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  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many bids her Department received from local authorities to the competition to offer 30 hours free childcare from September 2016.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department for Education received 69 Local Authority applications for the delivery of the three and four year old extended entitlement, a year earlier than planned. These applications were developed in partnership with childcare providers, as part of a formal Expressions of Interest process, which included a rigorous assessment process based on a selection criteria agreed by the Ministerial-level Childcare Implementation Task Force.

    The requested information can also be found at:

    https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-02-02/debates/16020246000010/ChildcareBillEarlyImplementation?highlight=30%20hours%20free%20childcare#contribution-16020246000032

    “

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on its teaching blog since that blog was established.

    Nick Gibb

    The teaching blog has received an average of 758 visits per week, and 15,938 visits in total. The costs are only in staff time and image usage of £2.50 per image as the blog is hosted on the GOV.UK platform. The blog is run by the Department’s social media team as a small proportion of one member of staff’s overall workload.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff of her Department work on its teaching blog.

    Nick Gibb

    The teaching blog has received an average of 758 visits per week, and 15,938 visits in total. The costs are only in staff time and image usage of £2.50 per image as the blog is hosted on the GOV.UK platform. The blog is run by the Department’s social media team as a small proportion of one member of staff’s overall workload.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what improvement plan is in place for the Collective Spirit Free School in Oldham.

    Edward Timpson

    Underperformance at any school is unacceptable. The Regional Schools Commissioner, Vicky Beer, has requested an action plan from the trust and will be working with them to identify appropriate and sustained improvements.

    If the trust’s plans fail to convince the department that they are able to make the necessary improvements, we will not hesitate to consider more formal intervention.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 41415, what assistance the Government provides for UK coal and gas producers seeking to export their fuels overseas to the (a) EU and (b) rest of the world.

    Amber Rudd

    In the case of gas, UK Trade and Investment is active in helping the UK oil and gas sector do more business internationally. In addition the remit of the new Oil & Gas Authority, established in 2015, is to work with government and industry to make sure that maximum economic benefit is derived from the UK’s oil and gas reserves.

    UK companies are freely able to export and import coal as part of normal market operators.

    UK demand for both coal and gas outweighs domestic supply, therefore the UK imports the vast majority of its coal needs and around half of its gas supply.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent changes her Department has made to licensing criteria for badger control in England.

    George Eustice

    Following a public consultation, the following changes to licensing conditions were published on 17 December 2015:

    • Enabling Natural England to keep the duration of annual badger control operations under review rather than limiting them to six weeks.

    • Reducing the minimum size of an area from 150km2 to 100km2.

    • Removing the requirement for at least 70% of the land in candidate areas to be accessible but retaining a requirement that approximately 90% of the land in the control area be either accessible, or within 200m of accessible land.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Northern Ireland counterpart on control of bovine TB in Northern Ireland.

    George Eustice

    Bovine TB policy is a devolved matter. The UK Chief Veterinary Office and other Defra officials have regular discussions with their counterparts in Northern Ireland on the eradication of bovine TB.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of avian influenza there were in the UK in 2016.

    George Eustice

    There has been one confirmed case of notifiable avian influenza in poultry during 2016 to date; Low Pathogenic H5N1 at a poultry farm near Dunfermline, Scotland.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Rural Payments Agency to resolve the backlog of 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payments.

    George Eustice

    I have regular discussions with the Rural Payments Agency on the progress of Basic Payment Scheme payments.

    As of 3 July 86,760 (99.6%) farmers have received a payment on their 2015 BPS claim. The Rural Payments Agency continues to focus on making top up payments to those farmers who have already received a bridging payment.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department plans to encourage more farmers to submit their Basic Payment Scheme payments applications online.

    George Eustice

    For the Basic Payment Scheme 2016 over 80% of farmers chose to apply online.

    For the Basic Payment Scheme 2017 the Rural Payments Agency will have a planned campaign of activity to encourage as many as possible of the remaining 20% of customers that applied on paper to apply online.