Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a fast track covid-19 testing system for school (a) teachers and (b) staff.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to supporting schools to stay open and as part of this, teachers with symptoms are being prioritised for tests. It is important that teachers who experience potential coronavirus symptoms quickly get clarity on whether they have the virus so those without it can safely return to their classes.
The Government have developed a dedicated route to enable schools to order additional tests kits online via a replenishment portal which can be accessed here. This dedicated route is used to replenish test kits and signpost staff to the online booking portal should any additional need for testing arise.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding he has made available to support Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The UK Government expects funding for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 to come from a range of sources. Every effort will be made to ensure that any activities and programmes for the Jubilee do not impose an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to allocate the remaining funds in the Culture Recovery Fund.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The majority of the CRF funding is now being deployed with over £500 million allocated so far across both capital and recovery grants. A further £188 million has been allocated to the devolved administrations as part of the Barnett formula and £100 million has been directly allocated to national cultural institutions and English Heritage Trust.
Repayable finance awards (which made up £270m of the Fund) are currently under negotiation, with outcomes expected to be announced in the coming weeks, and part of the £120m capital funding is still to be allocated.
Additionally, DCMS has held back a substantial amount of CRF funding with a view to offering critical support when needed - we do not know what will happen next with this pandemic, and this government wants to support these sectors over the long term.
DCMS and its Arms Length Bodies are working closely to identify the ongoing needs of these sectors, and will make decisions as soon as possible about how best to use the contingency funding left within the CRF to provide further support to the sector.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 testing swabs were provided to testing centres in Batley and Spen constituency on each of the last 14 days.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not publish this data in this format.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Theatre Tax Relief to cover (a) digital output and (b) community-based artistic activity.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In 2019-20, the Government provided £71 million of support to 3,580 productions through the Theatre Tax Relief. While all tax reliefs are kept under review, the Government is not planning any changes to the Theatre Tax Relief.
The current rules do allow any theatrical production company to claim Theatre Tax Relief if its live performances will be to paying members of the general public or provided for educational purposes. This does not exclude qualifying community-based performances.
The Government has taken action to support the cultural sector during the pandemic through a £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. To date, £409 million in grant funding has been awarded to over 2,000 cultural organisations in England including orchestras, music venues, galleries, theatres, museums and festivals.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to improve internet infrastructure in (a) Batley and Spen constituency and (b) Kirklees local authority area.
Answered by Matt Warman
Good progress has been made in the Batley and Spen constituency, with over 98% of premises able to access superfast broadband according to Thinkbroadband - up from 41% in January 2012. Furthermore, over 68% of premises have access to ultrafast services (greater than 100Mbps) and over 21% have access to gigabit services (1,000Mbps). Virgin Media are currently upgrading their network and the department estimates that over 67% of the constituency will have access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.
In the Kirklees metropolitan area, over 98% of premises have access to superfast broadband, which is up from 59% in January 2012. Furthermore, over 72% have access to ultrafast services (greater than 100Mbps) and over 23% have access to gigabit services (1,000Mbps). Virgin Media are currently upgrading their network and the department estimates that over 65% of Kirklees will have access to gigabit speeds by the end of 2021.
For those rural premises in Batley and Spen and wider Kirklees that are still suffering from slow speeds, DCMS runs the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) that can be used by rural communities across the UK to reduce the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity. This provides a voucher worth up to £3,500 for eligible small businesses and vouchers worth up to £1,500 for residents. More details are available here: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/. To date across West Yorkshire, homes and small businesses have requested 1,133 vouchers totaling £2.8 million, including 30 from constituents in Batley and Spen.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers have been recruited in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) England since the 2019 General Election.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years.
On 29 October, we were pleased to announce that 5,824 additional officers have been recruited across England and Wales as part of the Police Uplift Programme since it started in October 2019, and a further 589 additional officers have been recruited through other means. Latest figures show that the total number of police officers recruited between November 2019 to September 2020 in England alone is 12,197.
West Yorkshire Police has recruited 308 additional officers as part of the Police Uplift Programme and I am extremely grateful to those brave men and women who have signed up to join the police and keep our communities safe.
The latest “Police officer uplift” statistics published on 29 October can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-officer-uplift-quarterly-update-to-september-2020
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers there were in West Yorkshire in (a) 2010 and (b) as at 30 October 2020.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years, and West Yorkshire Police has already recruited 308 additional officers as part of the Police Uplift Programme. I am extremely grateful to those brave men and women who have signed up to join the police and keep our communities safe.
In March 2010, West Yorkshire Police had 5,856 police officers (headcount). The most recent figures (up to September 2020) shows the force had 5,494 officers.
The latest “Police officer uplift” statistics published on 29 October can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-officer-uplift-quarterly-update-to-september-2020
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent an increase in anti-social behaviour.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour. The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible tools and powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to anti-social behaviour.
The powers in the 2014 Act are local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances as they are best-placed to understand the needs of their community and the most appropriate response.? The Home Office published statutory guidance to support local areas to make effective use of the powers.
It is for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, as operational leaders and elected local representatives, to decide how best to respond to individual crimes and local priorities but to help ensure that the police have the resources they need to do so, we have given policing the biggest funding increase in a decade and are recruiting 20,000 additional officers over the next three years.
As well as regular engagement with ASB partners, we keep anti-social behaviour under review through the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategic Board which brings together a range of partners and representatives from key agencies and other Government departments.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to NHS Trusts on (a) supporting front line NHS staff who have been shielding back to work and (b) providing those staff with appropriate personal protective equipment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Employers have produced guidance for National Health Service organisations to support staff returning to work after shielding. An individual risk assessment must take place to support those staff and the relevant adjustments made. The guidance is available at the following link: