Teresa Pearce
Labour - Former Member for Erith and Thamesmead
First elected: 6th May 2010
Left House: 6th November 2019 (Standing Down)
9 Former APPG memberships
Anti-Epileptic Drugs in Pregnancy, Business, Finance and Accountancy, Epilepsy, First Aid, Home Electrical Safety, Lyme Disease, Pensions, Surgical Mesh Implants, Valproate and other Anti-Epileptic Drugs in PregnancyDivision Voting information
Teresa Pearce voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 7 Labour No votes vs 179 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 208 Noes - 123
Teresa Pearce voted No - against a party majority and against the House
One of 94 Labour No votes vs 119 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 415 Noes - 119
Teresa Pearce voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 41 Labour Aye votes vs 162 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 166 Noes - 340
Teresa Pearce voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 24 Labour Aye votes vs 185 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 56 Noes - 454
All Debates
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
Sparring Partners
(45 debate interactions)
(23 debate interactions)
(21 debate interactions)
Department Debates
(36 debate contributions)
(24 debate contributions)
(17 debate contributions)
(15 debate contributions)
Legislation Debates
(6,198 words contributed)
(622 words contributed)
(362 words contributed)
(68 words contributed)
Latest EDMs signed by Teresa Pearce
Sale and marketing of detox teas
Tabled by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)That this House notes with concern the sale of detox tea products containing senna and other strong laxative ingredients to young people; further notes that these ingredients are usually used in medication to treat constipation and can have significant detrimental health impacts if used regularly primarily for weight loss; observes …
(Most recent: 4 Nov 2019)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 10
Scottish National Party: 4
Conservative: 2
Plaid Cymru: 1
Independent: 1
Liberal Democrat: 1
Fair pay and treatment of outsourced staff at Northwick Park Hospital
Tabled by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)That this House expresses concern that many of the 400 outsourced catering, porters, cleaners and ward hostesses employed by Medirest, which is part of the Compass Group, at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow are being paid £8.21 an hour rather than the Living Wage Foundation rate of £9 an hour …
(Most recent: 24 Oct 2019)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 28
Independent: 2
Scottish National Party: 2
Commons initiatives
These initiatives were driven by Teresa Pearce, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Teresa Pearce has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Teresa Pearce has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
1 Bill introduced by Teresa Pearce
A Bill to require the provision of Emergency First Aid (EFA) education by all state-funded secondary schools; to require that EFA education include cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillator awareness; to provide for initial and continuing teacher education and guidance on best practice for delivering and inspecting EFA education; and for connected purposes.
Friday 20th November 2015
1 Bill co-sponsored by Teresa Pearce
Ground Rents (Leasehold Properties) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Eddie Hughes (Con)
Latest 50 Written Questions
(View all written questions)6 Other Department Questions
From 3 July to 22 October 2018, the Government ran a public consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 in order to make the gender recognition process less bureaucratic and intrusive for the people that use it.
We received over 100,000 responses to the consultation and we are now working to analyse these. We will publish the Government’s response in due course.
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Gas generation currently forms an integral part of the UK’s electricity mix and it will continue to do so over the coming decades as we decarbonise our electricity system; it is the cleanest fossil fuel and is one of the most flexible and reliable sources of electricity. We have said that we will consult on regulating the closure of all coal power stations by 2025. This gives an important investment signal to new gas developers.
The Capacity Market is in place to drive investment in new capacity such as building new gas-fired power stations when they are required. We have just run the second capacity auction which was successful in securing the capacity we needed at good value for consumers. We are currently reviewing whether the current framework maintains the confidence of gas investors, and will make any adjustments necessary to build on the success of the first two auctions.
Many of the assumptions that underpin Levy Control Framework (LCF) forecasts are already in the public domain. Strike prices for signed Contracts for Difference are available on the Low Carbon Contracts Company website. Renewable Obligation and Feed in Tariff Scheme deployment data is published monthly on the Renewable Energy Planning Database and Ofgem’s website respectively. The recent publication of the Renewables Obligation 2016/17 outlined the methodology for deriving some of the LCF’s key assumptions. A similar approach is taken for FiTs and CfD assumptions, and with interim adjustments made to reflect the latest commercial, technical, and policy specific information available to DECC.
We must make a number of considerations before releasing further information, including to what extent disaggregating data would allow commercially sensitive information to be discoverable, and we will publish an updated set of LCF projections as well as the assumptions underpinning the latest forecasts in due course.
The Government itself will not make any financial return from generators participating in the capacity market. As with all types of capacity, diesel generators that have been successful in the second capacity market will receive a payment of £18/kw in return for providing electricity at short notice when the system requires it; and may have other sources of revenue outside the capacity market. Diesel engines are a flexible form of capacity that run for short periods to meet peaks in demand, and can reduce the consumer bill impacts by lowering the cost of securing the necessary capacity.
Schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) place statutory requirements on energy suppliers to undertake certain activities. As such they do not create funds that are collected by central Government. Local Authorities have worked with energy suppliers on the delivery of energy efficiency measures under ECO. The form of this involvement varies. The Department issues data on ECO delivery by local authority area.
The latest statistics the Department published on Local Authority breakdowns (covering the period up to the end of September 2015) is available here:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
2 Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Questions
(View all Teresa Pearce's BEIS questions)The Government is committed to making energy more affordable, supporting a more competitive, innovative, and smarter energy system that drives down bills. At the last Autumn Statement, the government also set out action to reduce the projected impact of policies on average household energy bills by around £30 a year from 2017.
The Department intends to publish, in due course, an update on the projected costs of policies funded through supplier levies and obligations that impact consumer energy bills. In addition, the department continues to assess the impact of individual policy proposals on the energy bills of various consumers (including households and businesses), which it sets out in relevant policy impact assessments, available online at www.gov.uk.
The Contract for Difference mechanism provides increased price certainty to generators regardless of wholesale electricity sale prices, thereby incentivising investment in low carbon generation. It does this by paying the generator the difference between the strike price and the market reference price (a composite of wholesale price indices) for electricity sold into the market for the duration of the contract. The generator will make difference payments back to the Low Carbon Contracts Company should the market reference price rise above the strike price.
The strike price for the Hinkley Point C project was agreed in October 2013 and is £92.50/MWh. If EDF take a Final Investment Decision in relation to Sizewell C, the strike price for Hinkley Point C will be reduced to £89.50/MWh.
Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) which gives local authorities flexibility to target spending according to local needs and to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including services for children and families. Since 2010, the responsibilities of local authorities and the makeup of their funding streams have changed significantly, including the move for local authorities to retain locally raised business rates. Therefore, wider spending power measures are not directly comparable over this period.
Over the 5 year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20, councils have access, through the LGFS, to over £200 billion to deliver local services, including children’s services. Core spending power increased from £45.1 billion in 2018-19 to £46.4 billion in 2019-20. In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for local authorities to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next 5 years, to support local authorities to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.
Due to discontinuity in methods used for some of the data collected, we only look at trends in these numbers from 2013. The department’s data shows that since 2013, the number of referrals, children in need, child protection enquiries, children on child protection plans and looked after children at 31 March have risen by 10.5%, 7.1%, 50.9%, 24.5% and 10.7% respectively.
The most common factors recorded in children’s social care assessments are domestic abuse and mental health. These have been consistently the top 2 factors for the years during which we have collected this data and have risen in line with trends in demand.
Funding for children’s services is made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement which gives local authorities flexibility to target spending according to local needs and to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, including children’s services. Through the Settlement, the government has made available over £200 billion across this five-year spending period. Local authorities used this flexibility to spend around £9.4 billion on children and young people’s services in 2017-18.
The government has listened to the sector which requested additional funding for social care. That is why we have provided flexibility of £410 million in grant funding for social care in 2019-20 to be directed according to what local authorities consider their top social care priorities, including children’s services.
The number of children referred to children’s social care is published in the annual ‘Characteristics of Children in need’ publication. The most recent publication is available on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018/ and a table summarising the last five years for Greenwich and Bexley is attached.
As children’s services are delivered through local government, the vast majority of their funding comes through the Local Government Finance Settlement. However, as the responsibilities, structure and makeup of local authorities and the Department for Education have changed a great deal since 2009, central funding [department spend] to local government and wider spending power measures therefore are not directly comparable over this period.
Over the 5 year period from 2015-16 to 2019-20, councils have access, through the Settlement, to over £200 billion to deliver local services. For Bexley and Greenwich this means core spending power of:
(Available figures)
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Bexley | £155,154,372 | £157,014,982 | £159,902,295 | £162,024,253 |
Greenwich | £219,920,182 | £226,780,981 | £231,040,760 | £233,211,791 |
This core spending power is un-ring fenced and it is for local authorities (LAs) to determine spend across different areas according to local priorities, including children’s services.
In addition to this the Autumn Budget announced a further £410 million in 2019-20 for LAs to invest in adult and children’s social care services. It also announced £84 million of extra funding, over the next five years, to support LAs to invest in initiatives that improve social work practice and decision making.
The government has funded the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) since 2013, including almost £2 million in 2018-2020, to assess, evaluate and disseminate evidence of what works. The EIF has assessed the benefits of a wide range of specific early intervention programmes, and suggested that whilst producing robust estimates is challenging, there is a compelling argument that the costs of intervening early are likely to pay off to society in economic terms. In particular, they highlight that the long-term economic benefits are considerable where early intervention leads to labour market gains, such as improvements in employment and earnings.
The value of early intervention is reflected in statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ (2018), which is clear that providing early help is more effective in promoting children’s welfare than reacting later - playing an important part in supporting children and young people to achieve better outcomes. The government has also committed £920 million to the troubled families programme, an early intervention approach which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for families with multiple, high-cost problems.
At 31 March 2018, there were 75,420 looked-after children in England, 4% up on the previous year, following a small fall in the number entering care, but also a decrease in the number leaving.
When a child is assessed by children’s services, their primary need is recorded. 47,530 children were identified as having a primary need of ‘abuse or neglect’ - the most common reason identified. 11,270 were in need due to ‘family dysfunction’ and 5,980 were due to the ‘family being in acute stress’. 4,860 were identified as in need due to ‘absent parenting’, almost all of whom are unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. These have been the four highest categories each year since 2014 and have each individually seen an upward trend.
This data is available in the report ‘Children looked after in England including adoption in 2017 to 2018’ and in Table A1 of the accompanying supporting data at:
The government has committed to develop a workforce strategy in 2016 and remains committed to engage with stakeholders in the sector on elements of the strategy. We regularly speak at conferences to talk about the workforce. It is our intention to consult with a range of stakeholders, including early years providers such as nurseries, and we are currently considering the best course of action to pursue this.
Education plays a significant role in ensuring that children have the best start in life, and this government is committed to supporting families to give children a strong foundation in the earliest years.
The Prime Minister made clear in his recent speech that high quality early education will be a key part of the forthcoming Life Chances Strategy. We are working with other government departments to pursue this.
1 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions
(View all Teresa Pearce's Defra questions)I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stockton North, Alex Cunningham, on 27 November 2018, PQ UIN192868.
The Department has reviewed and concluded that this information is commercially sensitive and so cannot be shared.
Southeastern and the trade unions have agreed pay deals in the last 12 months. Specific details of pay are confidential however Southeastern staff have received an increase of around the level of the Retail Price Index which reflects a real terms increase when compared to the Consumer Price Index and cost of living increases. These pay deals were approved by the Department.
The Secretary of State has made clear that the rail industry should be moving towards using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the inflation measure for pay agreements.
During this period, pay has increased at around the level of the Retail Price Index.
The Secretary of State has made clear that the rail industry should be moving towards using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the inflation measure for pay agreements. The pay deals agreed with Southeastern staff during the last 12 months reflect a real terms increase when compared to the CPI and cost of living increases.
During this period, pay has increased at around the level of the Retail Price Index.
The Secretary of State has made clear that the rail industry should be moving towards using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the inflation measure for pay agreements. The pay deals agreed with Southeastern staff during the last 12 months reflect a real terms increase when compared to the CPI and cost of living increases.
The South Eastern franchise competition is currently in the evaluation phase. The Department is working to achieve the best possible outcome for passengers and taxpayers. An announcement will be made in due course.
As the Secretary of State announced on 10 April 2019, the Department for Transport is currently in discussions with the incumbent operator to extend their operation of the franchise to 10 November 2019, with an extension period up to 1 April 2020 called at the Secretary of State’s discretion.
The Government understands the importance of accessible on-board information in helping bus passengers to travel with confidence, and in Summer 2018 published a public consultation on proposals to require its provision on local bus services throughout Great Britain.
We continue to analyse responses to the consultation and expect to announce our next steps regarding the making of Regulations and publication of guidance later in the year.
We are still in the evaluation phase of the competition. My Department wants to ensure that the franchise meets the needs of passengers and taxpayers and will provide an update in due course.
Irrecoverable cases have been written off in accordance with a defined set of agreed business rules which were reviewed and agreed with the National Audit Office as the auditing authority. Only cases that are assessed to be beyond likely recovery at economic cost are written off. The Minister does not formally approve the write-off of these cases but is required to review and approve the annual accounts prior to formal sign-off by Highways England’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Finance Officer.
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The DFFC (Dartford Free Flow Charging) contract includes a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) which measures timely issuance of enforcement documentation. This KPI covers the issuance of the following documentation: Penalty Charges; Charge Certificates; Order for Recovery and Warrant of Execution. Enforcement documentation which does not meet set times can attract service points which equate to a financial penalty to the operator
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Since 2015/16, Highways England (HE) have been required to record estimated revenue loss in respect of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) not issued when they should have been. These figures are included within the annual accounts and are tabled below. In respect of 2018/19, this information will be available once the accounts are published in January 2020.
2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
£8.8m | £2.0m-£4.0m | £0.4m-£3.0m |
Source: Dartford & Thurrock River Crossing Accounts 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18.
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The table below sets out the annual position as published within the Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing annual accounts, as well as the cumulative total. It should be noted that no Penalty Charge Notice cases were formally written off in 2014/15 - the write-off would have materialised in 2015/16. In respect of 2018/19, this information will be available once the annual accounts are published in January 2020.
£m | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | Total |
a. RUC | 0.0 | 0.5 | 6.2 | 4.5 | 11.1 |
b. PCN’s | 0.0 | 10.3 | 42.4 | 38.5 | 91.2 |
Total | 0.0 | 10.7 | 48.7 | 43.0 | 102.4 |
Source: Dartford & Thurrock River Crossing Accounts 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18.
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Department continues to make progress evaluating bids for the South Eastern franchise. The Department will make an announcement on the intention to award in due course.
The Department for Transport does not collect this information as station staffing is a matter for operators. They are not required to inform us of which stations are staffed beyond the obligations as set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.
We regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement and a list of which stations have open ticket offices by operator can be seen at http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/governance/ (Schedule 17 July 2015).
Since May 2010, 125 railway station ticket offices have had their hours reduced and four have been closed.
By contrast, between 2005 and 2010 around 400 railway station ticket offices had their hours reduced and six closures were approved.
The Ticketing and Settlement Agreement protects the opening hours of Ticket Offices. If an operator wishes to make such changes to Ticket Office opening times, there is an industry process to follow.
Station staffing levels are a matter for operators. Whilst we regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement station staffing levels are a matter for operators as we believe that railway operators themselves are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their passengers.
Whilst we regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement station staffing levels are a matter for operators as we believe that railway operators themselves are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their passengers. However, it is important that those who need assistance to travel can rely on railway staff to provide this. Each operator is required to participate in the Passenger Assist system which allows disabled passengers to book staff assistance when they require it.
We recognise that passengers can feel very strongly about station staffing hours and we expect all operators to take on board the views of stakeholders before taking any proposal to change such hours forward.
The Department does not hold this information.
The information may be available from the train operator itself or from the Association of Train Operating Companies.
This information is published by Network Rail. Since March 2010, the monthly PPM for the London and South East Railway, and the national average per month can be seen below
The total comes to £1,040,000 including VAT. This includes estimates for September and October.
The estimates made with regard to the levels of (a) total public subsidy can be seen in the tables below. The yearly figures have been rounded, hence the Total Period estimate appears greater than the sum of yearly figures.
Actual figures for (a) total public subsidy during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 will be published on the Office of Rail Regulation’s (‘ORR’) website at http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/browsereports/1 at a later date.
The estimate of (b) premium payments to his Department from the train operator during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 is nil.
Within the Franchise agreement there are 3 bands of profit sharing. Should LSER reach the 1st band and each subsequent band, monies are paid to the DfT; each band reached results in an increase in payment to the DfT.
With regard to (c) Network Grant, this is paid directly to Network Rail, not the train operators.
The estimate of (d) passenger revenue during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited for rail passenger services on the South Eastern line to June 2018 is commercially sensitive and cannot be published.
The ORR have recently started to publish actual passenger income by Train Operator, and this can be found on their website, http://orr.gov.uk/publications/publications-a-z?search=G, titled ‘GB Rail Industry Financial Information’, and is published by year.
The estimate made with regard to the levels of (e) revenue support during the life of the contract directly awarded by his Department to London and South East Railway Limited is nil.
The franchise agreement does have contractual guarantees with regard to (a) on-station staffing, and (b) on-train staffing. We will publish the Franchise Agreement in due course at;
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-register-of-rail-passenger-franchise-agreements.
With regard to (c) ticket office staffing, these are the responsibility of the station operator, which is required to comply with the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.
The franchise agreement does have contractual guarantees on training for existing staff. This is in addition to the normal responsibilities the operator has for training its staff to meet its business requirements.
We will publish the Franchise Agreement in due course at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-register-of-rail-passenger-franchise-agreements
.
The average permitted annual increase in regulated rail fares set by London and South East Railway Ltd (LSER) in each year since 2006 was as follows:
2006 – 3.9%; 2007 – 6.3%; 2008 – 6.8%; 2009 – 8%; 2010 – 2.4%;
2011 – 7.8%; 2012 – 6%; 2013 – 4.2%; 2014 – 3.1%
Regulated fares include weekly/monthly/annual season tickets, day singles and returns (including Oyster Pay as You Go in London) and long-distance off-peak return fares.
The Department does not hold information about increases in unregulated fares.
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) publishes an index showing the average change in price in all rail fares from 2004, with fares at January 2004 shown as 100. The information is not shown by individual Train Operator but grouped together as London and South East, Long Distance and Regional, with LSER fares included in London and the South East.
| January | January | January | January | January | January | January | January | January |
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
| 109.6 | 115.1 | 121.8 | 130.1 | 130.6 | 139.3 | 147.8 | 154.4 | 158.7 |
The full table can be found on ORR’s website at:
http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/displayreport/report/html/00a7c389-7c31-4152-ab18-f99dd65e28d7
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of August 2019:
In the Erith and Thamesmead constituency, since 2012, approximately 5,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,180 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
The information requested is contained within the Autumn Statement 2014: policy costings document which can be accessed via the following weblink – the relevant page is 66:
The information requested is contained within the Autumn Statement 2014: policy costings document which can be accessed via the following weblink – the relevant page is 66:
The information as requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Discussions continue between Her Majesty’s Government and Post Office LTD to consider the needs of our customers beyond March 2015, announcements will be made when these discussions reach a conclusion.
Calls to the Child Maintenance Options 0800 telephone number are free from BT land lines but customers may have to pay if they use another telephone company or a mobile, or if they are calling from abroad. We are currently finalising arrangements with the six major mobile network providers to make the numbers free to call from their networks.
In the meantime, callers contacting the Child Maintenance Options service from a mobile telephone are informed by their network provider that they will be charged. Callers using mobile telephones can request the Options service to call them back, or alternatively use the online ‘live chat' facility or email service, available via the Child Maintenance Options website at www.cmoptions.org.