Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has commissioned the use of hotel accommodation in the London Borough of Havering for the purpose of housing asylum seekers since 10 February 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Answer I gave to Question 71421 on 4 September.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to Annex A of his Department's FOI release entitled FOI2024-00250: Correspondence about the appointment of Emily Middleton, published on 30 September 2024, if he will publish the document entitled Senior Civil Servant (SCS) Resourcing and Handling of Future SCS Recruitment Exceptions.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Honourable Member can consult FOI2024-00289, Annex F.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many (a) contracts were awarded and (b) payments were made to Public Digital by his Department since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
If the Honourable Member consults Contracts Finder, she will see that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has not awarded any new contracts to Public Digital since 4 July 2024.
No payments have been made by the Department to Public Digital. Payments were made by the Cabinet Office for a pre-existing contract which was inherited mid-contract by DSIT in the Machinery of Government change. Further details can be found on Contract Finder.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 19 September 2024 to Question HL812 on Emily Middleton, whether the relevant background information provided to the Civil Service Commission included that secondment from Public Digital.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Director General, Digital Centre Design was appointed in line with Civil Service Recruitment Principles. The Civil Service Commission was provided with the relevant background information requested, including Ms Middleton’s full employment history, when approving this temporary appointment. This included Ms Middleton’s CV where the reference to the secondment was made. This text was released in FOI2024-00256 Internal Review.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the number of retail jobs.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. This is available at: http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments and provides analysis of the potential sectoral impacts of the Bill, including the retail sector.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many private nurseries there were in (a) July 2024, (b) November 2024 and (c) June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, breaking the link between background and opportunity.
The department estimates the number of private group-based providers in England via its annual survey of providers. In 2024, the number of private group-based providers was estimated at 21,200 as of July 2024. Full information can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/childcare-and-early-years-provider-survey/2024.
The department does not hold the information requested for the other date in question.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Under the education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment process, local authorities must seek information and advice from a range of partners, including the child or young person and their parents, their school or college (if any), health and social care partners, an educational psychologist and other relevant professionals.
If it is determined necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person, the local authority must prepare an EHC plan which will say clearly what the child or young person’s needs are and what help they will be entitled to.
We know that families face issues with EHC plans and that it can sometimes take a long time for support to be delivered.
This government believes that in a well-functioning system, that is why we are committed to addressing the systemic issues that make special educational needs and disabilities support so hard to access for many families.
We are thinking about how to protect support for the children that will always need specialist placements, and make accessing that support less bureaucratic and adversarial, and how we can intervene earlier so support can be provided regardless of whether a legal plan is in place.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
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 help ensure the continuation of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A central mission of the Government is to build a health and care system fit for the future. To achieve this, it is crucial that we tackle preventable ill health, such as type 2 diabetes.
The highly effective NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme continues to be delivered. Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead the formation of a new joint centre. As we work to bring the two organisations together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds and put plans in place to ensure continuity of care.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
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 help ensure the continuation of the Type 2 Diabetes in the Young programme following the abolition of NHS England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As we work to bring NHS England and the Department together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will put plans in place to ensure continuity of care.
The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.
A central mission of the Government is to build a health and care system that is fit for the future. Tackling preventable ill health such as type 2 diabetes is crucial. Shifting the focus from treatment to prevention is one of three shifts for the Government’s mission for a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and is a cornerstone of supporting people to live healthier lives.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating pilots.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As we work to bring NHS England and the Department together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds and will put plans in place to ensure continuity of care. For 2025/26, national funding has been made available to support delivery of Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) services up to 31 March 2026 in the five current pilot site areas based in Coventry and Warwickshire, Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, Humber and North Yorkshire, Cheshire and Mersey, and Norfolk and Waveney.
The funding allocated to the relevant integrated care boards (ICBs) has been ring fenced which means that the funding should be protected for T1DE in 2025/26 rather than reallocated to cover other costs.
Funding for the T1DE pilot programme has been provided to sites on a pump prime basis, to allow the services to establish, feed into the national evaluation and generate the evidence that would be required to attract longer term sustainable local funding, following this initial period of national investment.
NHS England is undertaking a national evaluation of the five pilot services and to support local teams to make the case to the relevant ICB for longer term continuation of services, will provide an evaluation report in summer 2025. This will include data on patient outcomes, insight into staff and patient experience and analysis of National Health Service costs and savings to run the services, alongside supportive resources such as a model business case and commissioning support tool.