Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the number of (a) social and (b) affordable housing properties built by developers; and what steps his Department is taking to encourage more affordable housing to be built.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes, both for rent and to buy, right across the country.
The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes, and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.
The government is on track to deliver its target of building around 250,000 affordable homes through the Affordable Homes Programme.
Local planning authorities can secure addition contributions towards affordable housing through section 106 planning obligations.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act contains powers for the Government to create a new mandatory, non-negotiable Infrastructure Levy which will aim to generate more funding for affordable housing and infra-structure to support sustainable development.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the reasons for which some disabled children cannot (a) eat and (b) access free school meals; and whether she plans to make reasonable adjustments to free school meals to help disabled children to access them.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people, and they must make reasonable adjustments to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. This means that a school cannot treat a pupil unfairly as a consequence of their disability.
As it relates to school food, the duty to make reasonable adjustments requires schools to tailor their provision to ensure that it is accessible to disabled pupils. Furthermore, this duty is anticipatory, and so schools need to actively consider whether any reasonable adjustments are needed in order to avoid any disadvantage that may otherwise occur.
The department has updated its existing guidance on free school meals to clarify schools’ duties to make reasonable adjustments for disabled children, and to support productive conversations between schools and parents about suitable food provision. The guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65fdad5965ca2f00117da947/Free_school_meals.pdf.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) short and (b) long term impact of (i) extreme weather and (ii) storms on the economy.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023. It set out policies and actions to respond to the 61 climate risks and opportunities identified in the independent Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), including risks arising from changing climatic conditions and extreme weather events. As part of CCRA3, the Climate Change Committee produced an analysis of the monetary valuation of risks and opportunities, as well as an analysis of the indicative costs and benefits of adaptation.
The Treasury continues to work to determine what additional research and analysis, including economic analysis, is required to ensure robust adaptation.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of climate change on flooding in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s long-term flood and coastal erosion risk management Policy Statement, published in 2020, sets out our ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk.
The Policy Statement recognises that climate change will lead to sea level rise and more extreme rainfall, with an increase in the number of people at risk from flooding and coastal erosion.
It includes five ambitious policies and a number of actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against these risks.
For example, the government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England.
The government published the National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3) in July 2023. The NAP sets the actions that government and others will take to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the UK between 2023 to 2028. This forms part of the 5-yearly cycle of requirements laid down in the Climate Change Act 2008.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether regulations are in place to ensure that reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is not used in the future building of (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) public sector buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The manufacture and sale of RAAC panels is covered by construction products regulations 2013 by the designated standard BS EN 12602:2016. Buildings undergoing “building work” must meet the safety and performance requirements in the building regulations no matter how they are constructed or what materials are used, including RAAC.
The Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE) advise that RAAC can be an appropriate construction material if properly designed, manufactured, installed, and maintained, though they understand that use in UK has declined since 1990.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions of young people there were in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the trend in the number of such convictions.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice holds information on convictions by age group and Police Force Area, covering the period requested. The latest data available, until year ending June 2023, can be obtained in the following published tool: Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.
The tool linked above will allow you to select particular age groups of interest through the age group filter, and areas of the country through the police force area filter.
It is not possible to separately identify all convictions in Preston courts specifically, as those at magistrates’ courts in Preston are counted within the wider geographical area of Lancashire outlined in the first part of the question. Figures for the rest of 2023 will be available in the next update of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly publication, expected in May 2024.
The Ministry of Justice has not carried out any recent location-specific assessment of on how our policies have influenced the trend in the number of children convicted since 2019 in Preston, Lancashire and the North West. However, there has been analysis of the broader national trend, which is a fall in the overall number of children entering the criminal justice system more generally in recent years. Since 2012, the number of first-time entrants to the youth justice system has declined by 72%. This can be attributed to a number of drivers. These include changes to policing and criminal justice practices intended to increase police discretion to divert children who had committed low-level offences from the formal justice system, prevention programmes to support vulnerable families and Youth Offending Teams undertaking prevention work with children perceived to be at risk of offending.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase nursery staff in the North West, in the context of the Government's plans to expand the number of free childcare places.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
By the 2027/28 financial year, the government will expect to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
In February, the department launched a new national recruitment campaign for the early years and childcare sector, ‘Do something BIG. Work with small children’, and a financial incentives pilot. Eligible joiners and returners will receive a tax-free payment of up to £1,000. This followed the introduction of workforce flexibilities to the Early Years Foundation Stage in January.
The department has also introduced Skills Bootcamps for Early Years, which will create a pathway to accelerated Level 3 Early Years Apprenticeships. The number of paid childcare staff in 2023 is estimated at 347,300 compared to 334,400 paid childcare staff in 2022, an increase of 3.86%. Additionally, the department has invested up to £180 million in providing an early years education recovery package of workforce training, qualifications and support and guidance for the early years sector. This includes additional places for early years initial teacher training (EYITT), and new level 3 qualifications criteria for early years educators to ensure higher quality training and better care for children. The new criteria will come into effect from September 2024.
For the North West, the total number of staff working in group and school based providers has increased from 39,394 in 2018 to 42,027 in 2023, an increase of 6.68%.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2024 to Question 11582 on MMR Vaccine: North West, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the lower uptake of MMR2 at five years; and what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of childhood vaccines.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations to which they are entitled. Vaccination rates across the country are too low, particularly in some local areas, and we need a concerted effort to reach the 95% coverage, with two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, required to provide population protection.
The Department works with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England to improve immunisation through diverse delivery methods, making getting vaccinated easier for all, including those in traditionally under-served groups. The UKHSA launched a new multi-media marketing campaign across England on 4 March 2024, to remind parents and carers of the risk of their children missing out on protection against serious diseases that are re-emerging in the country.
There have also been increased outreach efforts to make sure that communities with historically lower uptake are informed of the benefits of vaccines and have access to inclusive resources. For example, in the North West and the Midlands, National Health Service teams are using initiatives like roving clinics, extra vaccination sessions in schools, and community pharmacies to step up their efforts to get more children protected with the MMR vaccine.
The Government supports NHS programmes focused on improving coverage, including regional and national campaigns for polio, and a new targeted national MMR catch-up campaign for children aged six to 11 years old this year, extended to all those aged 11 to 25 years old in London, the West Midlands and the North West. Human papillomavirus infection vaccination catch-ups for adolescents are also taking place.
The NHS Vaccination strategy outlines plans to maximise convenience, with more vaccination services at locations that the public can easily access such as libraries, leisure centres, social clubs or sports grounds, family hubs, support services, and places of worship, or at local cultural and community events, with flexible opening hours and booking options.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to prepare for (a) an avian influenza outbreak and (b) a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department, working with health and care partners, is strengthening pandemic preparedness by considering the flexible and scalable response capabilities that can be adapted to any threat that the health and social care system needs.
These capabilities include stockpiles of critical medicines, an advance purchase agreement for a pandemic specific influenza vaccine, and a long-term strategic partnership with Moderna on vaccine development. These complement core scalable capabilities in the UK Health Security Agency, such as surveillance and diagnostics.
We are carefully monitoring avian influenza globally. The risk to people in the United Kingdom from avian influenza is very low. It is primarily a disease of birds and there is currently no evidence that it can spread more easily to people, or that it can spread between people. We continually review our readiness plans as new evidence emerges.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has held recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the potential impact of planning regulations on the installation of electronic vehicle charging points.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Officials in the Department for Transport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) are exploring potential changes to planning to make it easier to install chargepoints.
In 2023, the Government introduced changes to permitted development rights (PDR), enabling chargepoint operators to install through PDR on behalf of local authorities. On 13 February 2024, DLUHC launched a consultation, seeking to make further changes to PDR. The proposed changes aim to make installations at off-street locations easier and quicker. A government response to the consultation will be issued in due course.