Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Preparing for Healthy Relationships toolkit developed by the Mayor of London to address violence against women and girls; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of rolling the toolkit out nationally.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade. Education has a crucial role to play in preventing and tackling harmful behaviour, helping children and young people to develop empathy, boundaries and respect for difference.
Through compulsory relationships education, all pupils will learn how to form positive and respectful relationships and develop an understanding of the concepts and laws around sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The department is reviewing the statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, and as part of this review we are looking at how to ensure that the guidance equips pupils, starting in primary, to form healthy and respectful relationships. We are analysing consultation responses, talking to stakeholders and considering relevant evidence to determine how this can fully complement our wider actions to tackle VAWG. Ministers have been clear that the RSHE guidance must support schools to tackle misogynistic attitudes and help students gain the knowledge and skills needed to develop healthy relationships.
We are currently considering how best to support teachers to deliver high-quality RSHE and are aware of many of the programmes and toolkits already in place, including the Healthy Relationships toolkit developed by Tender and launched by the Mayor of London, which we understand is free for schools to use if they wish. As with other curriculum subjects, the department does not advise schools on which resources, external speakers or organisations to use, not least because schools operate in a variety of different contexts and have both the expertise and knowledge that makes them best placed to make these decisions. The department does not endorse or promote third-party resources to schools.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraphs 7.2 to 7.4 of her Department’s publication entitled Final stage impact assessment: Improve access to Statutory Sick Pay by removing the Lower Earnings Limit and removing the waiting period, published on 21 October 2024, what estimate she has made of the proportion of sickness absences that last at least four weeks; and what average length of sickness absence was estimated to calculate the annual cost of Statutory Sick Pay for businesses.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no administrative data collected or recorded when an employee takes a sickness absence. The best evidence available uses findings from the Employee Survey (Employee research Phase 2: Sickness absence and return to work. Quantitative and qualitative research: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64108286d3bf7f02f6e38078/employee-research-phase-2-sickness-absence-and-return-to-work-quantitative-qualitative.pdf.)
The survey showed that 64% of respondents had no sickness absence. Of those that do have a sickness absence, 13% of those who have a sickness absence reported an absence of more than 3 weeks. The majority of sickness absences were for up to a week (57%) followed by between 1 to 2 weeks (20%), and between 2 to 3 weeks (10%). These figures demonstrate that when workers took sickness absence, it was usually for a short period of time.
Of those who have had a sickness absence, many would receive Occupational Sick Pay. The Employee Survey findings suggest 57% of employees said they would receive OSP, while a further 9% said they would receive some combination of both SSP and OSP. 26% would receive SSP, while the remaining 8% do not know.
The estimated cost to business of SSP reforms is derived from a simulation model that incorporates raw sickness absence data from the DWP Employee Survey 2023 alongside characteristic information from the Family Resources Survey. (Family Resources Survey: financial year 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK)
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated to (a) Salford City Council and (b) Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.for road maintenance in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2025-26.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Both Salford City Council and Wigan Metropolitan Borough are constituent members of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA). During 2024/25, the Government allocated funds to GMCA through its City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), which includes consolidated funding for highway maintenance funding for all its constituent authorities. In addition to this funding, during 2024/25 GMCA received a £4.4 million funding uplift as part of the previous Government’s Network North plan.
For 2025/26, GMCA will receive an Integrated Settlement from the Government, into which CRSTS will be consolidated. In addition to this funding, GMCA will receive an additional £14.8 million from the highway maintenance funding uplift announced in this Government’s 2024 Budget.
Funding allocations for CRSTS and highway maintenance are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department is taking steps to integrate hydrogen into the National Grid.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Blending low carbon hydrogen into the existing gas networks may have value, in certain circumstances, to support the early development of the hydrogen economy and the wider energy system.
The Government remains committed to assessing the case for hydrogen blending into the gas transmission network. This work aims to gather evidence on the feasibility, costs and benefits of hydrogen blending.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time for asylum decisions; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the average time.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The average time taken to process a substantive decision is not currently available from published data, and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement summary tables’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within 6 months is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operate swiftly.
As a result, asylum decision making increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024.
The Home Office continues to take action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the abolition of NHS England on the (a) consultation on NHS Right to Choose ADHD changes and (b) use of feedback from that consultation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers will work with the new transformation team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to lead this transformation. As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.
The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job; we will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up and getting waiting times down.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of work in Worsley and Eccles constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of employees receiving Statutory Sick Pay whose period of sickness absence reaches (a) one, (b) four, (c) six, (d) eight, (e) sixteen and (f) twenty-eight weeks.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As Statutory Sick Pay is administered and paid by employers, this information is not held by government. Therefore, we are not able to make an assessment of the proportion of employees who are currently receiving Statutory Sick Pay for specific periods of sickness absence.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce the time taken to (i) investigate and (ii) review research and development tax credit claims and (b) support small businesses to access tax relief schemes available to them.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
When HMRC receives an R&D relief claim, it goes through a risk assessment process. New additional information requirements mean HMRC can more accurately identify claims that may not be compliant and reduce the number of valid claims being picked for a compliance check.
The length of a compliance check will depend however on a range of factors, including the complexity of the claim and customer engagement. At Autumn Budget, HMRC published the Approach to Research and Development Tax Reliefs for 2023 to 2024, which shows that the average time to complete a compliance check for 2023-24 was 246 days, down from 269 days in 2022-23.
HMRC processed 92% of R&D claims within 40 days in 2023 to 2024. This is above HMRC’s published customer service aim to process 85% of claims within 40 days of receipt. Processing means paying the claim, making contact to request further information, or refusing the claim, and, for claims identified as high-risk, starting an appropriately targeted compliance check.
Small businesses are vital to high streets and communities, and essential to the success of the government’s growth mission. The Government recognises the important role tax reliefs, including the R&D reliefs, play in strengthening small businesses’ ability to invest and grow.
Whilst it is right that HMRC is taking action to address error and fraud, the government is committed to responding to stakeholder feedback and improving administration to ensure the R&D reliefs continue to support our most innovative businesses.
Asked by: Michael Wheeler (Labour - Worsley and Eccles)
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 increase access to NHS dentistry in Worsley and Eccles constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For Worsley and Eccles constituency, this is the NHS Greater Manchester ICB.
ICBs have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.