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170327

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
answering body	Church Commissioners
answering dept id	9
answering dept short name	Church Commissioners
answering dept sort name	Church Commissioners
hansard heading	Churches: Worcestershire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the right hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what grants the Church Commissioners have given to churches in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire from the church roof repair fund in the last four years.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	218801
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Church Commissioners are grateful to the Treasury for making the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund available to its Cathedrals alongside extending the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to include repairs to church roofs and rain water guttering.</p><p>(a) The Cathedral at Worcester has received a total of £330,000 toward to costs of restoring its east window and to replace and weather-proof the ceiling &amp; roof of the cathedral’s ancient library. The Cathedral successfully entered the bids for funding in rounds 1 and 2 of the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund which has so far assisted 32 of the Church of England’s Cathedrals. There is one final round to which Cathedrals both Anglican and Catholic can enter bids before the fund closes, the Church Commissioners hope the last few Cathedrals with substantial works pending who are yet to submit a bid will consider putting applications forward.</p><p>(b) The fund which the Chancellor has made available within the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund has only been available since the 2014 Autumn Statement, no funding or grants for roof repairs have be available centrally prior to this. The Roof Repair Fund is not administered by the Church of England but by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, who will make decisions on grants given. <br> <br>The Church of England has advised all Diocesan Advisory Commissions (who assist Parishes with advice on repairs and alterations to architecture and fabric of buildings) to encourage and assist with applications to the fund which closes on the 30<sup>th</sup> January 2015. From the Diocese of Worcester the Church of England understands 24 parish churches will apply, 7 parishes are currently on the English Heritage, ‘Heritage at Risk Register’ with a further 17 parishes in urgent need. These figures is based on initial responses, rather than formal expressions of interest. Not all parishes will be successful in their bids for assistance and each case will be judged on its merits. This fund like the WW1 Cathedrals Fund will enable the parishes to invest money into their wider community helping those in greatest need rather than spending money just keeping the building watertight. <br></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Sir Tony Baldry question first answered 17/12/2014 17:05:12 answering member 93 label Biography information for Sir Tony Baldry
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

47252

registered interest
date	07/04/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what joint trade missions have been undertaken by the UK and the Republic of Ireland since 2010; and what steps he is taking to increase collaboration with the Republic of Ireland on trade and exports.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	195631
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2014 answer text <p>The UK and Ireland have embarked on a wide programme of cooperation following the visit of HM the Queen to Ireland in 2011. Led by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, this programme is designed to develop and strengthen the relationship between the UK and Ireland over the next decade across a range of policy areas.</p><p> </p><p>The UK and Ireland delivered the first ever joint trade mission between the two countries to the Singapore Airshow during the week commencing 10 February 2014. The UK-Ireland mission delegation consisted of 25 companies, 16 from the UK (including 9 from Northern Ireland) and 9 from the Republic of Ireland. Delivering a joint trade mission was one of the key deliverables for the 2014 PM/Taoiseach Summit.</p><p> </p><p>UK Trade &amp; Investment is committed to maintaining its work programme with Enterprise Ireland to further develop cooperation on trade promotion in support of UK and Irish business.</p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Michael Fallon question first answered 28/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 88 label Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

61572

registered interest
date	12/06/2014
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Overseas Trade: Latin America
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps are being taken to promote UK trade with Latin America in connection with the 2014 Football World Cup taking place in Brazil.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	200553
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2014 answer text <p>During the 2014 Football World Cup, the UK Trade and Investment network in Brazil will host a series of events to promote the UK as a destination for business, investment, education and tourism. The programme includes 20 events focussed on our prosperity campaigns to promote British expertise and partnership in priority areas that includes culture, energy, infrastructure, inward investment and legacy opportunities associated to the 2012 London Olympic games.</p><p>Events will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Manaus and Belo Horizonte, the cities hosting the England team which will be supported by Prince Harry, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Equalities.</p><p>One of the highlights of the UK programme isthe GREAT Britain House in Sao Paulo. Specially developed for the agenda of events, the venue will be set up at the British Consulate in Sao Paulo to present the best the UK has to offer.</p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Michael Fallon question first answered 19/06/2014 14:39:01 answering member 88 label Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1546447

registered interest
date	29/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on the delivery of measures proposed by the Right Support, Right Place, Right Time Green Paper.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	98734
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) green paper consultation closed on 22 July 2022. The department is currently reviewing the feedback received and using this, along with continued engagement with the SEND system, to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families.</p><p>The department is committed to publishing a full response to the green paper in an Improvement Plan in early 2023.</p><p>Ahead of the Improvement Plan being published, we are taking forward two additional measures to support children with SEND. The first is an investment of £21 million into training 400 more educational psychologists, who play a critical role in the educational support available to children with SEND. The second is the extension of a training programme for up to 150 more schools, for teachers to use assistive technology to better support their pupils with SEND.</p><p>These measures will continue to support the system in delivering change and continue to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with SEND and those who need AP.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 07/12/2022 13:00:38 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1546451

registered interest
date	29/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Childcare: Tax Allowances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of parents took up the childcare offer (a) for two-year-olds, (b) of 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds and (c) of 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds, in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	98735
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>Data relating to government-funded early education and childcare is published in the annual Education provision: children under 5 years of age statistical release: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-provision-children-under-5</a>.</p><p>The figures requested for (a) and (b) can be found at the following link: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c630228b-c8d7-4fbf-9467-08dacc5b2c16" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c630228b-c8d7-4fbf-9467-08dacc5b2c16</a>.</p><p>The number of children registered for (c) can be found at the following link: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c212be1a-6230-457c-9468-08dacc5b2c16" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c212be1a-6230-457c-9468-08dacc5b2c16</a>.</p><p>Three to four-year-olds whose parents (or the sole parent in a lone parent household) work at least sixteen hours a week at national minimum wage or living wage, but earn under £100,000 per year, are eligible for this extended offer of thirty hours of childcare. Based on the department’s analyses of data from various surveys, an estimated four in five eligible children took up the offer in the most recent year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 07/12/2022 13:19:14 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1546454

registered interest
date	29/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Training
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of investing in greater specialist training for the identification of additional needs amongst the early years workforce.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	98736
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>The government is investing up to £180 million in early years COVID-19 recovery. This is a package of training, qualifications and targeted support for the early years sector to support the learning and development of the youngest and most disadvantaged children. This includes a focus on child development, communication and language, early maths and personal, social and emotional development.</p><p>The early years Professional Development Programme has already provided 1,300 early years professionals with such training and up to 10,000 more staff will be trained in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years. We will also train up to 5,000 early years staff and childminders to become qualified Special Educational Needs Coordinators.</p><p>In addition, we have invested £17 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, improving the language skills of an estimated 90,000 children in reception classes. This proven, evidence-based programme targets children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make around 3 months of additional progress. Two thirds of primary schools (over 11,000) signed up, and the majority of those had Free School Meal rates above the national average.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 07/12/2022 13:14:28 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1546460

registered interest
date	29/11/2022
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure the viability of upper tier authorities charged with supporting the needs of high needs pupils.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	98741
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2022 answer text <p>Following the additional funding increases announced in the Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement, local authorities’ high needs funding will be rising to £10.1 billion in 2023/24, an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. This extra funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.</p><p>The department recognises that a number of local authorities have struggled to manage their high needs systems sustainably in recent years, and have accrued Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits as a result. Following investment through the Spending Review 2021, the department is running three programmes aimed at helping local authorities with the financial sustainability of their high needs systems., Support and intervention is tailored to the severity of the problems authorities are facing. Those with the highest percentage DSG deficits have been invited to the Safety Valve intervention programme. Those with substantial, but less severe deficits, have been invited to join the Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme. Other local authorities are being contacted by the Education and Skills Funding Association.</p><p>In 2020, the government also introduced a statutory override which separates local authorities’ DSG deficits from their wider financial position. The statutory override was put in place for a period of three years, up to March 2023, and meant that local authorities’ DSG deficits could be separated from their wider accounts.</p><p>The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities understand that a decision on the DSG statutory override needs to be communicated to the sector as soon as possible to provide certainty for the next – and future - financial years. An announcement will be made shortly.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 07/12/2022 16:31:48 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1606820

registered interest
date	23/03/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Special Educational Needs: Worcestershire
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 the adequacy of SEND support for childcare and the early years on provision in Worcestershire.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	172398
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2023 answer text <p>Ensuring children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support when they need it is a priority, including those children and young people in Worcestershire.</p><p>Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) re-inspected Worcestershire SEND services on their 12 areas of significant weakness between 1 and 3 November 2021 (letter published 14 December 2021). The inspectors assessed each area of weakness and concluded that the Council had made sufficient progress in addressing eight of the significant weaknesses. Worcestershire Children First produced an Accelerated Progress Plan to address the remaining four areas of significant weakness.</p><p>The department is committed to supporting and monitoring progress of the identified areas for improvement and have put in place regular monitoring and challenge meetings with SEND advisers from the department and NHS England.</p><p>We are also supporting local authorities through the ongoing delivery of new special and alternative provision (AP) free schools. On 2 March 2023, the department announced a successful bid from Worcestershire County Council to build a new special school that caters for the needs of pupils with autism spectrum disorder in Malvern.</p><p>This announcement followed an application that evidenced need for school places for children and involved engagement and support from stakeholders including education providers, health partners, parents and carers and local MPs who have been consistently calling for more provision in the local area.</p><p>The new special free school will provide 120 full time places for pupils aged 5-19 with autism, who are able to engage with a mainstream curriculum with extra support and who would also benefit from a specific environment and staff dedicated to a holistic approach.</p><p>A final decision on who will run the new school will rest with my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education.</p><p>In addition, on 2 March 2023, the department published the SEND and AP Improvement Plan in response to the Green Paper of March 2022. The Improvement Plan sets out how a new, single, national SEND and AP system should deliver consistent, clear, and early support for children and young people with SEND. These new standards aim to make consistent the provision that should be made available across the country for every child and young person with SEND. There will also be new local SEND and AP Partnerships, strengthened accountability and dashboards, and reforms to funding.</p> answering member constituency East Surrey answering member printed Claire Coutinho question first answered 31/03/2023 13:53:33 answering member 4806 label Biography information for Claire Coutinho
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1659683

registered interest
date	11/09/2023
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Schools: Buildings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many mobile classrooms have been provided to schools as a result of (a) identified and (b) suspected reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	198823
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2023 answer text <p>This Government has taken more proactive action on RAAC than any other in the UK.</p><p>It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, Local Authorities, and voluntary aided school bodies – who work with their schools on a day to day basis, to manage the maintenance of their schools. These responsible bodies may deploy temporary buildings for a wide range of reasons, not all of which will relate to building or refurbishment works. In addition, most building and refurbishment works within schools and colleges do not involve RAAC and will not require the involvement of the Department. The Department does not therefore hold information on the number of schools using temporary classrooms.</p><p>Where schools need to vacate buildings due to RAAC, they use a range of different types of accommodation including accommodation on and off site. On site accommodation can include semi rigid structures and temporary classrooms. Where this is the case, the Department is working with three contractors to accelerate the installation of temporary units in particular. The Department has not, therefore, produced central estimates of the number of temporary classrooms required, however, we can confirm that we have secured significant capacity to meet current needs, and can increase this if necessary. Our focus is on working closely with individual settings to make sure they have workable plans for their individual circumstances and context. Based on the experience where RAAC assessed as critical was found, the Department expects the vast majority will be able to continue to provide face to face teaching with either minimal or no disruption.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 197386 197688 question first answered 18/09/2023 20:04:02 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

1685804

registered interest
date	30/01/2024
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Hearing Impairment: Teachers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) support and (b) funding for training teachers of the deaf; and what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of teachers of the deaf in each local authority.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	12001
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2024 answer text <p>It is the responsibility of local authorities, schools and further education settings to commission appropriately qualified staff to support the education of children and young people in their area.</p><p>To offer the mandatory qualification in sensory impairment (MQSI), providers must be approved by the Secretary of State for Education. The department’s aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing and multi-sensory impairments in both specialist and mainstream settings. There are currently six providers of the MQSI, with a seventh from September 2024. The department does not have published data on the number of teachers that have completed the MQSI.</p><p>The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has also developed a sensory impairment apprenticeship and expect it to be available from 2025. This will open a paid, work-based route into teaching children and young people with sensory impairments by enabling people to undertake high-quality apprenticeships.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed David Johnston grouped question UIN 12002 question first answered 13/02/2024 16:50:49 answering member 4761 label Biography information for David Johnston
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker