Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of the working age population are disabled in the North East; and how many and what proportion were disabled in 2010.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is shown in the table below.
The definition of disability changed in 2013 therefore estimates for 2010 and 2022 are not directly comparable.
Number and percentage of disabled people aged 16 to 64 by country/region
Country/ region | 2010 | 2022 | ||
Number of disabled people | Percentage of disabled people | Number of disabled people | Percentage of disabled people | |
United Kingdom | 8,257,200 | 20.5 | 9,311,800 | 22.4 |
North East | 399,400 | 24.0 | 429,500 | 26.4 |
North West | 1,012,200 | 22.5 | 1,111,300 | 24.7 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 738,500 | 21.9 | 818,200 | 24.2 |
East Midlands | 629,200 | 21.8 | 712,500 | 24.1 |
West Midlands | 720,900 | 20.5 | 819,300 | 22.6 |
East | 729,400 | 19.9 | 790,200 | 20.8 |
London | 935,500 | 16.9 | 1,092,600 | 17.7 |
South East | 992,100 | 18.3 | 1,144,800 | 20.4 |
South West | 653,600 | 20.0 | 766,900 | 22.9 |
Wales | 469,200 | 24.4 | 506,600 | 26.5 |
Scotland | 746,500 | 21.9 | 861,200 | 25.0 |
Northern Ireland | 230,700 | 19.9 | 258,700 | 22.1 |
Source: Annual Population Survey (APS) -Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk)
Notes:
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people of working age in (a) Lincolnshire, (b) East Midlands and (c) England are (i) not working and (ii) not looking for a job.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users can be found at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding her Department has provided to research projects based in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the 12 months to start of January 2024, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) awarded:
These figures include a range of investments made via UKRI’s Research Councils and Innovate UK, but the figure excludes formula-based block grants deployed through universities which will also have gone to research projects in this region.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse of (a) repairing, (b) refurbishing and (c) rebuilding school buildings in the East Midlands.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the School Rebuilding Programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.
It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently, the department provides additional support on a case-by-case basis.
This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. The department’s evidence-led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, has enabled the department to use consistent data on the condition of the school estate to inform capital allocations and funding policy. This means that the department targets more funding to where it is needed most, with schools in relatively poorer condition attracting more funding for their responsible body.
Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the Condition Data Collection 1 (CDC1) programme between 2017 and 2019. Surveyors and engineers assessed the condition of multiple components of the schools' buildings and land within twelve primary building elements using an A-D rating. Key findings, including regional breakdowns, from the CDC1 can be found in the report, ‘Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key Findings’, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.
Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC1 was carried out, and Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) is now in progress to provide updated information and will be completed by 2026. Early indications from the CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.
The list of schools that have been awarded a place on the School Rebuilding Programme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-rebuilding-programme-schools-in-the-programme.
Funding for capital programmes up to the 2024/25 financial year comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish a breakdown of spending from the flood and coastal erosion risk management investment programme by the (a) number, (b) type and (c) location of flood defences completed.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Each year the Environment Agency produces a summary of flood and coastal erosion risk management work carried out by risk management authorities in England. This is required under Section 18 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. When the current FCERM investment programme ends, after March 2027, the Environment Agency will publish a report with a breakdown of spending, similar to the report published in 2022 after the 2015-2021 investment programme.
We are in the third year of the current 6-year £5.2 billion Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) investment programme. At the end of March 2023, the Environment Agency estimated that approximately £1.5 billion of this funding has been invested with over 200 flood risk schemes completed and almost 60,000 properties better protected. Below is a breakdown of spending by region for the current investment programme.
ONS Region | 2021 to 2023 expenditure (£ millions) | 2021 to 2023 Properties better protected |
East Midlands | 148 | 9,620 |
East of England | 153 | 5,730 |
London | 67 | 9,730 |
North East | 29 | 240 |
North West | 203 | 6,570 |
South East | 246 | 17,490 |
South West | 191 | 4,240 |
West Midlands | 72 | 2,790 |
Yorkshire & Humber | 244 | 2,940 |
Nationally led projects | 144 | 0 |
Total | 1,496 | 59,350 |
The breakdown of the types of schemes delivered within the first two years is as follows:
Main Rivers/Sea | 140 |
Coastal Erosion | 8 |
Surface Water | 66 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 (a) 4G and (b) 5G coverage in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is taking steps to improve both 4G and 5G coverage across the country.
Across the East Midlands, our £1bn agreement with the industry to deliver the Shared Rural Network (SRN) will see 4G coverage from all four Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) rise to 94%, up from 90% when the programme began in 2020.
In addition to the SRN programme, the MNOs independently invest around £2 billion annually across the UK in enhancing and improving their networks.
According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report, basic, non-standalone, 5G is available outside 93% of premises in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency from at least one MNO. The Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, published in April 2023, set out the Government’s vision for wireless connectivity and announced a new ambition for nationwide coverage of higher quality standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030. The strategy includes a series of measures to help the private sector invest in 5G networks by supporting competition, driving down deployment costs and driving the take-up of innovative, 5G-enabled tech by the business and the public sector.
The Department provides extensive guidance for local authorities and operators to help facilitate broadband and mobile deployment through the Digital Connectivity Portal. We have also taken steps to make it easier and cheaper for operators to deploy 4G and 5G. This includes reforming the planning system in England. Alongside this, measures within the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, will support the deployment of wireless infrastructure, including 4G and 5G.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many vacancies in the probation service there were in each region on 1 January 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The workforce position, at 31 December 2023, was 20,806 full-time equivalent (FTE) Staff in Post working in Probation Service grades (including those working in Approved Premises). This is an increase of 1,856 FTE (9.8%) since 31 December 2022.
Recruitment and retention remain a priority across the Probation Service and we have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year since 2021 to deliver more robust supervision, recruit more staff and reduce caseloads to keep the public safer.
We have recruited a record 4,039 trainee Probation Officers between 2020/21 and 2022/23 and we expect these intakes to qualify by the end of 2024 and begin to take on Probation Officer caseloads.
Trainee Probation Officers are onboarded twice annually (including this March which will not be counted in the figures below), and this can lead to fluctuations in staffing levels across the year.
We will continue to run centralised recruitment campaigns in priority regions to help bolster the number of applications.
Table One: Vacancies across Probation Service Regions, December 2023, all Probation Service grades.
Probation Service Region | Vacancies (FTE) |
PS East Midlands | 21 |
PS East of England | 277 |
PS Greater Manchester | 15 |
PS Kent, Surrey & Sussex | 121 |
PS London | 463 |
PS North East | 50 |
PS North West | 128 |
PS South Central | 154 |
PS South West | 85 |
PS Wales | 0 |
PS West Midlands | 82 |
PS Yorkshire & the Humber | 45 |
PS Approved Premises | 0 |
Notes
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Institute for Public Policy Research report State of the North 2024: Charting the Course for a Decade of Renewal, published in March, what steps they are taking to address the widening gap in employment between London and the rest of England.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This Government has made significant progress in creating jobs across the whole of England, and we are taking further steps to reduce regional disparities in employment. The Living Standards mission in the Levelling Up White Paper commits to increasing pay, employment and productivity in every region of the UK by 2030.
The refocussed Investment Zones programme covers eight places across the North and Midlands, providing more jobs in places and levelling up the economy. Additionally, all eight English Freeports are open for business, unlocking investment into port communities and their hinterlands and bringing jobs to these areas.
Following trailblazer deals agreed with the West Midlands and Greater Manchester in March 2023, further trailblazing provisions have been agreed with the North East, enabling local leaders to drive growth in key sectors and tailor local employment support approaches and initiatives that address needs in the area.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of East Midlands Railways trains from (a) Peterborough to Spalding and (b) Spalding to Peterborough were (i) cancelled and (ii) delayed by more than 30 minutes in 2023.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following a thorough search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the specific information you requested is not held by this Department.
The Office of Rail and Road publish statistics on passenger rail punctuality and reliability broken down by Train Operating Company. However, these statistics are not available for specific train services.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).