Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of children that are looked-after in (a) the North East and (b) the UK.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The latest information on the numbers and rates of children looked after (CLA) in England as of 31 March 2023, including in the North East, can be found in the 'CLA numbers and rates per 10,000 children aged under 18 years - LA' table in the statistical release ‘Children looked after in England including adoptions’, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/213d8053-d566-431e-96a7-08dc1cb7c782.
The department publishes statistics for CLA in England only. Similar statistics for other countries in the UK are the responsibility of the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to tackle liver disease in the North East.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Northern Cancer Alliance is supporting services to enable the early detection of liver disease across the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS). More than 80% of patients with liver cirrhosis, a type of liver disease, have been invited to monthly ultrasound surveillance. This investment has also included £30,000 for the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust who will be using their funds to improve systems in relation to call and recall of patients to their six-monthly checks.
Liver disease has several causes and can be associated with alcohol use or being overweight. The Government is investing significant amounts year on year in alcohol treatment through our 10-year drug strategy. In 2024/2025 the North East will receive a further £27 million, beyond funding provided by the Public Health Grant. Partners are also using a whole system approach to develop a healthy weight and treating obesity strategy for the North East and North Cumbria.
The Department is supporting people with alcohol dependency through the Drug Strategy and NHS Long Term Plan by facilitating more people in need of treatment into local authority commissioned alcohol treatment services. Additional treatment and recovery funding, made available through the Drug Strategy, can also be used to increase capacity for screening for liver fibrosis in treatment settings and to establish effective referral pathways into treatment for liver disease.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to extend the time limit for Criminal injuries Compensation Claims for victims of sexual abuse.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012 (the Scheme) exists to compensate for serious physical or psychological injury attributable to being a direct victim of a crime of violence. As the Scheme is publicly funded, strict eligibility criteria apply.
There are already special arrangements in place for people applying for compensation for an injury sustained in childhood, and in all cases where a claim is made outside of the applicable time limit they can be considered in exceptional circumstances.
We recently held a public consultation on potential reforms to change the length of time people have to submit a claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. We asked for views on increasing the time limits for child victims of sexual abuse, as well as other violent crimes, and on increasing them for all applicants. We will make decisions about whether to amend the time limits as soon as possible in 2024 as part of our comprehensive review of the Scheme.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has allocated to Darlington Borough Council for (a) pothole and (b) other road repairs in each year since 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Funding for pothole and road maintenance in Darlington is allocated to Tees Valley Combined Authority, not the borough council.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides on bereavement support for children in educational settings.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Losing a loved one can be a devastating experience for a child. Schools can play an essential role in supporting children with bereavement by providing effective pastoral support and ensuring there is a supportive school culture.
Schools are best placed to decide what pastoral support each pupil needs, including for children who have experienced a bereavement. To help schools make informed decisions about what support to provide, the department is offering every state school in England funding to train a senior mental health lead who can oversee a whole-school approach to mental wellbeing.
This training equips mental health leads to identify pupils or groups of pupils, which could include children affected by bereavement, in need of mental wellbeing support and to put in place effective support, working in partnership with specialists and families as needed. The training also supports leads to identify the training needs of other school staff, ensuring all staff can recognise and respond to pupils’ mental health concerns.
The department has recently launched a mental health lead resource hub and a targeted mental wellbeing support toolkit, both of which signpost mental health leads and other school staff toward resources and guidance, including support for bereavement.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce bereavement training for teachers.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Losing a loved one can be a devastating experience for a child. Schools can play an essential role in supporting children with bereavement by providing effective pastoral support and ensuring there is a supportive school culture.
Schools are best placed to decide what pastoral support each pupil needs, including for children who have experienced a bereavement. To help schools make informed decisions about what support to provide, the department is offering every state school in England funding to train a senior mental health lead who can oversee a whole-school approach to mental wellbeing.
This training equips mental health leads to identify pupils or groups of pupils, which could include children affected by bereavement, in need of mental wellbeing support and to put in place effective support, working in partnership with specialists and families as needed. The training also supports leads to identify the training needs of other school staff, ensuring all staff can recognise and respond to pupils’ mental health concerns.
The department has recently launched a mental health lead resource hub and a targeted mental wellbeing support toolkit, both of which signpost mental health leads and other school staff toward resources and guidance, including support for bereavement.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Department for Education's press release entitled Major national drive to improve school attendance, published on 8 January 2024, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of this policy on children with long term conditions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Improving attendance remains a top priority for the department. This is why it has launched a national communications campaign to remind families that “moments matter, attendance counts”.
The campaign reflects feedback from schools and local authorities and aims to primarily reach those parents whose children are taking preventable odd days of absence, or “avoidable absence”. It builds on NHS guidance and messages from the Chief Medical Officer’s letter to schools to reassure families that children can attend school with a mild cough or cold and that prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending school in the future. The guidance can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/, and the letter can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-school-leaders-on-mild-illness-and-school-attendance/letter-to-school-leaders-on-mild-illness-and-school-attendance.
The campaign is not aimed at parents of children who face greater barriers to attendance, such as pupils with long term medical conditions. Campaign materials shared with schools and local authorities reminded them that strategies to increase attendance should take a ‘support first’ approach in all instances. The department’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance expects schools to have sensitive conversations with children and families and work with them to put support in place for their individual needs. This guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63049617e90e0729e63d3953/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance.pdf. Schools must also follow the ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ statutory guidance that outlines the support that pupils with medical conditions must receive at school so they have full access to education and it is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the rate of liver disease in (a) Darlington constituency and b) the North East.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes liver disease profiles that compare local areas within England. Data for the prevalence of liver disease is not collected. The profiles provide liver disease mortality and hospital admissions rates for areas to assess their local level of disease. These profiles do not publish data by constituency; however, the profile does publish data for local authorities.
In the Darlington Unitary Authority, during 2021, the rate of mortality from liver disease was 26.4 (17.3 to 38.4) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate due to liver disease was 177.8 (122.6 to 239.3) per 100,000 population across all ages.
In the North East region, during 2021, the rate of mortality from liver disease was 28.8 (26.7 to 31.0) per 100,000 population aged under 75 years old. The North East regional rate was significantly higher than the England mortality rate of 21.2 per 100,000 and was the second highest regional rate in England. In 2021/22, the hospital admission rate in the North East region due to liver disease was 190.1 (178.6 to 201.7) per 100,000 population across all ages. The North East regional rate was significantly higher than the England hospital admission rate of 150.6 per 100,000 and was the highest regional rate in England.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle the sale of illegal vapes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in illicit and underage vaping, with rates of youth vaping tripling in the last three years. Illicit vapes can contain unknown ingredients, stronger nicotine, and are made available to children through black market channels.
Local enforcement agencies are responsible for ensuring that suppliers and retailers of vapes comply with strict Government regulations. Selling illegal vapes can result in an unlimited fine and even a custodial sentence, as well as imprisonment of up to two years upon conviction.
The Government is significantly increasing investment for our enforcement agencies to tackle these issues. In October 2023 the Prime Minister announced an increase of £30 million per year for enforcement agencies to help stamp out the illicit tobacco and vape trade. This is in addition to the £3 million investment announced in April 2023 to set up a national illicit vapes enforcement unit, aimed at addressing the issue of illegal and underage vaping, which is overseen by National Trading Standards.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Units of Dental Activity have been delivered in Darlington Constituency in each year since 2006; and what the cost of that delivery was in each of those years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on the cost of delivery is not centrally held at integrated care board (ICB) level. The following table shows the number of units of dental activity (UDAs) delivered in North East and North Cumbria ICB since 2015/16:
Year | UDAs delivered | Percentage change |
2015/16 | 4,861,964 |
|
2016/17 | 4,782,699 | -1.6% |
2017/18 | 4,579,779 | -4.2% |
2018/19 | 4,974,087 | 8.6% |
2019/20 | 4,685,845 | -5.8% |
2020/21 | 1,446,015 | -69.1% |
2021/22 | 3,461,374 | 139.4% |
2022/23 | 4,163,675 | 20.3% |
Source: NHS England
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