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1148122

	registered interest
	date	03/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Birds: Pest Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the general licences for bird control that were introduced in April 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	294170
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Richmond Park answering member printed Zac Goldsmith question first answered 08/10/2019 16:31:31 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1133141

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is taking to retrieve money owed by absent parents.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	266704
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) replaced the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission in 2012 and brought significant reforms to the Child Maintenance system in Great Britain. Child Maintenance in Northern Ireland is a devolved issue, although they run a broadly similar scheme. Any questions should be directed to the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.</p><p> </p><p>We support separated parents to make their own family based arrangements wherever possible. This allows families to create flexible arrangements that work for their individual circumstances and, where parents are able to work together, this can be better for their children. Where this is not possible, the CMS offers an effective and efficient statutory scheme for those parents who really need it.</p><p> </p><p>Under the statutory scheme, where paying parents fail to pay on time and in full, we aim to take immediate action to recover the debt and re-establish compliance. Where compliance is not achieved we are committed to using our wide ranging enforcement powers proportionally, and in the best interests of children and separated families.</p><p /> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 24/06/2019 16:42:19 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1144599

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Personal Income
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the change in the level of household income with two people in employment in 2019 and 2009.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	286750
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Estimates for the net median equivalised weekly household income after housing costs of UK couples in employment where both are in work are presented below, for 2009/10 and 2017/2018 in both nominal and real terms (2017/18 prices).</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>2017/18</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nominal terms</p></td><td><p>£560</p></td><td><p>£561</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>CPI-adjusted real terms</p></td><td><p>£470</p></td><td><p>£561</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>These figures have been taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey tables from Stat-Xplore and are rounded to the nearest pound. Stat-Xplore data is publicly available at the link below:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/tableView/tableView.xhtml" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/tableView/tableView.xhtml#</a></p><p>We do not have available data to 2019 and so have used the most recent data available which is to 2017/18.</p><p>Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the reason there have not been higher increases in average incomes in working households is partly due to increases in employment over this period. They state that “falls in worklessness have brought relatively low-earning types of households (such as lone parents) into work”. A link to the report is available below:</p><p><a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP201912.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP201912.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 11:00:07 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1311415

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Poverty: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to bring forward further legislative proposals to help tackle child poverty.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	185883
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2021 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/04/2021 12:37:31 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1327284

	registered interest
	date	24/05/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people subject to the limit on welfare benefits for households with more than two children.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	6292
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2021 answer text <p>The Government continues to take action to help families with the cost of living, including raising the national living wage, reducing the UC earnings taper, raising the income tax personal allowance, introducing tax-free childcare and 30 hours a week of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds.</p><p> </p><p>Families are able to claim support for up to two children, and there may be further entitlement for other children if they were born before 6 April 2017 or if an exception applies. It is important to support families, but it is also important to be fair to the many working families who do not see their budgets rise when they have more children. This does not apply to Child Benefit, nor the disabled child element of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Throughout the pandemic, we have taken great steps to protect family incomes, including spending an additional £7.4 billion last year to strengthen the welfare system for those most in need. This took our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112bn in 2020/21.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help parents move into and progress in work as quickly as possible. This is based on clear evidence around the importance of parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 28/05/2021 14:03:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1339872

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Lone Parents: Coronavirus
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support single parent families in the context of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on those families.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	21907
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2021 answer text <p>Since the start of the pandemic, the Government’s priority has been to protect lives and people’s livelihoods, through its economic response.</p><p>It has supported those on low incomes, including single parent families, in a number of ways, such as by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £112 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures.</p><p>For single parents on Universal Credit, there is help with childcare costs and a dedicated Work Coach. The Government considers that, where possible, it is in the best interests of children to be in working households, and we are committed to helping lone parents into a job which fits in around their caring responsibilities. Claimants with children will benefit from a work allowance and Universal Credit pays up to 85 per cent of childcare costs, compared to 70 per cent in legacy benefits which can be claimed up to a month before starting a job.</p><p> </p><p>To further support those with children we introduced the Covid Winter Grant Scheme, now the Covid Local Support Grant, with over £420m provided to Local Authorities in England between 1 December 2020 and 30 September 2021 to help the most vulnerable children and families with the cost of food, utilities and other essentials.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible, based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 01/07/2021 14:59:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1352765

	registered interest
	date	06/09/2021
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons it remains his Department's policy not to extend the universal credit uplift of £20 beyond autumn 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	43515
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2021 answer text <p>The Chancellor announced a temporary six-month extension to the £20 per week uplift at the Budget on 3 March to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and the temporary uplift was part of a COVID support package worth a total of £407 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.</p><p> </p><p>There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the uplift was first introduced with the success of the vaccine rollout. Now the economy is reopening and as we continue to progress with our recovery our focus is on helping people back into work.</p><p> </p><p>Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for UC claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; we have also recruited an additional 13,500 work coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job; and introduced Restart which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to UC claimants who are unemployed for a year. Our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.</p><p> </p><p /> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 42129 question first answered 14/09/2021 17:00:03 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1378379

	registered interest
	date	15/11/2021
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Mental Health Services: Schools
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to increase the funding provided to schools on mental health support for students.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	74992
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2021 answer text <p>Education is a devolved matter, and the response will outline the education reforms for England. The government remains committed to promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges. The department recognises it is more important than ever that children and young people have access to the support they need for their mental health and wellbeing, and we know that funding the right services and provision within education settings is key to ensuring they do so.</p><p>On 10 May 2021, as a part of our Mental Health Awareness week, the department announced £17 million towards improving mental health and wellbeing support for children and young people. This included £9.5 million to offer senior mental health led training to around a third of all state schools and colleges in academic year 2021/22, helping them to implement effective holistic approaches to mental health and wellbeing, and £7 million to Wellbeing for Education Recovery, enabling local authorities to continue supporting schools and colleges until the autumn to meet ongoing mental wellbeing needs.</p><p>Schools support the mental wellbeing of their pupils as part of their curriculum provision and pastoral support, which is paid for from schools’ core funding; the autumn 2021 Spending Review delivers an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools budget by financial year 2024/25, compared to previous plans. This settlement includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and high needs in 2022/23, on top of the funding we previously announced. It also includes an additional £1 billion for a recovery premium over the next two academic years (2022/23 and 2023/24). Schools will have flexibility to target funding towards those pupils who need it most, and we will publish further detail around rates, allocations, and conditions of grant in due course.</p><p>Beyond this, the department is also investing up to £5 billion to support recovery for children and young people who need it most. This includes the Recovery Premium for this academic year worth over £300 million, weighted so that schools with more disadvantaged pupils receive more funding. Schools can use this funding to deliver evidence based approaches to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their pupils.</p><p>This is in addition to the £79 million announced by the Department of Health and Social Care in March 2021 to significantly expand children’s mental health services. This will partly be spent on speeding up and expanding the provision of Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges, meaning nearly 3 million children in England will access school or college-based support by April 2023.</p><p>The department does not expect teachers to be mental health experts. Therefore, for those that need more specialist support, the NHS Long Term Plan is backed by an additional £2.3 billion a year for mental services by financial year 2023/24. This will mean at least 345,000 more children and young people will be able to access support as we aim to ensure that mental and physical health are treated equally.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/11/2021 15:25:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1434569

	registered interest
	date	23/02/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children in Care
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department is providing to children who live in children's homes.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	128260
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2022 answer text <p>Children’s social care in Northern Ireland is a transferred power, making it a devolved matter. The answer reflects the position in England.</p><p>Children’s homes provide care for some of the most vulnerable young people unable to live with their families. This includes children who have suffered abuse or neglect, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, children on remand, and children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, disabilities, special educational needs, or mental illnesses.</p><p>Local authorities have primary responsibility for the children in their care. They have a formal role as ‘corporate parents’. Their responsibilities include identifying which children should come into the care system, ensuring there is sufficient accommodation locally to meet the range of needs of looked after children in their area, safeguarding and promoting their wellbeing, ensuring that children’s education and health needs are met, and supporting care leavers.</p><p>The government provides funding and support to local authorities to help them meet all their duties to looked after children, including those in children’s homes. As well as providing safe, excellent quality care, the government wants to ensure that all homes can meet each child's individual needs and enable them to achieve the best possible outcomes.</p><p>For example, it has ensured that all looked after children have top priority in school admissions, and all local authorities must appoint a virtual school head with a statutory duty to promote the educational achievement of all children in their care. The government has funded eight Staying Close pilots to test an enhanced offer for young people leaving residential care. Additionally, the government will invest £140 million to introduce new national standards for unregulated provisions for older children.</p><p>Although we are making progress, the sector still faces challenges. The independent review of children’s social care commenced in March 2021, with Josh MacAlister as Chair. It is looking at how the government can make the system work better.</p><p>The review is taking a fundamental look at the needs, experiences, and outcomes of the children supported by children’s social care. It is drawing on a broad range of expertise and prioritising hearing the voices of children, young people, and adults that have received the help or support of a social worker, or who have been looked after. The review is looking at the whole system of support, safeguarding, protection and care, and the child’s journey into and out of that system. We expect it to point to new directions in children’s social care and directly improve the lives of vulnerable children.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 03/03/2022 11:54:36 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1438782

	registered interest
	date	08/03/2022
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Children: Social Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of Action for Children’s report Too Little Too Late on (a) early help and (b) early intervention funding.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	136560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2022 answer text <p>The Too Little, Too Late report recommends an increase in funding for a range of early intervention services. In the Budget and Spending Review 2021, the government announced a £500 million package for families. This includes £300 million to transform Start for Life services, and to create a network of family hubs in half of council areas in England. The package also includes a £200 million uplift to the Supporting Families Programme (SFP).</p><p> </p><p>The additional SFP funding represents around a 40% real terms uplift for the programme by the 2024/25 financial year. This takes total planned investment across the next three years to £695 million. This funding will help up to 300,000 more families facing multiple, interconnected issues to access effective whole-family support. It will improve their life outcomes and will begin to reduce the pressure on expensive, reactive statutory services, as the system starts to rebalance away from intervening at crisis point.</p><p> </p><p>The report’s recommendations on a legal duty for early help and additional data collection on early help will be considered as part of the department’s response to the independent review of children’s social care.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/03/2022 16:34:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon