Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made establishing new music hubs; and whether she has an expected timeline for when they will become active.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In June 2022, the Department for Education and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published the ‘national plan for music education: the power of music to change lives’. This plan is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-power-of-music-to-change-lives-a-national-plan-for-music-education. The plan sets out the Government’s priorities up to 2030 for music education for pupils, including plans to strengthen the success of music hubs.
In the plan, the Department also announced its intention to invite applications for the role of music hub lead organisations, and to transition to fewer music hub areas across England, covering larger geographical areas but working in greater partnerships with schools, other music education providers and the music industry. Arts Council England are leading this process and following a two stage consultation earlier this year, they launched their investment programme, seeking applications in October with the intention of newly competed music Hub lead organisations being in place for September 2024. This will include all Music Hubs identifying and working with a small number of lead schools in this time frame, as set out in the plan.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many mobile classrooms have been provided to schools as a result of (a) identified and (b) suspected reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by David Johnston
This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day to day basis, to manage the maintenance of their schools. These responsible bodies may deploy temporary buildings for a wide range of reasons, not all of which will relate to building or refurbishment works. In addition, most building and refurbishment works within schools and colleges do not involve RAAC and will not require the involvement of the Department. The Department does not therefore hold information on the number of schools using temporary classrooms.
Where schools need to vacate buildings due to RAAC, they use a range of different types of accommodation including accommodation on and off site. On site accommodation can include semi rigid structures and temporary classrooms. Where this is the case, the Department is working with three contractors to accelerate the installation of temporary units in particular. The Department has not, therefore, produced central estimates of the number of temporary classrooms required, however, we can confirm that we have secured significant capacity to meet current needs, and can increase this if necessary. Our focus is on working closely with individual settings to make sure they have workable plans for their individual circumstances and context. Based on the experience where RAAC assessed as critical was found, the Department expects the vast majority will be able to continue to provide face to face teaching with either minimal or no disruption.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data his Department holds on the number and proportion of (a) local authorities and (b) other registered social landlords that prohibit residents from operating as a childminder in their home.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The department does not hold this data. Social tenants are not prevented from running a business from their home under current housing legislation, but some tenancy agreements may include terms preventing them from doing so. We would expect landlords not to withhold permission unreasonably.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward proposals to permit childminding businesses to be run from social rented properties.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The department does not hold this data. Social tenants are not prevented from running a business from their home under current housing legislation, but some tenancy agreements may include terms preventing them from doing so. We would expect landlords not to withhold permission unreasonably.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of SEND support for childcare and the early years on provision in Worcestershire.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Ensuring children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support when they need it is a priority, including those children and young people in Worcestershire.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) re-inspected Worcestershire SEND services on their 12 areas of significant weakness between 1 and 3 November 2021 (letter published 14 December 2021). The inspectors assessed each area of weakness and concluded that the Council had made sufficient progress in addressing eight of the significant weaknesses. Worcestershire Children First produced an Accelerated Progress Plan to address the remaining four areas of significant weakness.
The department is committed to supporting and monitoring progress of the identified areas for improvement and have put in place regular monitoring and challenge meetings with SEND advisers from the department and NHS England.
We are also supporting local authorities through the ongoing delivery of new special and alternative provision (AP) free schools. On 2 March 2023, the department announced a successful bid from Worcestershire County Council to build a new special school that caters for the needs of pupils with autism spectrum disorder in Malvern.
This announcement followed an application that evidenced need for school places for children and involved engagement and support from stakeholders including education providers, health partners, parents and carers and local MPs who have been consistently calling for more provision in the local area.
The new special free school will provide 120 full time places for pupils aged 5-19 with autism, who are able to engage with a mainstream curriculum with extra support and who would also benefit from a specific environment and staff dedicated to a holistic approach.
A final decision on who will run the new school will rest with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.
In addition, on 2 March 2023, the department published the SEND and AP Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper of March 2022. The Improvement Plan sets out how a new, single, national SEND and AP system should deliver consistent, clear, and early support for children and young people with SEND. These new standards aim to make consistent the provision that should be made available across the country for every child and young person with SEND. There will also be new local SEND and AP Partnerships, strengthened accountability and dashboards, and reforms to funding.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made for the number of people who start an apprenticeship but fail to complete it due to the requirements to provide certification for functional skills.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The information requested is not held. The department cannot reliably identify if learners that fail to complete an apprenticeship do so because of a failure to meet minimum requirements for certification in English and maths.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of when the independent evaluation of the national roll out of the early career framework will be published.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department published interim results as part of the independent evaluation of the national roll out of the Early Career Framework in May 2022. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-career-framework-induction-evaluation.
The Department will be publishing the latest findings shortly.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including measures on supporting providers of (a) radio and (b) other audio services on digital platforms in the forthcoming Media Bill.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has today published Command Paper CP 822, which contains a draft Media Bill.
The draft Bill contains measures which will ensure that UK radio remains available to listeners via their smart speakers over the coming years, while providing scope for innovative collaboration and partnerships between stations and the smart speaker platforms.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 136690 on Dinitrophenol, what information her Department holds on any previous legal uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol, including when they ceased.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
No specific research has been commissioned by the Home Office to investigate ways in which 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) has been used legitimately in Great Britain in the past.
From discussions with stakeholders and from open-source research on DNP, the Home Office is aware that DNP had historically been legally used as a treatment for weight-loss before being declared unfit for human consumption in 19381. Information available online also suggests that DNP has had industrial uses as a fertiliser before the Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 was introduced to regulate its use2. Media reporting on DNP has also listed previous industrial uses in pesticides and industrial dyes, though the Home Office has no further information on the use of DNP for these purposes.
In 2022, responses to the public consultation on amendments to the Poisons Act did not indicate that any members of the public who responded to the consultation used DNP for any legitimate purposes.
1Public Health England, 2013 - PHE supports FSA warnings over deadly weight loss supplement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
2Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 2952 - Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 (legislation.gov.uk)
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any legitimate uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) were identified during her Department's consultation on adding DNP to the poisons list.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
Between December 2021 – March 2022, the Home Office ran a public consultation on potential amendments to the Poisons Act 1972. The consultation proposed a number of measures, including a proposal to add 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and its derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate as a regulated poison under the Act. Responses were submitted through an online survey on gov.uk, by email and by post.
In total 128 responses were collected in the consultation. Of these responses, zero responses were received indicating the use of 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) or derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate. As no responses were received indicating members of the public were using DNP for legitimate purposes, it was considered proportionate to proceed with regulating DNP as a poison under the Poisons Act.
The Government response to the public consultation can be found at Annex A of the Impact Assessment for the Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023, available online here: The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).