Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support City Of Wolverhampton Council to provide home-to-school transport for young people.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. We know how challenging it currently is for local authorities to arrange home-to-school travel for all eligible children, and that the cost of doing so has increased in recent years. We are grateful for local authorities’ considerable efforts in ensuring eligible children can continue to get to school.
Most central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement, which is administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The government recognises the challenges local authorities are facing. That is why the Autumn Budget included the announcement of £1.3 billion of new grant funding in the 2025/26 financial year for local government to deliver core services. Together with local income from council tax and business rates, this will provide a real terms increase in core spending power of around 3.2%.
Most of the increase in the cost of home-to-school travel can be attributed to transport for children with special educational needs. This is largely due to an increase in the number of children with education, health and care plans and the number of those children who have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. This will reduce home-to-school travel costs for local authorities over time.
The department publishes statutory guidance to assist local authorities in meeting their home-to-school travel duties, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance. Departmental officials host bi-monthly online meetings to which all local authority school travel officers are invited to share good practice and seek advice from one another and the department.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Mental Health Bill on mental wellbeing in Wolverhampton.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have carried out an Impact Assessment, which is in the public domain and is available on the Bills Parliament web page. The benefits related to wellbeing in the Impact Assessment are not quantified but are explored through breakeven analysis. The analysis seeks to estimate the non-monetised benefits required to offset the estimated net monetised impacts of the policy.
The bill largely follows the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, which heard from a broad range of stakeholders and views, including service users and carers, to make recommendations to improve people’s experience of the Mental Health Act.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help support social housing providers to meet their duties under section 42 of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 in relation to damp and mould in Wolverhampton.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government are committed to introducing Awaab’s Law to the social rented sector, setting new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards which can have a serious impact on the health of residents, including damp and mould. We are working with social housing providers and other stakeholders to determine how we best implement Awaab’s Law. We will develop new guidance for landlords and residents on the new duties under the forthcoming regulations.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether SEND schools will be exempt from proposed changes to charitable business rate relief.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities will continue to fund places at independent special schools for pupils who need them due to their education, health and care (EHC) plan and will be able to reclaim VAT applied to fees.
The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill provides that private schools that are charities that wholly or mainly provide education for pupils with an EHC plan remain eligible for charitable rates relief. In business rates, wholly or mainly generally means more than 50%. In practice, the government believes that this will ensure most special schools, which predominantly serve pupils with EHC plans, will not be affected by the measure.
Private schools that benefit from the existing rates exemption for properties that are wholly used for the training or welfare of disabled people will continue to do so.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the contribution of small and micro tech companies to the UK economy.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst DSIT hasn’t conducted specific analysis on the impact of small and micro tech companies on the economy, DSIT recognises that these businesses form a large part of the digital sector. Businesses classified as micro or small by employment band made up 91.9% and 6.4% of the businesses in the UK digital sector respectively in 2023. The digital sector as a whole contributed £158.3bn in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2022, 7.2% of total UK GVA.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for charitable hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. This government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including funding, in the coming months.
Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver a NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.
More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will set a national minimum standard for disability equality training for taxi and private hire vehicles.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government keeps all policies under review and is aware that disabled people continue to report facing inadequate or discriminatory treatment when using taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs). We recognise the need for quality disability awareness training and the latest guidance issued to all licensing authorities in England confirms our expectation that all drivers undergo such training. The Government continues to consider how to improve the regulation of the sector to enable the provision of safe and accessible services that meet a wide range of passenger needs.
Asked by: Sureena Brackenridge (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help tackle drug shortages.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has a responsibility to work with United Kingdom medicine license holders, to help ensure continuity of supply. We monitor and manage medicine supply at a national level, so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand.
We have inherited ongoing global supply problems that continue to impact medicine availability. We know how frustrating and distressing this can be for patients, and we are working closely with industry, the National Health Service, manufacturers, and other partners in the supply chain to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, to make sure patients can access the medicines they need.
Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the UK and outside of the Government’s control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.
While we cannot always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, and to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing NHS communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.