing and have a made a range of resources available to support teachers including the ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service and the ‘education staff wellbeing charter’. The department is also working with schools to increase opportunities for greater flexible working, for example we have clarified that teachers can undertake their planning, preparation and assessment time remotely.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the Office for Equality and Opportunity is taking steps to measure links between differences in pay and the socioeconomic background of employees.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced increases to both the National Minimum Wage (16.3% for those aged 18-20) and the National Living Wage (6.7% for those 21 and over), as well as a £240 million Get Britain Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. Through our Mission-driven Government, we will build the skills people need for opportunity and growth.
This Government will also, at last, commence the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether her Department is taking steps to help reduce pay inequalities based on class in the private sector.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced increases to both the National Minimum Wage (16.3% for those aged 18-20) and the National Living Wage (6.7% for those 21 and over), as well as a £240 million Get Britain Working package to improve support for people who are economically inactive, unemployed or want to develop their careers. Through our Mission-driven Government, we will build the skills people need for opportunity and growth.
This Government will also, at last, commence the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help local authorities support kinship carers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children and the role of local authorities to support them.
The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover certain costs, such as covering day to day costs, supporting them to settle into a new home with relatives, or affording activities to support their wellbeing, can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. This trial will help us make decisions about future national rollout.
The government recently published the updated guidance for local authorities, the kinship care statutory guidance. This guidance outlines the framework for the provision of support for kinship children and kinship families.
The government also appointed the first National Kinship Ambassador who will work alongside local authorities to help improve their kinship practice and local policies, and ensure they are following national guidance. As well as providing bespoke support to some local authority teams, they will share learning nationally so that more local authorities can benefit from evidence of best practice. In turn, this will help to improve outcomes for children and families.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 effectiveness of the Dynamic Support Register in preventing autistic people from being detained in mental health hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published updated policy and guidance on Dynamic Support Registers (DSRs) and Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on 25 January 2023, for implementation from 1 May 2023. The purpose of the updated policy and guidance is to help ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people get the right support in their communities, and to prevent hospital admission.
NHS England produced the updated policy and guidance following a process of reviewing the learning since the inception of DSRs and C(E)TRs, including consultation and engagement with people with lived experience. This process included drawing on the findings of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s review of the deaths of Joanna, Jon, and Ben at Cawston Park in Norfolk and the subsequent safe and wellbeing reviews for all people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals, to ensure they are an effective provision.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support Integrated Care Boards to ensure appropriate provision of autism (a) assessment and (b) support services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is currently considering next steps to improve diagnostic assessment and support for autistic people. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessment and support services, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. This guidance will help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment, and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism based on the available evidence. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.