The Education Skills and Funding Agency are currently in discussions with UTC Warrington about their plans for financial recovery. It would not be appropriate to make a statement at this time.

As for all academy trusts, any decision on the future of UTC Warrington would be subject to the Department’s standard protocols, which includes engaging with key stakeholders and other interested parties.

The most recent figures for pupils on roll are from the school census for January 2019 which was published in June 2019. There were 258 pupils on roll at UTC Warrington at that time. Figures relating to January 2020 will be published in June 2020.

Further information can be found in the annual 'School, pupils and their characteristics' statistical release at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.

Information can also be found on the 'Get Information About Schools' web page, which can be found at:

https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/142899.

The system for approving new free schools is underpinned by a rigorous application and evaluation process. Each application is considered against published criteria, focusing on the capacity and track record of proposers, with extensive due diligence and financial viability checks carried out on the applicant and affordability and value for money checks on the application and business case.

The Department is working with the contractor to finalise capital costs for UTC Warrington. The Department publishes capital costs for all free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools on GOV.UK once all works are completed and costs are finalised.

Given that these can be large and complex projects, this can take some time between first opening and publication. Additional finalised capital costs for individual free schools, UTCs and studio schools will be published in due course.

UTCs receive funding based on their local authority formulae, so are funded in the same way as their academy and maintained school counterparts in Warrington. The revenue funding received in each academic year by UTC Warrington is as follows:

In pre-opening, the Department gives free school projects and UTCs Project Development Grant (PDG) to cover essential non-capital costs up to the point at which the school opens.

The PDG rates that projects receive are determined by the type of school being opened. Once open, free schools and UTCs are funded on the same basis as other academies and maintained schools, although, as they grow, free schools and UTCs delivered through the government's central route also receive Post Opening Grant (POG). POG is given to reflect the additional costs in establishing a new publicly funded school which cannot be met through the General Annual Grant.

PDG and POG costs are published once free schools and UTCs are open, and POG costs are updated annually and can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-spending-on-free-schools-and-studio-schools.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-spending-on-university-technical-colleges.

The number of qualified teachers, teaching assistants, other educational support staff and auxiliary staff in UTC Warrington in November 2018 is provided in the attached table.

The information provided is published in the ‘School Workforce in England, November 2018’ publication, which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2018.

As of 21 June 2019, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received no direct representations on Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust offering operations as private procedures which used to be free on the National Health Service. There has been one representation to the Department from an individual about the matter.

No such estimate has been made. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for working with their local communities to understand the needs of the populations they serve and make decisions about how best to commission services to meet those needs, in partnership with other local commissioners and organisations.

CCGs are also required to carefully consider the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines when making commissioning decisions.

It is for the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) to decide what services they commission for the people they are responsible for – this will mean making clinical judgements about the effectiveness and value of treatments, and the best allocation of resources. CCGs do this based on the healthcare needs of their local populations and clinical evidence, to ensure they are providing the best possible, sustainable care for their patients.

Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs and informed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines.

NICE clinical guidelines make many recommendations spanning all stages of care from diagnosis to treatment of a condition. They represent best practice and are based on available evidence and developed through consultation. Health professionals and organisations are expected to take the guidance fully into account when deciding treatments.

A fundamental principle of the National Health Service is that, for people who are ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom, treatment is free at the point of need, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. Patient payments, other than those limited forms permitted by Regulations (such as prescription charges, payments for some clinical activity undertaken by dentists, and visitor and migrant charges) are contrary to NHS policy.

It is for the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) to decide what services they commission for the people they are responsible for – this will mean making clinical judgements about the effectiveness and value of treatments, and the best allocation of resources. CCGs do this based on the healthcare needs of their local populations and clinical evidence, to ensure they are providing the best possible, sustainable care for their patients.

Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs and informed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines.

NICE clinical guidelines make many recommendations spanning all stages of care from diagnosis to treatment of a condition. They represent best practice and are based on available evidence and developed through consultation. Health professionals and organisations are expected to take the guidance fully into account when deciding treatments.

A fundamental principle of the National Health Service is that, for people who are ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom, treatment is free at the point of need, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. Patient payments, other than those limited forms permitted by Regulations (such as prescription charges, payments for some clinical activity undertaken by dentists, and visitor and migrant charges) are contrary to NHS policy.

Rape is one of the most complex and challenging offences to prosecute and charging decisions have a profound impact on those involved. The CPS has undertaken extensive work over the last decade to ensure that when reaching prosecution decisions specialist prosecutors are fully equipped to deal with the particular complexities of rape cases.

While the CPS does not hold a record of the number of complaints of rape to the police, we can provide data on the number of rape prosecutions and convictions recorded by the CPS system.

The table below provides the volume of rape prosecutions broken down by CPS Area.

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

The following table provides a breakdown by CPS Area of the volume of rape convictions.

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

I am pleased to inform the hon. Lady that there has indeed been a significant increase in the number of prison staff. We are now up to over 4,500 extra prison staff from the low point. I take her

point that with increasing staff, more constructive work can be done with prisoners. The key worker scheme that we have now rolled out in the majority of adult male closed prisons, where prison officers work with six named prisoners, is already yielding results and making prisons safer places. I very much take on board the point she makes about assaults.

The revenue funding allocated for schools for each financial year from 2009 to 2019 for Warrington local authority are shown in the attached table. For financial year 2019/20, only the dedicated schools grant (DSG) has been allocated at this time, though this makes up the bulk of schools funding. The DSG for Warrington this year is £166.7 million. Other grants will be allocated at later points in the year.

Local authorities are required to provide schools with sufficient funds to enable schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities, up to the value of £6,000. This funding comes from the schools’ block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG).

When the costs of additional support required for a pupil with SEN exceed £6,000, the local authority should also allocate additional top-up funding to cover the excess costs. This top-up funding, and funding for special schools comes from the local authority’s high needs budget. In December 2018, we announced an additional £250 million in high needs funding up to 2020, bringing Warrington’s total high needs funding to £20.278 million in 2019-20.

In 2013, the schools and high needs budgets within the DSG were created. As the DSG includes other budgets such as the early years budget, the department is unable to provide comparable figures before 2013-14.

The schools and high needs allocations for Warrington since 2013-14 can be found at the following links:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-2013-to-2014
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-2014-to-2015
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2015-to-2016
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2016-to-2017
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2019-to-2020

16 to 19 funding is based on a national funding formula with a standard base rate of £4,000 for a full-time 16 or 17 year old student, and additional funding related to the characteristics of students and their learning programmes. This formula has operated since 2013/14. A different national funding formula operated before that, but the figures for the 2 are not consistent.

The average 16 to 19 funding per student for institutions in Warrington is shown below:

The table is based on formula funding per student derived from annual allocations covering 16 to 19 provision, to institutions based in Warrington (excluding special schools). Further funding is provided through student support, for high needs provision and from 2018/19 onwards the industry placement capacity and delivery fund.

Note that this figure includes both full- and part-time students as we do not allocate funding separately for these 2 groups. The vast majority of 16-19 year old students are full-time.

Coroners are independent judicial office holders and, as such, it would be inappropriate to speculate on issues directly relating to the conclusions they record. The Ministry of Justice collects annual data, from each coroner area, on the number of inquest conclusions recorded. The most recent data are available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

Since the High Court judgment in R (Maughan) v Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire of July last year, coroners have applied the civil standard of proof in suicide conclusions, but this will shortly be considered by the Court of Appeal. I have not had any recent discussions on the standard of proof issue as it would be inappropriate for me to do so while the matter is before the courts.

Coroners are independent judicial office holders and, as such, it would be inappropriate to speculate on issues directly relating to the conclusions they record. The Ministry of Justice collects annual data, from each coroner area, on the number of inquest conclusions recorded. The most recent data are available at: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706047/coroners-statistics-2017-csvs.zip.

Since the High Court judgment in R (Maughan) v Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire of July last year, coroners have applied the civil standard of proof in suicide conclusions, but this will shortly be considered by the Court of Appeal. I have not had any recent discussions on the standard of proof issue as it would be inappropriate for me to do so while the matter is before the courts.

The time between booking an appointment with a general practice and having the appointment in days for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is presented in the following table for January 2019, the latest data available. A 12 month average from February 2018-January 2019 has also been added.

The time between booking an appointment with a general practice and having the appointment in days for Warrington CCG is presented above for the last published month January 2019 and as a 12 month average from February 2018 - January 2019.

The Department will become involved with proposals for new stations if Government funding is sought to support the new station or if franchised train services are planned to call. By that stage we would expect to see evidence of a strong business case, value for money and support from relevant stakeholders, including all affected local authorities.

We would expect any proposal for a new station to follow the same process as any other development in the greenbelt. This would include call-in to the Secretary of State for Planning for a decision on whether to grant or refuse the application.