Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support future funding of county councils.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
At Spending Review 2021, the Government provided councils in England with £4.8 billion of new grant funding between 2022-23 and 2024-25.
Recognising that inflation is higher than it was when these budgets were set, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that local authorities will have access to up to an additional £2.8 billion in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 for social care and other services, which is of particular benefit to county councils.
The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed an increase in total Core Spending Power for local authorities of 9.4%.
Decisions on spending beyond 2024-25 will be taken at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on encouraging schools to appoint mental health leads.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
There are 399 operational Mental Health Support Teams now in place, supporting over 3 million children and young people. That means we have already achieved our 35% coverage target, 8 months ahead of schedule.
I am planning to deliver an additional 101 teams by spring 2024 taking us to 500. The NIHR – who undertook a review of the programme – found that 77% of children and young people surveyed saw positive improvements in their mental health and wellbeing. We have also set an ambition for all state schools and colleges to train a senior mental health lead by 2025-26 in 10 state-funded secondary schools in England now have a dedicated mental health lead.
I am thankful to the support of the Department for Education in supporting this rollout.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to identify congested sections of the A5 between Hinckley and Tamworth that can be improved through the Third Road Investment Strategy.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
To help identify the current pressures and future needs of the strategic road network, National Highways is developing its route strategies for the third road period. The Hinckley to Tamworth section of the A5 has been considered principally within the South Midlands route strategy. National Highways has developed a number of objectives for the route and identified a series of potential areas for further investigation. The interim findings will be published shortly alongside the Department’s consultation on RIS3.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the A5 between Hinckley and Tamworth is considered for future improvements as part of the Third Road Investment Strategy.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
On 9 March 2023, the Secretary of State for Transport made a statement to Parliament. This set out that schemes originally being considered as part of the pipeline of schemes for potential inclusion in the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) between 2025 and 2030 will continue to be developed to an appropriate stage, but for consideration for inclusion during RIS4 (beyond 2030). This includes the A5 Hinckley to Tamworth scheme.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Demand Responsive Transport schemes; and whether his Department is taking steps to support the expansion of Demand Responsive Transport scheme trials such as Fox Connect and its extension to Bosworth.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Our £20m Rural Mobility Fund is supporting 17 innovative, demand-led minibus trials in rural and suburban areas. A monitoring and evaluation process is in place. We expect to publish interim findings in the first half of 2023, further findings in late 2023/early 2024, and the final findings in 2025 in the form of written reports. However, the exact timings and dissemination approach will be determined closer to the time.
There are no current plans for further bespoke DRT funding from the Department for Transport. Expansion of the ‘Fox Connect’ pilot scheme to include Bosworth would be a matter for Leicestershire County Council.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with NHS England on ensuring the (i) adequacy and (ii) consistency of treatment pathways for children living with (A) PANS and (B) PANDAS; and what steps he is taking to ensure that children living with (1) PANS and (2) PANDAS and their parents receive adequate (x) information and (y) support to take informed decisions on care pathway options.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such discussions with NHS England have taken place or are planned at present. Should the evidence base develop further, clinical policy may be updated by relevant organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NHS England would then consider the development of care pathways for those living with PANS and PANDAS. In the meantime, integrated care systems are responsible for planning care for their populations.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Civil Aviation Authority's letter of 9 June 2002 to airlines and airports on standards of provision for disabled and less mobile passengers, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress by (a) airlines and (b) airports on improving the accessibility of air travel.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Aviation accessibility is a priority for Government, and the Department are working alongside the CAA to ensure that disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility have the assistance they require to travel with ease.
Following the letter on 9 June 2022, the CAA published additional guidance to airports on providing assistance services. Due to the disruption seen during the summer, the CAA published an interim report on the performance of airports against its accessibility framework in December 2022. The report showed improvement or maintenance of good service across a number of the airports assessed, but also highlighted airports requiring further improvement. The CAA will continue to monitor and work with these airports on plans to implement improvements and publish its usual annual report later this year. The CAA will soon publish a consultation on development of an airline accessibility framework, similar to the existing airport framework.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the Civil Aviation Authority has made in ensuring that air travel is accessible for all passengers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Aviation accessibility is a priority for Government, and the Department are working alongside the CAA to ensure that disabled passengers and those with reduced mobility have the assistance they require to travel with ease.
Following the letter on 9 June 2022, the CAA published additional guidance to airports on providing assistance services. Due to the disruption seen during the summer, the CAA published an interim report on the performance of airports against its accessibility framework in December 2022. The report showed improvement or maintenance of good service across a number of the airports assessed, but also highlighted airports requiring further improvement. The CAA will continue to monitor and work with these airports on plans to implement improvements and publish its usual annual report later this year. The CAA will soon publish a consultation on development of an airline accessibility framework, similar to the existing airport framework.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on delivering fast and reliable broadband in (a) Bosworth constituency and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In January 2019, only 0.2% of premises in the Bosworth constituency had access to fast, reliable gigabit-capable broadband (speeds over over 1,000Mbps). That figure has leapt to over 67% today. During the same period, gigabit-capable coverage across Leicestershire has risen from 1.7% to over 70% today.
We are committed to increasing this coverage further through Project Gigabit, the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. As part of this, we have begun launching procurements that give subsidies to broadband suppliers to build gigabit-capable infrastructure to premises that will not be reached by suppliers’ commercial plans alone.
Up to 2,900 premises in the Bosworth constituency are likely to be included in our Leicestershire and Warwickshire procurement, which is expected to launch in the coming weeks.
The Bosworth constituency has also made good use of our Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband. More than 50 premises in the constituency have claimed and received payment for a voucher through the scheme, with a value of almost £85,000.
Alongside this, Leicestershire County Council is delivering a GigaHubs project, funded by Building Digital UK, which includes 12 sites in the Bosworth constituency. The sites will act as hubs bringing gigabit-capable broadband into the heart of hard-to-reach communities for the first time, making it more commercially attractive for suppliers to deliver gigabit connectivity to the surrounding communities.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on delivering fast and reliable broadband throughout the UK.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Over 74% of premises across the UK can now access gigabit-capable broadband, up from just 6% in 2019.
Project Gigabit is the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver fast, reliable broadband across the UK. More than £1 billion of public subsidy has been made available to broadband suppliers to extend their gigabit-capable networks to rural and hard to reach parts of the country. To date, we have awarded six contracts in locations from Cornwall to Cumbria, and we have launched a further 15 procurements, which combined will deliver fast, reliable broadband to up to 748,000 premises that would have otherwise missed out.
Support is also available for homes and businesses through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The voucher scheme provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses in rural areas towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects. To date, almost 84,000 vouchers have been used to connect premises to gigabit-capable broadband.