Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions (a) he and (b) officials in his Department have had with counterparts in the EU to support improvements to the (a) road, (b) rail and (c) ports infrastructure in south eastern Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Duncan
FCO Ministers have discussed support for south eastern Ukraine with EU counterparts on a number of occasions. I did so most recently at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 18 February. My officials have also discussed the provision of such support with the European External Action Service and European Commission in Brussels, and with the EU Delegation in Kyiv. In January, the EU led a scoping visit to south eastern Ukraine, including the city of Mariupol, to assess what further actions might be required, including to improve infrastructure. As part of on-going donor coordination efforts, UK officials frequently discuss with other international donors and the Ukrainian government how best to support Ukraine's infrastructure needs.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the funding per pupil at (a) primary and ( b) secondary school in Kent in (i) 2018-19 and (ii) 2019-20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below shows the per pupil funding allocated to Kent from the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2018-19 and 2019-20:
| Primary | Secondary |
2018-19 | £3,724 | £4,781 |
2019-20 | £3,793 | £4,941 |
These figures do not include funding allocated through the growth, premises, or mobility factors of the national funding formula, which are not distributed on a per pupil basis but total £28.9 million in Kent in 2018-19, and £29.9 million in 2019-20.
Schools also receive funding through several other sources, such as the high needs block of the DSG, from which Kent was allocated £200.8 million in 2018-19; and the Pupil Premium, through which schools in Kent received £57.7 million in 2018-19.
To provide stability for schools, local authorities will continue to be responsible for designing the distribution of funding in their areas in 2018-19 through to 2020-21. Because of this, the actual per pupil amount that schools receive may be different from the amount they are attracting through the national funding formula.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of infrastructure works on the (a) M20 contraflow and (b) M26 alterations in 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Preparatory infrastructure works have been conducted by Highways England on the M20 and M26 in Kent as part of contingency traffic management measures, known as Operation Brock. Operation Brock has been designed to ensure that, unlike Operation Stack, the M20 will be kept open and traffic will continue to flow in both directions at times of cross-Channel disruption. As part of this, implementing the contraflow queuing system between Junctions 8 and 9 on the M20 will cost approximately £30 million to build and operate. The works to prepare the M26 for the potential use as a temporary HGV storage area are in the region of £5 million. The costs of these works will fall within the financial year 2018/19.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what financial assistance the Government plans to allocate to Ukraine in each of the next three years.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK is a major donor to Ukraine. In 2019/20 the British Government will provide more than £35 million in support for Ukraine, which includes assistance to combat corruption and support reform as well as vital humanitarian support and peacebuilding activities. The allocations are made on an annual funding cycle.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the ability of GTR to introduce a fast train service from Maidstone East to London in December 2019.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department is committed to improving regular services between Maidstone and the City as soon as possible. The industry is currently finalising the May 2019 timetable before developing further changes, with the next being in December 2019. I will provide an update in advance of December 2019 once these changes have been finalised.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the merits of extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet.
Answered by Andrew Jones
At this crucial stage of the Crossrail project, it is essential that Government remains focused on the full delivery of the current agreed scheme as its priority.
The promoters of the Crossrail to Ebbsfleet scheme have recently submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case to Government which is being considered. Any extension to the Elizabeth line would require a strong business case with a detailed evidence base that demonstrates the scheme would be both technically feasible and offer value for money, and also include the identification of funding.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to introduce mandatory disability equality training for taxi drivers.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) provide a vital service for many disabled people. However, as of March last year, only 38% of licensing authorities required drivers to complete disability awareness and equality training; I would urge the remainder to use their existing licensing powers to ensure that all taxi and PHV drivers have the knowledge and skills necessary to provide every passenger with the assistance they require.
This year we intend to consult on revised best practice guidance for taxi and PHV licensing authorities which will recommend that authorities require drivers to complete disability awareness and equality training and take robust action against those found to have discriminated against disabled passengers.
Ministers are also considering the recommendations made in the report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, including the introduction of mandatory disability equality and awareness training. A Government response will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of waiting times in mental health services for initial treatment for children at the North-East London Foundation Trust.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has introduced two waiting time standards for children and young people and are on track to meet both of these standards. The first aims for 95% of children (up to 19 years old) with eating disorders to receive treatment within a week for urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases by 2020/21. 81.3% of children and young people’s eating disorder patients started urgent treatment within one week and 80.2% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks in April to June 2018. The second aims for 50% of patients of all ages experiencing a first episode of psychosis to receive treatment within two weeks of referral. Nationally, the National Health Service is exceeding the target, with 76.2% of patients started treatment within two weeks in November 2018.
West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group, working with North East London Foundation Trust, continues to embed new service modelling and transform services for children and young people in Kent. The new model provides a Single Point of Access along with clear and seamless pathways to support ranging from Universal ‘Early Help’ through to highly specialist care with better transition between services. During the initial six months the service underwent significant changes designed to address access and treatment waiting times. This included the provision of a Crisis Service with additional capacity, digital therapy access offers and national and local recruitment campaigns to increase capacity and resource.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
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 reduce waiting times for children receiving initial mental health treatment in West Kent.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has introduced two waiting time standards for children and young people and are on track to meet both of these standards. The first aims for 95% of children (up to 19 years old) with eating disorders to receive treatment within a week for urgent cases and four weeks for routine cases by 2020/21. 81.3% of children and young people’s eating disorder patients started urgent treatment within one week and 80.2% of patients started routine treatment within four weeks in April to June 2018. The second aims for 50% of patients of all ages experiencing a first episode of psychosis to receive treatment within two weeks of referral. Nationally, the National Health Service is exceeding the target, with 76.2% of patients started treatment within two weeks in November 2018.
West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group, working with North East London Foundation Trust, continues to embed new service modelling and transform services for children and young people in Kent. The new model provides a Single Point of Access along with clear and seamless pathways to support ranging from Universal ‘Early Help’ through to highly specialist care with better transition between services. During the initial six months the service underwent significant changes designed to address access and treatment waiting times. This included the provision of a Crisis Service with additional capacity, digital therapy access offers and national and local recruitment campaigns to increase capacity and resource.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of HGVs that can be accommodated on a temporary basis on the M26.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is working with Highways England and other key stakeholders to finalise the Operation Brock plans. Operation Brock consists of three phases, involving a contraflow queuing system on the M20, and holding areas at Manston Airport and finally, and only if necessary, on the M26.
The initial assessment made by Highways England is that the M26 could potentially accommodate up to 2300 HGVs if all running lanes on both carriageways were utilised, subject to the necessary health and safety risk assessments.