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  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel are stationed in (a) Saudi Arabia, (b) Yemen, (c) Oman, (d) Qatar and (e) UAE.

    Mike Penning

    There are around 100 military personnel based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including at the Defence section within the British Embassy in Riyadh. These personnel provide mentoring and advice to the Saudi Arabian National Guard as part of the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Personnel also work on the Saudi Arabia National Guard Communications Project to acquire and support, modern communications capabilities for the Saudi Arabian National Guard and work on the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Saudi Armed Forces Projects, supporting the United Kingdom’s commitment to the defence of Saudi Arabia through the supply of modern military aircraft, naval vessels, weapons and associated support services to the Saudi Armed Forces. We have a small number of liaison personnel who work at the Saudi MOD and Operational Centres. We do not discuss specific numbers for reasons of safeguarding operational security.

    There are no UK Armed Forces personnel based in Yemen.

    There are around 195 military personnel based in Oman, including at the Defence section within the British Embassy in Muscat; personnel on Loan Service to the Omani Armed Forces and others on temporary assignments in the region. These numbers change on a daily basis according to the tasks assigned.

    There are seven military personnel permanently assigned to Qatar (three within the Defence Section in the Embassy and four Loan Service officers working in training establishments). There are also a number of temporary personnel who work at Al Udeid airbase but we do not discuss specific numbers for reasons of safeguarding operational security.

    There are six military personnel permanently assigned to the UAE (three within the Defence Section in the Embassy at Abu Dhabi; one within the Defence Section in the Dubai Consulate; and two Loan Service officers working with the UAE Electronic Warfare and Signals departments). There are also a number of temporary personnel at Al Minhad airbase but we do not discuss specific numbers for reasons of safeguarding operational security .

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether technical capacity for the launching of cluster munitions was provided with any UK-manufactured (a) aircraft and (b) unmanned aerial device exported to Saudi Arabia in the last 15 years.

    Sir Michael Fallon

    No.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to ensure that the forthcoming review of fair funding for early years education will include measures to help close the attainment gap at age five.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This Government is committed to narrowing the gap in attainment between the most disadvantaged children and their peers, including in the early years. We will be investing over £1 billion more per year by 2019-20 to fund our commitments on the early years entitlements – this includes £300 million per year from 2017-18 for a significant increase to the hourly rate paid for the two, three and four year old entitlements.

    The 2014-15 Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results tell us that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 66% in 2015, compared to 60% in 2014 and 52% in 2013. Furthermore, a higher proportion of children eligible for free school meals are achieving a good level of development – 51% in 2015 compared to 45% in 2014.

    We need to continue this improvement. This is why we propose an additional needs factor in our new early years national funding formula, in order to channel funding towards local authorities with a higher relative proportion of children with additional needs. Our consultation on early years funding reform is currently open, and I would encourage my Honourable Friend and his constituents to submit their views.

    The Government already provides additional funding for the most disadvantaged three- and four-year olds through the Early Years Pupil Premium. This will continue as a separate funding stream, additional to the early years national funding formula.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average annual spend per pupil in secondary modern schools was in 2015-16 in (a) England and (b) each region.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools self-select their own admissions category on Edubase. 120 schools are identified as ‘secondary modern’.

    The Department does not yet hold the income and expenditure data from 2015-16. The data will be available for those which are maintained by the local authority in December 2016, and for those which are academies in the summer of 2017.

    The overall expenditure per pupil in secondary modern schools by each region for 2014-15 is listed in the following table:

    Region

    Number of secondary modern schools

    Expenditure per pupil (£)

    East Midlands

    13

    6,388

    East of England

    1

    5,738

    London

    13

    6,228

    North West

    15

    6,416

    South East

    54

    5,703

    South West

    7

    5,928

    West Midlands

    11

    5,547

    Yorkshire and the Humber

    3

    6,729

    England Total

    117*

    5,921

    *Note: There are 3 secondary modern schools for which we do not have comparable financial data for them for this period. One of these converted to an academy during 2014-15, and one was reported as part of a federation with another school. The remaining school did not submit data to the Department. The expenditure per pupil takes into account expenditure from all income sources, including self-generated income.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of grammar school entrants are in receipt of the pupil premium in (a) England and (b) each region.

    Edward Timpson

    The proportion of grammar school pupils in receipt of the pupil premium in (a) England and (b) each region are given in the table.

    Region

    Number of grammar schools

    Proportion of pupils receiving pupil premium

    East Midlands

    15

    12.5%

    East of England

    8

    5.6%

    London

    19

    7.6%

    North West

    19

    6.9%

    South East

    57

    8.1%

    South West

    20

    9.2%

    West Midlands

    19

    10.0%

    Yorkshire and the Humber

    6

    7.4%

    England Total

    163

    8.5%
  • Pat McFadden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Pat McFadden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pat McFadden on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children receiving free school meals obtained five GCSEs, including English and mathematics in each local authority area in England in the latest year for which figures are available.

    Edward Timpson

    The percentage of pupils who are eligible for free school meals and obtained five GCSEs, including English and mathematics, in each local authority area in England is published in table LA8 as part of the “GCSE and equivalent attainment by pupil characteristics 2015” statistical first release (SFR)[1].

    [1] KS4 SFR 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493475/SFR01_2016_LA_Tables.xlsx (Table LA8)

    “

  • Pat McFadden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Pat McFadden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pat McFadden on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of children from each local authority area in England go to university in the most recent year for which figures are available.

    Joseph Johnson

    Information on the percentage of pupils from state-funded schools aged 15 in 2009/10 who entered higher education in 2012/13 at age 18, or in 2013/14 at age 19, by local authority, is available in Table 2 of the Statistical First Release ‘Widening Participation in Higher Education, England, 2013/14 age cohort’. The publication is available at the following weblink:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/543126/SFR37-2016_-_WPHE2016_01.08.2016.pdf

    “

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the potential effect of the decreasing uptake of languages at A-level on (a) the uptake of language courses at university and (b) the number of language graduates training to be language teachers.

    Nick Gibb

    The decline in the study of modern foreign languages started in 2004 when the former Government removed the compulsory study of languages from the Key Stage 4 curriculum. By 2010 fewer than half – 43 per cent – of pupils took a GCSE in a modern foreign language, down from 76 per cent of pupils in 2000. The inclusion of a modern foreign or ancient language in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) increased the number of students studying at least one language at GCSE between 2010 and 2015. This has increased the pool of students able to progress to study languages at A level and beyond. The Government will publish their response to the EBacc consultation in due course and is already incentivising the take-up of language A levels in the 16-19 performance tables through the facilitating subject measure.

    To support prospective students’ choice of degree we are making improvements to the information they can access, particularly on the employment outcomes they can expect from their Higher Education (HE) studies. This should allow students to understand better the advantages of studying a language at university. Furthermore, provisions in the Higher Education and Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, will allow Government, in future, to instruct the HE regulator to incentivise or protect the supply of courses, such as language courses, which are economically and culturally important.

    We are also encouraging the best language graduates to enter the teaching profession, through financial incentives such as a bursary of £25,000 for trainees with a first class or 2:1 degree in languages.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of grammar school entrants were previously educated in fee-paying preparatory schools in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

    Nick Gibb

    The data requested is not collected by the Department or local authorities.

    The School Admissions Code[1] sets out that admission authorities must not “take into account any previous schools attended, unless it is a named feeder school” (para 1.9b) or “name fee-paying independent schools as feeder schools” (para 1.9l).

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code–2

    “

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of grammar school entrants were eligible for free school meals in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

    Nick Gibb

    The number and proportion of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in selective state-funded secondary schools in England in each of these years is listed in the table below:

    Year

    Number of Pupils

    Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals

    Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals

    2013-14 (data as at January 2014)

    162,629

    4,204

    2.6%

    2014-15 (data as at January 2015)

    164,149

    4,163

    2.5%

    2015-16 (data as at January 2016)

    166,517

    4,237

    2.5%

    1. Source: School Census

    2. Includes sole and dual main registered pupils