Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists have been recruited in Burton and Uttoxeter since the launch of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Long-Term Workforce plan was published in June 2023 and the data on the number of Dentists in each integrated care board for 2023/24 is expected to be available from August.
The NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The focus is not short-term recruitment but putting workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.
We will expand dentistry training places by 40% so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to increase the capacity of NHS dentists in Burton and Uttoxeter.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Our plan for dentistry, to be published shortly, will build upon the first package of reforms agreed in July 2022, which included changes to banding and the introduction of a minimum units of dental activity value. Our plan will include addressing how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients; and how we make National Health Service work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver more NHS care.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published on 30 June 2023, sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. These include a 40% increase to dentistry undergraduate training places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, we will expand places by 24% by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.
From 1 April 2023, responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. ICBs are responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need and determine the priorities for investment.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of including a Violence Against Women and Girls Code of Practice in the Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Online Safety Bill will provide vital protections for women and girls to ensure they can express themselves freely online without fear of harassment or abuse.
My department has considered the merits of a Violence Against Women & Girls Code of Practice, along with the other priorities for the regulatory framework. The current approach ensures that Ofcom is able to draft codes in a way that prevents a delay to implementation, gives clarity to companies and allows platforms to address a range of interrelated risks affecting different groups of users, such as those with more than one protected characteristic. I am satisfied that this ensures a holistic, comprehensive and effective approach to tackling VAWG within the Bill.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to publish its response to the Consistency in Household and business recycling in England consultation.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In 2021 we published a second consultation on consistency in household and business recycling in England, including on implementation dates, materials in scope and exemptions. We will publish the response to this consultation shortly.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to announce further details on the Levelling Up Fund Round 3.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details of the assessment and decision-making process for round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund are available in the published explanatory note. A detailed breakdown of funding requested and awarded in round 2 can be found in the published geographic and thematic analysis. The department does not request nor record the costs incurred by applicants to the Fund. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 January, I am pleased to say there will be a third round of the Fund and we will outline more information on this in due course.
Unsuccessful applicants to this second round will be provided written feedback to support future applications into levelling up funds.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support (a) the Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services and (b) other voluntary organisations with providing (i) training and (ii) other development opportunities for young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to allocate funding to youth services in line with local need. This is funded from the Local Government settlement, which was over £12 billion last year. DCMS officials are currently reviewing the statutory duty and its associated guidance to assess its effectiveness after a call for responses from key youth stakeholders. We will publish the outcomes of the review in due course.
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities, including of the type supported by the Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services, play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people. The Government has committed to a National Youth Guarantee: that by 2025 every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and volunteering opportunities. This is supported by a three year £560 million investment in youth services, reflecting young people's priorities and addressing the inconsistencies in regional youth spending, with a firm focus on levelling up, including the £368 million Youth Investment Fund, for which over 20 wards in Staffordshire are eligible to apply.
To support the youth sector workforce, DCMS funds the National Youth Agency to set professional standards, qualifications and a curriculum for youth work, including a new youth work apprenticeship and free-to-access training, all of which are available to young people. DCMS has delivered a Youth Worker Bursary Fund with the NYA since 2019, distributing approximately £1.9 million facilitating over 1,700 individuals who would otherwise be unable to afford it to undertake training in Level 2 and 3 Youth Work qualifications. A further £1 million has been committed for FY 22/23.
Additionally, through the £7.4 million Volunteering Futures Fund, DCMS has created thousands more volunteering opportunities to improve accessibility of volunteering in the arts, culture, sports, civil society, youth and heritage sectors. The fund is helping a diverse range of people to access the benefits volunteering can bring. There is a strong focus on young people, those experiencing loneliness, those with disabilities and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
From 2023 onwards, the reformed NCS programme will offer a year-round choice of opportunities to young people, with a focus on skill development and volunteering. NCS will work with and fund a range of partners, including grassroots volunteering organisations, to deliver the programme across the country.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) funding and (b) infrastructure support to (i) local and (ii) community projects to tackle (A) knife crime and (B) violence against women and girls.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government recognises the important role played by local and community projects in efforts to effectively tackle knife crime and violence against women and girls.
The Government has made £130m available this year alone (22/23) to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime. This includes £64m for Violence Reduction Units, which bring together key partners locally to address violence. VRUs take a public health approach to reducing violence, which includes as a central tenet working with and for community.
VRUs deliver a range of interventions that support young people at risk of involvement in serious violence, which requires close work with those local communities affected. Interventions commissioned by the VRU are often co-produced between statutory bodies and community organisations, to ensure shared support for those who need it most.
For example, in Greater Manchester, the VRU commissions hyper-local activity in communities across each of their ten local districts. This includes a pilot conducted in Salford, which identified 27 young people deemed to be at high-risk of becoming involved in violence over the summer holidays. Through a series of diversionary activities in the community, 26 of the 27-strong cohort had now become involved in education, employment or training by September 2021.
Additionally, this Government is determined to deliver on the commitments set out in Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Plan. To achieve this, we have allocated £15.5m this financial year to activity to support victims and better establish what works to prevent VAWG. This will be delivered in part via local and/or community projects. We have also allocated £25m to perpetrator programmes and research, and £12m in response to the Rape Review (£5m to Operation Soteria and £7m to enhance the technical capability of police when dealing with Rape and other Serious Sexual Offences.)
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made in implementing a scheme to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for (a) park home residents and (b) other households in the one per cent who will not be reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As announced on 29 July, the EBSS Alternative Funding will be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the households who will not be reached through the EBSS. This includes those who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier.
The Government is working to make the support available to applicants as soon as possible and is working with a range of organisations, such as local authorities, Devolved Administrations and across the UK Government, to finalise the details of the Alternative Funding and have the process up and running for applications this winter.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help support people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
DWP offers a range of tailored support to help individuals recovering from a dependency move into work.
The Individual Placement and Support for Drug and Alcohol Dependency programme blends intensive job-search and in-work support with clinical treatment to enable individuals with a dependency to overcome barriers to employment. IPS teams are currently operating in 46 Local Authority areas and the programme will rolled out to Local Authorities in England by 2025.
Individuals with a history of drug or alcohol dependence can also receive tailored support from our dedicated work coaches, such as the adjustment of Universal Credit work-search requirements and access to the Access to Work grant for any adaptations required in the workplace. They are also able to gain priority access to the Work and Health Programme, which supports people to enter and stay in work.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of people were not issued a National Insurance number in the three months before their 16th birthday in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC issues National Insurance Numbers to most young people just before their 16th birthday.
In order for a child to be issued a National Insurance Number (NINo) automatically, the child must be part of a live Child Benefit claim when they are 15 years, 9 months old.
If a child has been part of a claim, but is not part of a claim when they are 15 years, 9 months old, HMRC can be contacted to request a NINo. This process takes approximately 15 working days.
If a child has never been part of a Child Benefit claim (or a claim for a childcare service administered by HMRC) HMRC will have no record of them. An online application can be made to the Department for Work and Pensions to obtain a NINo. HMRC does not collate information on the number of young people who cannot be included in the automatic process.