Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help support survivors of domestic abuse in Birmingham.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The government has taken a number of measures to support victims of domestic abuse across England and Wales. As a result of the of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and our Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan (2022) the government will invest up to £140 million in supporting victims.
Funding which may support victims in Birmingham from this plan includes, but is not limited to:
Ringfenced funding the Ministry of Justice provided to PCCs. In 2023/2024 MoJ provided £38 million for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and £21 million for community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of parents (a) with two year olds who are eligible for 15 hours of childcare support and (b) who have had codes validated by providers and are receiving their entitlement in each local authority area.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s plan to support hard working families is working. The department are making the largest ever investment in childcare in England’s history. By September 2025, when the new entitlements are fully rolled out, working families will on average save £6,900 per year if they use the full 30 hours free childcare from when their child is 9 months old until they start school.
Our roll-out has already been successful, with the government exceeding its target for the April roll out of the first 15 hours for two year olds.
The department’s estimates focus on numbers of children, rather than parents. The department estimates that there are around 285,000 two year olds eligible for 15 hours of childcare support.
As per my statement on 23 April, more than 200,000 are already benefitting from the first stage of the expansion. The department will be publishing data by local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many defence firms were supported by UK Defence and Security Exports to attend the (a) Singapore Airshow and (b) Asia Pacific Maritime conference in 2024.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
a) Singapore Airshow 2024
0 – UKDSE did not support any defence companies to attend this event. The UK Pavilion was coordinated by ADS Group Trade Association.
b) Asia Pacific Maritime 2024
0 – UKDSE did not support any defence companies to attend this civil maritime focussed event.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many defence firms were supported by UK Defence and Security Exports to attend the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) in March 2024.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
UKDSE directly supported 9 defence companies at DIMDEX 2024, either through participation on the UKDSE stand or through the Soldier on Stand service.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether a fee is charged to companies that request that a serving member of the Army accompany them to an exhibition supported by UK Defence and Security Exports.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Yes, when delivering a Soldier on Stand service. Charges are based upon current military capitation rates.
Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress NHS England has made on developing a neuropsychiatric service specification.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England remains committed to the continued development and improvement of all services, including neuropsychiatry. Neuropsychiatry covers a broad spectrum of mental health support, for people with a broad spectrum of neurological conditions, and as such, provision of neuropsychiatry falls within the care pathway of a range of services.
The provision of neuropsychiatry is included in, and will be strengthened within, the updated neurology service specification, neurosurgery specification, and complex rehabilitation service specification. The requirement and scope of a standalone neuropsychiatry service specification is being discussed with the Royal College of Psychiatry and mental health colleagues.
The Neurology Clinical Reference Group (CRG) will continue to lead this work and take forward discussions with the Royal College of Psychiatry, which is represented on both the Neurology CRG and Complex Rehabilitation and Disability CRG, and is contributing to the development of the service specifications listed above.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in the devolved administrations on ensuring (a) a consistent approach and (b) the applicability of the NHS National Review to ADHD services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions on a wide range of matters, with a wide range of people. NHS England is establishing a new attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) taskforce alongside the Government, to improve care for people living with the condition. The new taskforce will bring together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, and help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand for assessments and support. NHS England will continue to engage widely throughout the process, and will engage with the devolved administrations as appropriate.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of whether the NHS workforce plan should be updated by NHS England to reflect the staffing needs of the eight new children and young people's gender services regional centres.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific formal assessment has been made. Gender medicine is a highly specialised field of medicine, and NHS England are actively working to recruit more staff for the new regional children and young people gender identity services. NHS England has also been working closely with other professional bodies to develop tailored training for these professionals. NHS England will commission the required professional training curriculum and competencies framework, not just for staff working in the new gender services, but also for clinicians working in secondary, primary, and community care. It is expected that this will also help to increase the support for children and young people, ensuring they receive a more holistic model of care.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many child mental health patients have been held in inappropriate out of area placements since March 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
While NHS England does collect internal management data on this topic, the statistics are not considered robust enough to be published.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides financial support to (a) schools, (b) academy trusts and (c) local authorities for the cost of (i) overheads and (ii) maintenance required under the terms of private finance initiative contracts.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract covers two schools and was signed on 22nd December 2003.
The department’s private finance initiative (PFI) Revenue Support Grant (RSG) funding for the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project is paid to the Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire Council, rather than directly to schools. No payments are made by the department to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd in relation to the Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools PFI contract. The department has paid PFI RSG funding of £1,886,314 for each of the last ten years from 2014/15 to 2023/24 to Central Bedfordshire Council. All payments under Mid Bedfordshire Schools PFI Project to Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd are made by Central Bedfordshire Council.
The department supports local authorities that entered schools PFI contracts by providing Revenue Support Grant funding for the term of the PFI contract, which is normally 25 years. Central Bedfordshire Council, as the contracting party to Mid Bedfordshire Upper Schools Project PFI agreement, combines RSG grant funding from the department, plus additional funds from their own resources, to pay the PFI unitary charge to the contractor. The schools within each PFI contract ordinarily contribute towards the cost of the facilities. This applies equally to maintained schools and to academies.
The department also supports schools that have unavoidable extra premises costs related to their PFI contracts through the ‘PFI factor’ in the schools national funding formula (NFF). This funding is paid out to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and is then allocated to schools by local authorities through their own local formulae.
The PFI factor only covers unavoidable extra premises costs, primarily related to the building itself. Costs which all schools face, such as facilities management and energy costs should be covered by the funding schools receive from the other formula factors in their local authority’s funding formula.