Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to help ensure that children are safeguarded in cases where allegations of parental abuse have been made but no formal legal restrictions are yet in place.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The welfare of children is the paramount concern in family proceedings.
Established multi-agency safeguarding arrangements are in place to ensure that children are protected swiftly and effectively in both public and private family proceedings. Where needed, there are clear referral routes for communicating cases to Local Authorities. These procedures ensure that concerns about the immediate welfare of children are identified and escalated promptly with the appropriate agencies.
This government is delivering a package of reform to the family courts to ensure that children continue to be safeguarded and supported. This includes the expansion of the Pathfinder programme, which promotes child safeguarding through early multi-agency collaboration, expert domestic abuse support, and greater emphasis on the voice of the child.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing single-parent specific work coaches.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Parents claiming Universal Credit have support from Work Coaches, who provide individual, tailored help to all customers across the country. This includes supporting the development of skills needed to look for and obtain sustained employment, advice to parents on childcare support and funding through Flexible Support Fund to remove immediate barriers to employment.
We are also considering how we can improve our employment support to parents as part of our Child Poverty Strategy.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department’s review of Universal Credit will consider (a) the potential impact and effectiveness of the conditionality scheme and (b) the necessity of sanctions for lead carers of children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The review of Universal Credit is exploring the policy design and structures of Universal Credit and is focused on three main areas:
We have already shown our ambition with the changes made to the Fair Repayment Rate, enabling 1.2m households to retain an average of £420 per year.
Conditionality and sanctions are not in scope of the review. We do, however, continuously review both the policy and how they are applied, as well as how they affect claimants and their outcomes.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot extending the newly recognised refugee move-on period.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 27 August, the Home Office announced that the 56-day “move on” grace period pilot will pause for all single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision. Other who fall within the exception criteria (pregnant women, individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with a disability) will continue to be given the 56-day pilot move on period until the end of December.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office and we will publish the results of that evaluation in due course.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her criteria are for making the extension of the newly recognised refugee move-on period permanent.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 27 August, the Home Office announced that the 56-day “move on” grace period pilot will pause for all single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision. Other who fall within the exception criteria (pregnant women, individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with a disability) will continue to be given the 56-day pilot move on period until the end of December.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office and we will publish the results of that evaluation in due course.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that changes to the move-on pilot for newly recognised refugees are announced in advance of the end date.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 27 August, the Home Office announced that the 56-day “move on” grace period pilot will pause for all single adults in receipt of a positive asylum decision. Other who fall within the exception criteria (pregnant women, individuals aged 65 and over and individuals with a disability) will continue to be given the 56-day pilot move on period until the end of December.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office and we will publish the results of that evaluation in due course.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the NHS is sufficiently staffed over summer holiday periods.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual NHS Trusts and other providers are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient staff to provide safe care.
Trusts already have a duty to regularly review the number of staff and range of skills needed to safely meet the needs of people using their services.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the number of places funded by the Educational Psychology Funded Training scheme on the number of educational psychologist staff.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently supporting the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, trainees starting from 2024 who have had their training funded by the department will be required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period of three years after graduation.
The department does not hold information on what proportion of assistant educational psychologists left the profession before becoming fully qualified educational psychologists.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of assistant educational psychologists left the profession before becoming fully qualified educational psychologists in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently supporting the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, trainees starting from 2024 who have had their training funded by the department will be required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period of three years after graduation.
The department does not hold information on what proportion of assistant educational psychologists left the profession before becoming fully qualified educational psychologists.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with local authorities to help assistant educational psychologists progress their careers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently supporting the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, trainees starting from 2024 who have had their training funded by the department will be required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period of three years after graduation.
The department does not hold information on what proportion of assistant educational psychologists left the profession before becoming fully qualified educational psychologists.