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 - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
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.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 monitor the effects and prevalence of long covid.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Long COVID is still a new condition and it is vital that our understanding of it grows. We have invested over £50 million in dedicated research to improve the diagnosis and treatment of long COVID.
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of self-reported long COVID prevalence on a monthly basis. NHS England and NHS Improvement publish activity data and demographic information for patients who have been referred to a post-COVID assessment clinic.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the National Disability Strategy, what progress his Department has made with Network Rail in accelerating the upgrade of rail station platforms with tactile paving.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Network Rail has received an initial £10 million to install tactile paving at priority stations not already funded. I will make further announcements on future rounds of funding in due course.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plan her Department has for the delivery of the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), the UK will relocate up to 20,000 people at risk, including women and girls and minority groups, so they can rebuild their lives in safety.
The scheme is not yet open. However, we are working urgently to open the scheme, amid the complex and changing picture.
The Home Office will continue to work closely with other Government departments, non-governmental organisations, charities, local authorities and other partners and relevant organisations in the development and implementation of the ACRS.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to incentivise new and existing GPs to locate in areas of high deprivation with the lowest numbers of GPs per patient.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department continues to work with NHS England and NHS Improvement to consider the best ways to tackle health inequalities within primary care, and to address variation in access to general practice. Since 2016, the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme has attracted hundreds of doctors to train in hard to recruit areas by providing a one-off financial incentive of £20,000. In 2021, there are 500 places available.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish the Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Levelling up is at the heart of the Government's agenda to build back better after the pandemic and to deliver for citizens in every part of the UK. This is a transformative agenda and the Department's priority is to produce a White Paper which matches our ambition and which will drive change for years to come.
The White Paper will build on existing action being taken across Government, setting out bold new policy interventions to improve livelihoods and opportunities in all parts of the UK.