Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to track the number of disabled people that have secured employment via the Universal Support scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Support (US) is being delivered in two phases. The expansions to Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) and the Work and Health Programme (WHP Pioneer) are being rolled out for phase one of the service. US phase two is due to start in Autumn 2024 when IPSPC and WHP are due to come to an end.
The intention is that the programme will track and report job outcomes digitally, which should provide the number of disabled people that have secured employment via the US programme.
WHP Pioneer data will start to be published from May 2024 and we are committed to publishing IPSPC programme data in due course. The interim and final evaluation reports for US phase one covering WHP Pioneer and IPSPC, will also be published
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has carried out a cost benefit analysis for hydrogen fuel cells using deoxygenated air as a fire extinguisher; and whether sufficient fuel cells could be produced domestically.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Although I am not aware of any work on this in the department, a 2001 study by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency indicated that deoxygenated air would be a less effective extinguisher than other extinguishing agents, although neither a detailed cost benefit analysis, nor an environmental impact assessment, were performed.
The UK has a robust fuel cell manufacturing industry, supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre which is joint funded by the Government and the automative industry, so would be well positioned to take advantage of developments in fuel cell technology.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's press release entitled One-off payments of up to £3,000 for over 27,000 health workers, published on 25 March 2024, what steps her Department is taking to ensure parity between clinical and recently insourced nonclinical staff for those payments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The non-consolidated payments agreed as part of the Agenda for Change pay deal covered staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations, such as staff on permanent and fixed term contracts, as set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms as of 31 March 2023. Those who joined the NHS after 31 March 2023 were ineligible for the award, regardless of profession. The recent funding agreed did not change individuals’ eligibility, and the scope of the pay award remains the same.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support local authorities to prioritise the provision of high-quality reunification support for children in care to return home.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring that looked after children are able to achieve permanence. Where a looked after child’s permanence plan is to return to the care of their family, there should be a robust decision making process to ensure this decision is safe and sustainable and will safeguard and promote their welfare. Local authorities should set out what support and services will be provided following reunification.
In the 2023 update to the statutory guidance, titled ‘Working together to safeguard children’, the department set out that local authorities may consider whether family group decision making would support the child’s transition home from care and the role the family network could play in supporting this.
The £45 million Families First for Children Pathfinder programme will test family network reforms through increased use of family group decision making and implementing Family Network Support Packages. These packages will provide practical and financial support to enable family networks to help children stay safe and thrive at home. This reform area will empower families by prioritising family-led solutions engaging wider family networks throughout decisions made about a child which may support reunification.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that all staff employed on the Bibby Stockholm (a) by his Department and (b) through sub-contracts are paid at least the national minimum wage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All staff are paid at a minimum of the National Living Wage. No accommodation offset is applied to the rate of pay for staff who reside on the Bibby Stockholm.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of berths on the Bibby Stockholm that are reserved for staff to live on board; and whether the accommodation offset is applied to the pay of any staff being paid at the level of the national minimum wage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All staff are paid at a minimum of the National Living Wage. No accommodation offset is applied to the rate of pay for staff who reside on the Bibby Stockholm.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the oral contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice on 15 December 2021, Official Report, House of Lords, column 401, if he will publish the data his Department has collected on (a) primary carers in prison and (b) the number of their children.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Our most comprehensive prison population data suggests that, over the course of a year, approximately 200,000 children may be affected by a parent being in, or going to, prison. However, this is based on survey data from 2009 and we recognise the need for a more up to date picture.
The Prison Strategy White paper detailed our intention to work with other government departments to commission updated research to improve our collective understanding of the overall number of children affected by parental incarceration.
The Government is delivering on its white paper commitment to improve our data and evidence in this area through the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme. BOLD is a £19.7 million cross government Shared Outcomes Fund programme which is linking data to enable better evidenced and more join up across government services. Through BOLD, we are exploring data sharing and data linking to improve our understanding of the number of children with parents in prison – including data that does not rely on self-disclosure. We expect findings from the project to be published by the end of Spring 2024.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the graduate visa route on export earnings.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government remains committed to sustainable growth in student numbers and the International Education Strategy ambition to host 600,000 international students a year. The Department for Business and Trade is aware of the potential impact of any changes to the Graduate Route visa via assessments made by stakeholders such as Universities UK. To that end, HMG’s International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, is advising the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of the Graduate Route.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Professor Brian Bell's letter, published by his Department on 12 March 2024, what assessment he has made of Migration Advisory Committee's concerns on the timescales for its review of the Graduate route.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It is important that we provide certainty on this issue in a timely manner, which is why we asked the MAC to carry out a rapid review. We will consider the evidence put forward by the MAC very closely.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to increase diversity and inclusion in the STEM workforce.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Science and Technology Framework sets out our commitment to expanding STEM opportunities to as diverse a range of people as possible.
The Government is inspiring people from all backgrounds through continued funding and support of the CREST Awards, STEM Ambassador programme, and our AI and Data Science Conversion Course and scholarship programme.
The Government has consistently emphasised how essential it is to build mathematical capabilities in the UK, and the Prime Minister announced last year an ambition for all young people to study maths to age 18. We are also committed to supporting the establishment of new Academy focussed on the Mathematical Sciences, helping the sector in a long-term and sustainable way.