Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2019 to Question 277859, whether he currently has the legislative authority to place guidance on school uniforms on a statutory footing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department intend to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable legislative opportunity arises. No education bill was announced in the most recent Queen’s speech, which set out the proposed legislative programme for this session of Parliament.
Statutory guidance cannot be issued without the legislative powers to do so.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help protect small and medium-sized businesses against cyber-crime.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government takes the threat of cyber crime against small and medium-sized businesses very seriously. This is why the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was established to provide a single, central authority on cyber security at the national level. The NCSC has created the small business guide to help small businesses protect themselves from the most common cyber attacks.
The Government continues to invest in the law enforcement response to cyber crime, over £200 million since 2010. This includes investment in the Protect network so in all 43 force areas there is someone dedicated to helping businesses and individuals protect themselves from cyber crime. The network is coordinated by Law Enforcement at the national level, working with NCSC, to ensure their advice is based on the latest understanding of the threat.
Through the Government’s Cyber Aware programme we have also provided the public and small businesses with the latest advice on how to take simple steps that will protect them and their personal information from cyber crime.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with eating disorders receive treatment based on their mental state.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
All patients should receive necessary treatment appropriate to their individual circumstances.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines suggest that eating disorder specialists and other healthcare teams should collaborate to support effective treatment of physical or mental health comorbidities in people with an eating disorder.
When collaborating, teams should use outcome measures for both the eating disorder and the physical and mental health comorbidities, to monitor the effectiveness of treatments for each condition and the potential impact they have on each other.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2019 to Question 273502 on Schools: Uniforms, what the timeframe is to bring forward legislative proposals on guidance for school uniform policies.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department intends to put the school uniform guidance on a statutory footing when a suitable legislative opportunity arises.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure banks are able to effectively tackle cybercrime.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is determined to protect consumers and further improve the resilience of the finance sector.
The Financial Authorities (HM Treasury, the Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority) work together to assess, test and improve the operational resilience, including cyber resilience, of the finance sector.
The finance sector also benefits from a dedicated team within the National Cyber Security Centre, who work closely with industry, the Financial Authorities, and the National Crime Agency to protect firms and provide support during incidents.
In July 2018, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority published a joint Discussion Paper on an approach to improve the operational resilience, including cyber resilience, of firms and financial market infrastructures.
It has also been made easier for customers to report fraud or cybercrime to law enforcement. Action Fraud is the UK’s reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, providing a central point of contact for information about fraud and financially motivated internet crime.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he has taken to implement his Department’s response to the consultation on driving offences and penalties relating to causing death or serious injury, published on 17 October 2017, Cm 9518.
Answered by Robert Buckland
We are focused on getting the law right, to ensure the changes we make are comprehensive, proportionate and, crucially, practical.
We will bring forward proposals for changes in the law to increase the maximum penalties for causing death by dangerous driving and careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs to life imprisonment, and create a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving as soon as possible. These proposals will take account of other government proposals for safer roads
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
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 ensure funding for Clinical Commissioning Groups is equitable and protects patient outcomes.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The allocation of funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to support them in commissioning services for their local population is one of the key duties of NHS England. The approach NHS England must take in setting allocations is outlined in the mandate from the Department which says:
“The Government expects the principle of ensuring equal access for equal need to be at the heart of NHS England’s approach to allocating budgets.”
The approach is also informed by NHS England’s duty to reduce inequalities to accessing services and the outcomes of care.
These two aims are reflected in the target formula, which produces a target allocation or ‘fair share’ for each area, based on a complex assessment of factors such as demography, morbidity, deprivation, and the unavoidable cost of providing services in different areas. The NHS England Board has agreed a pace of change policy that seeks to bring all CCGs to target funding over time.
The formula is based on independent academic research and is overseen by an independent external group, the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, which provides advice to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Chief Executive of NHS England.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to (a) raise the maximum penalty for causing death by (i) dangerous driving and (ii) careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs to life imprisonment, (b) create a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving and (c) increase the minimum period of disqualification for drivers convicted of causing death by any driving offence.
Answered by Robert Buckland
We are focused on getting the law right, to ensure the changes we make are comprehensive, proportionate and, crucially, practical.
We will bring forward proposals for changes in the law to increase the maximum penalties for causing death by dangerous driving and careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs to life imprisonment, and create a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving as soon as possible. These proposals will take account of other government proposals for safer roads.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2019 to Question 273502, whether primary legislation is required to place his Department's guidance on school uniforms onto a statutory footing.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Statutory guidance cannot be issued without the legislative powers to do so.
Asked by: Lisa Forbes (Labour - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the amount of central government funding provided to (a) Cambridgeshire County Council and (b) Peterborough City Council, in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Due to changes in the finance and function of local government, there has been no consistent measure of central government funding since 2010. The Department’s preferred measure of local government funding is Core Spending Power. Core Spending Power is comparable over the period 2015-16 to 2019-20 and published on the Department's website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2019-to-2020.