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1105806

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Community Rehabilitation Companies
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the recent Report of the Chief Inspector of Probation, published on 28 March, they intend to continue to create more Community Rehabilitation Companies.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2019 answer text <p>There are no plans to create more Community Rehabilitation Companies. In our consultation, <em>Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence</em>, we set out plans to move from 21 probation areas to 11. We will set out our response to the consultation later this year.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/04/2019 15:23:57 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1105807

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Probation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to complete their review of probation services; and what form the output of this review will take.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14893
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2019 answer text <p>We are currently finalising our proposals for the future of the probation service. We will publish a formal response to the consultation <em>Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence</em> later this year.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/04/2019 15:24:13 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1105655

registered interest
date	27/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Legal Aid Scheme: Housing
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of legal aid and advice in housing law cases; and what is the geographical distribution of the providers of such services in (1) London, (2) the rest of England, and (3) Wales.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14847
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2019 answer text <p>Legal aid for housing advice is available to help people with a range of housing problems, subject to statutory means and merits tests. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country, and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.</p><p> </p><p>As of 1 March there is at least one provider offering housing and debt services in all but 4 procurement areas, representing over 97% coverage across England and Wales. The Legal Aid Agency has since undertaken a further tender to secure provision in the remaining areas. Irrespective of location in England and Wales, legal advice for housing remains available through a telephone service as well.</p><p> </p><p>The following table shows the number of providers operating in each of the locations enquired about, and the number of procurement areas which fall within each. The LAA monitors access to legal aid-funded services by geographic location using ‘Procurement Areas’. These are boundaries defined by the LAA according to the respective categories of law they cover.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Geographical location</strong></p></td><td><p><strong># of Procurement Areas</strong></p></td><td><p><strong># of Providers</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>235</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>35</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other</p></td><td><p>96</p></td><td><p>212</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 09/04/2019 15:17:15 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1104645

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Pensioners: Social Security Benefits
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued, or intend to issue, to advise mixed age couples to claim (1) pension credit, and (2) pension age housing benefit before 15 May.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14770
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government announced on 14 January that the mixed age couple policy change legislated for in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 will come into force on 15 May, following the roll out of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Information was placed on GOV.UK regarding the change and how people could be affected for the purposes of claiming Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners. This sets out that mixed age couples already claiming Pension Credit or Housing Benefit for pensioners at the point of change will not be affected for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit. It also makes clear that mixed age couples who would be eligible for either benefit on 14 May but who have not yet claimed will have until 13 August to make a backdated claim from that date.</p><p> </p><p>Following the announcement, we are implementing comprehensive plans to raise awareness of the change among people who may be affected. We have written directly to mixed-age couples who are already in receipt of Pension Credit or Housing Benefit for pensioners to ensure they know about the change and how they could be affected if their circumstances change on or after 15 May. The Department has also engaged with a number of relevant organisations, including Age UK, Citizen’s Advice and Local Authority representatives. A factsheet about the change has been provided, to help ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.</p><p> </p><p>DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres will be able to provide information and advice, as will staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:34:12 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1088551

registered interest
date	13/03/2019
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Fire and Rescue Services: Training
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that firefighters are adequately trained to tackle fires in the cladding of buildings.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14511
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2019 answer text <p>Fire and rescue authorities are responsible for ensuring that firefighters are adequately trained and equipped.</p><p>The government has established a new, independently chaired Fire Standards Board to oversee the development of professional standards for fire and rescue services in England, which we would expect to include standards of training.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 27/03/2019 16:43:37 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1086321

registered interest
date	11/03/2019
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Pre-school Education: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how the £24 million of additional funding for maintained nursery schools will be distributed; and what estimate they have made of the amount per capita.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14363
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2019 answer text <p>Since 2017, we have been providing around £60 million per year of supplementary funding to local authorities so that they could maintain funding levels for maintained nursery schools (MNS). We listened to concerns about the timing of the 2019 Spending Review and announced that we would provide some local authorities with further supplementary funding, of around £24 million, to enable them to continue the same levels of funding for their MNS for the whole of the 2019/20 academic year. That additional funding will be distributed on the same basis as the current supplementary funding. Full details of current arrangements can to found in the attached technical note and at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national-funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national-funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance</a>.</p><p>All early years’ entitlement funding is allocated on the basis of number of hours delivered, using data from the annual Early Years and Childcare Providers census. No estimate has been made of the funding on a per capita basis.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 22/03/2019 14:56:52 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton attachment 1 file name HL14363_Early_Years_National_Funding_Formula_Technical_Note.pdf title Early_Years_National_Funding_Formula_Technical_Not
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1083403

registered interest
date	06/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Homelessness: Asylum
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 5 March (HL13836), why they do not hold specific breakdowns on the number of (1) homeless asylum seekers, and (2) rough sleepers who are asylum seekers and refugees; whether the number of households accepted as statutorily homeless and granted refugee status in England equates with the number of individuals concerned; and if not, how many individual refugees were homeless in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015, (d) 2016, and (e) 2017.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14286
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2019 answer text <p>Asylum seekers are not eligible for homelessness assistance. We record the number of ineligible applicants, but do not break this down by reason for ineligibility. The Home Office provides asylum seekers with accommodation and support to meet their essential living needs if they would otherwise be destitute.</p><p>Rough sleeping statistics are collected through a single night snapshot. The purpose is to estimate the number of people sleeping rough across local authorities in England on a single night, and assess change over time. Since 2016, where possible, we have collected the demographics of people found or thought to be sleeping rough via the snapshot, to give an indication of the representation of particular groups among people who sleep rough. This includes gender, age and nationality. However, it can be difficult to collect even this basic demographic information from people sleeping rough on a single night, and often people are not willing to share this information, so it is regularly recorded as unknown.</p><p>The number of households that have refugee status does not equate to the number of individuals. A household can be made up of one or more individuals. The department only holds this information at household level.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 19/03/2019 15:35:24 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1081643

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Young Offenders: Offences against Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse of Children in Custodial Institutions: 2009–2017, published on 28 February.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14176
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>The findings in the Inquiry’s report are shocking. The safety and welfare of children across all aspects of the youth justice system is a priority for government. We are already conducting an urgent review into safeguarding in the youth custodial estate and we have commissioned an independent review of pain inducing restraint techniques. We are also rolling out new specialist training and a specific qualification for staff working in the secure estate as part of a wide programme of reform, but we recognise further action is needed. We will carefully consider all the report’s recommendations and respond in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 18/03/2019 16:02:37 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1081644

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Young Offenders: Offences against Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many staff members of (1) young offender institutions, and (2) secure training centres, have been dismissed since 2009 for reasons connected with the sexual abuse of children in these institutions.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14177
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) centrally holds the data on conduct and disciplinary cases. The data includes sexual harassment/assault; however, it is not specifically recorded as sexual abuse of children. The data also could relate to sexual harassment against other staff or children in these settings.</p><p> </p><p>Between 2009/10 and 2017/18, there were fewer than 5 staff who had been dismissed for charges of ‘sexual harassment/assault’ in young offender institutions (Cookham Wood, Feltham, Wetherby, Werrington). There were no staff dismissed for ‘sexual harassment/assault’ in Parc YOI, or in Medway and Rainsbrook[1] Secure Training Centres (STCs).</p><p> </p><p>Between the period of 2009/10 and 2017/18, there has been fewer than 5 staff who had been dismissal at Oakhill STC for reasons connected with the sexual abuse of children.</p><p> </p><p>The safety, welfare and rehabilitation of young people in our care is the core priority of the Youth Custody Service and that is why we are fundamentally committed in reforming the youth custody service. HMPPS will not tolerate any form of abuse against the young people in our care and we will assist the police with their investigation into any allegation.</p><p> </p><p><strong><sup>1 </sup></strong>Since MTCnovo took over the contract at Rainsbrook STC in 2016 there has been no dismissals.</p> answering member printed Lord Keen of Elie question first answered 18/03/2019 16:06:22 answering member 4538 label Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1081645

registered interest
date	04/03/2019
answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that freeholders replace combustible cladding on their properties; and whether they will provide funding to local authorities to carry out this work if freehold owners fail to do so.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14178
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government’s priority is to ensure that residents of high-rise (above 18 metres) buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems are safe.</p><p>Ministers and officials continue to engage with developers, building owners and managing agents with responsibility for buildings with unsafe ACM cladding systems to ensure that they are fully remediated as quickly as possible. We have written to all relevant private sector building owners reminding them of their responsibilities towards making their buildings safe, and the Secretary of State has set his strong expectation that leaseholders should be protected from the costs of remediation.</p><p>We have reminded building owners that local authorities have powers to enforce these improvements if building owners do not take action and we are backing local authorities to take such enforcement action where building owners are refusing to remediate high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding. This will include financial support where this is necessary for the local authority to carry out emergency remedial work. We have also established a Joint Inspection Team to support local authorities and give them the confidence to pursue enforcement action.</p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 18/03/2019 16:10:10 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham