Lucy Frazer

There are no restrictions to accessing LMI for All.The data in LMI for All is made available via an Application Programming Interface (API) for use in websites and applications. Neither the Department nor the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) evaluates or assesses the impact of third party applications and websites although UKCES tracks the use of the LMI for All service by such websites and applications. A report containing detailed case studies focusing on specific applications is currently under preparation and will be published this year.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has consulted the Devolved Administrations and other users of labour market information on future research priorities. This identified the importance of LMI for All data, and it has been agreed that LMI for All will transfer to BIS later this year.

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills tracks the use of the LMI for All service by such websites and applications. Current users of LMI for All include careers websites such as icould, SACU, RCU and Plotr. In addition, Active Informatics, and National Careers Service contractor Adviza are using LMI for All in their subscription based services offered to schools, colleges and universities. A number of government departments and agencies, including the Department for Work and Pensions, National Careers Service and Skills Development Scotland are also developing resources and tools that draw upon LMI for All. A report containing detailed case studies focusing on specific applications is currently under preparation and will be published this year.

LMI for All does not contain information about individual people. It is an online open source data service which brings together public labour market information from organisations such as the Office for National Statistics and the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

It has been agreed that LMI for All will transfer to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills later this year.

In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that the Government would invest over £1 billion in the UK’s digital infrastructure. This includes £400 million for a new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund to boost commercial finance for emerging fibre broadband providers, this will be launched in early 2017. It also includes funding for further rollout of fibre broadband networks, which in partnership with local authorities across the UK who bid for fibre broadband connections, will prioritise faster connections for businesses and help build a better more productive economy for all. And, to facilitate the next wave of mobile technology, the Government will also fund a new programme of fibre and 5G trials.

In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that the Government would invest over £1 billion in the UK’s digital infrastructure. This includes £400 million for a new Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund to boost commercial finance for emerging fibre broadband providers, this will be launched in early 2017. It also includes funding for further rollout of fibre broadband networks, which in partnership with local authorities across the UK who bid for fibre broadband connections, will prioritise faster connections for businesses and help build a better more productive economy for all. And, to facilitate the next wave of mobile technology, the Government will also fund a new programme of fibre and 5G trials.

Government recognises the importance of deaf sport to those who take part at both grassroots and elite level. Sport England is investing £365,872 in UK Deaf Sport between 2014 and 2017 in recognition of this.Questions of official recognition at an international level are a matter for the International Olympic Committee.

The funding model used to date has not delivered the sustained increase in participation we want to see across the country. The new sport and physical activity strategy will ensure that funding is clearly targeted at those organisations that can best deliver results.

School funding per pupil in cash terms was £2,938 per pupil in 2000-01 and £4,618 per pupil in 2017-18. The Government publishes GDP deflators that can be used to understand the impact of inflation over time. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-march-2017-spring-budget-2017.

These figures are not directly comparable as the figure for 2000-01 also includes funding provided for early years.

In 1990 school funding was included within the local government funding settlement. For this reason, the funding information for 1990 is not readily available. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that per pupil spending in schools in 2020 is set to be at least 70 per cent higher in real terms than it was in 1990:

https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8937.

We know how important it is that all children are supported to enjoy a full education, and that teachers have had sufficient training to support the pupils in their school. This is particularly important for children who attend special schools, who generally have more complex special educational needs than their peers in mainstream schools and may have health or personal care needs that require support during the school day.

We believe that head teachers and teachers are best placed to judge their own training requirements. That is why decisions relating to the use of non-pupil days and teachers’ professional development rightly rest with schools.

The Department is undertaking user research to strengthen its understanding of the issues schools face when advertising teacher vacancies and the challenges teachers have finding and applying for jobs. The research will also be used to inform the development and design of a new national teacher vacancy service. This service will aim to reduce the time schools spend on publishing vacancies and the cost of recruiting new teachers; make it easier for teachers to find jobs quickly and easily; and increase the availability and quality of data on teacher recruitment.

This research is highlighting concerns in schools about the cost and practices of recruitment agencies, which we will explore further.

The Department is in the planning phase of a new commercial framework for the use of schools engaging with supply agencies. As part of this we are proposing to include measures designed to improve the conduct of some agencies.

The Department fund school building improvements through a combination of formula-based payments (School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital), and bid-based systems (the Condition Improvement Fund and the Priority School Building Programme). In order to secure the best value for money, both types of funding prioritise the buildings with the most severe condition need, rather than looking at other funding received by the institutions in question. Prioritisation may be informed by a combination of the Department’s building surveys and condition information contained in any bid.

School Condition Allocations and Devolved Formula Capital:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-allocations

Condition Improvement Fund:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund

Priority School Building Programme:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/priority-school-building-programme-psbp

The 2014 Children & Families Act introduced new statutory duties that require clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to work together in joint arrangements to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and for the first time created a duty for health agencies to ensure that health care provision in a child or young person’s EHC plan is secured.

The Department for Education already works closely with the Department for Health on SEND. We have introduced the Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspections of local area effectiveness in delivering their SEND duties, which began in May 2016. These inspections are highlighting where partners, including health services, are working well together to deliver SEND responsibilities, and where there are areas for improvement, and we are working with NHS England to provide support and challenge to local areas where required.

More broadly, since the Act’s introduction, NHS England has led a programme board for Children with Complex Needs, which includes those with SEND. This ensures it sits firmly within health governance structures and has a broad range of membership, including Department of Health, Department for Education, delivery partners and parent representatives. The NHS Mandate also contains an objective on SEND, and the NHS Assurance Framework, which is used to hold CCGs to account, now contains measures on SEND.

Our partnership with mobile phone operator group, the GSMA, has used mobile technology to improve the reach, delivery and affordability of basic energy, water and sanitation services for 1.3 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and many of our other programmes in health, education and other sectors use mobile technology.

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of topics relating to the recruitment and retention of the National Health Service workforce with cabinet colleagues and others.

The Government acknowledges the challenges staff have in securing affordable accommodation in some parts of the country so it wants to support health workers and other public services staff by making homes more affordable with steps outlined in the Housing white paper to increase supply.

Currently the Government funds a range of home ownership schemes including Help to Buy Equity Loans and Shared Ownership to support key workers to buy a home where they are unable to afford market prices locally. In addition, the Department has been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders to understand better the housing need for NHS staff. The need for affordable homes for NHS staff varies across the country, and we are working with the NHS, local authorities, housing associations and other partners to explore opportunities for supporting local solutions, including the option for NHS organisations to use their surplus land to provide staff housing.

Many NHS organisations provide season ticket loans for staff who apply for them and NHS terms and conditions of service places a responsibility on employers to reimburse staff travel and subsistence expenses incurred in the performance of their NHS duties.

A biosimilar sub group of the Pharmaceutical Market Support Group is working to help the National Health Service achieve benefits from the new biosimilar molecules and to encourage uptake. This work is supported by other activity including the Hospital Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Project work stream of the Lord Carter NHS Productivity & Efficiency Programme and initiatives from NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and manufacturers. Work has focused on identifying efficiency opportunities for specific molecules and as a result a collective assessment of potential savings to the public purse has not been compiled.

In an era of significant economic, demographic and technological challenge it is crucial that patients get the best quality outcomes from medicines. Recent research has given clear evidence that competition between different biological medicines, including biosimilar medicines, creates increased choice for patients and clinicians, and enhanced value propositions for individual medicines. As the range of biosimilar medicines increases, it is important that the NHS plans for their timely, appropriate and cost effective introduction. NHS England in its role as system leader is undertaking a programme of work to support decision makers, such as commissioners, clinicians, pharmacists, patients and others in their consideration of the optimal use of biosimilar medicines.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to the Hon Member for Richmond (Yorks) during Treasury oral questions on 19 April 2016.

One person without a home is one too many. That is why we launched a new £40 million Homelessness Prevention programme to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

This will enable authorities to support vulnerable people, preventing them from becoming homeless, and ensuring those who do have somewhere safe to stay.

The Government carried out an internal review of Shared Ownership policy last year. Following this, the Autumn Statement confirmed £4.1 billion for 135,000 new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2021. It also raised the income cap on Shared Ownership in England from £60,000 to £80,000, removed restrictions on who can buy Shared Ownership homes, enabled existing shared owners to climb the Shared Ownership ladder and removed restrictions on how many bedrooms Shared Ownership buyers can purchase.

The prospectus for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 was launched on 13 April 2016 and invites applications for up to £4.7 billion of funding to increase the supply of new shared ownership and affordable homes.