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Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals related to the recommendations of the Law Commission’s report on level crossings, published in September 2013.

Paul Maynard

We welcome the Law Commission’s recommendations on the reform of level crossing legislation, the majority of which we accepted. We are considering opportunities to take measures we accepted forward through primary legislation.

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to respond to his Department’s consultation on the Hendy Report, published in January 2016.

Paul Maynard

Following the conclusion of my Department’s consultation, the Secretary of State has accepted the report by Sir Peter Hendy on the replanning of Network Rail’s Investment Programme.

No-one has put forward a better overall plan for how to deliver the programme than the plan that Sir Peter has proposed.

The programme of railway upgrades will continue to be subject to ongoing assessment and investment decisions to ensure that maximum value is derived for passengers and taxpayers

A report summarising the responses made to the consultation will be published later in the year and a copy will be placed in both libraries of the house.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total spend on High Speed 2 to date; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

Since 2009 the Government has spent £1.4bn on the HS2 programme. This covers the period up to and including 2015/16 and includes the costs incurred by HS2 Ltd and Land & Property (L&P) expenditure. Data for 2016/17 is provisional and is currently not included.

01/01/2023

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what section 54 undertakings have been given for which rolling stock fleets; and what the (a) owning group and (b) terminating date is for each such undertaking.

Paul Maynard

The table below represents the expiry dates of the Section 54 undertakings in England and Wales which have been entered into between the Secretary of State and the owners of the rolling stock. Since September 2014 the Department has not entered into any Section 54 undertakings. Our current policy is that trains should be purchased in the market and the owner should take residual value risk.

The Scottish Government has powers which it can exercise in relation to Section 54.

Class	Owner/Lessor	No of vehicles	Current lessee	Expiry Date of Section 54
800 / 801	Agility Trains East	497	Virgin Trains East Coast	27.5 years after the Actual Acceptance Date of the first set in the fleet.
800 / 801	Agility Trains West	369	First Great Western	27.5 years after the Actual Acceptance Date of the first set in the fleet.
180	Angel Trains	25	First Great Western	31 December 2016
700	Cross London Trains	1140	GTR	21 March 2036
377	Porterbrook Leasing	792	GTR	07 March 2022
390	Angel Trains	574	Virgin Trains West Coast	31 March 2022
221	Voyager Leasing	102	Virgin Trains West Coast	31 March 2019
444 / 450	Angel Trains	733	South West Trains	23 April 2025
455	Porterbrook Leasing	364	South West Trains	01 February 2018
707	Angel Trains	150	South West Trains	31 March 2019
350/1	Angel Trains	120	London Midland	23 April 2025
350/3	Angel Trains	40	London Midland	19 September 2018
395	Eversholt Rail Group	174	South Eastern	17 years from Acceptance Date of last initial unit which was 2009.
333	Angel Trains	64	Northern	24 July 2020
350/4	Angel Trains	40	TPE	19 September 2018
165	Angel Trains	89	Chiltern	31 December 2018

01/01/2023

Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government Equalities Office is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government’s Ending Violence against Women and Girls 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from the Government Equalities Office last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.

Caroline Dinenage

The Government is committed to delivering the Strategy published in March. The table below shows the progress made in delivering the actions allocated to the Government Equalities Office (GEO).

REF	ACTION	PROGRESS
1	Develop new guidance in consultation with teachers for PHSE lessons specifically about gender equality (Apr 2016).	GEO has been working with the PSHE Association to consult teachers on how best to deliver this commitment.
2	Fund the Freedom Charity to expand the ‘Train the Trainers’ project…. (Apr 2016).	GEO funded the Freedom Charity to expand their ‘Train the Trainers’ project to reach a greater number of communities and empower teachers to deal with the topic of forced marriage sensitively and confidently. This funding enabled an additional 3,620 students and 1,230 staff to learn about forced marriage with Freedom.
5	Launch the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships and promote understanding of health relationships and consent – including among LGB&T teenagers (Feb 2016).	GEO, in partnership with the Home Office, launched Disrespect Nobody, the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships. This included a TV advert, along with a dedicated website, blogs and guidance for teachers.
8	Update Media Smart resources (with the Advertising Association) to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content (Sep 2016).	GEO commissioned the charity Media Smart to develop a new resource to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content. The resource was published in August 2016 and will be disseminated to schools this term.
10	Conduct or commission mapping of the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention to identify how Government can build on these initiatives to further social change (Apr 2017).	GEO is currently mapping the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention, as well as meeting with stakeholders working in this area.
28	Establish an official Government working group to map out current issues, prevalence, initiatives and barriers to addressing gendered online abuse to improve understanding and coordinate the response to online manifestations of VAWG (Dec 2016).	In partnership with the Home Office, GEO has established an official Government working group to do this. This work is ongoing.
30	Continue to ensure victims of revenge pornography have access to bespoke support and advice about their right to have the images removed from websites (review Apr 2017).	GEO has funded the Revenge Porn Helpline for a further year to continue its important work supporting victims of revenge porn and working to have such images removed from websites.

GEO officials attend the Home Office-chaired cross-government working group on VAWG, the last of which took place on 23 June 2016. In addition, GEO officials have attended a number of Home Office-led consultation meetings with VAWG stakeholders, the last of which was in February 2016. Such discussions run alongside inter-ministerial meetings, the most recent of which I attended in June.

01/01/2023

Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what activities (a) she and (b) officials of the Government Equalities Office have undertaken to promote breastfeeding during World Breastfeeding Week 2016.

Caroline Dinenage

The Government Equalities Office fully supports the work of the Department of Health, which leads Government work to promote breastfeeding.
- The Department of Health encourages exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life because of the health benefits to mothers and babies. We recognise that infant feeding choices are complex and based on individual and family circumstances and that not all mothers choose to or are able to breastfeed.
- The Government is committed to supporting breastfeeding through the Healthy Child Programme. Breastfeeding is also included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so that the improvements can be tracked, and action taken as needed.
- Support and information is currently available to health professionals and parents through NHS Choices, the National Breastfeeding Helpline, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative and local peer support programmes.
01/01/2023
Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the reviews carried out by his Department on the deaths of social security claimants since 2014.

Damian Hinds

All our currently published reviews can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-foi-releases-for-may-2016

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01/01/2023
Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what response he plans to make to the serious concerns raised by the recent UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its concluding observations to its Fifth Period Report.

Damian Hinds

In section V. paragraph B92 of the UN concluding observations, the UN Committee has invited the UK to submit its combined sixth and seventh periodic reports (including a response to the observations from this year’s examination) by 14 January 2022; it would therefore not be appropriate for me to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we might say in 2022. In any event, the Government regularly assesses the impacts of its policies and will continue to do so.

01/01/2023
Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32920, where the allegations of fraudulent benefit claims are collected.

Caroline Nokes

There are a variety of ways that allegations of Benefit Fraud are received by the DWP including telephone calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH), online and letter. Once an allegation has been received and, if it meets the required criteria containing enough information, a Fraud Referral Form (FRF) is completed which is then entered into the internal Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS).

01/01/2023
Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of the independent living fund on people who received payments from that fund prior to its closure.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government has fully funded local authorities to meet their additional obligations to service users previously in receipt of the Independent Living Fund for the remainder of this Parliament.

When the Department closed the Independent Living Fund, a commitment was made to conduct research into the impact of the closure. This will be based on interviews with former users and with Local Authorities. The research is on-going and will be published in due course.

01/01/2023