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  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency plans the Government has in place should Rolls Royce be unable to complete the Nuclear Reactor Component of the Successor Programme on schedule.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We work closely with all of our key suppliers to ensure they deliver the capability we need. Risks and associated mitigation action are continually reviewed for all defence programmes. It would not be appropriate for the Ministry of Defence to release commercially sensitive material on any defence programme, as to do so would prejudice commercial interests.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21502, on Syria: military intervention, what the evidential basis is for the statement that there have been no reports of civilian casualties as a result of RAF airstrikes in Iraq or Syria.

    Penny Mordaunt

    All UK airstrikes in Iraq and Syria are assessed post-strike using the best available imagery, intelligence and other sources of information to assess the impact of the strike on the target and affected area. This assessment, coupled with pre-strike checks provides the evidence base to support the statement that in the hundreds of airstrikes conducted by the RAF to date in Iraq and, more recently Syria, we have found no evidence of civilian casualties arising from UK airstrikes.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools teach sex education and consent in PSHE lessons.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education does not hold data on the number of schools teaching sex education or consent.

    The Government believes that all children should have the opportunity to receive a high quality and appropriate sex and relationships education (SRE). SRE is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Primary schools can choose to teach SRE in an age-appropriate way. All schools providing SRE, including academies and primary schools, must have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000).

    Schools often choose to teach sex and relationships education as part of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE), and consent may be a part of this.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with her Northern Ireland counterpart about the provision of England-based teaching jobs for unemployed teachers in Northern Ireland.

    Nick Gibb

    Officials at the Department for Education have regular discussions with their Northern Ireland counterparts. The National College of Teaching and Leadership has worked with a range of partners in Northern Ireland to ensure that teaching opportunities in England are widely promoted. These partners include:

    • Irish National Teachers’ Organisation

    • Department for Employment and Learning Employment Service

    • Department of Education Northern Ireland

    • General Teaching Council Northern Ireland

    Together with these partners, the Department has helped prospective teachers in Northern Ireland find vacancies in England through the Get Into Teaching website. The Teaching School Council and Regional School Commissioners also promoted teaching opportunities in England. Schools in the West Midlands, North West and East of England engaged with and benefited from these initiatives.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 11 January 2016 on parenting classes, (a) how many hours of such classes will be provided to parents and (b) whether there will be a cost to parents participating in such classes.

    Priti Patel

    The Department will be working through the details of what will be provided by the contracted relationship support provision in the next few months.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of parents with mental illnesses there are in (a) pre-primary, (b) primary and (c) secondary schools in the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department does not collect information on the number of children at any stage of school whose parents are suffering from mental illness.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on lawyers in cases relating to the release of departmental documents under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each year since 2010.

    Nick Gibb

    Legal costs relating to Freedom of Information are not held centrally by the Department and the cost of determining these over the past five years would exceed the disproportionate limit. The costs of internal lawyers’ time are not held in such a way that they can be separately identified.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will commission research on the (a) reasons for and (b) effects of the different thresholds for investigations to be initiated under section 17 and section 47 of the Children Act 1989.

    Edward Timpson

    Sections 17 and 47 of the Children Act 1989 have different purposes. Section 17 defines a child as being “in need” if they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by the local authority, or their health and development are likely to be impaired (or further impaired), without the provision of such services, or they are disabled. Under this section, local authorities are required to provide a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.

    Section 47 places a duty on local authorities to make enquiries to decide whether and what action should be taken to safeguard the child from “significant harm”. This is the point at which compulsory intervention in a child’s life is justified.

    Each local authority will interpret the definitions at Section 17 and Section 47 and set local thresholds, agreed by Local Safeguarding Children Boards, through their statutory function under the Children Act 2004, in discussion with all partners. This function is set out in Regulation 5 of the Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006, as follows:

    1(a) developing policies and procedures for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in the area of the authority, including policies and procedures in relation to:

    (i) the action to be taken where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare, including thresholds for intervention;

    This is also set out in the Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2015 statutory guidance. Ofsted looks at thresholds as part of its inspection process and considers whether the levels set locally are appropriate. It expects good Local Safeguarding Children Boards to monitor and understand the application of thresholds locally.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of her Department’s performance in adhering to the statutory time limit for responding to Freedom of Information requests.

    Nick Gibb

    The Secretary of State publishes statistics on the Department’s performance in responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

    “

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which children’s services departments have been visited by the Chief Social Worker for Children since her appointment.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department does not publish the diaries of staff members. Diaries often contain sensitive information and releasing them could impact both on the policy making process and the willingness of officials to meet with particular groups if this information were to be freely available.

    Since her appointment, the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, Isabelle Trowler, has visited the following local authorities: Bexley; Birmingham; Blackpool; Calderdale; Cambridgeshire; Camden; Central Bedfordshire; Cheshire West and Chester; Derbyshire; Doncaster; Enfield; East Sussex; Gloucestershire; Greenwich; Hackney; Hammersmith and Fulham; Haringey; Hull; Islington; Kensington and Chelsea; Kent; Kingston on Thames; Kirklees; Lancashire; Leeds; Liverpool; Manchester; North Lincolnshire; Northamptonshire; Portsmouth; Redcar and Cleveland; Richmond upon Thames; Rotherham; Sheffield; Slough; Solihull; Staffordshire; Tower Hamlets; Wandsworth; Westminster; Wigan; Wolverhampton; Worcestershire; and York.

    As well as visiting local authorities, the Chief Social Worker meets with representatives of many children’s services departments.