Written questions by Bedford.

What steps are taken to inform local (a) doctors and (b) police when children in care are relocated by a local authority to a privately run children's home.

Regulation 7 of the ‘The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010’ outlines local authorities’ responsibilities in respect of the health and wellbeing of looked after children. The responsible local authority must ensure looked after children receive appropriate health care services according to their health plan, including medical and dental care, and health advice. They must also arrange for a registered medical practitioner, nurse, or midwife to review the child’s health and provide a written report every 6 months before the child’s fifth birthday and every 12 months after the child’s fifth birthday.Specifically, under Regulation 13 of the above Regulations, the responsible authority must give written notification of the child’s placement before that placement takes place (or within 5 days if the placement is made in an emergency) to the following parties: NHS England and the integrated care board (or the local health board for a child in Wales) for both the current and new areas; the child’s registered medical practitioner and, if applicable, the new medical practitioner; any educational institution attended or to be attended by the child. The written notification of the placement arrangements should include a summary of the proposed arrangements and objectives, and for an accommodated child, it should also outline the agreed arrangements for ending the placement.

What the cost to local authorities is of housing children in privately run children's homes.

The department publishes data on local authority expenditure on looked after children. This data is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure#explore-data-and-files.The department does not hold data on the cost to local authorities of housing children in privately run children’s homes. In total, local authorities spent £8.1 billion on looked after children in 2023/24, including £3.1 billion on residential care.

What safeguards are in place to ensure people who (a) own, (b) manage and (c) work in private children's homes are properly qualified.

Providers of children’s homes must register with Ofsted and prove that they are financially, mentally, and physically fit to carry on a children’s home, and that they are of integrity and good character. These requirements are set out in Regulation 26 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015.Managers of children’s homes are required to register with Ofsted. They are required to hold a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) and to have at least two years’ experience working in children’s residential care, as per Regulation 28 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. They must also pass a fit and proper persons interview with Ofsted to demonstrate they have the required knowledge and skills to manage the home.Non-managerial staff in children's homes must hold Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) or an equivalent qualification, as per Regulation 32 of the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015. It is the responsibility of the registered manager to verify that their staff hold, or are working towards, this qualification. Providers have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are trained to meet the needs of the children they care for.Providers and anyone working in regulated activity in a children’s home must undergo an enhanced DBS check, including the barred list.Ofsted aim to inspect children’s homes at least once per year. When a home is judged to be inadequate or require improvement to be good, Ofsted usually conduct a second, assurance visit within the same inspection period.The policy paper ‘Keeping children safe, helping families thrive’ details the department’s ambition to introduce a provider oversight scheme to increase Ofsted’s existing powers to ensure provider groups are held responsible for the quality of the children’s homes that they own through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.This will give Ofsted the power to issue fines for breaches of the Care Standards Act 2000, including to unregistered providers, and enable them to hold provider groups to account for quality issues in the provision of care. The Bill will also protect 16 and 17-year-olds from ill-treatment or wilful neglect by making low-level abuse of these young people in children’s social care settings a prosecutable offence. The Bill will also introduce a financial oversight scheme to increase financial and corporate transparency of children’s social care providers in order to allow for assessment of financial risk and advance warning of risks to providers’ financial sustainability.

How many Pension Credit applications were made in each of the last five years for which data is available.

The table below shows the volumes of Pension Credit applications received in each of the last 5 financial years. Pension Credit ClaimsReceivedApril 2024 to 17 November 2024215,200April 2023 to March 2024251,000April 2022 to March 2023267,000April 2021 to March 2022149,000April 2020 to March 2021142,000 The figures for 2024/25 are only covering part of the year and will be higher when all months are included. The latest statistics on Pension Credit application volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This includes numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, from 1 April 2024 up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK. The next publication of Pension Credit application statistics is due around the end of February 2025 and will cover the data up to week commencing 10 February 2025. Please note, the data shown for previous years April 2020 to March 2024 is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16393 on Department for Work and Pensions: Staff, what the additional cost is of the private providers.

The information you request is not available. DWP operates a 'forecast and volumes' based pricing model, where supplier costs specific to the increase in Pension Credit New Claims demand, following the Chancellor's announcement in July 2024 are not itemised. However, we can confirm these costs were part of a contract extension worth £1.7m.

How many Pension Credit applications were (a) made and (b) awarded by the smallest geographical area for which data is available since 29 July 2024.

We do not hold data at regional or constituency level for applications made. Statistics published on 28 November 2024 show applications for Pension Credit received and also claims awarded since the 29 July 2024 announcement up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK. Please note, the next publication of Pension Credit application statistics is due around the end of February 2025 and will cover the data up to week commencing 10 February 2025. The Department does not hold information regarding the number of Pension Credit claims awarded since 29 July 2024. The latest available data held on Stat-Xplore - Home shows Pension Credit caseload data by Parliamentary constituency at May 2024. Parliamentary constituency is the smallest geographical area available within the data.The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

How many Pension Credit claims have been awarded to (a) men and (b) women since 29 July 2024.

The latest available data on Stat-Xplore - Home - Home shows that, in May 2024, 1,355,256 Pension Credit claims were in place, of which 457,065 had been awarded to men and 898,193 had been awarded to women. The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

How many and which hotels are being used to house asylum seekers in Mid Leicestershire constituency; and how many asylum seekers there are in each hotel.

For the safety and security of residents and staff at its accommodation sites, the Home Office does not publish details of sites in use.However, data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, and by local authority can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

When he plans to answer Question 18061, tabled by the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire on 4 December 2024 for answer on 9 December 2024.

I will respond to the hon. Member shortly.

If he will take legislative steps to protect designated outdoor pub smoking and vaping areas.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced to Parliament on 5 November 2024, and passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 25 November 2024. The bill will put us on track to a smoke-free United Kingdom, helping to reduce approximately 80,000 preventable deaths and reduce the burden on the National Health Service and on the taxpayer.The bill contains powers to extend the ban on smoking indoors to certain outdoor settings, to reduce the harms of second-hand smoking, particularly around children and vulnerable people. In England, we are considering extending smoke-free outdoor places to outside schools, children’s playgrounds, and hospitals, but not to outdoor hospitality settings such as pub gardens. The bill also has powers to make most public places and workplaces that are smoke-free, vape-free.Exactly which settings should become smoke-free and vape-free will be a matter for secondary legislation, with all proposed reforms subject to a full consultation.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the Protected Savings threshold from £85,000.

Deposits held by UK banks, building societies and credit unions that are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000, with joint accounts protected up to £170,000. The PRA sets this limit and is required to review it every five years, with its next review due by 2025 at the latest. Any changes to the limit must be approved by HM Treasury and the government would expect to carefully consider any potential changes proposed by the PRA.

What estimate she has made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit in each region.

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region. According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region. In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What estimate she has made of the number of pensioners eligible for but not claiming Pension Credit in each region.

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region. According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region. In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

How many Pension Credit applications have been made in each region since 29 July 2024.

On 28 November we published national Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes from 29 July 2024 to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK These statistics show that 150,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 29 July 2024 and 17 November 2024. Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards. We do not currently hold data at a regional level.

Representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, how many employee settlement agreements there were in IPSA in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements was.

As with other public bodies, IPSA's Annual Report and Accounts provides information on special payments made each financial year, which can include the costs of employee settlement agreements. In line with IPSA's statutory responsibility to protect personal data, I can inform the Member that there were two such agreements made between 2020 and 2024 totalling £106,870.

Representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, if the Committee will make an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning an independent review of (a) IPSA's operational effectiveness and (b) the value for money provided by that organisation.

The Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA) is a statutory Committee established under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. The Committee’s functions are set out in that Act. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was also created by 2009 Act, as a statutorily independent body.Each year the Speaker's Committee reviews IPSA’s annual estimate of the resources it needs to discharge its functions. SCIPSA is required by statute to ensure that the estimate is consistent with the efficient and cost-effective discharge of IPSA’s functions. The Committee carries out public scrutiny of the estimate prior to it being laid before the House of Commons by the Speaker.IPSA’s accounts are audited annually by the National Audit Office (NAO) and are presented to Parliament. The NAO audit includes consideration of value for money of both IPSA’s spend and MPs’ spend which IPSA oversees. IPSA is also subject to a rigorous internal audit programme overseen by its own Audit, Risk, and Assurance Committee.As part of its work, SCIPSA also reviews IPSA’s performance against its Business Plan and has noted significant improvements in its performance in recent years. SCIPSA is planning to hold a public session with IPSA early in the new year and a further session in March 2025.

Representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, if the Committee will make a comparative assessment of the value for money provided by (a) IPSA and (b) the pre-2010 system for reimbursing MPs' staffing and business costs.

The Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (SCIPSA) is a statutory Committee established under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009. The Committee’s functions are set out in that Act. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) was also created by 2009 Act, as a statutorily independent body.Each year the Speaker's Committee reviews IPSA’s annual estimate of the resources it needs to discharge its functions. SCIPSA is required by statute to ensure that the estimate is consistent with the efficient and cost-effective discharge of IPSA’s functions. The Committee carries out public scrutiny of the estimate prior to it being laid before the House of Commons by the Speaker.IPSA’s accounts are audited annually by the National Audit Office (NAO) and are presented to Parliament. The NAO audit includes consideration of value for money of both IPSA’s spend and MPs’ spend which IPSA oversees. IPSA is also subject to a rigorous internal audit programme overseen by its own Audit, Risk, and Assurance Committee.As part of its work, SCIPSA also reviews IPSA’s performance against its Business Plan and has noted significant improvements in its performance in recent years. SCIPSA is planning to hold a public session with IPSA early in the new year and a further session in March 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the efficiency of (a) traffic commissioners and (b) DVLA offices in processing licence renewals for C1 vehicle handlers.

A functional review of the work of the traffic commissioners was carried out in 2021-2022 and the report can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioner-function-review-2021-to-2022. The Department is working towards implementing the recommendations of the review. Where the Secretary of State has concerns about the conduct of an applicant for a large goods vehicle or passenger carrying vehicle driving licence, the matter may be referred to a traffic commissioner for consideration. Where appropriate cases are referred to a traffic commissioner, they are provided administrative support by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency staff who are deployed to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner. The Senior Traffic Commissioner has issued statutory guidance to assist traffic commissioners in adopting a consistent approach. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners-vocational-driver-conduct-january-2016. As part of the strategic objectives of the traffic commissioners, a review of this document is currently being undertaken. Straightforward applications for vocational driving licences are being processed within normal turnaround times. Applications where a medical condition must be investigated before a licence can be issued may take longer as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is often reliant on receiving information from third parties, for example doctors, other healthcare professionals or the applicant themselves, before a decision on whether to issue a licence can be made.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many employee settlement agreements there were in his Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.

Since 2020 the FCDO has agreed 26 employee settlements totalling circa £1.921 million.YearNumber of Settlements2020420215202262023620245Total26All settlements are made with robust legal advice and following a value for money assessment.

Communities and Local Government, how many employee settlement agreements there were in her Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.

The Department has not entered into any employee settlement agreements in any of the years since 2020.