Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress she has made on increasing the number of community diagnostic centres.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Thanks to the hard work of NHS teams, the government is on track to not only meet our ambition of opening 160 community diagnostic centres more broadly across England by March 2025, but to exceed it.
This will represent a step change in how diagnostics is deployed in the UK and directly supports our agenda to make access to health services faster for patients.
136 centres are currently operational, and over 5 million additional tests have been delivered since July 2021. This includes the centre in my honourable friends’ constituency, Bishop’s Stortford CDC.
I am pleased to endorse the Hon. Members' welcome of the new CDC. Bishops Stortford CDC has been delivering tests and checks to patients since Sept this year.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have arrived in the UK from Ukraine under relocation schemes have been awarded Pension Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman
As of the 18 May 2022, we had received 1,374 claims to Pension Credit from people who have arrived in Great Britain from Ukraine under the relocation schemes. Of these, 1,012 have been awarded Pension Credit and the other 362 claims are being processed.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices in Hertford and Stortford constituency have applied for part of the £50 million funding intended to support the creation of more dentistry appointments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department is taking to support take-up of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
Answered by Gavin Williamson
From 1 April the government is supporting any adult who does not have A levels or equivalent to access almost 400 fully funded level 3 courses as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
We are investing £95 million over the current Spending Review period, which includes a funding uplift to give providers the support they need, to scale-up provision and meet the needs of adult learners as we build back better from the COVID-19 outbreak. We have been working closely with local areas and providers to support delivery of the Free Courses for Jobs offer from 1 April.
We have also worked with the National Careers Service to ensure Careers Advisers can provide information about the training available to customers and we will publicise the offer, including through social media and stakeholder channels, to ensure we reach adults that can take advantage of this offer.
There are a number of shorter courses that can help adults progress in the labour market, so they can pick a course that fits their life. We are continuing to work with the sector and potential learners to understand barriers to learning and how we can support adults to take up this offer.
Furthermore, we have introduced Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving adults aged 19 and over the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. Skills Bootcamps are employer-led initiatives which aim to meet local demand.
Wave 1 Skills Bootcamps have been oversubscribed due to high demand. So far, nearly 2,800 adults started courses on over 80 different Skills Bootcamps across the 6 areas where we rolled out the trailblazers.
We are investing £43 million as part of the National Skills Fund to expand the digital and technical Skills Bootcamps across all regions of England. With this funding, we can assist employers across England to fill their vacancies.
Following a competitive application process, successful bids for the second wave of Skills Bootcamps will be announced in due course and we are anticipating that this second wave of Skills Bootcamps will train approximately 20,000 individuals across England.
Local areas are working closely with Skills Bootcamps to advertise them and encourage learners to take up this opportunity. This includes encouraging learners from underrepresented groups to ensure a diverse cohort, reflective of the local population.
We have worked with Department for Work and Pensions to align the employment and skills support offer. Later this month, the Department for Work and Pensions’ Train and Progress campaign will be further enhanced by an increase in the amount of time Universal Credit claimants can take part in full-time training to 12 weeks, up from the current 8 weeks, helping them gain the skills and qualifications needed for good jobs.
The change will ensure Universal Credit claimants can access sector-specific training provided as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, including Skills Bootcamps and some of the free level 3 qualifications while receiving the financial support they need.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are not suspending collection of food waste with garden waste collections in the event that those garden waste collections are chargeable.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We support frequent and comprehensive rubbish and recycling collections. Under new measures in the Environment Bill, local authorities will be required to arrange for the collection of a core set of recyclable waste streams from households, which will include food and garden waste. Under these new requirements, food waste must be collected at least once a week and both food waste and garden waste must always be collected separately from the dry recyclable waste streams and residual waste. The food waste and garden waste streams should be collected separately from each other unless it is not technically or economically practicable or there is no significant environmental benefit in doing so. Following support in response to our initial consultation, we are preparing a further consultation on consistency in recycling to be published this spring, which will include further detail on timelines for local authorities to comply with these new requirements.
With regards to charging, under section 45(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, local authorities can recover a reasonable charge for the collection of garden waste. As part of the upcoming consultation, we will be seeking further views on whether local authorities should be able to charge for the collection of garden waste, or whether a free minimum collection service should be provided. Irrespective of the outcome of this, the requirement on local authorities to collect food waste at least once a week will mean that there will be no option for local authorities to suspend the collection of food waste under any circumstances, including where food waste and garden waste are collected together.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to review section 45(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to ensure that local authorities are not suspending the collection of food waste with garden waste in the event that those local authorities charge for garden waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We support frequent and comprehensive rubbish and recycling collections. Under new measures in the Environment Bill, local authorities will be required to arrange for the collection of a core set of recyclable waste streams from households, which will include food and garden waste. Under these new requirements, food waste must be collected at least once a week and both food waste and garden waste must always be collected separately from the dry recyclable waste streams and residual waste. The food waste and garden waste streams should be collected separately from each other unless it is not technically or economically practicable or there is no significant environmental benefit in doing so. Following support in response to our initial consultation, we are preparing a further consultation on consistency in recycling to be published this spring, which will include further detail on timelines for local authorities to comply with these new requirements.
With regards to charging, under section 45(3) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, local authorities can recover a reasonable charge for the collection of garden waste. As part of the upcoming consultation, we will be seeking further views on whether local authorities should be able to charge for the collection of garden waste, or whether a free minimum collection service should be provided. Irrespective of the outcome of this, the requirement on local authorities to collect food waste at least once a week will mean that there will be no option for local authorities to suspend the collection of food waste under any circumstances, including where food waste and garden waste are collected together.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support he is making available for indoor tennis centres who face ongoing fixed costs during the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. It is important that indoor tennis centres remain accessible for people from all backgrounds as we make efforts to return to normality after the Covid lockdown period.
Indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England have been cleared to re-open from 25 July. These facilities are able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are Covid-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £210 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis.
Specific support for local authorities was announced through the income guarantee scheme on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aimed at supporting local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charges which they had reasonably budgeted for.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department is providing to indoor tennis centres during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. It is important that indoor tennis centres remain accessible for people from all backgrounds as we make efforts to return to normality after the Covid lockdown period.
Indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England have been cleared to re-open from 25 July. These facilities are able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are Covid-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £210 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis.
Specific support for local authorities was announced through the income guarantee scheme on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aimed at supporting local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charges which they had reasonably budgeted for.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support in addition to the Coronavirus Employment Support Scheme is available to indoor tennis venues.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Sports and physical activity facilities play a crucial role in supporting adults and children to be active. It is important that indoor tennis centres remain accessible for people from all backgrounds as we make efforts to return to normality after the Covid lockdown period.
Indoor gyms, leisure centres (including sports halls) and swimming pools in England have been cleared to re-open from 25 July. These facilities are able to offer on-site services to customers, provided they are Covid-secure and follow Government guidance.
Sport England have announced a £210 million package of support to help community clubs through this crisis.
Specific support for local authorities was announced through the income guarantee scheme on Thursday 2 July by the Secretary of State for Local Government, aimed at supporting local authorities who have incurred irrecoverable loss of income from sales, fees and charges which they had reasonably budgeted for.
Asked by: Julie Marson (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
What steps his Department is taking to improve the probation system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Probation services play a crucial role in protecting the public while working with offenders to turn their lives around.
We are unifying delivery of offender management, unpaid work and accredited programmes under the National Probation Service from June 2021. This will allow us to strengthen supervision, improve community sentences and increase rehabilitative support for offenders.
In June, we launched a Dynamic Framework as a platform to ensure we can draw on the expertise of private, voluntary and community organisations to provide rehabilitation services in future.
We aim to support these reforms with investment and this year secured an extra £155m for probation.