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1417354

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Licensed Premises: Smoking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on its work with local authorities on the regulation and management of shisha premises.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113074
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2022 answer text <p>Officials have been working with a group of local authorities to consider evidence on whether shisha premises should be regulated. The Department will inform local authorities of its view on the matter in due course.</p> answering member constituency Harborough answering member printed Neil O'Brien question first answered 04/02/2022 14:48:15 answering member 4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417355

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Driving Licences: Applications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the average processing time for applications for (a) provisional and (b) full driving licences in (i) 2021-22 to date, (ii) 2020-21 and (iii) 2019-20.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113075
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.</p><p> </p><p>However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dvla-coronavirus-covid-19-update" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested on the average processing time for driving licence applications cannot be retrieved in the format requested in the time available. Officials from the DVLA will write to the Honourable Member when the information is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison grouped question UIN 113076 question first answered 03/02/2022 15:38:36 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417356

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Driving Licences: Applications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to improve the processing time for driving licence applications.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113076
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The quickest and easiest way to apply for a driving licence is by using the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their licence within a few days.</p><p> </p><p>However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. To help reduce waiting times for paper applications, the DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has secured extra office space in Swansea and Birmingham. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example if medical investigations are needed. The latest information on turnaround times for paper driving licence applications can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dvla-coronavirus-covid-19-update" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested on the average processing time for driving licence applications cannot be retrieved in the format requested in the time available. Officials from the DVLA will write to the Honourable Member when the information is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison grouped question UIN 113075 question first answered 03/02/2022 15:38:36 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417358

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Buildings: Safety
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the new proportionate approach that the Government plans to apply to building safety will result in fire and building safety assessments being revisited for buildings (a) over 18 metres, (b) between 11-18 metres and (c) under 11 metres.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2022 answer text <p>Whole building fire risk assessments are already required in England for residential premises including common parts under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 (FSO). Not all buildings require statutory fire risk assessments. For example, single private dwellings with no common parts are not within the scope of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005. Buildings which already have a suitable and proportionate assessment of their external walls will not need to be reassessed.</p><p>We have worked with BSI to develop new guidance for fire safety professionals on the undertaking of fire risk appraisals of the external wall construction and cladding of existing residential buildings. This guidance (PAS 9980) will enable more proportionate appraisals when necessary.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 07/02/2022 14:24:16 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417359

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Buildings: Safety
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether there is a mechanism for leaseholders to request a second opinion following a building safety assessment and report on their building.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113078
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2022 answer text <p>Fire risk assessments must be proportionate to make sure that unnecessary remediation costs are avoided and leaseholders are protected from unreasonable costs. Where remediation of a building is recommended by an assessor, material supporting this conclusion should be transparent and there should be evidence that alternatives, such as management or mitigation measures, have been clearly considered.</p><p>Leaseholders can request that a building owner seek a second opinion from another fire risk assessor on the necessity of the works or their costs. The building owner would need to agree to this and leaseholders would be responsible for any additional costs.</p><p>The Building Safety Bill will make it a requirement in law that a freeholder needs to explore all alternative sources of funding before passing these costs on to leaseholders.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 07/02/2022 14:27:25 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417360

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Vocational Education: Qualifications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on providers of the Department’s proposed timeline of one year for withdrawing funding for Applied General Qualifications.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113079
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The department will continue to fund a range of qualifications similar to current Applied General qualifications that can be taken alongside and as alternatives to A levels where they meet new criteria for quality and necessity. These qualifications will continue to play an important role for students taking mixed programmes with A levels and to support progression to higher education in areas where there are no A levels or T Levels.</p><p>Overall, we expect the impacts of our reforms to be positive because students will have access to higher quality qualifications in future, including new T Levels. This will put students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a stronger position to progress into further study or skilled employment. We are committed to supporting students to progress onto T Levels in future and have launched the T Level Transition Programme for those who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation. We will also be exploring further through the upcoming consultation on study at level 2 and below what additional forms of support students may need to be ready to move onto A levels and other academic qualifications at level 3.</p><p>The impact assessment published alongside the response to the level 3 review consultation recognises that there will be some cost to providers in implementing changes, but we have not made an estimate of the overall cost to providers of changes stemming from the review. The updated impact assessment published alongside the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill in October 2021 provided some estimates of costs of providers familiarising themselves with the new qualification categories. However, the most significant costs are likely to come from the implementation of T Levels and we have provided significant support for providers to enable them to switch. This includes over £400 million in capital funding to put in place the industry standard equipment and facilities needed to deliver the first four T Level waves, over £200 million to build capacity for industry placements delivery, and the launch of the T Level Professional Development offer, which has so far ensured that almost 8,500 teachers and leaders have the support they need to deliver T Levels well.</p><p>Our reforms to the qualifications landscape are rightly ambitious, but we know that we would be wrong to push too hard and risk compromising quality. In November, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, adjusted the reform timetable to allow an additional year of T Level implementation before overlapping qualifications are removed. This extra year will allow us to continue to work hard to support the growth of T Levels and gives more notice to providers, awarding organisations, employers, students and parents so that they can prepare for the changes when they come in from August 2024.</p> answering member constituency Brentwood and Ongar answering member printed Alex Burghart grouped question UIN 113080 113081 113082 question first answered 03/02/2022 16:55:37 answering member 4613 label Biography information for Alex Burghart
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417361

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Vocational Education: Qualifications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to help ensure that education providers are supported in making changes to their curriculum offer that will be necessary following the withdrawal of funding for Applied General Qualifications.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113080
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The department will continue to fund a range of qualifications similar to current Applied General qualifications that can be taken alongside and as alternatives to A levels where they meet new criteria for quality and necessity. These qualifications will continue to play an important role for students taking mixed programmes with A levels and to support progression to higher education in areas where there are no A levels or T Levels.</p><p>Overall, we expect the impacts of our reforms to be positive because students will have access to higher quality qualifications in future, including new T Levels. This will put students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a stronger position to progress into further study or skilled employment. We are committed to supporting students to progress onto T Levels in future and have launched the T Level Transition Programme for those who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation. We will also be exploring further through the upcoming consultation on study at level 2 and below what additional forms of support students may need to be ready to move onto A levels and other academic qualifications at level 3.</p><p>The impact assessment published alongside the response to the level 3 review consultation recognises that there will be some cost to providers in implementing changes, but we have not made an estimate of the overall cost to providers of changes stemming from the review. The updated impact assessment published alongside the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill in October 2021 provided some estimates of costs of providers familiarising themselves with the new qualification categories. However, the most significant costs are likely to come from the implementation of T Levels and we have provided significant support for providers to enable them to switch. This includes over £400 million in capital funding to put in place the industry standard equipment and facilities needed to deliver the first four T Level waves, over £200 million to build capacity for industry placements delivery, and the launch of the T Level Professional Development offer, which has so far ensured that almost 8,500 teachers and leaders have the support they need to deliver T Levels well.</p><p>Our reforms to the qualifications landscape are rightly ambitious, but we know that we would be wrong to push too hard and risk compromising quality. In November, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, adjusted the reform timetable to allow an additional year of T Level implementation before overlapping qualifications are removed. This extra year will allow us to continue to work hard to support the growth of T Levels and gives more notice to providers, awarding organisations, employers, students and parents so that they can prepare for the changes when they come in from August 2024.</p> answering member constituency Brentwood and Ongar answering member printed Alex Burghart grouped question UIN 113079 113081 113082 question first answered 03/02/2022 16:55:37 answering member 4613 label Biography information for Alex Burghart
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417362

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Vocational Education: Qualifications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has been made of the potential cost to (a) providers and (b) the public purse for the changes to providers’ curriculum offer that will be necessary following the withdrawal of funding for Applied General Qualifications.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113081
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The department will continue to fund a range of qualifications similar to current Applied General qualifications that can be taken alongside and as alternatives to A levels where they meet new criteria for quality and necessity. These qualifications will continue to play an important role for students taking mixed programmes with A levels and to support progression to higher education in areas where there are no A levels or T Levels.</p><p>Overall, we expect the impacts of our reforms to be positive because students will have access to higher quality qualifications in future, including new T Levels. This will put students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a stronger position to progress into further study or skilled employment. We are committed to supporting students to progress onto T Levels in future and have launched the T Level Transition Programme for those who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation. We will also be exploring further through the upcoming consultation on study at level 2 and below what additional forms of support students may need to be ready to move onto A levels and other academic qualifications at level 3.</p><p>The impact assessment published alongside the response to the level 3 review consultation recognises that there will be some cost to providers in implementing changes, but we have not made an estimate of the overall cost to providers of changes stemming from the review. The updated impact assessment published alongside the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill in October 2021 provided some estimates of costs of providers familiarising themselves with the new qualification categories. However, the most significant costs are likely to come from the implementation of T Levels and we have provided significant support for providers to enable them to switch. This includes over £400 million in capital funding to put in place the industry standard equipment and facilities needed to deliver the first four T Level waves, over £200 million to build capacity for industry placements delivery, and the launch of the T Level Professional Development offer, which has so far ensured that almost 8,500 teachers and leaders have the support they need to deliver T Levels well.</p><p>Our reforms to the qualifications landscape are rightly ambitious, but we know that we would be wrong to push too hard and risk compromising quality. In November, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, adjusted the reform timetable to allow an additional year of T Level implementation before overlapping qualifications are removed. This extra year will allow us to continue to work hard to support the growth of T Levels and gives more notice to providers, awarding organisations, employers, students and parents so that they can prepare for the changes when they come in from August 2024.</p> answering member constituency Brentwood and Ongar answering member printed Alex Burghart grouped question UIN 113079 113080 113082 question first answered 03/02/2022 16:55:37 answering member 4613 label Biography information for Alex Burghart
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1417363

registered interest
date	27/01/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Vocational Education: Qualifications
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to help ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are not impacted adversely by the withdrawal of funding for Applied General Qualifications.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	113082
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2022 answer text <p>The department will continue to fund a range of qualifications similar to current Applied General qualifications that can be taken alongside and as alternatives to A levels where they meet new criteria for quality and necessity. These qualifications will continue to play an important role for students taking mixed programmes with A levels and to support progression to higher education in areas where there are no A levels or T Levels.</p><p>Overall, we expect the impacts of our reforms to be positive because students will have access to higher quality qualifications in future, including new T Levels. This will put students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in a stronger position to progress into further study or skilled employment. We are committed to supporting students to progress onto T Levels in future and have launched the T Level Transition Programme for those who are not yet ready to progress to a T Level but have the potential to succeed on it after some further preparation. We will also be exploring further through the upcoming consultation on study at level 2 and below what additional forms of support students may need to be ready to move onto A levels and other academic qualifications at level 3.</p><p>The impact assessment published alongside the response to the level 3 review consultation recognises that there will be some cost to providers in implementing changes, but we have not made an estimate of the overall cost to providers of changes stemming from the review. The updated impact assessment published alongside the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill in October 2021 provided some estimates of costs of providers familiarising themselves with the new qualification categories. However, the most significant costs are likely to come from the implementation of T Levels and we have provided significant support for providers to enable them to switch. This includes over £400 million in capital funding to put in place the industry standard equipment and facilities needed to deliver the first four T Level waves, over £200 million to build capacity for industry placements delivery, and the launch of the T Level Professional Development offer, which has so far ensured that almost 8,500 teachers and leaders have the support they need to deliver T Levels well.</p><p>Our reforms to the qualifications landscape are rightly ambitious, but we know that we would be wrong to push too hard and risk compromising quality. In November, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, adjusted the reform timetable to allow an additional year of T Level implementation before overlapping qualifications are removed. This extra year will allow us to continue to work hard to support the growth of T Levels and gives more notice to providers, awarding organisations, employers, students and parents so that they can prepare for the changes when they come in from August 2024.</p> answering member constituency Brentwood and Ongar answering member printed Alex Burghart grouped question UIN 113079 113080 113081 question first answered 03/02/2022 16:55:37 answering member 4613 label Biography information for Alex Burghart
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1400307

registered interest
date	06/01/2022
answering body	Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept id	211
answering dept short name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
answering dept sort name	Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
hansard heading	Building Safety Fund
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding available through the Building Safety Fund to meet (a) current and (b) future demand.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	98907
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2022 answer text <p>All eligible applications currently made to the Building Safety Fund will be funded. For any buildings that may have missed the original registration deadline we will be opening the next phase of the Building Safety Fund early this year and it will cover the costs of addressing fire safety risks caused by unsafe cladding on all eligible buildings.</p><p>It remains the building owner’s responsibility to address any fire safety issues in their buildings. Building owners should do all they can to make sure their buildings and residents are safe, without passing costs onto leaseholders or relying on taxpayer funding. In many cases, as we have seen for with the funding for the remediation of half of all private sector residential buildings with unsafe ACM cladding, building owners and freeholders or the original developer can meet the costs of remediating unsafe cladding from their own resources, by claiming on insurance policies or warranties, or taking legal action. It is incumbent on them to pursue those avenues. Where building owners apply for funding they are required to demonstrate they have taken all reasonable steps to recover the costs of replacing the unsafe non-ACM cladding from those responsible through insurance claims, warranties, legal action etc.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 14/01/2022 14:40:14 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood