Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1669842

	registered interest
	date	14/11/2023
	answering body	Department for Business and Trade
	answering dept id	214
	answering dept short name	Business and Trade
	answering dept sort name	Business and Trade
	hansard heading	Iron and Steel: Tees Valley
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent estimate she has made of when (a) her Department will reach an agreement with British Steel on and (b) work will begin on the construction of an arc furnace for processing steel on Teesside.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	1873
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2023 answer text <p>The Government made an extremely generous offer of support to British Steel earlier this year, to help them invest in a sustainable future. Since the offer was made, officials have continued to work intensively with British Steel to explore options. The detail of these conversations is highly confidential.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>British Steel’s plans for starting work on an electric arc furnace on Teesside are a commercial matter for the company.</p> answering member constituency Wealden answering member printed Ms Nusrat Ghani question first answered 20/11/2023 17:51:22 answering member 4460 label Biography information for Ms Nusrat Ghani
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1691653

	registered interest
	date	26/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Business and Trade
	answering dept id	214
	answering dept short name	Business and Trade
	answering dept sort name	Business and Trade
	hansard heading	Freight: Insolvency
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many road haulage businesses trading under SIC code 49410 entered insolvency in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	15625
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/02/2024 answer text <p>Estimated numbers of companies with the SIC code 49410 that entered insolvency in the UK in each of the last five calendar years are presented in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Calendar Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Companies entering insolvency</strong> (SIC code 49410 – Freight Transport by Road)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019</p></td><td><p>280</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020</p></td><td><p>189</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021</p></td><td><p>265</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022</p></td><td><p>408</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023</p></td><td><p>494</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Thirsk and Malton answering member printed Kevin Hollinrake question first answered 29/02/2024 13:21:42 answering member 4474 label Biography information for Kevin Hollinrake
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1698475

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Business and Trade
	answering dept id	214
	answering dept short name	Business and Trade
	answering dept sort name	Business and Trade
	hansard heading	Holidays: Personal Injury
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress she has made on establishing an exceptional compensation scheme for holidaymakers who have outstanding (a) loss of life and (b) serious personal injury claims against UK companies.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	20310
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>The Government understands that an alternative route for Thomas Cook personal injury claimants is being pursued that would potentially be financially beneficial to them.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to establishing a payment scheme for customers of Thomas Cook with serious and long-term injuries for which the company would have been liable but for its insolvency, if it is established that there are no alternative routes to compensation.</p> answering member constituency Thirsk and Malton answering member printed Kevin Hollinrake question first answered 15/04/2024 15:05:24 answering member 4474 label Biography information for Kevin Hollinrake
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1688133

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Foster Care: Allowances
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the implementation of the increase in foster carers allowances announced in February 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	13562
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>Every year, the Department for Education (DfE) works with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to review the allowance and consider any changes in inflation and affordability for local government.</p><p>In February 2023, the DfE raised the National Minimum Allowance (NMA) for foster carers by 12.43% for the 2023/24 financial year. The DfE has also raised the NMA by 6.88% for the 2024/25 financial year. Both allowances are above the rate of inflation and demonstrate the government’s commitment to supporting foster carers.</p><p>The DfE expects all local authorities to pay at least the NMA, to ensure that foster carers are never financially disadvantaged by their fostering role.</p><p>The duty to pay this allowance is set out in the Fostering National Minimum Standards, issued under the Care Standards Act 2000. All carers should receive the allowance, along with any other agreed expenses to cover the full cost of caring for each child placed with them.</p><p>In December, I wrote to all local authorities reminding them of this duty and the expectation to pay.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 19/02/2024 15:46:50 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1691726

	registered interest
	date	26/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Discipline
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is to respond to her Department's consultation entitled Use of reasonable force and restrictive practices in schools which closed on 11 May 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	15627
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/02/2024 answer text <p>The government recognises that the misuse of reasonable force and restrictive interventions can have a significant and long-lasting effect on the pupils, staff members and parents involved, as well as the wider classroom, which can potentially hinder the creation of a calm, safe and supportive school environment. The government is committed to minimising the use of reasonable force and restrictive interventions in all schools in England, including special schools and alternative provision.</p><p> </p><p>This commitment includes updating the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, published in 2013, to provide advice for schools on creating environments that minimise the use of reasonable force and restrictive interventions, the powers of school staff to use reasonable force and restrictive interventions safely, appropriately and within the law, and making recording and reporting incidents of reasonable force a legal duty.</p><p> </p><p>Updates to the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance will be informed by the call for evidence which closed on 11 May 2023, as well as independent research into the use of reasonable force, physical restraint and other restrictive practices in special schools and alternative provision settings, stakeholder engagement, and data collection through departmental omnibus surveys. The department is considering all responses to the call for evidence as part of its work before the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance goes out for public consultation later this year.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 29/02/2024 12:38:57 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1692031

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Discipline
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to commence section 93A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	15886
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2024 answer text <p>The department will commence Section 93a of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, making recording and reporting incidents of reasonable force a legal duty. This will be enacted to coincide with the publication of updates to the ‘Use of reasonable force’ guidance, originally published in 2013, to ensure that schools have adequate advice on how they should be recording and reporting any incidents where reasonable force, including restrictive interventions, is used.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Hampshire answering member printed Damian Hinds question first answered 01/03/2024 13:04:29 answering member 3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1693283

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Families: Social Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to tackle shortages in family social workers.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	16733
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2024 answer text <p>Social workers play a valuable role in supporting the most vulnerable in society and the department is committed to ensuring there is an excellent child and family social worker for everyone who needs one. The department recognises the ongoing challenge facing local authorities across the country in recruiting and retaining child and family social workers, with reasons for social workers leaving the profession varied and complex.</p><p>On 2 February 2023, the department published the care reform strategy, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’, which set out proposals to help stabilise the workforce. This includes supporting the recruitment of up to 461 social worker apprentices, a new Early Career Framework that will set out the development plans for a social worker’s first five years, proposals to reduce the overreliance on agency social workers, and setting up a National Workload Action Group to tackle unnecessary workload drivers which keep social workers away from direct time with children and families.</p><p>Every year, through the department’s fast track and development programmes, the department trains an average of 800 new social workers and provides professional development for around 4,000 others.</p><p>The number of full time equivalent child and family social workers in post at 30 September 2023 was 33,100. This is the highest figure we've seen since gathering this data. The statistics show that the department’s £50 million average yearly investment over this Spending Review on recruitment and training child and family social workers, alongside the hard work of local authorities is generating positive results.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 14/03/2024 11:48:15 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1693288

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Child rearing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the accessibility of evidence-based parenting support for parents and families residing in local authority areas that do not offer Family Hubs.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	16734
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.</p><p>The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.</p><p>The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.</p><p>The programme guide can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide</a>. The published guidance is available at: <a href="https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool" target="_blank">https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool</a>.</p><p>The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.</p><p>The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.</p><p>The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.</p><p>Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/" target="_blank">https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 16736 16738 16739 question first answered 22/03/2024 11:26:45 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1693289

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Family Hubs
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding Family Hubs to all local authorities in England.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	16735
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/03/2024 answer text <p>Family Hubs are a one stop shop for families to make it easier for them to get the help they need. The government would like to see Family Hubs across the country. The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage to target the areas with the highest levels of deprivation and disproportionately poor health and educational outcomes. It is crucial that the department focuses on delivering fairly in these 75 local authorities already committed to and building the evidence base. The department has appointed Ecorys, Sheffield Hallam University and Ipsos to assess the family hubs aspect of the ‘Family Hubs and Start for Life’ programme. The newly commissioned evaluation will explore how the programme is being implemented across local authorities, where improvements can be made, and how it offers value-for-money. The department expects to publish the findings of the evaluation in late 2025.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston question first answered 11/03/2024 16:19:53 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1693290

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2024
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Child rearing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of (a) evidence-based parenting programmes and (b) other interventions to support parents.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	16736
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2024 answer text <p>The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme aims to improve access to services for parents and families with children 0-19 or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities. It provides funding for parenting support as part of the Start for Life offer to be used on evidence-based programmes alongside peer support and community outreach activities.</p><p>The department has selected 75 local authorities based on levels of disadvantage. The department would like to see Family Hubs open across the country. The departments initial focus is on delivering well in the local areas that it is currently working with and building a model and evidence base. The department can then look to expand further in the future.</p><p>The published programme guide sets out requirements for local authorities to invest in evidence-based programmes with encouragement to select those that feature in published guidance, which have been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated impact.</p><p>The programme guide can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide</a>. The published guidance is available at: <a href="https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool" target="_blank">https://guidebook.eif.org.uk/programme/incredible-years-preschool</a>.</p><p>The department is working with the local authorities selected for the programme to assess delivery of all funded services in Family Hubs, and evidence-based parenting programmes are included as part of this. A comprehensive external evaluation of the parenting support offer has been commissioned and is due to report in late 2025. This evaluation will explore how well different parenting programmes have been implemented into the Family Hubs model. It will include a quasi-experimental impact evaluation that will assess the outcomes for families and an assessment of the value for money offered by the programme as a whole.</p><p>The department is currently considering options for widening access to parenting support through Family Hubs and as such undertaking assessments of the effectiveness and value for money of evidence-based parenting programmes, as well as other forms of support for parents. As part of this work to inform future fiscal events, the department considers policies from across the world, including Australia, to inform departmental thinking. This scoping work also includes engaging with the Social Mobility Commission following their recent report into family and parenting programmes.</p><p>The department is also investing over £17 million on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) in order to improve the language skills of reception age children who need it most following the pandemic. This evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, and seven months for those on free school meals. Over 500,000 children have had their language screened, with 160,000 reception age children having received extra support with their speech and language development from this proven programme.</p><p>Alongside investing in parenting support and the NELI programme, the department has also launched a national media campaign ‘Little Moments Together’ to encourage parents to chat, play and read with their pre-school children. The campaign, run jointly with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides evidence-based advice for parents on the NHS Better Health Start for Life website, and support from national partners on activities for parents. Little Moments Together is based on long-standing evidence on the importance of the home learning environment to providing children the best start to life. The Better Health Start for Life website can be found at: <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/" target="_blank">https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/early-learning-development/</a>.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 16734 16738 16739 question first answered 22/03/2024 11:26:45 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham