Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to make eye tests mandatory for primary school children.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no plans to make eye tests mandatory for primary school children. The UK National Screening Committee recommends vision screening in school for children aged four to five years old, to look for reduced vision in one or both eyes.
In addition to vision screening, free sight tests are widely available for children under 16 years old and under 19 years old in full time education. Free sight tests are also being made available for children and young people with special educational needs, attending special educational settings across England, where those settings choose to host a service.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing records of incidents and fatalities at nurseries.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s priority is to grow high-quality, affordable and flexible education and care for children, whilst ensuring their safety, giving every child the best start of life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
The department is responsible for setting the standards which early years settings such as nurseries must follow, these are set out in the early years foundation stage statutory framework. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration but how it is implemented is for Ofsted to decide and to be held to account by Parliament.
Given the sensitivity and quality of the information around incidents, Ofsted do not publish incident data as routine statistics. However, their annual report and accounts include some national level data on notifications that may relate to incidents. The latest is accessible at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e575d987cebda7c4ca4cde/31795_Ofsted_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2023-24_-_Accessible.pdf.
Ofsted can only commit to publishing national headline data about the number of complaints or notifications relating to incidents.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take in the context of trends in the level of competition for training places in postgraduate medical training.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware that competition ratios for speciality training have grown in recent years, and that this is causing concern across the medical profession.
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan published on 3 July, we will work across Government to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the National Health Service for a significant period for specialty training.
We will also ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.
We will publish a new 10 Year Workforce Plan later this year, to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department plans to take to support green projects in the Black Country.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government supports local places to drive action to deliver green projects and help realise our national net zero targets. Great British Energy will partner with community energy groups and local government, including Mayoral Strategic Authorities, to support the development of clean energy projects. Government also funds the Local Net Zero Accelerator pilot programme (including in West Midlands Combined Authority) to test how to support local places to leverage in commercial net zero investment at scale, alongside five Local Net Zero Hubs (including the Midlands Net Zero Hub) to support local government to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the adequacy of the (a) accessibility and (b) range of youth facilities in areas where the population is expanding.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We will not be making an assessment of youth facilities based on areas where populations are expanding. Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area.
The government has committed to introducing simpler and fairer allocations for councils, using the most up-to-date data and taking account of growing demand. As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation, which is open until Friday 15 August, we are inviting views on using projections to increase the accuracy of allocations across the multi-year Settlement.
DCMS recognises the importance of ensuring that Local Authorities are appropriately supported to deliver accessible and effective youth provision. In 2025/26, we will commit £8m to launch the Local Youth Transformation Pilot which will test a new way of working and supporting local authorities to deliver for young people.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of funding for EHCP plans in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Dudley constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion.
Of that total high needs funding, the West Midlands region is being allocated over £1,228 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of over £95 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula. Dudley Council specifically is being allocated over £62 million through the high needs funding block of the DSG, an increase of over £5 million on 2024/25.
Local authorities allocate this funding to schools, colleges and other settings, to help them with the costs of SEND provision, including for those children and young people with education, health and care plans. The department provides operational guidance for local authorities to support their allocation of high needs funding: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2025-to-2026.
Asked by: Sonia Kumar (Labour - Dudley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to increase economic growth in Dudley constituency.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The recently announced Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy, forming part of our wider Growth Mission, aim to support businesses across the country by creating the conditions for companies to invest, employ and grow.
Dudley, with its rich manufacturing heritage, will benefit from a range of new interventions, including measures to reduce energy costs and, assistance to develop and attract the right skills.
As part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, Dudley has and will continue to benefit from enhanced support targeting the region including devolved funding for local leaders, to continue delivering the right support.
We will also be publishing our Small Business Strategy soon which will set out further measures to increase economic growth in Dudley and across the country.