Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of free school meals on educational attainment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has not recently made a formal assessment of the links between free school meals and educational outcomes.
Nutritious food plays an important role in the development of healthy eating habits and ensures that pupils can concentrate and learn. That is why the department spends over £1 billion annually providing free meals to the greatest ever proportion of school children. Over one third of children are now eligible for free school meals, compared to one in six in 2010. This increase has been driven by the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals in 2014, as well as the department’s generous Universal Credit transitional protections put in place in 2018.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle inequalities in access to digital technologies in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston; and what estimate she has made of the number of households without internet access in (i) the North West, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) Preston.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been clear that no one should be left behind in the digital age. We will take steps to ensure support for the most urgent priorities. For example, we are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit to bring gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach communities.
According to thinkbroadband.com, only 0.5% of premises in the North-West, 0.6% in Lancashire, and less than 0.1% in Preston are unable to access a decent broadband connection of 10Mbps download, 1Mbps upload. These premises may be able to request an improved connection through the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) if their current connection falls below these speeds.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his fiscal policies of the report by Oxfam International entitled Inequality Inc., published on 15 January 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Distributional analysis published at Spring Budget 2024 shows that the overall level of public spending received and tax paid by households continues to be highly redistributive.
The UK has mechanisms for taxing wealth across many different economic activities, including acquisition, holding, transfer and disposal of assets and income derived from assets. The UK also has a progressive income tax system – the top 5% of taxpayers were projected to pay nearly half of all income tax in 2023-24.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to help ensure that public services are available to (a) individuals and (b) households without internet access.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
All new public services therefore must adhere to the Government Service Standards, which require Departments to provide a service that meets the needs of all users, across a range of channels. These channels include phone, paper, and face-to-face as options for both individuals or households that do not have access to the internet, or lack the confidence to use it.
Service teams are required to provide evidence that their service meets these standards, as part of which they undertake rigorous user testing for both online and offline services.