Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what service level agreements his Department has in place for the operation of the probate office within HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
Answered by Mike Freer
HMCTS has several internal service standards which have been set as a result of the action plan to recover performance in the probate service.
This includes the overall interim target of reducing average waiting times to 8 weeks for a grant of probate from the receipt of the documentation needed to process the application.
Management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) shows the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, from receipt of documentation, reduced by 3 weeks in March 2024 to 9 weeks.
The digitisation of the probate service has enabled HMCTS to significantly increase the range of performance data which is available publicly by both MoJ and HMCTS and can now include more granular data on types of application received and grants issued. In addition, average grant processing time (timeliness) is published and can be interrogated using a range of filters.
A full time series of Official Statistics back to Q3 2019 is published in the Family Court Statistics Quarterly https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly and currently covers the period up to December 2023.
More recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly) provides waiting time information up to March 2023 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmcts-management-information.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of Government subsidies for childcare on the cost of childcare for people who are not eligible for subsidies.
Answered by David Johnston
For families with younger children, childcare costs are often a significant part of their household expenditure, which is why improving the cost, choice and availability of childcare for working parents is important to the government.
From April 2024, working parents of 2 year olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year. This transformative roll out will benefit the parents of up to 246,000 children who have been issued 2 year old funding codes, of which 195,000 have been validated to date.
From September 2024, this will be extended to working parents of children from nine months to 2 year olds. From September 2025, all working parents of children aged nine months up to 3 years will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week. The expansion of this entitlement will save eligible parents up to £6,900 per year per child helping even more working parents with the cost of childcare and making a real difference to the lives of those families.
The income eligibility criteria are applied on a per parent basis. To be eligible, parents will need to earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at National Minimum or Living Wage, which is £183 per week or £9,518 per year in 2024-2025, and less than £100,000 adjusted net income.
For families with two parents, both must be working to meet the criteria, unless one is receiving certain benefits. In a single-parent household, the single parent must meet the threshold. The £100,000 level was chosen to correspond with income tax thresholds and to be easily understandable for parents. Only a very small proportion of parents, 3.1% in 2023, earn over the £100,000 adjusted net income maximum threshold.
The eligibility criteria apply to the existing entitlements and were debated in, and agreed by, Parliament. The maximum income limit applies to both Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare, which allows parents to apply for both schemes through the same online application (Childcare Service).
However, the universal 15 hours of free childcare offer remains in place for all parents of 3 and 4 year olds, regardless of parental circumstances, including those who earn over £100,000.
Working families can also access support with the childcare costs through Tax Free Childcare worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged up to 11, or £4,000 per year for children aged up to 17 with disabilities. For every £8 paid into a Tax-Free Childcare account, the government tops it up with another £2.
There is a comprehensive evaluation programme underpinning the expansion of childcare entitlements. This includes a process evaluation which will explore how families not eligible for the new entitlements experience finding and accessing childcare, including the associated costs. Further, the impact evaluation will assess how the expansion has impacted upon the quality of childcare provision and children’s development, for all children, and wider family outcomes. As per Government Social Research guidelines, evaluation findings will be available within 12 weeks of the projects being finalised. The department expects the first to be available from spring 2026.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of converting the childcare subsidy into an increased tax-free allowance.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government recognises the importance of supporting parents with the costs of childcare and does so through a range of childcare offers.
The Government keeps childcare policy under regular review.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the (a) implications for his policies of the report by the Legatum Institute entitled From AUKUS to CAUKUS: The Case for Canadian Integration, published on 8 February 2024 and (b) potential merits of including Canada in Pillar II of the AUKUS agreement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The 8 April 2024 AUKUS Defence Ministers' statement stated that AUKUS countries are now considering collaborating with additional countries on Pillar Two projects. AUKUS Governments will undertake consultations in 2024 with Japan and other prospective partners. Bilaterally, we deeply value our enduring partnership with Canada, including as a Five Eyes member, and recognise Canada's interest in AUKUS Pillar Two.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the use of Gillick competence for vaccinations in schools.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Gillick competence is a guideline used to determine whether children can provide informed consent based on their level of intelligence, knowledge, and competence. In schools, where requests for parental consent haven’t been responded to, vaccinators may ask for the child’s parents’ contact details to seek oral consent over the phone. For young people, and children in secondary school settings who may be offered the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine alongside other school aged vaccinations, after every attempt to gain parental consent has been exhausted, the School Aged Immunisation Service team may make a clinical decision to give the vaccination using the Gillick competence framework. This allows a child to consent to their own treatment where appropriate, and when they are competent to do so.
The Green Book Chapter two, Information for public health professionals on immunisation, provides guidance on seeking consent for vaccination, including the use of the Gillick competence. Obtaining consent to treatment and assessing the adequacy of the use of the Gillick competence in schools is the responsibility of each service provider.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of levels of parental (a) choice and (b) responsibility to decide the medical care their child receives.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
No assessment has been made of the adequacy of levels of parental choice and responsibility to decide the medical care their child receives. Those with parental responsibilities are entitled to give consent for medical treatment on behalf of their children. However, they are not entitled to inappropriate treatment for their children, or to refuse treatment which is in the child’s best interests.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase access to shared ownership properties for potential buyers who have inherited a property or part of a property that they cannot or are unable to sell, but which is not suitable for them to live in.
Answered by Jacob Young
The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government’s plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the property ladder. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country, including new shared ownership homes.
If a beneficiary inherits a shared ownership home that it is not suitable for them to live in, we advise that they discuss their sale options with the home’s landlord, including how best to market the home and if the landlord can help to identify eligible buyers.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce crime in Hampshire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
This Government is committed to cutting crime, keeping our streets safe, and restoring confidence in the criminal justice system. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are responsible for policing in their area and are focused on the local priorities for policing, to help cut crime.
The Government is funding a range of initiatives in Hampshire to reduce crime. This includes the Safer Streets Fund, the Government’s flagship crime prevention programme, where Hampshire has received over £4 million of investment. Hampshire has received almost £1.5 million for 2024/2025 to increase uniformed police hotspot response, and since 2019 the Home Office has invested over £5.1m to develop and run the Hampshire Violence Reduction Unit.
These initiatives are in addition to the investment we have made available to increase officer numbers. Hampshire and Isle of Wight recruited 582 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 518 officers. As at 30 September 2023, there were 3,422 police officers in Hampshire and Isle of Wight, a total growth of 631 additional officers against the baseline (2,791) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme.
Hampshire Police’s funding will be up to 464.2 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to 29.2 million when compared to 2023/24.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans she has to help improve breast screening uptake.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
NHS England has developed an internal national plan in collaboration with key stakeholders, to improve uptake within the breast screening programme from 2023 and beyond. This plan will encompass a series of evaluative projects, which are expected to report by April 2024. It is available on the NHS Futures Platform. This is a collaboration platform that empowers everyone working in health and social care to safely connect, share, and learn across boundaries.
The Government has invested £10 million of funding for the breast screening programme, which provided 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 upgrades, to be targeted at areas with the greatest challenges of uptake and coverage. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, tackle health disparities, and contribute towards higher early diagnosis rates in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria were used to determine the location of water fluoridation schemes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Decisions on existing water fluoridation schemes in England were determined by the relevant National Health Service or local authorities responsible at the time they were introduced, in agreement with the water undertaker and focussed on reducing tooth decay. The Government’s proposal to expand water fluoridation in the North East, subject to a public consultation to begin early this year, is based on large inequalities in oral health, existing feasibility studies, and water company experience operating such schemes.