Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using targeted interventions in relation to physical activity in his recovery plan for education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government published its cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan in July 2019, which aims to increase levels of physical activity for all children in England through providing them with greater opportunities to do 60 minutes of physical activity every day inside and outside school. The Government has confirmed its intention to publish an update to this action plan later in 2021 and is working closely with sport organisations through the School Sport and Activity Sector Forum to discuss the Government’s long term approach to physical activity in schools.
Since 2013, the Department has funded a series of grant programmes to increase and improve access to physical education, school sport and physical activity for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Department has provided £10.1 million to open school sport facilities outside of the school day and continues to support the Holiday Activities and Food Fund and Summer Schools programme, which are targeted towards children from lower socio-economic groups and can help to maintain activity over the summer holidays. The Department has confirmed £320 million funding for the physical education and sport premium into the next academic year. Schools are provided with the flexibility to use this funding to meet the needs of their pupils.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that children with disabilities can participate in appropriate physical activity at school in (a) the UK and (b) Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government published its cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan in July 2019, which aims to increase levels of physical activity for all children in England through providing them with greater opportunities to do 60 minutes of physical activity every day inside and outside school. The Government has confirmed its intention to publish an update to this action plan later in 2021 and is working closely with sport organisations through the School Sport and Activity Sector Forum to discuss the Government’s long term approach to physical activity in schools.
Since 2013, the Department has funded a series of grant programmes to increase and improve access to physical education, school sport and physical activity for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Department has provided £10.1 million to open school sport facilities outside of the school day and continues to support the Holiday Activities and Food Fund and Summer Schools programme, which are targeted towards children from lower socio-economic groups and can help to maintain activity over the summer holidays. The Department has confirmed £320 million funding for the physical education and sport premium into the next academic year. Schools are provided with the flexibility to use this funding to meet the needs of their pupils.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a long-term strategy to improve physical activity and wellbeing in young people in (a) the UK and (b) Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government published its cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan in July 2019, which aims to increase levels of physical activity for all children in England through providing them with greater opportunities to do 60 minutes of physical activity every day inside and outside school. The Government has confirmed its intention to publish an update to this action plan later in 2021 and is working closely with sport organisations through the School Sport and Activity Sector Forum to discuss the Government’s long term approach to physical activity in schools.
Since 2013, the Department has funded a series of grant programmes to increase and improve access to physical education, school sport and physical activity for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Department has provided £10.1 million to open school sport facilities outside of the school day and continues to support the Holiday Activities and Food Fund and Summer Schools programme, which are targeted towards children from lower socio-economic groups and can help to maintain activity over the summer holidays. The Department has confirmed £320 million funding for the physical education and sport premium into the next academic year. Schools are provided with the flexibility to use this funding to meet the needs of their pupils.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sector-based Work Academy Programme starters there were in financial year 2020-21 in each region and nation; and how many of those have started a new job as a result.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data for the financial year 2020 – 21 shows that there were a total of 64,500 starts to a Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP). The breakdown of these starts by nation and region is displayed in the following tables:
Table 1: SWAP starts by nation
Nation | Starts |
England | 58,320 |
Scotland | 6,120 |
Unknown | 60 |
Total | 64,500 |
Table 2: SWAP starts by region
Region | Starts |
West Midlands | 5,000 |
Central, East & North Scotland | 4,340 |
South & West Scotland | 1,780 |
London & Essex | 12,950 |
North & East Midlands | 7,800 |
North Central | 6,960 |
North East | 5,550 |
North West | 5,340 |
South East | 8,200 |
South West | 6,510 |
Unknown | 60 |
Total | 64,500 |
Note on above: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10; components may not sum due to rounding. These figures reflect the number of starts by claimants in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Income Support (IS). We do not hold data on the number of participants who have started a job as a result of starting a SWAP.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of school age children linked with knife crime in (a) the UK and (b) Dudley North constituency.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime in all areas, wherever it occurs.
Through the Serious Violence Fund (SVF), the Home Office has invested a total of £242 million over three years in the 18 police force areas most affected by serious violence. Over three years £105.5 million of the SVF has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 areas, with £10,110,000 allocated to the West Midlands PCC to develop the West Midlands VRU. VRUs bring together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the local drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. The remaining £136.5 million of the SVF has been allocated to the same 18 police forces to fund a surge in police operational activity. West Midlands Police have been allocated £15,541,485.00 of this funding.
In addition to the Serious Violence Fund, we have invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). Moreover, this government has awarded an extra £5 million towards the expedited development of a national Centre of Excellence (CofE) to help guide government investment and national policies. In total, 12 grantees in the West Midlands are in receipt of funding from all grant rounds.
Through the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts bill, we have also introduced legislation which will place new duties on a range of specified agencies across different sectors, such as local government, youth offending, and health and probation, to work collaboratively, share data and information, and put in place plans to prevent and reduce serious violence.
In the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we have introduced specific measures to address knife crime, including the introduction of Knife Crime Prevention Orders to help the police target those most at risk of being drawn into serious violence, to set them on a more positive path.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle mental health issues in men; and how many people have accessed mental health services, by gender in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We know that men are less likely to seek help or talk about mental health issues and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights men, especially middle-aged and young men, as a group at high risk of suicide. Every local authority now has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place and we are working with local government to assure the effectiveness of those plans. We have issued guidance to local authorities that highlights the importance of working across all local services, including the voluntary sector, to target high risk groups such as men.
We are expanding and transforming mental health services through the NHS Long Term Plan, to ensure that 380,000 more adults can access psychological therapies by 2023/24. For those with severe needs or in crisis, all National Health Service mental health providers have established 24 hours a day, seven days a week urgent mental health helplines.
The following table shows numbers of referrals and starts for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services and numbers in contact with secondary mental health, learning disability and autism services in each of the last three years for which data is available.
Year* and gender** | Number of people in contact with NHS-funded secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services | Number of referrals to IAPT services | Referrals entering treatment for IAPT services |
2019-20 | 2,878,636 | 1,694,790 | 1,165,653 |
Males | 1,347,739 | 584,151 | 398,153 |
Females | 1,479,739 | 1,094,413 | 761,270 |
|
|
|
|
2018-19 | 2,726,721 | 1,603,643 | 1,092,296 |
Males | 1,310,418 | 561,121 | 378,602 |
Females | 1,403,057 | 1,026,442 | 707,910 |
|
|
|
|
2017-18 | 2,510,745 | 1,439,957 | 1,009,035 |
Males | 1,207,679 | 508,477 | 351,017 |
Females | 1,295,791 | 918,305 | 653,308 |
Notes:
*The number of providers submitting data has increased over the 2017-18 to 2019-20 period, which may account for some of the increase in rates.
** Gender subtotals do not add up to the total number of people because the total includes those for whom gender was invalid or missing.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department's new temporary site on High Street Dudley, will be used to support (a) new and (b) existing customers; and whether that site will be made a permanent location.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has seen an increase in demand for its services and, as a result, is rapidly expanding the space available, on a temporary basis. These offices will supplement the existing Jobcentre network and will serve both existing and new customers.
As the economy recovers and/or social distancing requirements are eased, the Department will look to close the temporary sites, ensuring there is balance in providing essential services for customers with value for money for taxpayers. If, however, any of the new sites offer better, more suitable accommodation than our existing offices the Department may look to retain them.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on co-ordinating a UK-wide response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Secretary of State and I continue to hold regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues and Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.
Although each devolved administration controls its own public health policy, we have been coordinating our responses to Covid, seeking alignment in policy and approach where appropriate, to ensure we were able to tackle the pandemic.
This joined up approach resulted in the UK-wide vaccine rollout for which over 75% of Northern Ireland’s adult population have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It will be important that we maintain this collective approach as we seek to recover from the pandemic.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he plans to provide to people at risk of losing their jobs in Dudley North constituency due to Liberty Steel selling off plants in West Bromwich and Kidderminster.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We recognise that this is an unsettling time for Liberty Steel’s workforce. The Government stands ready to support Liberty’s dedicated employees and their families affected by any developments, should the need arise. However, it is first and foremost the responsibility of the company to manage commercial decisions regarding the future of the organisation.
We hope the company is successful in their endeavours in selling these assets. We will continue to engage closely with company and trade unions as the situation develops. Conversations with Liberty or any other company are, of course, commercially confidential
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to investigate the matter of unclaimed child maintenance payments made by fathers when the child and mother have moved abroad.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service is only able to make a maintenance calculation when the paying parent, receiving parent and qualifying children are all habitually resident in the UK.