Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people living in destitution in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We expect to spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.
From this April, working age benefits will increase by 6.7% and, we are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of poverty. In 2021/22 working age adults living in workless families were 7 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in families where all adults work.
Our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to help people into work, including face-to-face time with Work Coaches and targeted employment support. Through our in-work progression offer, which is now live across all Jobcentres in Great Britain, we estimate that around 1.2m low-paid claimants are eligible for Work Coach support to help them increase their earnings. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of Pension Credit in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up, the Department launched a nationwide marketing and communications campaign in April 2022.
This campaign has included advertising on national TV; in regional and national newspapers (including Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph); on local and national broadcast radio (stations such as Capital Birmingham, Free Radio Birmingham and Coventry, Greatest Hits Radio Coventry and Heart West Midlands); on medical centre and Post Office screens across Great Britain; as well as advertising on buses and digital street displays. Online marketing activity also included promotion of Pension Credit on social media, via internet search engines and sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their friends and family are likely to visit.
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact and has resulted in an unprecedented number of Pension Credit applications. The number of claims received in the financial year 2022-23 was more than 80% higher than over the same period the year before.
Latest available figures also show that more households were receiving Pension Credit in August 2023 than in May 2022 – at the beginning of the campaign.
The Department is also continuing to build on this success through various creative no-cost media campaigns to boost awareness of the benefit through broadcast, radio and print media. We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including other Government Departments, Councils, and charities, asking for their support to raise awareness through their networks and channels.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to reduce levels of mental health conditions of people living with HIV.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living with HIV, which includes providing support for mental health conditions. As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs). This will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including psychosocial support and mental health and counselling services, for a more holistic approach to care.
NHS England has now approved plans to fully delegate the commissioning of appropriate specialised services, including specialised HIV services, to ICBs in the East, the Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England will also continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs, including specialised HIV services, in the South West, South East, London and the North East and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025.
The national service specification sets out the requirement for agreeing pathways which define responsibility for meeting the non-HIV needs of patients and identify shared care, including clinical psychology and psychological support services. The NHS Talking Therapies Programme has also developed an e-learning module for Talking Therapies staff on HIV, which is available at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/breaking-barriers-in-hiv-care/
This will enable therapists to support people with anxiety and depression related to the experience of having HIV. As per the NHS Talking Therapies Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms, from 2018/19 all NHS Talking Therapies services were commissioned to establish pathways for people living with long-term physical health conditions, as a key mechanism to ensure the delivery of increased access to psychological therapies.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes in mortgage interest rates in each of the last two years on the income of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the Government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to the 2% target, including by keeping borrowing under control.
While the pricing of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene, our plan is working, and the average offered mortgage rates on 2-year and 5-year fixed rates are now lower compared to their peak in Summer 2023. The Government’s Mortgage Charter - in addition to the significant safeguards already in place - is providing support to vulnerable households; and mortgage arrears and repossessions remain low.
Since 2022, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable by providing one of the largest support packages in Europe. Support for households to help with the cost of living is worth £104 billion over 2022-23 to 2024-25, or £3,700 per household on average.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that people living in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England have access to banking services.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services, and is monitoring this issue closely. It is imperative that firms recognise the needs of all their customers, including those who need to use in-person services.
UK banking customers can access banking services through a number of different channels. This includes in branches, Post Offices or Banking Hubs, as well as via telephone banking and through digital means such as mobile or online banking.
The Post Office allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Banking Hubs are an initiative which enable customers of participating banks to access cash and banking services in shared facilities. Over 100 Banking Hubs have been announced so far, including in Stone, Cheadle and Pershore in the wider West Midlands region, and the Government hopes to see these all open as soon as possible.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support small businesses in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Small businesses across the West Midlands will benefit from the £105 million the area has received from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which ramps up to £1.5bn this coming year. This will enable the West Midlands to invest in business support, people and wider regeneration.
The Government also funds a network of 37 Growth Hubs across England to give free support and advice to businesses. Additionally, the Made Smarter Adoption programme, which has been operating in multiple regions including the West Midlands, helps manufacturing SMEs adopt advanced digital technology and is being expanded to further regions in England in 2025/26.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many combined cadet forces ceased operating in (a) state and (b) independent schools in each region since 2010.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The requested information is only available from 2012. The number of Combined Cadet Force units that ceased operating in (a) State and (b) Independent Schools between 2012 and early 2024 are as follows:
Region | Independent | State |
East Anglia | 1 | 2 |
East Midlands | 1 | 3 |
Greater London | 0 | 2 |
North East | 1 | 6 |
North West | 1 | 5 |
South East | 2 | 4 |
South West | 0 | 12 |
West Midlands | 0 | 2 |
Yorkshire and Humberside | 0 | 5 |
Scotland | 0 | 0 |
Wales | 0 | 0 |
Northern Ireland | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of primary and secondary school places in Nottingham.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Section 14 of the Education Act 1996 places a statutory duty on local authorities for providing enough school places for children in their area.
The department knows that local authorities have to create more school places, which is why the department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. This Basic Need investment supports the government’s priority to ensure that every child has the opportunity of a place at a good school, whatever their background.
In addition, the free schools programme remains an important part of the government’s plan to level up standards and respond where there is need for more school places. The programme has delivered hundreds of new schools and provided thousands of good school places across the country.
The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisers engage with local authorities on a regular basis to review a local authority’s plans for creating additional places. The Pupil Place Planning advisor for the East Midlands region is engaging with Nottingham local authority on their statutory duty and providing them with the offer of support and advice.
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, what steps is he is taking to support job seekers in rural areas.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In Lincolnshire, and across the country, our Jobcentre teams are supporting people back into work and helping those in work to progress. We have a comprehensive range of support in place and are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, job fairs, and work trials. Jobcentres have the flexibility to work alongside national and local organisations to help meet the needs of their communities, including in rural areas.
In Lincolnshire, the department worked with the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership on provision to assist with a shortage of drivers in the logistics sectors, with training delivered through Boston, Stamford, and Lincoln colleges with good levels of take up.
Adequate transport links can be a major factor that affects employment, and claimants are made aware of the bus fare cap operating throughout Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, operated by local bus companies.
DWP works closely with Boston College that provides outreach services in Spalding, as well as bus transport to facilitate access to their services from rural areas. Boston College also delivers their digital course within Spalding Jobcentre, for those unable to travel into Boston. Where access is still difficult, we have engaged with other providers to deliver virtual programmes, for example NetUK and Steadfast. We have also worked with Lincolnshire County Council for delivery of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision to be delivered in the Spalding Jobcentre.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of measles have been reported in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the East Midlands in each of the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes routine data on laboratory confirmed measles. As provided in the latest published data between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, there have been eight laboratory confirmed cases in the East Midlands.
UKHSA does not routinely publish measles case data at local authority level, due to the risk of deductive disclosure. However, the total number of laboratory confirmed cases of measles in the East Midlands for the past five years is:
¾ 48 cases in 2019;
¾ four cases in 2020;
¾ zero cases in 2021;
¾ one case in 2022; and
¾ eight cases in 2023.
Data on monthly cases by age and region is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-epidemiology-2023/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-by-month-age-and-region-2023
Data over the last five years is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-confirmed-cases/confirmed-cases-of-measles-in-england-and-wales-by-region-and-age-2012-to-2014
From the 1 October 2023 to the 6 February 2024 there have been 11 cases of measles in the East Midlands, provisional and subject to confirmation in the reference laboratory. Further information is available at the following link: