Debates between Will Quince and Sarah Olney during the 2019 Parliament

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Will Quince and Sarah Olney
Monday 23rd May 2022

(1 year, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sarah Olney Portrait Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)
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T7. In my constituency, there are simply not enough school places for children with special educational needs. What is really needed is a new school to increase capacity. What conversations has the Department held with local authorities to establish in which areas there is the most need for special schools, and where a new school would deliver the most benefit?

Will Quince Portrait Will Quince
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Over the course of the spending review period, we have secured an additional £2.6 billion for special and alternative provision places, with £1.4 billion of that being made available this year. The hon. Lady should speak with her local authority to make sure that provision is covered.

Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out

Debate between Will Quince and Sarah Olney
Tuesday 4th February 2020

(4 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Will Quince Portrait Will Quince
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question and the constructive way in which he put it, but I must respectfully disagree with him. There is no five-week wait. People are able to access their advance on day one.

Sarah Olney Portrait Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)
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Can the Minister tell us whether we can now expect to see an improvement to the kind of delays that many applicants are experiencing in their applications being processed? Will the Minister commit himself to publishing some statistics so that we can see whether the impact of this delay has resulted in an improvement to those kinds of delays?

Will Quince Portrait Will Quince
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I am a little confused, because my understanding is that those performance stats are indeed available. The Department has a very good record on payments and payment timeliness. Can we improve? Of course we can, and I meet with officials on at least a weekly basis to discuss that. In many cases, it is down not just to the Department but to how the claimant provides information. We are putting in additional resource, where appropriate, to help people to help themselves to get us that important information that we need to process the claims.