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Written Question
Digital Technology: Disadvantaged
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help improve digital inclusion for people that are unable to access the internet.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises that access to the internet is increasingly essential for full participation in society and has taken steps to ensure households across the UK are able to access fast, reliable mobile and broadband services.

The Government has worked closely with the telecoms industry to ensure superfast broadband connections extend to over 97% of the UK. Similarly, 4G mobile coverage is available to 99% of the population from at least one network provider. The Government is also investing £5 billion through our flagship Project Gigabit programme to bring gigabit broadband to reach hard-to-reach communities.

We recognise that infrastructure is only part of the story. To support those for whom cost may be a barrier, the Government has worked closely with the telecoms industry to ensure market provision of broadband and mobile social tariffs. These low-cost, commercial products are available from 28 different providers, across 99% of the UK and start at just £10 per month.


Written Question
Environment Protection: Bournemouth
Monday 15th April 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help maintain (a) Bournemouth's coastline and (b) the cleanliness of bathing water.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is taking a range of steps to maintain Bournemouth’s coastline. The Environment Agency (EA) has developed and maintains a strong professional partnership with the local authority, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, through which the EA has jointly secured an investment of £36 million between 2020 and 2027 for a flood management scheme to better protect 3,361 homes from coastal erosion and deliver over £1 billion of benefit to the local community. £17.5 million was invested between 2015 and 2020 in beach management to renourish the beach and replace timber groynes. Additionally, there are currently works on site at Hengistbury Head to the eastern end of Poole Bay to repair and upgrade the vital coastal asset known as ‘Long Groyne’ with new rock, at a cost of £12 million. In addition, there are numerous ongoing studies into flood and erosion risk, such as investigating more locally sustainable sources of beach nourishment for Bournemouth, and the delivery of a cliff management strategy for the whole of Poole Bay to better manage historic poor drainage and land instability of the cliff top.

The Government is committed to improving the quality of our bathing waters. Almost 90% of bathing waters in England met the highest standards of ‘good' or ‘excellent’ in 2023, up from just 76% in 2010 and despite the classification standards becoming stricter in 2015. Bournemouth has eight designated bathing waters; last season one was classified as ‘good’ and seven as ‘excellent’.


Written Question
Free Schools: Bournemouth
Monday 15th April 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of locating one of the 15 new special free schools in Bournemouth.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department received a total of 85 applications from local authorities to open a special free school in the most recent, very competitive application round, including two applications from Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Council.

The department plans to select 15 successful applications from the pool of applications. This will remain a competitive process. The approach means the department can move quickly to appoint trusts to run these schools.

The department plans to announce those local authorities which have been successful for the additional special free schools by May 2024.


Written Question
Domestic Waste and Recycling: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Tuesday 9th April 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council with (a) recycling and (b) rubbish collections.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is introducing Simpler Recycling to ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, no longer needing to check what their council will accept for recycling. The costs to deliver the new duties on local authorities for this reform will be funded by a combination of Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility payments provided to local authorities for the cost of collecting and managing household packaging waste through efficient and effective services, and reasonable new burdens funding from the Government to provide weekly food waste collections. We have brought forward up to £295 million in capital funding to roll out weekly food waste collections across England. This will cover the cost of additional bins and vehicles. Initial grants have now been issued to local authorities, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, for their transitional capital funding allocation for financial year 2023/24. Transitional resource costs will be paid from the 2024/25 financial year and ongoing resource costs paid from 1 April 2026.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to reduce the time taken to complete education, health and care plans.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission conducted a joint inspection of the local area of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in June 2021 and identified eight areas of significant weaknesses. Following this inspection, the Local Area Partnership were required to produce a Written Statement of Action.

Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the department works closely with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses.

The department has appointed a SEND specialist advisor to work closely with the Council and has approved a robust package of sector led improvement support from Bedford Borough Council. Amongst a wide range of support, the specialist advisor and Bedford Borough Council are supporting the Council with meeting the 20 week timescales within the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process and improving the quality of EHC plans being produced.

Alongside this support, the department has issued the Council with a statutory direction for SEND services on 26 February 2024. This is due to the inadequate progress the Council has made following the Written Statement of Action Plan since their local area SEND inspection in June 2021. In line with the direction, the department will be working closely with the local area to ensure they are supported in addressing issues and driving improvements to services.


Written Question
Childcare: South West
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase childcare provision in (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents.

In the government’s 2023 Spring Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children and the economy. By the 2027/28 financial year, this government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping families with pre-school children with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever and is set to save working families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,500 per year from when their child is nine months until they are five years old by September 2025.

Funding will be key to delivering the existing and expanded childcare entitlements. The department has substantially uplifted the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department is investing over £400 million additional funding to deliver a significant uplift to hourly rates, building on the £204 million of additional funding paid in September.

To support the sector further to deliver the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate that providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used in the Spring Budget 2023. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an additional £500 million of investment over financial years 2025/26 and 2026/27.

Alongside increasing funding rates, the government is allocating £100 million in capital funding to local authorities in the 2023/24 financial year to support the expansion of childcare places for eligible working parents and to increase the supply of wraparound care in primary schools. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.

Following the department’s consultation on changes to the early years foundation stage framework, the department has introduced flexibilities that aim to make things easier for providers, as well as continuing to explore how the department can support the sector to deliver the additional places that will be required.

The department is ensuring a phased implementation of the expansion to the 30 hours offer to allow the market to develop the necessary capacity. On 2 February 2024, the department launched ‘Do something big, Work with small children’, a new national recruitment campaign to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff to support the expansion of the 30 hours offer. This campaign will raise the profile of the sector, support the recruitment of talented staff, and recognise the lifelong impact those working in early years and childcare have on children and their families.

The department is also continuing to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places across the sector. The department’s childcare and early years provider survey shows that both the number of places available and the workforce has increased since 2022.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, the department discusses what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, supports the local authority with any specific requirements through the department’s childcare sufficiency support contract.


Written Question
Family Hubs: South West
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on expanding Family Hubs to (a) Bournemouth East constituency and (b) the South West.

Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The £12 million family hubs transformation fund (TF1) is supporting 13 local authorities, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP), with the costs of transforming to a Family Hub model of service delivery and a strong Start for Life offer at its core. Further information about BCP's Family Hubs can be found on their website at: https://www.fid.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/family-information-directory/information/family-hubs/family-hubs-early-help-and-outreach-centres.

As part of the Family Hubs Start for Life programme, the department is also investing £300 million in 75 local authorities. Funding has been targeted to the most deprived local authorities, ensuring families get the support they need. This will fund a network of Family Hubs and specific support within those hubs for parent–infant mental health, infant feeding services, parenting support, home learning environment, and to establish parent-carer panels. In addition, all 75 local authorities will publish their Start for Life offer and the department will be providing funding for trials of innovative workforce models to a smaller number of local authorities.

As part of the Family Hubs Start for Life programme, the department is funding 4 local authorities in the South West, which are Bristol, Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay. Further information on Family Hubs in Bristol is available at: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/social-care-and-health/children-and-families/help-for-families/family-hubs. Further information on Family Hubs in Torbay is available at: https://torbayfamilyhub.org.uk/. Further information on Family Hubs in Plymouth is available at: https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/family-hubs. Further information on Family Hubs in Cornwall is available at: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/childrens-services/family-hubs/.

The department is currently in year 2 of the programme, and all local authorities have opened at least one Family Hub and are focusing on delivering the minimum expectations as set out in the Family Hubs and Start for Life local authority guide by March 2025. This guide is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide.


Written Question
Jobcentres: Bournemouth East
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand support available through Jobcentres in Bournemouth East constituency.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting jobs fairs and delivering sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs), the Jobcentre is working with Bournemouth and Poole College, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Citizens Advice, Faithworks, Seetec Plus, Aspire Training, Skills & Learning, International Care Network, Parks in Mind, the Boscombe Towns Fund and many other partners and organisations to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers..

SWAPs are either active or planned in Facilities Management, Hospitality, IT and Communications, Education, Construction, Security, Manufacturing, Administration and the Civil Service through a range of local providers and these are being promoted through both Bournemouth Jobcentres closest to this Ward.

Disability Employment Advisers are supporting the Community Support Hub at a Health and Support Pop-Up: Community Wellness Event between the 18th and 28th March at the Bournemouth Arts Depot in Boscombe, where local people can access high-quality health services completely free of charge. This is in collaboration with BEAF Arts Co, Boscombe Innovation Hub, Help & Care, Community Action Network (CAN), and Healthwatch.


Written Question
Roads: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much reallocated HS2 funding has been given to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for road resurfacing.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Over the period 2023/24 to 2033/34 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council will receive at least £18.9 million of reallocated HS2 funding for highways maintenance, including road resurfacing.

As I’ve previously set out, Network North will see every penny of the £19.8 billion committed to the Northern leg of HS2 reinvested in the North. Every penny of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands. The £6.5 billion saved through our rescoped approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country – and it is from this pot that this funding comes.

In line with the published allocations, the Department for Transport has paid £604,000 of this to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council this financial year; the Council will receive the same amount in 2024/25. Future allocations are a matter for the next Spending Review.

This information, as with all highway maintenance funding allocations, is published on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Domestic Visits: Bournemouth
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether (a) she and (b) other Ministers in her Department plan to visit Bournemouth in the next six months.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

The ministerial team within the Department for Business and Trade do not have any visits currently scheduled to visit Bournemouth in the next 6 months. We are still planning a forward look for this period of time, however, so this is subject to change.