Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 96 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23: Supplementary Estimates, published on 21 February 2023, how the additional £334,820,000 funding to tackle illegal immigration was spent.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not routinely publish data breaking down the additional expenditure spent on asylum support or illegal migration.
Home Office expenditure is detailed in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, with the most recent Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022 published on 14 July 2022 and available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 96 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23: Supplementary Estimates, published on 21 February 2023, how the additional £116,000,000 funding to tackle illegal immigration was spent.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not routinely publish data breaking down the additional expenditure spent on asylum support or illegal migration.
Home Office expenditure is detailed in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, with the most recent Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022 published on 14 July 2022 and available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 96 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23: Supplementary Estimates, published on 21 February 2023, how the additional £1,614,856,000 for asylum support costs was spent.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not routinely publish data breaking down the additional expenditure spent on asylum support or illegal migration.
Home Office expenditure is detailed in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, with the most recent Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022 published on 14 July 2022 and available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 101 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2021-22: Supplementary Estimates, published on 22 February 2022, how the additional £404,116,000 funding for asylum support was spent.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not routinely publish data breaking down the additional expenditure spent on asylum support or illegal migration.
Home Office expenditure is detailed in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, with the most recent Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 to 2022 published on 14 July 2022 and available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has plans to monitor the volume of storm overflow events.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Using powers in the landmark Environment Act, we will significantly improve transparency by requiring companies to make discharge data available in near real time to the public and monitor water quality upstream and downstream of their assets.
The Environment Agency has instructed water companies to install flow monitors at 2000 wastewater treatment works. These provide important data on the volume of treated final effluent discharges to the environment.
Earlier this month, the Government launched our consultation on Continuous Water Quality Monitoring and Event Duration Monitoring. This outlines the Government’s proposals to enhance the monitoring of storm overflow and final effluent discharges.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of changes to Level 3 Qualifications on the education of 16 to 18 year-olds.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has published impact assessments to reflect the potential effect of reforms to Level 3, post-16 qualifications in England on the education of 16 to 19 year olds.
The most recent impact assessment, published in March 2023, provides an overview of the potential effects on students aged 16 to 19 resulting from the proposed removal of public funding approval from those qualifications that have been assessed as overlapping with T Levels. This can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1146228/EIA_updated_final_wave_1_2_T_Level_overlap_inc_Health_and_Science.pdf.
A further impact assessment, published in July 2022, which reflects all planned reforms to qualifications at Level 3, is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091841/Revised_Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_in_England_impact_assessment.pdf.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of local government on water quality.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On drinking water quality there have been no recent discussions with local government. Local authorities are the regulators of private drinking water supplies and are responsible for identifying risks to the quality of drinking water with comprehensive monitoring programmes in place. In England, in 2021, private water supply compliance with the drinking water regulations was 96.9% which has been steadily improving (96.4% in 2020, 96.6% in 2019 and 95.2% in 2018).
The Chief Inspector of the Drinking Water Inspectorate publishes an annual report that provides an overview of the quality of private water in supplies in England. https://www.dwi.gov.uk/what-we-do/annual-report/.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government response to the Intelligence and Security Committee report entitled Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism, published on 30 March 2023, in what circumstances a person who is a member of a proscribed organisation could have their application for vetting clearance approved.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
It is an offence under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to belong to, or profess to belong to a proscribed organisation in the UK or overseas.
United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) provides national security clearances to government, including certain posts in policing. As part of this, UKSV assesses an individual’s vetting application and any related risks. Where an individual is known to have or has declared affiliations or membership to a proscribed organisation, their application for national security vetting will not be approved.
UKSV and government organisations have ongoing controls in place to manage staff and review their security clearances. These include annual reviews of security clearances for higher level clearance holders, change of circumstances forms, and additional reporting mechanisms through which concerns may be raised for all clearance holders. If subsequently there are security concerns relating either to an individual’s involvement with, or connections to proscribed organisations, their clearance will be withdrawn.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve access to eye care for people with learning disabilities.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
This programme is currently subject to independent evaluation, which includes engagement with a wide range of parents, special schools and other stakeholders with an interest. We expect the evaluation to have concluded by May 2023. The evaluation of and learning from this work will inform decisions about how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned.
The Department will also be hosting a roundtable currently scheduled for 28 March 2023, to discuss eye care services for people with learning disabilities.
Asked by: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to conduct a public consultation to inform the (a) structure, (b) funding and (c) commissioning of a potential model of eye care in special schools.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
This programme is currently subject to independent evaluation, which includes engagement with a wide range of parents, special schools and other stakeholders with an interest. We expect the evaluation to have concluded by May 2023. The evaluation of and learning from this work will inform decisions about how the eye care needs of people with learning disabilities should be commissioned.
The Department will also be hosting a roundtable currently scheduled for 28 March 2023, to discuss eye care services for people with learning disabilities.