The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to the public purse was of the visit of four RAF Typhoons to Edwards Airforce Base for interoperability trials with the Joint Strike Fighter; and what goals were (a) planned and (b) set in such training.
Mr Philip Dunne
No Typhoon aircraft have been deployed to Edwards Air Force Base.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the technical fault was with Typhoon aircraft T3 ZJ815 which forced it to land in Lajes Field; whether this fault has been rectified; and whether this aircraft has since returned to the UK.
Mr Mark Francois
Typhoon ZJ815 was on a pre-planned stop at Lajes Field on its return journey to the UK from exercise in the USA. A fault with the Inertial Measuring Unit on Typhoon ZJ815 was identified during routine pre departure checks at Lajes Field. The fault was repaired in situ and the aircraft returned to the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the results were of the recent interoperability training between RAF 41 (reserve) Test and Evaluation Squadron training with Swedish Air Force and their JAS39C Gripen aircraft.
Mr Mark Francois
The visiting Swedish aircraft were from the Swedish Air Combat Training School. This visit enabled both parties to conduct tactical development of our respective operational test and evaluation processes. It also provided a valuable opportunity to exchange experiences in this area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department allocated to the Conflict Pool for South Asia in each of the last three years.
Mr Mark Francois
The Conflict Pool is funded from a Treasury settlement which is separate from and additional to departmental budgets and is administered jointly by the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for conflict prevention and mitigation work. Details of Conflict Pool allocations are provided to Parliament annually in a Written Ministerial Statement. Statements for financial years (FY) 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 are attached.
A Statement giving details of Conflict Pool allocations for FY 2014-15 will be released to the House shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it remains his policy to meet the NATO target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence; and what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with their NATO counterparts on this issue.
Dr Andrew Murrison
The UK is one of just four NATO nations to spend 2 per cent or more of gross domestic product on Defence. On current plans, defence spending will continue to meet the 2 per cent target for the current Spending Review period. Decisions on public spending after 2015-16 will be made in the next Spending Review.
The question of Defence spending by European NATO partners is regularly discussed at NATO Defence Ministerial meetings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what steps he is taking to increase social mobility in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what measures his Department uses to assess the effectiveness of the Government’s social mobility strategy.
Mr Nick Clegg
The Government is committed to improving social mobility, as set out in our social mobility strategy, ‘Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers’, published in 2011. The strategy sets out a plan for improving social mobility across the whole country, incorporating polices such as early education for two year olds from lower income families, the Pupil Premium and the Youth Contract.
To assess the progress of this strategy, the Government has committed to reporting regularly on a set of key indicators to track closely whether we are moving in the right direction on social mobility; I chair a group of key Ministers to oversee delivery of the strategy, and the Government has created a new Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
These indicators were last updated in November last year, and will be updated again shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether special educational needs coordinators are able to request funds from his Department for extra assistance with SEN students in maintained schools.
Mr Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not give funds directly to local authority maintained schools. Funds for extra assistance with students with special educational needs (SEN) come from schools’ budgets and, if the extra cost is more than £6,000 per year for an individual student, from local authorities in the form of top-up funding for the school. Local authorities can also give extra funding to schools with a disproportionate number of pupils with SEN. Special educational needs coordinators should therefore seek any additional funds required from the relevant local authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many members of the armed forces have been recruited into teacher roles under the Troops to Teachers initiative to date.
Mr David Laws
The Troops to Teachers undergraduate programme is a new programme, which started in January 2014. 41 service leavers joined the Troops to Teachers programme in January 2014. Recruitment is almost complete for the second cohort of the programme and more service leavers will start their training in September 2014. The first successful graduates of the programme will be employed as teachers, subject to achieving Qualified Teacher Status and a degree, in 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when Dominic Cummings’ security pass to the Department of Education was deactivated and withdrawn.
Matthew Hancock
In line with the practice of successive Administrations, Government does not comment on security matters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2014-06-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when Dominic Cummings last had email contact with officials, Ministers and special advisers in his Department.
Matthew Hancock
Mr Cummings is an ex-employee of the Department for Education. It is not uncommon for ex-employees to be in contact with Ministers and the Department. As the Secretary of State for Education explained to the House on Monday 16 June, many people seek to visit and contact the Department for Education to exchange ideas with old friends and colleagues.