Luciana Berger

The House of Commons started work on this earlier in the year, as reported in the Head of Diversity and Inclusion’s quarterly update to the House of Commons Commission in January. The National Autistic Society has conducted its mystery shopping part of the accreditation. We are aiming to submit our evidence for the remainder of the assessment by June this year.

The PSHE Association resource on Body Image was accessed 4396 times in the first six months after launch. In addition to direct access through the PSHE Association website, the Association has over 100 local authority representatives on their mailing lists. Those who have accessed the resource will be able to share documents with all teachers and schools in their area.

The Government takes these issues seriously. Higher Education Institutions, as autonomous and independent bodies, have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with mental health conditions.

Ensuring the wellbeing of students is important to our universities. Institutions are best placed to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students and to ensure mechanisms are in place to identify students in need.

New guidance from BIS to the Director of Fair Access published on 11 February, asks him to focus on addressing a range of gaps in the access, retention and outcomes for students, including providing more help for those with mental health needs, through Access Agreements agreed with universities.

There is a great deal of guidance and support available to institutions from a range of sector and medical bodies. In February 2015, Universities UK published a Good Practice Guide on student mental wellbeing in higher education. It aims to support institutions in building and improving their provision for students

Employers must fulfil their duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 for apprentices as they would for other employees.

Under the Equality Act (2010), employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities (including mental health impairment) in order to ensure that they have the same access to everything that involves gaining or keeping employment as a non-disabled person.

Advice is also available to help employers and training providers understand disabilities and how to better support disabled apprentices. We have funded NIACE to produce an employer toolkit http://www.employer-toolkit.org.uk/ for employers who want to develop a more inclusive and accessible apprenticeship offer.

An Apprenticeships Equality and Diversity Advisory group helps government understand and address any apprenticeship equality and diversity issues in order to reduce barriers and make apprenticeships as inclusive as possible.

The Start-Up Loans programme provides loans and mentoring support to enable entrepreneurs aged 18 and over from all parts of society and based in the UK to start a business. So far, over 34,300 entrepreneurs have received support from the programme, which in turn has facilitated over £187 million worth of lending to date.

The programme operates through a network of Delivery Partners, who make individual lending decisions based on criteria set by the Start-Up Loans Company. Delivery Partners are required to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. A condition of this authorisation is that they adhere to the FCA’s Treating Customers Fairly principles, which include reference to the treatment of customers with mental health issues.

A full list of principles is available on the FCA’s website

The PSHE Association guidance on body image is available for download from the PSHE Association website. This is a freely available resource that can be accessed by anyone wishing to find out further information on how to address this topic, and what resources are available to do so. Anyone accessing the website, including teachers, can download the document here: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/news_detail.aspx?ID=1437

The Media Smart media literacy resource is owned by Media Smart, which is an arm of the Advertising Association. The resource is currently being updated and will be available on their website in due course.

Details of my visits within the United Kingdom are published on the gov.uk website.

Most recently, on 11 January I visited Family Action in London where I announced £290 million of new investment over the next 5 years to provide mental healthcare for new mums, £247 million to invest in liaison mental health services in emergency departments, over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital and expanded services to help teenagers with eating disorders. This builds on previous government funding commitments for mental health over the last 12 months, including £150 million for young people with eating disorders and £1.25 billion for perinatal and children and young people’s mental health.

The Start-Up Loans programme provides loans and mentoring support to enable entrepreneurs aged 18 and over from all parts of society and based in the UK to start a business. So far, over 34,300 entrepreneurs have received support from the programme, which in turn has facilitated over £187 million worth of lending to date.

The programme operates through a network of Delivery Partners, who make individual lending decisions based on criteria set by the Start-Up Loans Company. Delivery Partners are required to adhere to Financial Conduct Authority Regulations on Treating Customers Fairly which include reference to the treatment of customers with mental health issues.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). HESA does not collect information on whether students come specifically from a working-class background, nor does it have a definition of the term working-class.

Information on the ethnicity and socio-economic classification of young entrants (those aged less than 21 years old) to medicine subjects at English and Welsh Higher Education Institutions in the academic year 2013/14 is provided in the table. Information on older entrants by socioeconomic background is not available.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.

In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.

A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.

In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.

A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.

In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.

A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support students, including those with mental health conditions. It is for the HEI to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students.

In addition, Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) are available to meet the additional costs of study-related support needs, where the needs of the student cannot be met by the institution by way of a reasonable adjustment.

A new quality assurance framework is being developed for support that is funded by DSAs, so as to provide assurance on both quality and financial matters. The quality assurance framework will be in place in 2016. All support workers will be required to meet quality standards in order to be funded through DSAs. Discussions with stakeholders regarding new mechanisms for the selection of non-medical help support providers are already underway.

It has been the practice of successive Governments not to disclose information relating to internal discussions.

My Rt. Hon. friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has not had any such meetings.

Eleven grant offers were issued to businesses in the video games industry under Innovate UK's Smart Programme in 2013-14. The total value of those grants was £971,179.

Innovate UK is responsible for determining its spending priorities, in the context of the Tasking Framework Letter issued to it by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills after each Spending Review.

The main competition that has supported games businesses is Innovate UK’s £15M "Cross-Platform Production in Digital Media" programme, which is directed towards encouraging games, film and TV sectors to innovate together. This competition is now closed and Innovate UK has no more planned competitions within the current Spending Review period.

Video games businesses have wider capabilities which make them suited to addressing challenges in areas such as healthcare management, transport management and urban living. Innovate UK funds are available for innovation in each of these areas, and games businesses expertise may have a strong role to play, but the award of any funding will be subject to Innovate UK’s normal competitive processes.

Also, Innovate UK support for small and medium-sized businesses is continually available through programmes like its Smart scheme, which is open to businesses in all technology areas.

United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) works with the video games sector, to support exports and attract inward investment. A new international strategy for the Creative Industries has been co-produced with the sector, and there is a joint commitment to its implementation. For example UKTI and the UKIE worked together to deliver the Digital Gaming event at the International Festival of Business in Liverpool in July this year.

UKTI supports sectorally-focused groups, including those from the games sector, through both the Trade Access Programme (TAP) and through the Events and Missions Programme. The amount allocated specifically to the video games sector under these two programmes are shown in the table below together with a figure which gives the value as a percentage of programme expenditure as a whole (across all sectors). In addition, video games companies enjoy the support of UKTI through general services available to all companies.

Innovate UK is the new name for the Technology Strategy Board.

In 2011/12 Innovate UK did not provide any funds to organisations in the video games sector. In 2012/13, it provided £277k (0.06% of its core budget) to organisations in the video games sector and in 2013/14 it provided £1.9m (0.4% of its core budget).

The figures above do not include any awards made under Innovate UK’s Smart or Knowledge Transfer Partnership programmes, as this information can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The Department made £3 million available in funding for the training of Green Deal Advisors and Installers. This was delegated to Asset Skills and Construction Skills respectively to allocate on our behalf. With support from the funding, 841 Green Deal Advisors and 750 installer operatives have completed their training. DECC has not run a scheme specifically to train apprentices.

Government regulations (effective from 1^st October 2013) apply to quoted companies in the UK to disclose the numbers of men and women on boards, in senior management and in the business as a whole. This aims to help companies to spot areas of talent block within their own organisations.

We follow a voluntary approach in the UK to increase the numbers of women on boards and engage closely with organisations who are active on building the pipeline of female talent such as the 30% Club.

In 2012, the 30% Club carried out research with one of the leading global management consulting firms, McKinsey & Company to aggregate results looking into the numbers of women in UK partnerships in Professional Services Firms. Their study made recommendations to help firms get more women to the top. Many of these firms including KPMG, Deloitte, Linklaters and PWC are members of the 30% Club (at Chairmen and CEO level) whose goals are to achieve better gender balance at all levels of an organisation.

This approach complements the work and progress of the Lord Davies business-led initiative to achieve 25% of women on boards by 2015.

As explained in my reply of 15 July 2014 (Official Report) Column Ref: 591W the aim of our Northern Futures initiative is to facilitate a new kind of conversation about how we rebalance our economy. We did not announce a “Northern Futures Board” on July 4^th and there are no plans to create one. However, Liverpool is strongly encouraged to join the Northern Futures conversation by submitting ideas to the email address northernfutures@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

The aim of our Northern Futures initiative is to facilitate a new kind of conversation about how we rebalance our economy. There are no plans to create a “Northern Futures Board”, but Liverpool is strongly encouraged to join the Northern Futures conversation by submitting ideas via northernfutures@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

The Government is introducing online registration as of 10^th June in England and Wales which will make it more convenient to register to vote.

In addition, five national organisations and every Electoral Registration Officer in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration, as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration. These organisations have received funding to find new ways of reaching a range of under registered groups such as young people and encouraging them to register to vote.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.

It is not possible to provide figures for the number of senior civil servants who have taken leave of absence from work in my Department due to mental illness in each month of each year since its creation. As part of the Transparency Agenda, my Department publishes quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these are available from the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .

The Cabinet Office is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service, where appropriate, for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.

It is not possible to provide figures for the number of senior civil servants who have taken leave of absence from work in my Department due to mental illness in each month of each year since its creation. As part of the Transparency Agenda, my Department publishes quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these are available from the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .

The Cabinet Office is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service, where appropriate, for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.

The Cabinet Office does not hold this information centrally. This information is held by individual departments.

Overall departmental absence data is also published by government departments on GOV.UK.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

There are a broad range of charitable trusts and foundations working in this area, including Action Against Addiction, Mind and the Lifeline Project. Institutional investors such as Big Society Capital and Bridges Ventures have a track record of investing in programmes focused upon tackling complex social problems of this type. We will be working closely with all of these stakeholders to ensure that the Life Chances Fund has a real impact in helping to tackle drug and alcohol addiction.

The Life Chances Fund is being designed and delivered by the Cabinet Office. More detailed guidance about how the fund will work will be published before the House rises for summer recess in 2016.

The Government has actively supported the growth of the social investment market over the last five years. This includes through the establishment of Big Society Capital which is investing up to £600m in growing the social investment market, and the Social Investment Tax Relief which is incentivising individual investors to make social investments. Other social investors investing in social impact bonds include charitable trusts and foundations as well as institutional investors and dedicated social impact funds.

The Life Chances Fund is an £80m outcomes fund that will focus upon supporting the creation of locally developed social impact bonds tackling a range of social problems. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced that up to £30m of the Life Chances Fund would be made available to support drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The detailed criteria for the fund, including timescales, is being developed but it will provide a portion of outcome payments for locally commissioned social impact bonds where some of the benefits and savings generated fall to central government.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Cabinet Office continues to work with colleagues across government to monitor and assess the risk posed to the UK by the current Ebola epidemic. The advice from the Chief Medical Officer is that the public health risk in the UK remains low.

I refer the Hon Member to the statement made by my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health on 13 October 2014.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a partner organisation of BEIS, funds research relating to health. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the proposals, with researcher-led proposals welcomed into any aspect of human health, with the primary considerations being research excellence and importance to health.

Within UKRI, the Medical Research Council (MRC) is the primary, but not exclusive, funder of medical research. Over the last five years, MRC has provided the following health funding:

Please note this does not represent the MRC’s entire research spend as some investments, such as infrastructure and underpinning research are not included in the analysis.

Research relating to mental health is funded by all UKRI councils. As well as UKRI, other government bodies fund health research, such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The UK Clinical Research Collaboration undertakes UK Health Research Analysis. An analysis of data for 2018 is expected to the published in summer 2019. The most recent report (in 2014) included data from seven of UKRI’s nine councils as well as other government departments and charitable organisations. The report and data are available at https://hrcsonline.net/reports/analysis-reports/

Further related initiatives include:

• In May 2019, the UK Prevention Research Partnership (an alliance of 12 major funders of health research, including four UKRI councils, health and social care departments across the four UK nations and charities) invested over £25 million into addressing challenges regarding non-communicable disease and poor mental health and wellbeing. Further information can be found at https://mrc.ukri.org/news/browse/25-million-funding-awarded-to-leading-disease-prevention-projects/

• UKRI Mental Health Networks support prevention alongside targeted mental health care

On 5 December 2018, the government announced up to £79 million of Industrial Strategy funding for a new programme of research that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and big data to dramatically change the way major diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated. The funding, which forms part of the government’s Life Sciences Sector Deal 2, will support the establishment of a landmark cohort of up to five million people to take part in research aimed at revolutionising early detection and diagnosis of a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The programme will bring together the NHS, industry and leading charities including Alzheimer’s Research UK, Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.

The Government has set out the largest upgrade to workers rights in a generation. We are committed to supporting carers and to do so in a way that takes account of their own health and wellbeing, life chances and promotes access to employment and retention.

The Government is taking action to address the practical challenges of balancing work and caring responsibilities, as set out in the action plan that we published in June 2018. The Department is considering the question of dedicated employment rights for carers alongside existing employment rights (such as the right to request flexible working and the right to time off for family and dependants), and we are working with colleagues across Government to ensure that any emerging proposals are the most effective.

Government committed through the Life Sciences Sector Deal to working with the sector to reinforce the skills base across the UK and enable highly-skilled immigration, and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Education are working closely on this agenda. This also includes collaboration with industry bodies such as the Science Industry Partnership which brings members together to identify and address the skills challenges the sector faces.

The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science and innovation in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge. The UK economy gets a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity. The UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spend on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles. The UK draws in proportionally more internationally mobile investment in Research & Development than other large countries. For further information: http://oecd.org/sti/msti

The Government wants the UK to be the go-to place for researchers, innovators and investors across the world, and we intend to secure the right outcome for UK research and innovation as we exit the European Union.

The UK and the EU fully intend UK entities’ eligibility in Horizon 2020 to remain unchanged for the duration of the programme, as set out in the Joint Report[1] and reflected in the text of the draft Withdrawal Agreement[2]. This includes eligibility to participate in all Horizon 2020 projects and to receive Horizon 2020 funding for the lifetime of projects. Independently of these agreements, the Government’s underwrite guarantee of Horizon 2020 funding remains in place. Through the underwrite guarantee, the Government has committed to ensuring all successful UK Horizon 2020 bids submitted before exit are funded for the duration of the project, including those bids who are only informed of their success or sign agreements after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Our future partnership paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation[3] sets out the UK’s desire to conclude a far-reaching science and innovation pact’ with the EU. As the Prime Minister set out on Monday 21 May, we would like the option to fully associate ourselves with the excellence-based European science and innovation programmes including the successor to Horizon 2020.

In order to promote research in the UK, we are investing an additional £7 billion in R&D funding over five years to 2022. This is the biggest increase in public R&D funding for over 40 years and as part of the Industrial Strategy[4] the Government made clear our ambition to increase R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-report-on-progress-during-phase-1-of-negotiations-under-article-50-teu-on-the-uks-orderly-withdrawal-from-the-eu

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-withdrawal-agreement-19-march-2018

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collaboration-on-science-and-innovation-a-future-partnership-paper

[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-building-a-britain-fit-for-the-future

The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge.

The UK economy gets a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity. The UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spent on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 was administered by HEFCE, working with the HE funding councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The funding bodies consult widely on the arrangements for the REF and on their respective funding allocation processes.

Overall funding from HEFCE for “Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience" research increased by over 16% as result of REF2014 from 2015-16. This was the largest increase across all the life sciences. In addition HEFCE continued to consider funding allocations for these disciplines very carefully, including holding discussions with key parties in the research community. As a consequence of work with an expert panel to assess the balance of clinical and non-clinical work within these disciplines, the HEFCE Board agreed to increase the cost weighting with effect from 2017-18. Decisions on research funding allocations for 2018-19 onwards are now a matter for Research England.

Once allocations are made the funding is unhypothecated and it is the Higher Education Institutions themselves who will determine how it is spent.

Detailed guidance for the next REF exercise in 2021 is now in development. The outcomes of REF 2021 will inform the allocation of research funding from 2022-23. It will be important to ensure that this assessment information can inform an appropriate approach to funding research for these disciplines. The REF team has begun exploring this with representatives from the relevant subject communities and will develop, with the expert REF panels, appropriate proposals, which will be subject to consultation with the HE sector in summer 2018.

Every region in the UK has a role to play in boosting the national economy, driven by local leadership and ambitious visions for the future.

As stated in the Industrial Strategy: Life Sciences Sector Deal regional representatives from the Northern Health Science Alliance, MedCity, Life Sciences Hub Wales, NHS Research Scotland, Northern Ireland life sciences cluster and the GW4 Alliance have come together to welcome the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy.

As highlighted in the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, the sector’s commercial activity is very broadly spread across the whole of the UK and there are a number of strong and emerging life sciences clusters that are well placed to attract investment. The Sector Deal highlighted successes around the UK in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow, South Wales and the South East.

As articulated within the Life Sciences Sector Deal published in December 2017, we have committed to working regionally with the established clusters of life science organisations including the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA), and my officials are working with them to progress this.

The Industrial Strategy White Paper sets out the central role of science in meeting the UK’s productivity challenge.

We get a high rate of return for our investment in Science – 20% per annum in perpetuity - and the UK research base is highly productive in terms of article and citation outputs per researcher and per pound spent on R&D. With only 0.9% of the global population, 4.1% of researchers, the UK accounts for 6.3% of research articles, 10.7% of citations and 15.2% of the most highly-cited research articles.

The UK has the largest independent multi-year rolling programme for evaluating the quality and impact of our investment in science through the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The 2014 REF, which reported in 2015, found that the quality of research from UK universities has improved significantly since 2008, consistent with other independent evidence. Just over three quarters of submissions were either ‘World Class’ or ‘Internationally Excellent’. Preparations for the next REF due in 2021 have already started.

The number of Acas fulltime equivalent staff and payments to them for 2015/16 and 2016/17 are set out in the table below:

In each of the months since the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in July, the number of senior civil servants on leave of absence from work due to mental illness is being withheld as the number is less than five in each month.

The Government recognises the importance of our research base, which is why we have protected the science budget in real terms from its current level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament.

The referendum result has no immediate effect on the right of researchers to apply to or participate in EU research programmes. While the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU arrangements continue unchanged. UK participants, including those researching mental health issues, can continue to apply to programmes in the usual way. The future of UK access to these programmes will be determined as part of a wider discussion with the EU.

Information is not held for individual constituencies or boroughs. Figures are recorded for Merseyside and are from the 2007-13 programming period where projects could spend money up to the end of 2015, with some reimbursements taking place in 2016.

The figures for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are:

For the European Social Fund (ESF) figures as follows:

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 was administered by HEFCE, working with the HE funding councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The funding bodies consult widely on the arrangements for the REF and on their respective funding allocation processes.

Overall funding from HEFCE for “Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience" research increased by over 16% as result of REF2014 from 2015-16. This was the largest increase across all the life sciences. In addition HEFCE continued to consider funding allocations for these disciplines very carefully, including holding discussions with key parties in the research community. As a consequence of work with an expert panel to assess the balance of clinical and non-clinical work within these disciplines, the HEFCE Board agreed to increase the cost weighting with effect from 2017-18. Decisions on research funding allocations for 2018-19 onwards are now a matter for Research England.

Once allocations are made the funding is unhypothecated and it is the Higher Education Institutions themselves who will determine how it is spent.

Detailed guidance for the next REF exercise in 2021 is now in development. The outcomes of REF 2021 will inform the allocation of research funding from 2022-23. It will be important to ensure that this assessment information can inform an appropriate approach to funding research for these disciplines. The REF team has begun exploring this with representatives from the relevant subject communities and will develop, with the expert REF panels, appropriate proposals, which will be subject to consultation with the HE sector in summer 2018.

The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Applications to the £80m Life Chances Fund go through a two-stage process. In the first phase, applicants submit an expression of interest. If successful, applicants are then invited to develop a full application for funding. Final decisions on the allocation of the outcomes fund will be taken between July 2017 and July 2018 as applications are received and assessed.

There is a substantial commitment by national government for superfast broadband rollout and £5.46 million of central government funding has been allocated to the Merseyside Connected project. This has led to 39,216 additional homes and businesses now being able to access superfast broadband as a result of the local project, with the aim to have 42,204 additional premises by the end of the project. This will bring superfast coverage in Merseyside to 99% of premises.

The Department does not hold data specifically for businesses. The table below shows estimates of the number of premises (both residential and business) without access to superfast broadband in all of the Merseyside and Liverpool City Region constituencies.

Constituency	Number of Premises	Premises Without Access To Superfast Broadband
Birkenhead	44,111	458
Bootle	47,396	304
Garston and Halewood	45,355	836
Halton	44,739	1,098
Knowsley	48,681	596
Liverpool, Riverside	54,717	9,022
Liverpool, Walton	43,483	157
Liverpool, Wavertree	41,345	215
Liverpool, West Derby	40,579	0
Sefton Central	37,979	792
Southport	43,576	1,209
St Helens North	45,188	1503
St Helens South and Whiston	49,194	2,410
Wallasey	42,239	562
Wirral South	33,425	760
Wirral West	32,212	816

Improving mobile coverage remains a priority for the Government, and our landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) for each to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017 will significantly improve coverage in the UK, including the Liverpool City Region. The additional licence obligation on Telefonica, which the other MNOs have publicly stated they will match, will deliver significant improvements in 4G coverage - covering 98% of UK premises by the end of 2017.

In support of this work, the Government is also reforming mobile planning laws (in England only) and the Electronic Communications Code to make it cheaper and quicker for industry to invest and deliver coverage improvements.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 are clear that organisations may only send marketing emails to individuals if the individual has agreed to receive them, or where there is a clearly defined customer relationship and the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing the use of their contact details for the purposes of such marketing.

The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds the rules and regulations governing unsolicited emails, and offers advice to consumers on reporting abuses. The Gambling Commission has been working with the Information Commissioner’s Office to raise awareness of the rules across the gambling industry.

The Government will be providing over £12 million of public funding via the Arts Council to support arts organisations in Liverpool in 2015/16. The Arts Council has also supported major capital projects in Liverpool including over £16 million towards the redevelopment of the Everyman Theatre and over £7 million towards the refurbishment of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

Venues in Liverpool such as Constellations, Lomax and the Zanzibar Club demonstrate the impact of Government's approach to entertainment licensing, planning guidance and business rates relief, all aimed at supporting and promoting music across the UK.

The Government supports the UNESCO Creative City Network, including Liverpool as a designated City of Music through its membership of UNESCO. The UK National Commission for UNESCO will be holding a workshop with Liverpool and the UK’s other Creative Cities to consider new opportunities and practical ways of working together to enhance the benefits that UNESCO accreditation brings, both nationally and internationally.

Information relating to the number of requests under section 42 of the Data Protection Act that have been made in respect of (a) Google Commerce Limited, (b) Google Inc, (c) Google Payment Limited and (d) Google UK Limited is outlined below:

Under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), any person who is, or believes that he is, directly affected by the processing of personal data, can ask the Information Commissioner to consider whether the processing is likely to comply with the law. On receiving such a request, the Commissioner is obliged to consider the concern and make an assessment. Any such request, and cases taken forward are dealt with by the ICO's customer contact and performance improvement business areas. The ICO does not cost up S42 assessments separately from other data protection casework, but the total staffing costs for these two business areas for the last five financial years are set out below:

Numbers of assessments received and concluded for each of the past 5 years are set out below:

The recorded outcomes of those assessments are set out below:

Search engines are data controllers if they process information about living, identifiable people, for example within a search result based on a person’s name.Data controllersmust comply with the data protection principles, for example by explaining to customers how their information is collected and used. Although the main search engines are international operations, if they have an establishment in the UK, then their activities will be subject to UK data protection law.

The ICO ensures thatdata controllerscomply with the lawfor example by investigating complaints and carrying out enforcement or liaison work. The ICO will continue to engage with the search engines to ensure that the right balance is struck between online access to information and individuals’ privacy rights.

[Three licensing objectives in the Gambling Act 2005 underpin the regulation of Gambling in Great Britain. The first licensing objective is "preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime". Consequently] all operators licensed by the Gambling Commission are required - as a condition of their operating licence - to put in place effective systems to identify and prevent criminal spend.

The Gambling Commission has dealt with a number of cases of potential money laundering, mainly involving criminal "lifestyle" spend, connected to Category B2 ('FOBT') gaming machines. It has also dealt with some cases involving other forms of gambling including remote betting, non-remote casino and “ticket in ticket out” (TITO) facilities in connection with gaming machines.

The Gambling Commission and the Government are continuing to work across the gambling industry to further strengthen processes and procedures to identify and prevent money laundering.

Companies in receipt of British Film Institute (BFI) Lottery Film Funding are subject to employment law.

DCMS and the Department for Health held a joint Ministerial round table earlier this year to discuss the ways in which the arts can impact on health and wellbeing. We have published two reports on the social and wellbeing impacts of culture which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-the-social-impacts-of-sport-and-culture and www.gov.uk/government/publications/quantifying-and-valuing-the-wellbeing-impacts-of-culture-and-sport

The Government is funding a What Works Centre on Wellbeing, working with Public Health England to develop further evidence on the impact of culture on wellbeing so that this can be communicated directly to local level practitioners.

The UK is home to world class studios and production facilities such as Pinewood, Warner Brothers Leavesden and Elstree, as well as award-winning visual effects houses such as Framestore and Milk who are supporting British films and television dramas such as ‘Paddington’ and ‘24’. The Government has recently made changes to its Film Tax Relief (FTR) to provide further support to the film industry and attract inward investment productions to the UK. In 2013-14 alone, the Government paid £220 million in film tax reliefs which supported 327 films made in the UK.

The Government is also investing up to £16m for skills and innovation in the creative content sectors to meet the demand from production attracted by the new tax reliefs and to maintain its reputation for producing world-class crew and award-winning talent.

This data is not included in our Creative Industries Economic Estimates. However, a census carried out by the relevant sector skills council, Creative Skillset, in 2012 reported that 14% of the games workforce were women. This was an increase from 6% in their 2009 census. Creative Skillset will be re-evaluating the proportion of video games sector employees who are women in their next survey, which is due in 2015.

To date, DCMS, through the Life Chances Fund, has committed funding of up to £10 million to four projects that combat drug and alcohol dependency – this is in addition to funding from 23 local commissioners, who will provide £27 million to the four projects. DCMS has worked closely with Public Health England to ensure that projects are integrated into the wider care landscape.

Schools can make a real difference to the mental wellbeing of their pupils, which is why it is already a priority for many schools. Tools already exist that schools can use to measure pupil wellbeing, but they often find it difficult to determine the appropriate resource. The Department is developing a guide which schools can use as a framework to discuss their pupils’ wellbeing. This will also support teachers and the new designated mental health leads to take steps to boost good mental health in their school.

The consultation on the draft guidance and regulations for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education closes on 7 November 2018. The draft statutory guidance sets out the core content that primary and secondary schools should teach.

The Department is also seeking views through the consultation on what support schools will need to deliver these subjects. In addition, the Department is working with stakeholders, including unions and expert organisations to help determine the appropriate school support.

The consultation can be found via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/. Once the consultation period is complete, the Department expect to lay regulations in spring 2019.

The consultation on the draft guidance and regulations for Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education closes on 7 November 2018. The draft statutory guidance sets out the core content that primary and secondary schools should teach.

The Department is also seeking views through the consultation on what support schools will need to deliver these subjects. In addition, the Department is working with stakeholders, including unions and expert organisations to help determine the appropriate school support.

The consultation can be found via this link: https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/. Once the consultation period is complete, the Department expect to lay regulations in spring 2019.

The number of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals is published at the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2018.

For 2018, the number and percentage of pupils eligible for and claiming free school meals by local authority can be found in Tables 8a to 8e, in the Schools pupils and their characteristics 2018 - LA tables of the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2018’ statistical release.

Information for earlier years (from 2008 onwards) can be found at

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Figures on looked after children who died in each year can be found in Table D1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017 but the cause of each death is not collected.

The number of reviews of child deaths with a category of ‘suicide or deliberate self-inflicted harm’ for the year ending 31 March 2017 is given in Table 4 of the statistical release ‘Child death reviews: year ending 31 March 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-death-reviews-year-ending-31-march-2017 but this is not limited to looked after children.

We recognise that this is a very serious issue, and we are piloting new approaches to the assessment of mental health needs that looked-after children receive on entry to care – ensuring that their individual needs are understood and at the centre of the process. Up to 10 sites across the country will benefit from a share of £650,000 to deliver this scheme. The expression of interest for pilots went live 24 September and the deadline for applications is set for noon 19 October. We welcome the appointment of Jackie Doyle Price as suicide prevention minister.

Work on supporting students in making the transition into university and on exploring disclosure agreements has continued to progress in the period since formal announcement of these policy areas was made in June.

Stakeholders from across the sector have been involved in this work and will continue to be called on to contribute in the specific areas where their expertise can add most value.

We shall also be working with parents and carers, and legal and health experts as well as sector partners in the specific area of developing advice on disclosure and consent, as highlighted in the suicide prevention guidance published on 5 September by Universities UK.

Work on supporting students in making the transition into university and on exploring disclosure agreements has continued to progress in the period since formal announcement of these policy areas was made in June.

Stakeholders from across the sector have been involved in this work and will continue to be called on to contribute in the specific areas where their expertise can add most value.

We shall also be working with parents and carers, and legal and health experts as well as sector partners in the specific area of developing advice on disclosure and consent, as highlighted in the suicide prevention guidance published on 5 September by Universities UK.

The University Mental Health Charter announced on 28 June 2018 will encourage universities to demonstrate a level of excellence in supporting students’ mental health. This will be an important feature of an institution’s offer to prospective students and their families.

The Charter is being driven by Student Minds and will start to go live in 2019/20. Development, led by the sector, will begin this year and will include consultation with institutional leaders and staff from across their organisations, mental health practitioners (including occupational therapists), students’ unions and students.

Referral pathways for occupational therapy are agreed by local commissioners, based on local need, reflecting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines and other relevant commissioning guidance.

Through the Children and Families Act 2014, the Department for Education requires local authorities and their partner commissioning bodies to make arrangements to work together to meet the education, health and care needs of children and young people (0-25 years old) who have special educational needs and disabilities, who may be in need of occupational therapy. The Department for Education, and Department for Health and Social Care are working with NHS England, local authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups and other partners to support local bodies to work together to jointly commission services to meet individual needs of children and young people.

Sixth form colleges have duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 to co-operate with local authorities in the provision of services and use their best endeavours to support young people where additional needs have been identified.

As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for Higher Education Institutions to determine what therapy services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

In addition, we are in the process of introducing a University Mental Health Charter, backed by the government and led by the sector. This will drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing.

All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn.

The Teachers’ Standards 2012 state that teachers, as part of their professional duties, should safeguard children’s wellbeing.

Statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), sets out that governing bodies and proprietors should ensure policies/procedures are in place for appropriate action to be taken to safeguard and promote children’s welfare. This includes a staff behaviour policy (code of conduct). When drafting staff behaviour policies, consideration should be given to Section 16 of The Sexual Offences Act 2003, whereby it is an offence for a person aged 18 or over to have a sexual relationship with a child under 18 where that person is in a position of trust to the child.

All staff should undergo safeguarding/child protection training at induction and know of the systems in their school or college that support safeguarding. This training should be regularly updated.

Part 4 of KCSIE provides detailed advice on managing allegations of abuse made against teachers and other staff. Where a person is dismissed or the employer ceases to use the person’s service, or the person resigns, schools and colleges have a legal duty to refer to the Disclosure and Barring Service anyone who has harmed, or poses a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult, for consideration of whether to bar the person from working with children. In cases involving teaching staff, schools also have a duty to consider a referral the Teaching Regulation Agency to consider prohibiting the individual from teaching.

The information requested is not held centrally. The ‘number of sickness absence days taken per teacher’ in state funded schools in England was 4.1 in academic year 2015/16, continuing a fall from 4.3 and 4.2 over the previous two years. This information is available in table 16 within the statistical first release ‘School Workforce Census in England, November 2016’ available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-workforce.

2016/17 information will be published in June.

The table below shows what proportion of the department’s staff that have had days lost due to mental illness or stress.

There is no supply model to determine the number of early years teachers required and there is not a target set for recruitment of such teachers.

We continue to make early years initial teacher training places available based on demand as evidence shows that the quality of early years provision is higher when led by specially trained graduates.

Experimental statistics on new entrants to early years initial teacher training for the academic year 2017/18 are available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/initial-teacher-training-trainee-number-census-2017-to-2018.

This information is in the public domain as the Department publishes statistics on attainment in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) for children at the end of reception year.

The percentage of children achieving at least the expected level across all the learning goals in the Literacy area of learning, for years 2013 to 2017, is published within table 2b of the ‘Early years foundation stage profile results: 2016 to 2017’ statistical first release.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.

Early Years Teacher Status was introduced in 2013. Therefore, we do not hold information dating back to 2010.

The Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England (2013) did not collect data on Early Years Teachers, but did record the overall number of practitioners qualified to level 6 (degree level) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/355075/SFR33_2014_Main_report.pdf.

The next wave of the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers England conducted in 2016 included a new question to collect information on those holding Early Years Teacher Status (Figure 4.6) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2016.

We are considering a range of approaches to supporting graduates in the early years workforce, including in disadvantaged areas and their feasibility. This work is still underway.

The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.

Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.

The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.

The educational psychologist workforce is critical to identifying special educational needs and their contribution is a mandatory requirement in the assessment process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Educational psychologists also provide essential wider support to schools including in relation to mental health, personal, health and social education, and major incident support for children in their communities.

Funding levels for training for Educational Psychologists for 2020-21 and beyond will be decided as part of future Spending Reviews.

The Minister of State for Children and Families would welcome the opportunity to meet with Association of Educational Psychologists in due course.

The Department has conducted a thorough and wide-ranging engagement process, including a call for evidence that closed on 12 February, on the scope and content of Relationships Education and Relationships and Sex Education, and on the future status of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education.

The Department is currently considering the responses to the call for evidence and representations through the engagement process.

The Department will announce its plans in due course.

As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for higher education institutions (HEIs) to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

Government does not hold information on the number of students accessing university counselling and wellbeing services.

An independent research report in this area was published on 4 September 2017 by the Institute for Public Policy Research, ‘Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities’ (https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees).

This report states that: “Our survey reveals that HEIs have – over the past five years – experienced significant increases in demand for (overall) student services… 94 per cent report an increase in demand for counselling services, while 61 per cent report an increase of over 25 per cent”.

The department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on mental health in higher education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on 4 September 2017, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper published on 4 December 2017 outlines government’s plans to set up a new national strategic partnership focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds. This partnership will support and build on the work of UUK and consider the Green Paper’s proposed initiatives to improve the mental wellbeing of students in higher education.

The attached table provides the number of educational psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2010 to November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.

The figures may also undercount the actual number of EPs in England and do not provide a comparable national year-on-year series because it is based on a varying percentage of local authorities returns in each year (between 91 and 95 per cent).

Figures for educational psychologists in service in all local authorities in 2017 are not available until Summer 2018.

The attached table provides the number of Educational Psychologists (EPs) that were reported as being directly employed by each local authority in November 2016. The list excludes local authorities where EP provision has been outsourced or the provision has been shared with other local authorities. It would also be open to academies and free schools to obtain their own provision.

Staying Put arrangements play a vital role in supporting some of the most vulnerable young people in society, allowing them to enjoy continuity in their care arrangements, and adopt a more gradual transition to adulthood and independence. It is therefore right that foster carers receive the support that they need, including financial support, to help them meet the needs of those that they care for. In Staying Put arrangements, the amount paid to foster carers is determined locally, by the carer’s local authority or fostering agency.

The department does not hold information on the number of schools that have banned students from consuming energy drinks on school premises.

The new standards for school food came into force on 1 January 2015. The School Food Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided. They apply to all food and drink provided to pupils on and off school premises and during an extended school day (up to 6pm), including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending and after school clubs.

The only drinks permitted are: Plain water (still or carbonated); lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk; fruit or vegetable juice (max 150mls); plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; plain fermented milk (e.g. yoghurt) drinks; combinations of fruit juice and lower fat milk or plain yoghurt, plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; cocoa and lower fat milk; flavoured lower fat milk, all with less than 5% added sugars or honey; tea, coffee, hot chocolate

Combination drinks are limited to a portion size of 330mls. They may contain added vitamins or minerals, and no more than 150mls of fruit or vegetable juice. Fruit or vegetable juice combination drinks must be at least 45% fruit or vegetable juice.

The department does not hold information on the number of schools that have banned students from consuming energy drinks on school premises.

The new standards for school food came into force on 1 January 2015. The School Food Standards define the foods and drinks that must be provided, which are restricted, and those which must not be provided. They apply to all food and drink provided to pupils on and off school premises and during an extended school day (up to 6pm), including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending and after school clubs.

The only drinks permitted are: Plain water (still or carbonated); lower fat milk or lactose reduced milk; fruit or vegetable juice (max 150mls); plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; plain fermented milk (e.g. yoghurt) drinks; combinations of fruit juice and lower fat milk or plain yoghurt, plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium; cocoa and lower fat milk; flavoured lower fat milk, all with less than 5% added sugars or honey; tea, coffee, hot chocolate

Combination drinks are limited to a portion size of 330mls. They may contain added vitamins or minerals, and no more than 150mls of fruit or vegetable juice. Fruit or vegetable juice combination drinks must be at least 45% fruit or vegetable juice.

The full-time equivalent (FTE) number of contracted staff whose role is defined as that of ‘pastoral support’ or of ‘learning mentor’, employed by state funded primary and state funded secondary schools in England, November 2010 to 2016 is provided in the table attached.

Information for ‘educational psychologists’ is not available by phase. These figures may also undercount the actual number of educational psychologists in England and do not provide a comparable national year-on-year series because it is based on a varying percentage of local councils returns in each year (between 68 and 74 per cent).

Data is not available for ‘counsellors’.

The department committed to undertaking a survey of education provided in Inpatient Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services following a recommendation from the Health Select Committee in 2014. The survey was conducted this year and we expect to publish the findings shortly.

Mental Health is a priority for this government. This is why the Department for Health, together with the Department for Education, have published a joint green paper on Children and Young People which sets out plans to transform specialist services and support in education settings and for families.

In higher education, there is already much work underway to improve the quality of mental health services for students, alongside services provided by the NHS, including through the NHS programme 'Improving Access to Psychological Therapies'. The recently published green paper sets out plans for a new national strategic partnership with key stakeholders focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds by encouraging more coordinated action, experimentation and robust evaluation.

As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for Higher Education Institutions to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

In addition, the department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on Mental Health in Higher Education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on September 4, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach. UUK has also worked in partnership with the Institute for Public Policy Research to strengthen the evidence-base on mental health in higher education. Their independent report, Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities, was published on 4 September 2017: https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees.

The department collects data that allows people undertaking apprenticeships to declare a mental health problem through the Individualised Learner Record.

We will be conducting a survey in early 2018 with 15,000 people currently undertaking further education or an apprenticeship, which will ask whether they have a physical or mental health condition.

The department publishes data on the number of apprentices who complete and achieve their apprenticeships by self-declared learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem. This can be found in the apprenticeships demographic tool in the apprenticeships FE data library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624824/apprenticeships-demographics-data-tool-achievements-v1.xlsx

The head count of educational psychologists reported as employed by all local authorities in England in November 2016 is 1,600. This figure will undercount the actual number of educational psychologists because only 64 per cent of local authorities provided data in the latest year. Information is not yet available for 2017.

The information requested is not collected centrally.

It is up to pupil referral units (PRUs) to decide what staff and support arrangements to be put in place. Some PRUs put in place joint working arrangements with local mental health services. To support all types of schools and colleges to build links with local mental health services, we recently announced that we will be extending our pilot of joint training for single points of contact in education and mental health services to up to 1,200 schools in 20 areas. The initial pilot ran last year and the evaluation will be published later this year. Initial results showed that the training had a positive effect on joint working to secure access to mental health support.

For each month of each year from May 2010 to December 2016, there have been fewer than five senior civil servants in the Department on leave of absence from work due to mental illness.

In 2015, there were 409,300 full-time equivalent support staff employed in state funded schools in England. Of these, 1,900 full-time equivalent support staff were employed as Behaviour Managers. In addition, there were 90 full-time equivalent teachers in England whose main additional role was that of a Behaviour Manager.

Time series statistics for Liverpool local authority and England are available in the following table. Statistics for Liverpool, Wavertree constituency are not available.

Good mental health and resilience are a priority for the Department. We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential, both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing.

Schools have an important role to play in supporting the mental health of children and young people. It is for schools to decide what training their staff need, reflecting their individual circumstances. We trust head teachers to put in place the right training, drawing on what is available. Sources of mental health training include e-learning modules on a wide range of mental health issues, via MindEd, a free online portal funded by Government aimed at everyone who works with children and young people.

We are currently conducting a large scale survey asking schools what activities and support they have put in place, as well as what they find are the most effective. The results will be published next Spring.

However, we realise that teachers are not mental health specialists and need to know how to help pupils access specialist support. We have contributed to a £3m joint pilot of joint training between single points of contact in schools and children and young people’s mental health services to improve local knowledge amongst school staff and develop effective referrals to allow pupils to access timely specialist support.

To improve the quality of initial teacher training (ITT), in July 2016, the Government published a new framework of core content for ITT, developed by an expert group chaired by Stephen Munday CBE. The new framework of content will help to ensure that all trainee teachers are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level.

We want to provide all young people with a curriculum that prepares them to succeed in modern Britain. The majority of schools and teachers already recognise the importance of good PSHE education and know that healthy, resilient and confident pupils are better-placed to achieve academically and be stretched further.

Schools and teachers have the freedom to decide what to cover as part of their PSHE lessons, based on the needs and views of their pupils. Schools are encouraged to teach pupils about mental health and emotional wellbeing as part of a developmental PSHE education curriculum.

To support schools in developing their PSHE curriculum, we have funded the PSHE Association to produce guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans to teach about mental health, including self-harm. The guidance is available at: https://www.pshe-association.org.uk/curriculum-and-resources?ResourceTypeID=3.

We recognise that we need to look again at how schools deliver high quality PSHE and we are considering all options.

The Department does not hold information on absence due to a mental health condition.

We want to provide all young people with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life. High quality personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education teaching has a vital role to play in this, helping young people understand the world around them, building resilience, and helping them to make good choices and stay safe. We have made it clear in the introduction to the national curriculum that all schools should make provision for PSHE education, drawing on examples of good practice.

In its report on PSHE education in schools in 2012, Ofsted found that overall, learning in PSHE education was good or better in 60% of schools and required improvement or was inadequate in 40%. The report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/not-yet-good-enough-personal-social-health-and-economic-education

We will continue to keep the status of PSHE under close review and work with schools and head teachers to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationships education.

The Department contributed a written submission to the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into the scale and impact of sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools in 2016. This is published on the Parliament website.[1] The Committee published the report of its inquiry on 13 September, and the Government will make a formal response to the usual timetable.

The Department does not collect information on the number of cases of sexual harassment or sexual violence either by pupils or by teachers – and it has not produced any estimates.

The closest information held on levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence by pupils is the number of permanent and fixed period exclusions for sexual misconduct, which includes lewd behaviour, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual bullying, sexual graffiti and sexual harassment.

Exclusions information, broken down by reason for exclusion, is published annually by the Department in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release.[2]

The 2015 National Foundation for Educational Research’s teacher voice survey is a nationally representative survey commissioned by the Department. Teachers were asked questions on a range of topics, including common forms of bullying. Sexual bullying was not included as a category, however, a minority reported that homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic bullying was common at their school. The report and data have been published by the Department.[3]

The closest information held on sexual harassment and sexual violence by teachers relates to the number of cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct reported to the Department. However, cases of teacher misconduct relating to sexual misconduct cover a broad range of incidents and it is not recorded whether these relate to incidents that took place on school sites.

[1] http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/sexual-harassment-and-sexual-violence-in-schools/written/34902.pdf

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-voice-omnibus-june-2015-responses

Colleges own this information. They are required to publish the information on their own website and the Skills Funding Agency publish a collated picture on GOV.UK. All the information requested for this question is already in the public domain: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-financial-management-college-accounts

Schools have the autonomy to decide on the provision of mental health support. We have recently commissioned an extensive survey which will provide nationally representative estimates of what provision schools and colleges offer for mental health and character education. The fieldwork will begin in the summer term.

We have also contributed to a £3m joint pilot with NHS England for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed.

The Department has contracted with the Autism Education Trust since 2011 to deliver autism training to education professionals. The Trust has now trained more than 90,000 education professionals. The Department is also funding work by the National Autistic Society to provide information and advice to parents and professionals on exclusions, and work to integrate into the Autism Education Trust training the learning from a previous project by Ambitious about Autism on strategies for supporting transition from school to college for students with autism.

We have also supported Nasen’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Gateway (www.sendgateway.org.uk). This offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for meeting the needs of children with SEND, including those with autism. In 2015-16, the Department also funded Nasen to develop a free universal offer of SEN Continuous Professional Development for teachers.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership has produced a series of specialist online courses, one of which focuses on autism. The training materials are designed to support teachers in mainstream schools who want to improve their skills in teaching pupils with SEND. The training materials can be found at: www.education.gov.uk/lamb.

In order to be awarded qualified teacher status, trainees must satisfy the Teachers’ Standards, which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

Following Sir Andrew Carter’s independent review of the quality and effectiveness of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses, the Secretary of State appointed an independent working group made up of expert representatives from the sector to develop a framework of core ITT content. This includes considering Sir Andrew’s recommendations around the SEND content of the proposed framework. The working group is due to report to the Department soon. We will consider their recommendations carefully and determine how they should be taken forward.

In January 2015, there were 35,030 children in mainstream primary schools and 30,845 children in mainstream secondary schools who were identified as having autistic spectrum disorder as their primary type of need[1].

Under the SEND Code of Practice all maintained schools are required to identify the special educational needs of pupils, including those with autism. Where any pupil makes less progress than expected, schools should assess the pupil’s needs, put in place suitable support to meet those needs and review it regularly to ensure it continues to be appropriate. If, despite additional support provided by the school, a pupil continues to make less progress than expected, the school (or the parents) can ask the local authority to carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment of the pupil’s needs. If the local authority decides to issue an EHC plan, it will specify the provision needed to support the pupil’s needs and what additional resources will be funded by the local authority.

The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced significant reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system which will better support children and young people with autism in the education system. This includes the publication of ‘local offers’ of SEND services by local authorities, the introduction of streamlined EHC plans, and new statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education.

The Act also makes provision to ensure that parents, children and young people are able to access impartial information, advice and support about the SEND system. This is available through a local, dedicated and easily identifiable service which includes help to prepare them for meetings with schools, health professionals or other agencies that may be supporting them in their education.

Under the Department’s Free Schools programme, there are now nineteen special free schools open across the country, including several that are specifically for children with Autism, such as the Rise free school in Hounslow, the Lighthouse free school in Leeds and the National Autistic Society’s Church Lawton free school in Cheshire. There are a further eleven special free schools due to open in the future, five of which will specialise in provision for children with autism, including the Heartlands Autism free school in Haringey and a second National Autistic Society free school, the Vanguard free school in Lambeth. The other six will offer some places for children with autism.

[1] National Statistics: Special Educational Needs in England 2015, Table 8, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015).

This is a matter for schools to decide. We have recently commissioned an extensive survey which will provide nationally representative estimates of what provision schools and colleges offer for mental health and character education. The fieldwork will begin in the summer term.

We are also contributing to a £3 million joint pilot with NHS England for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services, to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed.

The Department is aware of a small number of cases in the last few years where parents and carers have complained about a school either asking a child with autism to stay at home on Ofsted inspection days, or diverting the child to other non-academic activities on those days.

Whenever such complaints have been received, we have been absolutely clear that any request for a child to stay at home during an Ofsted inspection would be an unlawful exclusion and that parents and carers should make a formal complaint to the school’s board of governors. Taking a child out of normal timetabled lessons during an inspection is unacceptable and should be drawn to the attention of the school’s board of governors.

Parents can also ask the Secretary of State to make a determination under Sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996, which give her the power to direct a governing body where it has failed to discharge a statutory duty or has done so unreasonably. Any such direction would have to be expedient, in that there must be something the Secretary of State could direct the school to do which would put matters right.

Depending on the circumstances, parents and carers could also bring a claim of disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

Ofsted’s school inspection framework requires inspectors to take account of schools’ use of exclusion. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that falls within the inspectorate’s remit. If, during the course of an Ofsted inspection, inspectors become aware that a school has unlawfully excluded pupils for the period of the inspection, this will be taken into account in judging the effectiveness of the school and its leadership. If the evidence emerges after the inspection, the matter will be investigated by Ofsted and could lead to the school receiving an unannounced inspection visit.

The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.

The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.

Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

The number of pupils recorded as having a mental health condition who received a permanent or fixed period exclusion is not held by the Department.

The number and proportion of pupils in national curriculum year group 10 and 11 with an autistic spectrum disorder primary need who were excluded in each of the last 5 years can be found in the attached table.

Information on the number of fixed period and permanent exclusions for all pupils, including separate breakdowns by national curriculum year group and special educational need provision, is available in the ‘Permanent and fixed-period exclusions in England’ National Statistics release[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

The Department does not collect data on schools which have restricted the school trips that children with autism can attend.

Public sector bodies, including maintained schools, are covered by the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. When carrying out their functions they must have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and foster good relations between disabled and non-disabled children and young people. This duty is anticipatory, which means that schools must take into account the needs of disabled pupils, such as those with autism, when planning school trips and other events.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 emphasises that school leaders should establish and maintain a culture of high expectations that expects those working with children and young people with SEN or disabilities to include them in all the opportunities available to other children and young people so that they can achieve well. This would include opportunities to socialise and attend external school trips.

If parents believe that a school has discriminated against their autistic child in planning school trips, they can make a claim for disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal.

Section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in April 2015, imposes a duty on local authorities to to “…take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are young carers within their area who have needs for support.” Once a young carer has been assessed, the local authority must consider whether the child has needs that could be met by services provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, that is, whether they should be supported as a child in need.

The Department currently supports the Carers Trust to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners to embed good practice, including good practice surrounding whole family support. This approach is intended to ensure effective, joined up, support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families. We will draw on the learning from that work when considering further action.

The Department for Education does not intend to collect this data.

Information on parental status and mental health illness is collected through the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

The Department does not collect information on the number of children at any stage of school whose parents are suffering from mental illness.

This information is not available to the Department.

From April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support by the local authority. These new provisions work alongside those in the Care Act 2014 for assessing adults to enable ‘whole family approaches’ to assessment and support. This means that when a child is identified as a young carer, the needs of everyone in the family will be considered. This will cause both children’s and adults’ support services to assess why a child has a caring responsibility, what needs to change, and what would help the family to prevent children from taking on this responsibility in the first place.

This reform is intended to ensure effective, joined-up support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families.

An estimated 1 in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and more have lower level problems. We know that all forms of mental health disorder in children are associated with disruption to education and absence from school. We also know there is a strong association between conduct disorders in adolescence and a lack of qualifications in early adulthood.

This is why the government has made good mental health, character and resilience a high priority. We want all children and young people to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing. The Department of Health has committed an additional £1.4 billion of funding which will be used to help radically improve mental health services for children, young people and new mothers over the next 5 years.

Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the resilience and mental health of children and young people. To support schools develop approaches that suit the particular needs of their students we have:

• contributed £1.5 million to a joint pilot for training single points of contact in schools and specialist mental health services to ensure that children and young people have timely access to specialist support where needed;
• funded guidance and lesson plans to support age-appropriate teaching about mental health;
• published guidance on the provision of high quality counselling in schools, and mental health and behaviour;
• provided funding worth £4.9 million this year, through a dedicated mental health strand within our VCS programme, to support 17 projects delivering a wide range of support across the country to children and young people with mental health issues. These include projects to promote positive mental health in schools with organisations such as MIND and Place2Be.

The Department for Education does not routinely collect the information requested. While perinatal mental health is important to the government, we believe that children’s centres are best placed to decide which services to offer, based on an assessment of local needs.

Providing children with good-quality education and care in their earliest years can help them succeed at school and later in life. This contributes to creating a society where opportunities are equal regardless of background. We believe we can improve early education by building a stronger and better-qualified early years workforce. We also aim to provide more good-quality affordable childcare.

Professor James Heckman has published a number of (mostly US based) studies, which form part of a much wider evidence base on the substantial benefits of investing in early education. Professor Heckman reports that early education has significant positive impacts on a child’s development and attainment and finds that these impacts can be larger for disadvantaged children. Taken as a whole, the evidence underpins the Department’s policy to provide an entitlement to 570 hours of free early education or childcare a year for all 3 and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds.

The Department for Education has no current plans to make an assessment of the potential implications for policy on early years interventions of Professor Heckman’s most recent work.

The new school food standards which came into effect on 1 January 2015 define the foods and drinks that must be provided to pupils, those which are restricted, and those which must not be provided at all. They apply to all food and drink provided on and off school premises during an extended school day up to 6pm, including school trips, breakfast clubs, tuck shops, mid-morning break, vending machines and after school clubs.

Full details of permitted foods are available in the school food regulations at:

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1603/contents/made

Departmental advice is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england

The review had a budget of £100,000, which included the costs of the reviewer, the costs of the research he commissioned, the consultations he undertook and the publishing costs.

Responsibility for action to tackle child maltreatment and respond to the needs of vulnerable children rests primarily with local government, alongside other local agencies, including health services and the police. This work is co-ordinated by local safeguarding children boards. Our statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, sets the framework within which local agencies should work on a multi-agency basis to safeguard children. Ofsted inspects local authority services for children in need of help and protection, and inspections focus on the quality of these services, including whether the right decisions are made for young people and whether they are made at the right time.

The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of schools in England where lead paint is present.

The School Food Trust (now the Children's Food Trust) wrote to more than 1,500 academies in January 2012. Of the 641 academies that replied, 635 said they were committed to following the new food standards, even though they are not required to do so.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Figures on looked after children who died in each year can be found in Table D1 of the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017 but the cause of each death is not collected.

The number of reviews of child deaths with a category of ‘suicide or deliberate self-inflicted harm’ for the year ending 31 March 2017 is given in Table 4 of the statistical release ‘Child death reviews: year ending 31 March 2017’ at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-death-reviews-year-ending-31-march-2017 but this is not limited to looked after children.

We recognise that this is a very serious issue, and we are piloting new approaches to the assessment of mental health needs that looked-after children receive on entry to care – ensuring that their individual needs are understood and at the centre of the process. Up to 10 sites across the country will benefit from a share of £650,000 to deliver this scheme. The expression of interest for pilots went live 24 September and the deadline for applications is set for noon 19 October. We welcome the appointment of Jackie Doyle Price as suicide prevention minister.

During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards, and representatives from the Leon Foundation will be attending the Academies Show on 30 April with a view to encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.

99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards. All academies and free schools signing their funding agreements from spring 2014 are required to adhere to the new, less bureaucratic school food standards.

Local authorities have duties to arrange for the collection and disposal of household waste. Clinical waste produced at domestic property is treated as household waste.

Total Funding allocated to local projects across England by Defra's Air Quality Grant Programme since 2010:

The Government recognizes the impact poor air quality can have on human health and the environment and has put in place a framework for delivering improvements via the Air Quality Strategy and Local Air Quality Management. The European Commission also has requirements for Member States to meet legally binding limits for key pollutants to protect public health and ecosystems.

The Government is committed to ongoing work to reduce this impact and has invested many billions of pounds in measures that will help to reduce air pollution from transport, energy and industrial sources, including over £1 billion in ultra-low emission vehicles and sustainable transport measures, incentives and infrastructure projects for electric and hybrid vehicles, a Local Sustainable Transport Fund of £490 million, a fund of around £100 million for less polluting bus services and investment in measures to promote cycling and walking. All these measures are helping to reduce transport emissions, which are the main contributor to air pollution in towns and cities.

In addition to these national measures, local authorities have a responsibility to manage local air quality and to put in place plans to improve air quality where national objectives are not met. Local action is also supported by the Government's air quality grant programme, which has provided over £50 million since 1997 for innovative projects.

Defra works with Public Health England, the Department of Health and other Government departments to maintain and develop methodologies for assessing air quality impacts on health and the environment, and to develop evidence-based measures to ensure air quality is appropriately prioritised and integrated into local strategies. For instance the Government has established an Air Quality Indicator as part of the new Public Health Outcomes Framework. Local authorities will be expected to deliver against 68 measurable outcomes (indicators) for health, including for air quality.

In general terms, my Department would not expect there to be a major effect on the Port of Liverpool of leaving the EU without a deal, nor therefore, through such impacts, on the regional or national economy.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency withdrew the facility for driving test candidates to use foreign language voiceovers during theory tests and interpreters during theory and practical tests on 7 April 2014 following a full public consultation.

Some of the reasons for this change were included to address concerns about road safety, specifically the ability of non-English or non-Welsh speakers to understand road signs and other information provided to drivers in the course of their journeys; and to reduce fraud, addressing the problem of an interpreter attending for test with a learner driver and communicating advice beyond a strict translation of the theory test questions or the instructions given by the examiner.

The department has no plans to assess the reintroduction of translation services for non-English speaking candidates taking car and motorcycle theory driving tests.

The then-Driving Standards Agency (now Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) undertook a full consultation between 5 February and 2 April 2013 before withdrawing voiceover and interpreter facilities for driving test candidates whose first language was not English.

The DVSA supports candidates whose English is a second language, or those who have difficulty understanding written English, by offering an English language voice over and writing the multiple-choice theory test questions in an easily understood way.

The DVSA has no evidence to suggest there is a need to make an assessment of the effect on the level of unlicensed drivers since the withdrawal of foreign language voiceovers and interpreters during the theory test on 7 April 2014.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) withdrew the facility for driving test candidates to use foreign language voiceovers during theory tests and interpreters during theory and practical tests on 7 April 2014.

The DVSA monitor applications and the overall pass rates for car and motorbike theory tests and has not seen any discernible effect of the withdrawal of foreign language voice-overs and interpreters.

As part of the conditions of the franchise agreement it is the responsibility of the train operating company to ensure both adequate track capacity and train numbers, to support their proposed timetable changes.

There were a total of 252 suicides on the national rail network in 2015-16.

The figure for 2016-17 has not been released, and is due to be published on 12 July 2017.

This figure does not include suicides on London Underground or light rail and tram networks. Figures for these networks are published at the following link: http://www.orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/statistical-releases.

This information is not available as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not categorise driving licence revocations under broad terms such as ‘mental illness’. Revocation information is recorded on the basis of specific medical conditions.

Network Rail last undertook detailed examinations of the affected slip area on 7 December 2014, and a further visual examination on 25 December 2016.

The majority of cuttings leading into Liverpool Lime Street Station are inspected every two or five years depending on their categorisation. Rail bridges and tunnels, however, are categorised individually and have different inspection regimes tailored to the age and condition of the structure.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Network Rail, as the infrastructure owner, to discuss a wide range of topics which have included the collapse of the wall outside Liverpool Lime Street Station on 28 February 2017. We look to Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road (as the regulator) to ensure that the infrastructure is fit for purpose.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Network Rail, as the infrastructure owner, to discuss a wide range of topics which have included the collapse of the wall outside Liverpool Lime Street Station on 28 February 2017. We look to Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road (as the regulator) to ensure that the infrastructure is fit for purpose.

Records in the current reporting system go back to the beginning of 2009. Since this date, fewer than five senior civil servants have taken leave of absence for reasons related to mental health. Due to the low number of instances this figure cannot be broken down any further.

The Secretary of State intends to make an announcement about the remainder of the HS2 route, including the Manchester junction, later this autumn.

Transport for the North are leading the development of a number of potential options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including options that make use of sections of the HS2 network.

Should Northern Powerhouse Rail be integrated directly with sections of the HS2 network, the rolling stock will be specified to operate on HS2 infrastructure.

Tolling levels for the Mersey Tunnels and the future Mersey Gateway Crossing are the responsibility of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Halton Borough Council respectively. Any assessment of the local impact of these tolls is therefore a matter for these bodies rather than this Department. The Department’s assessment of the business case for the Crossing included a consideration of the overall impacts effects of tolling levels on road users and showed that the new Crossing will reduce congestion and improve journey times for users. This assessment was not disaggregated to the level of individual local areas.

Highways England encourages and supports the private sector operators of motorway service areas to provide charge points at their facilities. There are 112 motorway service areas in England and over 95% have rapid charge points installed, which can provide a charge to an electric vehicle in 20 to 30 minutes.

The nearest motorway service area to Liverpool is Burtonwood Services at Junction 8 on the M62, where there are two charging facilities.

The Department for Transport does not assess the total number of people working in logistics and transportation who experience mental health problems.

The total number of suicides recorded as having taken place on National Rail in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.

Source: ORR

The Government is fully supportive of initiatives which the rail industry is taking, led by Network Rail, in liaison with the Samaritans and other organisations, to reduce the number of suicides on the network. The initiatives include measures to reduce the ease of access to platforms passed by fast trains, and to train staff to intervene to help people near the railway who may be in a distressed state.

Local councils are responsible for setting pedestrian crossing timings with reference to the Department for Transport’s guidance walking speed of 1.2 metres per second given in Local Transport Note 1/95: ‘The Assessment of Pedestrian Crossings’, Local Transport Note 2/95: ‘The Design of Pedestrian Crossings’, and Traffic Advisory Leaflet 5/05: ‘Pedestrian Facilities at Signal-controlled Junctions’.

The Department recommends that where a crossing may be used by a large number of older people or those with mobility issues, for example outside residential care homes, this should be taken into account when setting timings.

The Department expects to bring the successor to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, which will include all pedestrian crossing types, into force in 2015 and once that is complete will consider the need to update existing guidance.

It is a matter for the Train Operator to ensure that the appropriate standards of cleanliness are met on trains.

More information can be obtained from the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) which can be contacted at:

2nd Floor

200 Aldersgate Street

London
EC1A 4HD

Tel: 020 7841 8000

The HS2 Growth Taskforce launched its final report in March 2014, delivering 19 recommendations to government to help get our cities, transport network, people and businesses ready to maximise the growth potential from HS2.

While the taskforce membership was drawn from across the country and represented many different fields of expertise, it was not possible to include representatives from every area that will benefit from HS2.

Recognising the importance of engaging closely with Liverpool in producing their recommendations, the taskforce went to the city in January 2014 to hear the views of local partners and businesses from across the city region.

The Department has no plans to commission such an investigation. Ensuring that appropriate standards of cleanliness are met is a matter for train operators.

The Government responded to Thriving at Work: Stevenson/Farmer Review of mental health and employers in the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability which was published on 30^th November 2017. The joint DWP and DHSC Work and Health Unit is now overseeing progress across 40 recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.

We have made significant progress on ensuring the public sector leads the way: the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which was published on 16^th May 2018 and shared with NHS organisations, and the Civil Service has benchmarked all main government departments and their agencies/NDPBs against the core and enhanced mental health standards to identify best practice and areas requiring further action. We also held a Public Sector Summit on 18^th July 2018 which brought together public sector leaders and experts to share best practice on mental health support and how the review’s recommendations are being implemented and championed.

We have also been progressing a range of policy work on which we will report in due course.

We have promoted the standards to private sector employers through a range of communication channels and supported Mind in the development of their mental health at work online gateway, but data on numbers of businesses who have adopted the core and enhanced standards is not held centrally. We will continue to work with key stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure that employers of all sizes act to implement the core and enhanced standards and help them, and their employees, realise the benefits of healthy, inclusive workplaces.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for regulating first aid provision in the workplace, as set out in the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. The Regulations require employers to provide adequate and appropriate equipment, facilities and personnel to ensure their employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work. The Regulations apply to all workplaces including those with less than five employees and to the self-employed.

Employers should undertake a needs assessment, to ensure that first aid provision adequately reflects the needs of their particular workplace or organisation and that appointed first aid personnel receive appropriate training. It is the responsibility of employers to choose their training providers and apply due diligence in doing so.

We do not require formal disclosure of abuse to establish split payments for Universal Credit claimants, and we do not ask for any evidence relating to the abuse. An individual can be accompanied by a representative from a third party organisation to provide expert support when disclosing domestic abuse to a work coach.

All personal information is treated in confidence, and we do not disclose information to third parties without explicit consent. If requested, we can provide access to a private area where information can be disclosed.

Research carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that only 2 per cent of married couples and 7 per cent of cohabiting couples keep their finances completely separate. So the starting point in Universal Credit is one single monthly payment which people in the household then manage as they see fit. We recognise that there will be circumstances in which this is not appropriate and so split payments are also available. This option is designed to prevent hardship to claimants and their families, where there is vulnerability in the household leading to financial mismanagement. Where a claimant suffering from domestic abuse asks for a split payment we will support them in putting this arrangement in place.

In April 2018 we updated our Universal Credit learning products to include additional information on domestic abuse, covering physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and financial abuse, and controlling and coercive behaviour. These products are regularly reviewed.

Our jobcentre staff undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service to claimants.

Specific training and guidance is provided for staff who work with different vulnerable groups, including people who have been the victims of domestic abuse. Work coaches can also signpost claimants to national and local organisations who provide specialist support.

In our Command Paper, Improving lives: the future of work, health and disability, we announced wider support to assist people with health conditions and disabilities in moving closer to the labour market. We are testing a three-way voluntary conversation between customers, work coaches and healthcare professionals, such as occupational therapists, and we will make decisions on further rollout in due course.

We have made an assessment about the suitability of Universal Credit single payments in cases of financial abuse towards one person in a couple. This was outlined in the attached letter, dated 15 May 2018, to the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

The Government responded to the full review as part of our response to the consultation on the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper on 30^th November. As part of our recently published command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability, we set out a broad ranging strategy to further support disabled people and people with health conditions – including mental health conditions - to enter and thrive in work. This publication also included our formal response to all of the Stevenson/Farmer review’s recommendation. The Government is overseeing progress across recommendations that range from short term deliverables to longer term reform.

The Prime Minister accepted the recommendations that apply to the Civil Service and NHSE as employers on the day of publication. The Civil Service is in a good place to meet the standards and has identified areas of positive practice particularly surrounding mental health awareness, support and demonstration of accountability, and the NHS is implementing the mental health standards through the new single NHS Workforce Health and Wellbeing Framework, which will be published in the summer.

The Government responded to the full review on 30^th November as part of the command paper Improving Lives: The Future of Work, Health and Disability. As set out in this publication, we agree with the review’s recommendation on the need to provide leadership and accountability, and maintain the momentum generated by the review. We will set out further plans shortly.

The latest available estimates are given below. They are published annually and show the estimated number of days lost (full day equivalent) due to self-reported stress, depression or anxiety, caused or made worse by work, for people working in the last 12 months in Great Britain. Figures are not separately available for the United Kingdom.

Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)

In November 2016 DWP launched its health and wellbeing strategy covering mental wellbeing. DWP supports mental wellbeing through a number of initiatives including: 24/7 sign-posting to mental health support in DWP; an Employee Assistance Programme available 24/7 offering confidential counselling (face to face, telephone and live chat), advice and information services for all colleagues and managers, including critical incident debriefing services; an immediate or early referral to Occupational Health for expert advice on how to handle mental health conditions at work; and a range of wellbeing programmes and a series of campaigns to raise awareness of mental health/wellbeing and help reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with mental ill-health.

The Department has also established a network of Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) who provide acute, short-term and structured support to individuals, provide reassurance, and signpost colleagues to DWP and external sources of support as appropriate. They also actively promote and raise awareness of mental health agenda within their local area. 200 colleagues are currently trained to fulfil this role with a further 300 to be trained by 2019.

The percentage of staff absence and the Working Days lost for reasons related to stress or mental health is as follows:

*The figures include those absences recorded under the following categories: Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Issues or Stress until March 2017 and Anxiety and Depression, Mental Health Other, Stress, Mental Health Anxiety and Depression or Mental Health Issues for 2017-18. Working days lost excludes weekends but does include public holidays. Numbers of staff includes those currently on nil pay.

The Work and Health Programme is now in place across England and Wales, offering a more personalised local approach to supporting disabled people and those with mental health conditions to overcome barriers to employment. Better integration of health support is a particular priority, and providers will deliver integrated support to customers with multiple barriers. Across the whole programme we have been guided by the evidence, learning from the best of the Work Programme and Work Choice, and have set up the programme with high quality evaluation built in.

As the Government confirmed in its response to recommendation 7 of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, individuals, even with similar barriers or characteristics, can respond differently to those barriers, and so require tailored support. This is why we have elected to give providers considerable freedom in how they support claimants to move into lasting work rather than specify particular services. This is supported by a payment model which gives providers a strong incentive to deliver outcomes, including a price accelerator element which seeks to deliver better performance by increasing the return for investment for those who are harder to help.

The key area on recommendation 11 is to stress that “The Government announced in October 2017 that it no longer intends to extend Local Housing Allowance rates to social sector tenants and in particular to those living in supported housing. The Government has also made clear that it is keen to ensure that those living in supported housing, and those who provide it, receive appropriate protection. The welfare system will therefore continue to fund long-term supported accommodation along with sheltered and extra care housing.

The information requested is not available because our Management Information is not recorded/collated in that format.

However, using the average claimant volumes for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit Live Service customers who are normally required to attend on a fortnightly basis, an estimation of numbers visiting Edge Hill and Wavertree Jobcentres daily would be:

Edge Hill – 159

Wavertree – 96

I refer the Hon. Member to the statement made by myself, Official Report, 30 January 2018, Columns 703 – 704.

My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions and we are working across government to provide and improve integrated health and employment support. We are more than doubling the number of employment advisers in talking therapies and we will be investing nearly £115m to implement trials which will build our evidence base on what works to help people with health conditions to return to or gain employment

In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced the first steps in our plan to transform the way we deal with mental health problems at every stage of a person’s life. A range of new measures were announced, including two new reviews. In addition, the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and NHS England’s Implementation Plan set out a series of actions to prevent mental ill health, improve services and reduce stigma.

My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course. My department is also continuing to invest in trials, proofs of concept and feasibility studies to build our evidence base on the best specialist and integrated support for people with mental health conditions.

Earlier this year, the Prime Minister announced the first steps in our plan to transform the way we deal with mental health problems at every stage of a person’s life. A range of new measures were announced, including two new reviews. In addition, the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and NHS England’s Implementation Plan set out a series of actions to prevent mental ill health, improve services and reduce stigma.

My department is committed to supporting those with mental health conditions. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health, Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. This reflected the Government’s new and ambitious approach to work and health, wishing to join up systems and work widely to change attitudes with employers, within the welfare state, across the health service and in wider society so that we focus on the strengths of those with health conditions and what they can do. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received almost 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course. My department is also continuing to invest in trials, proofs of concept and feasibility studies to build our evidence base on the best specialist and integrated support for people with mental health conditions.

We are committed to listening to stakeholders, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.

We are committed to listening to stakeholders, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy. In October 2016 my department published, jointly with the Department of Health Improving Lives: the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper. Our 15-week consultation engaged with disabled people and people with long term conditions, their families and carers, health and social care professionals, their representative bodies, local and national organisations, employers and charities. The consultation received 6000 responses across all sectors. The Government is currently considering the responses and will reach decisions on next steps in due course.

The information available on the number of Employment and Support Allowance claimants by phase of claim and medical condition is published and can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Guidance for users is available at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

We want employers to create inclusive workplaces which support good mental health, and prevent discriminatory language and practices.

Many employers already have a strong track record in this area and we want to learn from their success, as well as support other employers to create supportive workplace cultures.

There is already a wealth of information available on how employers can support people with mental health conditions. Government sought views on what would further support employers in “Improving Lives - the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper’ and we are now analysing responses to the consultation.

We will also be considering what further guidance could be made available to employers through the internal review of protections from workplace mental health discrimination, announced by the Prime Minister in January.

The Department publishes a range of Official Statistics on PIP here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

These include data tables showing a breakdown of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment by their main disabling condition.

We have systems in place to ensure that Jobcentre staff can identify customers at risk of suicide or self harm and refer them to appropriate local sources of help.

Local housing allowance rates will not be introduced in the social rented sector for general needs housing until April 2019, and only then where tenancies have been taken out or renewed on or after 1 April 2016; and the tenant’s rent is higher than the Local Housing Allowance rates set for private sector tenants.

Pensioners in the private rented sector have been subject to Local Housing Allowance rates since 2008. It is therefore only right that we bring about parity of treatment across both sectors, but pensioners in the social rented sector are unlikely to be affected unless they are substantially under-occupying their properties or they have high service charges.

Discretionary Housing Payments remain available for those who need help transitioning to the change.

According to the latest data (November 2016) there were 143 thousand Housing Benefit claimants aged 65 or over who were subject to the local housing allowance rules in the private rented sector. As the local housing allowance system will not be introduced into the social rented sector until April 2019 figures will not be published until August 2019.

There are no daily work clubs at Wavertree Jobcentre or Edge Hill Jobcentre.

Jobcentre Plus does not contract for the delivery of Work Clubs and we are not responsible for the delivery. Work Clubs can be set up or supported by any suitable group including voluntary sector organisations, local authorities, community groups, and both local employers, and national employers through their local outlets. The role of Jobcentre Plus is to signpost claimants to local Work Clubs where they exist and where advisers believe the support offered will help the claimant find work. There is no requirement for follow up on the number of claimants who subsequently attend.

The Department has used information from local transport provider websites, such as Traveline, that provide services in Liverpool to calculate travel costs.

Distances and journey times have been calculated using variety of methods to improve accuracy, including Google Maps which has been cross verified using the AA route mapping tool and information collected about local public transport routes with input from local DWP colleagues.

The information requested is not available. However, such information that is available is (a) the number of Lone Parents claiming Income Support within Liverpool Wavertree Parliamentary Constituency; plus in the table (b) the number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Wavertree and Edge Hill Jobcentres.

(a) The number of Lone Parents claiming Income Support within Liverpool Wavertree Constituency at August 2016 is 770.

(b) The number of new claims by Lone Parents to Income Support who are registered at Wavertree and Edge Hill Jobcentres.