Category: Speeches

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether new apprenticeship standards will be grouped within the same sectors as the frameworks they are replacing to ensure continuity with previously recorded data.

    Nick Boles

    Employer designed apprenticeship standards focus on the knowledge, skills and behaviour required to achieve full competence in an individual occupation. There is no requirement for employers to replicate particular frameworks or pathways within them, as the priority is creating apprenticeships that meet employers’ needs. To ensure we can track developments in apprenticeship standards – for example, take up in particular sectors or regions – we are currently maintaining the current sector subject area classifications and allocate new standards to them to ensure continuity with previously recorded data.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will provide an estimate of the number of environmental laws, derived from the EU, that are (a) ignored and (b) unused by the devolved administrations.

    Rory Stewart

    Environmental law is an area of devolved competence. Transposition and implementation of EU environmental law therefore rests with the devolved administrations. The obligation to transpose and implement EU environmental law applies across the whole of the UK.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on advertisements using Facebook in each of the last three years.

    Matthew Hancock

    Cabinet Office did not spend anything in 2013/14 on Facebook advertising. In 2014/15 there was a total of £17,511.16 spent by Cabinet Office on Facebook advertising. Fully auditable figures are not available for the 2015/16. All figures include VAT.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to support Syria’s economy after the end of the current conflict in that country.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Much of our assistance is already laying the groundwork for future reconciliation, stabilisation and reconstruction efforts inside Syria. Regarding the economy, we are already taking a long term approach to foster market stability and economic recovery. This includes the supply of agricultural inputs to farmers to increase production as well as support to small businesses. This has potential to be scaled up once a political transition is reached and depending on the nature of that settlement.

    On 26 November 2015, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will commit at least £1 billion to Syria’s reconstruction. We anticipate that reconstruction funds would be allocated against a plan agreed between a new, inclusive Syrian government and the international community. We expect that, over time, this funding will include support for re-building Syria’s shattered economy and infrastructure.

    However, we must not underestimate the scale of the challenge of post-conflict reconstruction. Syria has experienced 40 years under an oppressive regime and a brutal civil war. Conflict has reversed Syria into poverty. Consequently, reconstruction will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. That is why we will use our influence as a major shareholder to push the UN and International Financial Institutions and the private sector to bring their planning, resources and expertise to bear.

  • Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keir Starmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the Semaphore eBorders system has been affected by a national power outage since 6 May 2010; and when each of those power outages (a) started and (b) ended.

    James Brokenshire

    For reasons of national security we do not comment on operational issues relating to border security systems.

  • 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 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage students at Key Stage 3 to take up modern foreign languages.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government expects all pupils in secondary education to be taught a broad and balanced curriculum, and that includes the opportunity to study a foreign language at Key Stage 3 and 4. In 2010, only 43% of pupils were studying a GCSE in a foreign language, down from 76% in 2000. Since the Government introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the proportion of the cohort in state schools that are entered for a modern foreign language GCSE increased by 20% between 2011 and 2015. Our ambition is that 90 per cent of pupils in mainstream secondary schools will enter GCSEs in the EBacc subjects, including a foreign language.

  • 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

  • Christian Matheson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christian Matheson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of housebuilding.

    Brandon Lewis

    Housing starts have almost doubled since 2009. Over 608,000 new homes have been built since April 2010 – there are now 795,000 more homes in England than in 2009.

    Trends in housebuilding are published in the quarterly House Building Release.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received (a) since his appointment as Secretary of State and (b) since the appointment of his predecessor in that post expressing concerns about Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

    Alistair Burt

    A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified 40 items of correspondence expressing concerns about Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.

    In 2014, NHS England initiated action including an investigation of the deaths of all patients of the trust who had been in receipt of mental health or learning disability services since 2011.

    We are advised by NHS England that a first draft of the Mazars report was shared with it and Southern Health Foundation Trust in September 2015. The Department has not received a copy of the report and the report is still to be finalised before publication.

  • Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of planning applications which were refused on the grounds that the sewerage network or waste water treatment facilities did not have sufficient capacity to service those developments in each of the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The information requested is not collected by the Department.

    The National Planning Policy Framework expects local councils to work with other authorities and providers, such as water and sewerage companies, to assess the quality and capacity of infrastructure and its ability to meet forecast demands. This includes infrastructure for wastewater and its treatment. This should help inform councils’ Local Plans, which should plan positively for the development and infrastructure required in the area. Further information is provided in our on-line planning practice guidance, ‘Water supply, wastewater and water quality’, available at http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/blog/guidance/

    “