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.
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, when his Department plans to publish (a) the full impact assessment and (b) equality impact assessment of the changes to the length of time between cervical cancer screenings.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Both the impact assessment and the equality impact assessment on the changes to the frequency of cervical screening have been published and are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cervical-screening-risk-stratification-impact-assessments
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 his Department is taking to help tackle staff shortages in cancer care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will continue to ensure that we train the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it, and the cancer plan will reflect this. We will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients. The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve outcomes for people living with cancer.
NHS England is currently improving the recruitment of radiographers and radiologists to improve earlier diagnosis and treatment of cancer, through a range of different initiatives. This includes increasing priority medical specialities, including clinical oncologists. We are also supporting employers to train new radiographers through the apprenticeship pathway. Furthermore, we will ensure that imaging training academies can increase training capacity in addition to reforming training to support rapid development for both radiologists and radiographers.
Asked by: Marie Goldman (Liberal Democrat - Chelmsford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will ensure that claimants in receipt of an indefinite award for the mobility part of PIP can receive a Blue Badge for the same period.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Blue Badge holders generally must reapply for a Blue Badge every three years; this gives local authorities the opportunity to ensure that they continue to meet the criteria which make them eligible for a badge. It also helps ensure that the details local authorities hold about the badge holder remain correct and that the details displayed on the badge itself remain legible. Depending on the circumstances an authority may choose not to reassess.
In cases where a person's disability or condition is unlikely to change, local authorities will generally process applications as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once a person’s data is captured on the system it should become easier and less time-consuming for them to reapply for a new badge ahead of their current one expiring.