Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has for the allocation of funding resulting from the forecast underspend for the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department will continue to support the progress of tutoring through the three flexible routes to high-quality tutoring (school-led tutoring, tuition partners and academic mentors) and will consider in-year adjustments to ensure schools continue offering the type of tutoring that best suits their pupils to maximise the benefits of the programme.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the names of the forests from which Drax sources its wood pellets.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government does not hold this information.
Information on country and region of sourcing of generators is publicly available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2019-20.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of rising fuel prices on household finances in Blackburn constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is conscious of the impact of fuel prices on household finances across the country.
That is why we have kept fuel duty frozen. This is the twelfth consecutive freeze, saving the average UK car driver a cumulative £1,900, compared to the plans set out by the previous government in 2010.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the funds paid out to dormant companies in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The COVID-19 support schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic. These schemes are part of the collective national effort to protect jobs. HMRC administered the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (EOHO)
SEISS was only payable to non-incorporated businesses. CJRS and EOHO was payable to both non-incorporated and incorporated businesses.
HMRC prioritised getting money to those who needed it with the schemes designed to minimise fraud while not unnecessarily delaying payments. The schemes were designed to prevent fraud, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself. However, they could still be attractive to fraudsters.
To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employers needed to have a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme and submitted a Real Time Information (RTI) return with details of the employees’ wages. For instance, for claim periods between 1 November 2020 and 30 April 2021 employees included in furlough claims must have been employed on 30 October 2020 and HMRC must have received an RTI submission between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 notifying a payment through PAYE in respect of that employee.
To qualify for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, claimants needed to register confirming they met the following criteria:
The company will have to have been actively trading to make a valid claim.
To ensure quick payment, HMRC undertook pre-payment risk assessments within 72 hours of receipt, blocking those indicating criminal activity.
As businesses were required to be active to make a valid claim, HMRC believes that the risk of funds being paid to dormant companies to be low.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the merits of COPA90's recommendations on issues of fan behaviour and engagement as part of the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
We thank all those organisations and individuals who gave and submitted evidence to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, including COPA90. All submissions were assessed by the Independent Fan Led Review.
The Government has welcomed the Fan Led Review and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving fan engagement and accountability across the game.
The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the budgetary pressures on schools in Lancashire.
Answered by Robin Walker
This government continues to deliver, year on year, real terms per pupil increases to school funding with the total core schools budget increasing to £56.8 billion by financial year 2024-25 (compared to £49.8 billion in the 2021-22 financial year).
Future increases in funding have been frontloaded to rapidly get money to schools. In the financial year 2022-23 alone, core schools funding will increase nationally by £4 billion compared to 2021-22, a 5% real terms per pupil boost. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for financial year 2022-23.
In Lancashire, funding through the dedicated schools grant and the indicative figures for the schools supplementary grant for mainstream schools combined, is forecast to see an extra £53.6 million for schools in financial year 2022-23, an increase of 5.6% per pupil. This per pupil funding increase excludes “growth” funding, which is additional funding provided for schools seeing significant increases in pupil numbers. This takes total funding for 2022–23 in Lancashire to over £903 million. This will help schools rise to the challenges of COVID-19, increase teacher pay, and meet the cost of the Health and Social Care Levy, while continuing their work to raise attainment.
On top of the core funding uplift for schools, at Spending Review 2021 the department has announced a further £1.8 billion of new funding nationally, specifically for recovery for those the department knows will need it most. This takes overall investment specifically dedicated towards pupils’ recovery to almost £5 billion.
The department pays close attention to the financial health of the sector. The latest published data on schools’ revenue reserves shows schools on average have been able to add to their reserves in the 2020-21 financial year. At the end of the 2020-21 financial year, 92% of maintained schools were in cumulative surplus or breaking even, compared to 88% the previous year. The percentage of maintained schools in Lancashire operating with a cumulative surplus by the end of 2020-21 increased to 95%, compared to 92% at the end of financial year 2019-20. All schools continue to be able to access a wide range of school resource management tools. Schools in serious financial difficulty should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
The department’s analysis of the cost pressures schools face are published annually in the schools’ costs technical note which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-costs-technical-note.
Analysis for financial year 2021-22 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the number of entities that have self-reported funds paid out due to fraud or error in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC have taken a supportive and reasonable approach where mistakes have been made, giving customers the opportunity to correct them without fear of sanctions. By law, claimants can notify and amend incorrect claims within 90 days without penalty.
Claimants can return monies that they are not entitled to in a number of ways, for example, via an online digital service or by making an entry in their income or corporation tax return. As HMRC does not yet have all the returns for the periods in which the grants were paid, they are not currently able to quantify the numbers of entities who have returned grants.
As set out in the document that accompanied HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts, claimants have repaid more than £350 million to correct mistakes without HMRC intervention in addition to the compliance results for the schemes. HMRC’s 2020-21 Annual Report & Accounts can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in Blackburn.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19th January to question number 104377.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what equality impact assessments HM Courts and Tribunal Service has made of the Common Platform case management system.
Answered by James Cartlidge
HMCTS have undertaken a Workforce Equality Analysis and the Public Sector Equality Analysis for the Common Platform case management system. These were undertaken in 2020 and are currently being reviewed.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what organisational risk assessments HM Courts and Tribunal Service has made of the Common Platform.
Answered by James Cartlidge
The health, safety and wellbeing of all HMCTS colleagues is taken extremely seriously. For our Common Platform programme, we have assessed risk throughout, and continue to keep it under review. At an organisational level, that assessment has been documented through a Change Impact Assessment, Public Sector Equality Analysis and a Workforce Equality Analysis, which remain under regular review. At a local/site level, risk assessments for particular areas of risk are documented using standard organisational templates where required. This meets the obligations we hold, and satisfies us that risks are suitably and sufficiently managed.