Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made a recent assessment of the impact of trends in the number of University students on the (a) price and (b) availability of rental properties (i) in Durham and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Department does not currently assess the impact of the trends of university students on rental price and availability.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of bed capacity at University Hospital North Durham in relation to the local population.
Answered by Edward Argar
No specific assessment has been made. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement advise that County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust assessed the demand on services and reviewed current bed capacity at University Hospital North Durham as part of its annual planning requirement. In response, an additional 24 beds will be made available during the second half of 2022/23.
Asked by: Dehenna Davison (Conservative - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment the Government has made of capacity challenges in County Durham's accident and emergency departments.
Answered by Edward Argar
No assessment has been made. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement advise that additional staff are being recruited at the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital. Darlington’s emergency department was extended in 2020 and there are further plans to redevelop and increase capacity at Durham’s emergency department. Same day emergency care units were also opened at each site in 2021.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has also enhanced paediatric services and facilities in the emergency departments and a new paediatric assessment unit has been installed at the Durham site. A new primary care hub has also been opened adjacent to the emergency department in Durham.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide funding for scholarships for those wanting to study subjects in which black students are under-represented.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Ensuring equality of opportunity for talented young people across the country is one of this government’s highest priorities.
The previous government brought forward sweeping reforms of higher education (HE) through the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA) to tackle equality of opportunity. This includes the Transparency Duty, which will for the first time require all universities to publish applications, offers and acceptance rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background.
On 11 March 2021 the Office for Students (OfS) published the access and participation data dashboard, which is used to identify gaps in access, continuation, attainment, and progression at English providers delivering undergraduate provision by different student characteristics, available at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/.
All HE providers wanting to charge higher level fees must have an Access and Participation Plan agreed by the OfS, in which they set out the measures they intend to take to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-represented groups to access and succeed in higher education.
In the 2021-22 academic year, providers have committed over £202 million to access activity. Through access and participation plans, providers are delivering a range of interventions aimed at improving access, progression and continuation rates for under-represented groups, including additional financial support through bursaries and scholarships. For example, Durham University this year launched their ‘Durham Inspired’ scholarship programme for Black students: https://www.durham.ac.uk/study/scholarships/undergraduate-scholarships-2022-entry/durham-inspired-scholarships-for-black-uk-students/.
In 2019 the government announced £13.5 million of funding for up to 2,500 new places for AI and data science conversion courses, including up to 1,000 government-funded scholarships. These scholarships are prioritised for Black, Female and Disabled students and are based across 28 Universities across England. In the first year alone over 1,300 students have enrolled, with a total of 210 scholarships awarded to date. Of the scholarships awarded, 40% have been awarded to Black students.
We recognise there is still more to be done, including ensuring that students are accessing high quality courses which have real labour market demand and lead them into skilled employment. In our latest strategic guidance to the OfS we asked them to urge providers to do more to ensure that all students, particularly those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, are recruited on to courses that will deliver good outcomes.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts have applied for the additional funding that was made available in response to the findings of the Ockenden report; how much each such Trust has (a) applied for and (b) received to date.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Trust | Original bid total value 6 May 2021 £ | Total 2021/22 allocation (part year September 2021) | ||
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust | 1,252,192 | 148,803 |
| |
Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 807,732 | 408,904 | ||
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust | 284,877 | 193,089 | ||
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 518,511 | 124,995 | ||
Barts Health NHS Trust | 2,590,042 | 693,225 | ||
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 1,378,502 | 1,040,098 | ||
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 456,291 | 261,476 | ||
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | 541,505 | 201,313 | ||
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1,070,526 | 1,344,456 | ||
Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 318,337 | 219,466 | ||
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust | 488,208 | 412,414 | ||
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust | 495,114 | 380,316 | ||
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 612,378 | 420,628 | ||
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 2,364,103 | 1,270,115 | ||
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 400,761 | 318,066 | ||
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 843,183 | 314,466 | ||
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust | 1,583,072 | 634,923 | ||
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust | 1,461,591 | 557,411 | ||
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust | 1,027,109 | 455,416 | ||
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 567,988 | 220,725 | ||
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 827,660 | 248,454 | ||
East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust | 834,962 | 482,419 | ||
East Cheshire NHS Trust | 636,124 | 258,510 | ||
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust | 1,147,954 | 886,774 | ||
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust | 853,426 | 362,131 | ||
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust | 571,587 | 188,113 | ||
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust | 253,900 | 86,304 | ||
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | 966,167 | 818,568 | ||
Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust | 530,181 | 240,808 | ||
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 1,093,090 | 225,558 | ||
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 815,905 | 383,925 | ||
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 533,570 | 338,133 | ||
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | 982,451 | 562,385 | ||
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1,373,665 | 766,847 | ||
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust | 423,669 | 273,125 | ||
Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 972,472 | 1,238,318 | ||
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | 715,349 | 129,893 | ||
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | 540,633 | 362,198 | ||
Isle of Wight NHS Trust | 554,009 | 241,584 | ||
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 483,415 | 448,795 | ||
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 1,004,043 | 719,567 | ||
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 1,264,801 | 464,460 | ||
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 389,393 | 138,797 | ||
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | 899,543 | 332,181 | ||
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust | 1,620,632 | 782,098 | ||
Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust | 1,298,096 | 217,777 | ||
London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust | 1,261,169 | 759,539 | ||
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | 1,136,540 | 495,878 | ||
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | 2,471,658 | 583,693 | ||
Medway NHS Foundation Trust | 1,035,684 | 393,221 | ||
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust | 1,262,103 | 1,948,672 | ||
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 482,978 | 284,865 | ||
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust | 255,689 | 144,326 | ||
Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust |
|
| ||
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (lead trust)* | 1,503,738 | 1,556,665 |
|
|
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust |
|
|
|
|
James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
|
|
|
|
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (lead trust)* | 934,755 | 1,017,201 | ||
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | 786,935 | 386,333 | ||
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust | 488,080 | 108,031 | ||
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust | 1,030,383 | 1,294,487 | ||
Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust | 568,109 | 191,966 | ||
Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust | 243,027 | 152,338 | ||
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust | 2,232,040 | 931,611 | ||
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 623,081 | 269,818 | ||
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | 1,799,999 | 2,716,293 | ||
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 933,750 | 156,226 | ||
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 1,115,415 | 711,830 | ||
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust | 814,130 | 610,888 | ||
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | 447,824 | 462,235 | ||
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust | 553,762 | 310,237 | ||
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust | 431,030 | 390,084 | ||
Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 546,072 | 262,598 | ||
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | 492,788 | 331,795 | ||
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust | 369,900 | 317,437 | ||
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 728,672 | 427,623 | ||
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1,215,276 | 1,256,381 | ||
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 683,524 | 171,677 | ||
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 821,370 | 291,675 | ||
Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust |
|
|
|
|
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (lead trust)* | 875,734 | 550,860 | ||
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1,427,975 | 513,838 | ||
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust | 729,908 | 243,746 | ||
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 430,933 | 177,328 | ||
Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust | 532,610 | 264,757 | ||
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 1,246,578 | 682,149 | ||
St Helens and Knowsley Hospital Services NHS Trust | 783,726 | 159,799 | ||
Stockport NHS Foundation Trust | 408,193 | 661,922 | ||
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust | 874,006 | 523,048 | ||
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | 595,864 | 76,664 | ||
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 1,021,397 | 438,694 | ||
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 608,616 | 407,188 | ||
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 913,583 | 505,490 | ||
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust | 722,952 | 376,861 | ||
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust | 252,492 | 55,389 | ||
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 390,212 | 182,462 | ||
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust | 444,384 | 207,723 | ||
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust | 317,227 | 258,891 | ||
North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust |
|
|
|
|
Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust |
|
|
|
|
The Whittington Health NHS Trust |
|
|
|
|
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (lead trust)* | 2,767,608 | 1,550,305 | ||
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust | 250,975 | 186,379 | ||
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 932,997 | 697,617 | ||
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust |
|
| ||
North Bristol NHS Trust (lead trust)* | 711,100 | 624,157 |
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 1,665,250 | 705,716 | ||
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | 1,208,036 | 535,947 | ||
University Hospitals of Derby And Burton NHS Foundation Trust | 1,728,332 | 417,735 | ||
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust | 732,539 | 789,937 | ||
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust | 753,140 | 223,162 | ||
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 295,052 | 282,039 | ||
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust | 538,932 | 484,576 | ||
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust | 2,521,058 | 725,640 | ||
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 869,333 | 596,393 | ||
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | 519,827 | 294,297 | ||
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust | 1,123,433 | 658,402 | ||
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust |
|
|
|
|
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (lead trust)* | 1,793,858 | 1,576,451 | ||
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 423,542 | 398,582 | ||
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 308,613 | 316,217 | ||
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust | 1,023,668 | 370,698 | ||
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 591,237 | 85,481 | ||
York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 1,384,798 | 505,506 |
Note:
*Collaborative bid partnerships with the joint figure listed with to the nominated lead trust.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline police officers.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Our police have continued to dedicate themselves to protecting the public during the pandemic. We recognise that this has been a hugely challenging time for them and looking after their mental health and overall wellbeing is a priority for this Government as we deliver the aims of the Police Covenant.
In addition to my previous answer to your question of 24 March, the National Police Wellbeing Service, funded by the Home Office, undertook the annual national police wellbeing survey for 2020-21 with Durham University. The survey was conducted during the pandemic and adapted to include a question set to give an indication of the impact on officers and staff. Over 22,000 responses were received from police officers and staff. The main findings, published on 6 July, show that whilst some factors influencing overall wellbeing have improved, others remain a concern.
The results of the survey are enabling the wellbeing service to prioritise work at a national level, for example, continuing the rollout of the Emergency Services Trauma Intervention Programme. The findings of this survey are also included in the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Covid-19 workforce recovery plan.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the net effect on employment in the UK was as a result of his Department's decision to award Hitachi a contract for the Intercity Class 800 series trains over competing UK suppliers.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
The IEP contract led to Hitachi investing over £80million in a rail vehicle manufacturing facility in Newton Aycliffe in the North East, generating direct employment for over 700 people and many more in the wider local and national supply chain.
It has also created opportunities for many new suppliers to access the rail industry leading to an investment of over £1.8bn in the UK supply chain since 2013.
The opening of the factory has also created a legacy for future skills as Hitachi Rail became co-founders of South Durham University Technical College specialising in engineering skills for 14-18-year-olds.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the UK's withdrawal from the European High Performance Computing programme, what strategy the Government has in place to ensure UK scientists have access to high performance computing infrastructure comparable to that available to other European nations and the UK's international peers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The High Performance Computing (HPC) needs of UK researchers will be considered as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Digital Infrastructure Strategy. This strategy will also consider access to European and other international computing initiatives. UKRI is investing in UK HPC, such as the new ARCHER2 national facility at the University of Edinburgh (£79m) and the DiRAC HPC provision at Leicester, Durham, Edinburgh, Cambridge, and UCL. The UK has never been part of the European High Performance Computing programme but remains a member of the European PRACE HPC initiative.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what formal process the Government used to award funding to the Medical Detection Dogs charity as part of the covid-19 response.
Answered by Edward Argar
No funding award has been made to the Medical Detection Dogs (MDD). Funding for the COVID-19 Detection Dog studies was provided as a grant in line with Test and Trace grant processes to the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine (LSTHM). The LSTHM is leading a research project including the MDD charity and Durham University to determine whether trained dogs can discriminate pre-symptomatic, asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 from uninfected individuals.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2020 to Question 5319 on freedom of speech at Sheffield University, what steps he plans to take to block reported proposals by Durham University Student Union to (a) vet in advance external speakers invited to address student societies, (b) require such speakers to submit their speeches to the Union in advance and (c) cancel the invitations to such speakers or require that additional speakers should also be invited; what the legal basis is for student unions to exercise such powers against speakers whom they judge to be controversial; what recent assessment he has made of whether universities are meeting their obligations to (i) protect freedom of speech and (ii) exercise any necessary restrictions on speaker invitations by student societies which pose an identifiable threat to students on campus; and what assessment he has made of whether those obligations require review.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
This government has been clear in its commitment to strengthen academic freedom and ensure that our universities are places where free speech can thrive. That is why tougher legal measures have been announced by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, on 16 February, to stamp out unlawful ‘silencing’ on campuses.
The Education Act 1986 imposes a legal duty on those involved in the government of universities to secure lawful free speech. If it has been accurately reported in the press, the decision by Durham University is gravely disappointing and not in line with our high expectations for universities in this area. To give a student union this power over external speakers is wholly inappropriate: no university should ever grant a student union any authority or role in vetting, limiting or otherwise overseeing which external speakers may be invited to speak on campus, or under what circumstances they may do so.
Although it is true that when considering external speakers, higher education providers should, under the Prevent duty, consider the risks that the event may pose in drawing students into terrorism, this must be balanced against their duty to secure freedom of speech; it is only rarely that speakers will form into this category, and applying intrusive procedures on a blanket basis, such as asking all speakers to submit their speeches in advance, is unnecessary and inappropriate. In the vast majority of cases these risks can be mitigated without shutting down speech. In any case, to outsource such decisions to a Student Union, giving them de facto control of who can speak on campus, is completely unacceptable.
At my request, officials have asked the Office for Students, the independent regulator, to investigate this matter and have also contacted the Vice Chancellor of the university to express my concerns.
The new measures set out in the February 2021 policy paper are a part of this government’s commitment to strengthen free speech and academic freedom at universities in England.
The policy paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-free-speech-and-academic-freedom.