Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has provided to local authorities on identifying young people with special educational needs.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Part Three of the Children and Families Act 2014, imposes a range of duties on local authorities in England in relation to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their areas, or for whom they are otherwise responsible. These include:
The 2014 Act requires my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, to issue a code of practice giving guidance to local authorities, and others, about the exercise of their functions under Part Three of the Act, to which they must have regard. This statutory guidance is the ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (2015), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.
Local authorities must publish a summary of comments at least annually. All local areas are subject to robust SEND inspections, and Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have just commenced a strengthened local inspection framework, which does include judgements about the Local Offer where appropriate. Where a local area’s Local Offer is identified as a significant weakness by Ofsted/CQC, the department provides intervention and support to secure improvement.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many exclusions of (a) SEN and (b) other pupils there were in schools in the Cleethorpes constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes figures from the school census on permanent exclusions and suspensions from state funded schools in England. The latest full academic year figures are for the academic year 2020/21 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-in-england/2020-21.
The attached table provides the number of permanent exclusions and suspensions for pupils with and without special educational needs (SEN) at state funded schools in Cleethorpes constituency between 2018/19 and 2020/21.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the impact of industrial action in December 2022 on the rail freight sector in transporting commodities over the Christmas period.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Government continues to work closely with Network Rail (NR) and Freight Operating Companies (FOCs) to ensure as much freight as possible is able to continue to move throughout the industrial action planned over the Christmas period. We are ensuring that critical freight flows are prioritised and we continue to monitor the impacts on specific sectors, through our engagement with other Government Departments.
During periods of industrial action, approximately 20% of rail freight services operate on strike days, returning to around 70% on the day after a strike.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the domestic Air Passenger Duty band announced on 22 July 2022 on the number of passengers travelling by train between UK cities.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced that, from April 2023, it will introduce a new reduced domestic band of Air Passenger Duty (APD) set at £6.50 for economy passengers. The new domestic band will cover flights between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in order to support connectivity across the UK. As a result, around 9 million passengers will pay lower rates of APD in 2023-24.
The Government will also introduce a new ultra long-haul band, which will ensure that those who fly furthest, and have the greatest environmental impact, will pay the most.
The announcement of these reforms to APD followed the 2021 consultation on aviation tax reform, full details of which can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-aviation-tax-reform. On 20 July 2022, the legislation and tax information and impact note (TIIN) was published in draft on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-passenger-duty-banding-reforms-from-april-2023. The TIIN provides a summary of impacts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic rail ridership fluctuated widely, with the Government providing more than £16 billion of funding for rail passenger services from when it started until now. This is in addition to over £35 billion of capital investment over the Spending Review period including High Speed Two, rail enhancements and vital renewals to boost connectivity across the country – focusing on the Midlands and the North.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to maximise opportunities for growing rail freight.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government remains committed to growing rail freight and unlocking the economic and environmental benefits rail freight can deliver.
Between 2014-2019, the Government invested over £235m in the Strategic Freight Network (SFN) and further investments are being confirmed and announced through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside representing the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body, what the monthly operating costs are of the Restoration and Renewal Programme, (a) in total and (b) by spending on (i) employment/salaries, (ii) planning and( iii) works.
Answered by Mark Tami - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Restoration and Renewal Programme comprises the Sponsor Body and the Delivery Authority. The monthly operating costs shown below are an average of the total costs for April to December 2021 for each organisation.
a) The total monthly operating costs of the Programme is £9.5m.
b) Monthly operating costs for (i) employment/salaries, (ii) planning and (iii) works are set out in the table below.
| Sponsor Body |
| Delivery Authority | Total |
Employment/Salaries (£m)* | 0.4 |
| 1.2 | 1.6 |
Planning (£m)** | 0.6 |
| 4.0 | 4.6 |
Works (£m)*** | 0.0 |
| 3.3 | 3.3 |
Monthly average (£m) | 1.0 |
| 8.5 | 9.5 |
Notes
*All directly employed staff and all interims.
** Includes all other spend not covered in Employment/ Salaries and Works - Data & Digital, outsourced Programme Management Services (Programme Management, Programme Delivery, Programme Development, Health & Safety, Assurance & Quality) and all non-staff corporate costs (accommodation etc.).
*** Includes all spend on the three main projects of the Programme (Palace of Westminster, House of Lords Decant and Heritage). The majority of this spend is on design costs, but also includes surveys and integrated team costs. It should be noted the projects are currently in the Concept Design (PoW/HoL Decant) or Preparation and Brief stage (Heritage), so there are no construction costs associated with these works.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question
To ask the Right hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside representing the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body, what the latest estimate is that the Delivery Authority has submitted to the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body regarding the overall cost of the Restoration and Renewal Programme.
Answered by Mark Tami - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority have been working to the mandate set out in the resolutions of both Houses in early 2018 and the Parliamentary Buildings (Restoration and Renewal) Act 2019 to prepare a Programme Business Case for the works to restore and renew the Palace of Westminster.
The approach to developing a Programme Business Case was confirmed and agreed with the House Commissions following a Strategic Review of the Restoration and Renewal Programme in early 2021. That Programme Business Case was planned to be presented to both Houses in 2023 and, as part of the normal process of developing such a Business Case, information is regularly shared between the Delivery Authority and Sponsor Body for review, scrutiny, challenge and guidance.
In recent months, the Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority have, for the first time, brought together an initial consolidated view of a preliminary cost and schedule range for an option known as the R&R Essential Scheme. This initial estimate reflects emerging thoughts, approximately half way through the planned period for developing the Programme Business Case. This does not represent a formal cost estimate and remains subject to a considerable amount of further work, planned for the next year.
The House of Commons Commission has recently requested that the Sponsor Body publishes this information and a copy will be placed in the House of Commons Library shortly.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of jobs that could be created by the (a) transition towards electric vehicles and (b) implementation of a zero emissions vehicle mandate.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The automotive sector is an important part of the Government’s plans for green growth, levelling up across our country and driving emissions to net zero by 2050.
The Government is committed to support the 149,000 jobs in the automotive sector across the UK, as they transition to a zero emission future.
As part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, we are allocating a further £350 million for the Automotive Transformation Fund, as part of our £1 billion commitment to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain including gigafactories.
Recent investment announcements by Nissan, Stellantis and Ford will support thousands of highly skilled, green jobs in the UK, and many more across the supply chain.
As set out in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, up to 60,000 jobs are expected to be supported by ZEV manufacturing by 2050. Specific numbers of jobs created by the ZEV mandate would be dependent on the design of the framework. This is something that the Government will be analysing as we develop specific proposals.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Policy Exchange report entitled Charging up, published on 2 February 2021, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the number of electric vehicle charging points needed to meet demand across the UK are installed by 2030.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK has been a global front-runner in supporting provision of charging infrastructure along with private sector investment. Our vision is to have one of the best infrastructure networks in the world for electric vehicles (EVs), and we want chargepoints to be accessible, affordable and secure. The number of public chargepoints available has increased by 33% in the past 12 months from October 2020 to October 2021.
We will invest over £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years, targeting support on rapid chargepoints on motorways and major roads, and installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car. Our grant schemes and the £400m Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund will see thousands more electric vehicle charge-points installed across the UK.
Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will focus on how we will unlock the chargepoint rollout needed to enable the transition from early adoption to mass market uptake of EVs. We will set out our next steps to address barriers to private investment and level up charge point provision. The strategy will clearly establish Government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the planning and deployment of charging infrastructure.
Alongside the Strategy, to increase confidence in the charging network and reduce range anxiety the Government is working with industry to simplify payment, ensure reliability and make chargepoint data freely available, helping drivers easily locate and access available chargepoints. In Spring 2021 we consulted on measures to improve the consumer experience of public charging and we will publish our response this winter and are seeking to lay legislation in the new year.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Brigg and Immingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 24 of the Net Zero Strategy, what his Department's implementation timeline is for the zero emissions vehicle mandate; and what the next steps his Department plans to take are in respect of the zero emissions vehicle mandate.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
As referenced in the Net Zero Strategy, the Government has committed to introducing a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, setting targets for a percentage of manufacturers’ new car and van sales to be zero emission each year, from 2024.
The Government is currently analysing responses to the consultation, and will publish a full Government response in due course.
Following publication of the Government’s response to the consultation, we will work to bring forward specific proposals. The first of these will most likely be in Spring 2022, with regulatory proposals for cars and vans.