Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2020 to Question 12854, on Local Council Tax Support Schemes Independent Review, if he will provide details of the external organisations his Department has engaged with in the implementing the recommendations in Eric Ollerenshaw’s Independent Review of Local Council Tax Support Schemes.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department regularly meets with a wide range of stakeholders – including representatives from local authorities, the Local Government Association, debt advice bodies, and other Government Departments – to discuss council tax policy, including local council tax support
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretary meetings with external organisations can be found at the following links on gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dclg-ministerial-data
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-expenses-and-hospitality-for-dclg-senior-officials
The Department does not maintain a record of all meetings which take place between officials and external organisations.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph two of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, where the Environment Agency's updated guidance on pollution prevention is located on gov.uk.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The guidance was updated in May 2019 and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pollution-prevention-for-businesses.
The Environment Agency has restructured this guide to improve the experience of users and eliminate duplication.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph three of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, if she will publish the (a) dated correspondence from the Environment Agency to major supermarkets and (b) replies received.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A copy of the dated correspondence from the Environment Agency to major supermarkets will be placed in the Library of the House. Replies were not requested and have not been recorded centrally.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph two of the Government Response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s Tenth Report of Session 2017-19, Hand car washes, HC 981, if she will publish the correspondence from the Environment Agency to local planning authorities in England that directs those authorities to that agency's updated pollution prevention guidance.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has been liaising with the Local Government Association (LGA) in regards to a draft guidance document and has input to a section covering environment and drainage. This considers the discharge of effluent from hand car washes. To ensure that local councils are made aware of such considerations for this form of car washing, the EA considered that the publication of the guidance would be made by the LGA as opposed to writing to individual councils.
The EA joined a workshop held by the Responsible Car Wash Scheme on 26 November 2019 in London, where the guidance was discussed. The EA is awaiting confirmation from the LGA that the guidance has been published and issued to local authorities.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Government response to recommendation 9 of Eric Ollerenshaw’s 2016 Independent review of local Council Tax support schemes, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the collection of data on the effect of their schemes on claimants.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government collects data from local authorities on the amount of council tax income forgone as a result of providing local council tax support to working age and pensioner claimants. We do not consider that requiring local authorities to provide more detailed information would be proportionate. Local authorities are best placed to decide what level of council tax support is appropriate in particular circumstances.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, with reference to the Government's response to recommendation 10 of Eric Ollerenshaw’s 2016 Independent Review of Local Council Tax Support Schemes, if he will commission independent in-depth research into the effect of the introduction of local council tax support on low-income households affected by other reductions to social security benefits.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government does not propose to pursue such research at this time, particularly as similar work has been carried out by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and others. However, we will continue to consider whether additional work might be helpful in further developing the Government’s understanding of local council tax support.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings in the Institute of Fiscal Studies research, published in January 2019, on the effect of the abolition of council tax benefit.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government has noted the findings of the Institute of Fiscal Studies’ research and closely monitors council tax collection rates, which were 97.0 per cent in 2018-19, as well as overall council tax levels and increases.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what external organisations his Department has engaged with in implementing its response to Eric Ollerenshaw's Independent Review of Local Council Tax Support Schemes.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government engages with a wide range of organisations to understand the impact of council tax - including local council tax support schemes - on taxpayers.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to improve the quality of residential care in Dagenham and Rainham.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Although 81% of adult social care providers and 73% of care home beds are rated as good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, it is completely unacceptable that standards in some settings fall below those rightly expected by care users and their families.
The Department is working with the adult social care sector to implement Quality Matters – a shared commitment to achieve high quality adult social care for service users, families, carers and everyone working in the sector, through six actions.
The Care Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities in England to promote a diverse, sustainable, high quality market of care and support providers for people in their local area to meet their needs. The Department has supported local authorities with their market related duties through a sector-led approach and has brought together guidance and support in an on-line hub available on GOV.UK.
This summer we will publish plans to reform our social care system to make it sustainable for the future. The consultation will set out options to put the social care system on a more secure footing and address issues to improve the quality of care and reduce variation in practice, including for those in the Dagenham and Rainham area.
Asked by: Jon Cruddas (Labour - Dagenham and Rainham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many trainees qualified in allergy in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 and how many will qualify in 2018.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The number of doctors who obtained their certificate of completion of training in the allergy specialty and paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases in 2016 and 2017 is shown in the table below:
Medicine Group specialty/subspecialty | Completed | Completed |
Allergy | 2 | 0 |
Paediatric allergy, immunology and infectious diseases | 4 | 2 |
Source: Health Education England
The number of trainees that will qualify in 2018 will be known at the end of the academic year.
Primary care also has a vital role in the management of allergies. The Royal College of General Practitioners offers a range of resources to educate general practitioners about the various presentations of allergic disease, how to assess an atopic patient and when to investigate in primary care or refer to secondary care.