Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Coussins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Coussins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Coussins on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many additional modern foreign language teachers they estimate will be needed in order to achieve the target of 90 per cent of mainstream pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate by 2020.

    Lord Nash

    The proposals in the English Baccalaureate consultation launched on 3 November imply an increase in the numbers of teachers of languages needed. The EBacc-related increase is over and above the additional teachers needed to keep up with the rise in the secondary school pupil population.

    We will forecast the demand for additional Modern Foreign Language teachers following the conclusion of the consultation. This will give us a better understanding of how schools plan to respond to the resulting workforce requirements from 2017/18.

    The Department does this, in part, by adding policy assumptions into the Teacher Supply Model (TSM), which informs the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) targets each year.

    More details as to how the policy assumption process is managed within the TSM itself, along with some previous examples, can be found in both the 2016/17 TSM and the accompanying user guide.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what benefits aside from the 10 per cent price reduction that policy required have accrued from conducting the Lead Provider Framework procurement process to date.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Lead Provider Framework enables clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to run a simpler, legally compliant and more efficient process than typical European procurements in order to source high quality commissioning support from accredited, professional at scale providers.

    Sourcing commissioning support collaboratively with other commissioners enables CCGs to benefit from the economies of scale and the diverse range of smaller niche organisations that the nine Lead Providers bring together.

    The Lead Provider Framework has already led to consolidation within the market, driving efficiency and has improved the quality and range of services offered. CCGs are expected to benefit from further efficiencies as providers compete for their contracts.

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

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve food hygiene safety in schools, children’s clubs and nurseries that failed to meet satisfactory standards in inspections last year.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Local authorities are responsible for food hygiene inspections of schools, children’s clubs and nurseries at which food is served regularly to children. Food hygiene legislation requires these premises to be registered as food businesses. The Food Standards Agency, which sets policy for and monitors enforcement of food safety legislation by local authorities, has advised that approximately 99% of educational establishments and caring establishments, including schools, children’s clubs and nurseries, have satisfactory or better food hygiene standards.

    Local authorities work with food businesses to make improvements in any premises that fail to meet satisfactory standards during inspections and may take a range of enforcement actions as considered appropriate in the circumstances of each case. The honourable member for Bolton North East or members of his constituency may contact the relevant local authority or the Food Standards Agency for detailed information about specific premises that are of concern to him.

  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 9 February (HL5469), of those tested, how many were subsequently diagnosed with (1) hepatitis B, (2) hepatitis C, and (3) HIV, over the same time period.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on people in prison tested for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) via the Sentinel Surveillance Study. This system does not currently receive reports from all prisons in England where testing occurs currently 28 prisons report data. Table 1 below shows data from this system on the total number of prisoners tested positive for BBVs in the calendar years 2012-2014. Similar information from this study for the year 2015 will not be available until mid-2016. NHS England also collects data on levels of testing for BBVs in prisons via the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance. The numbers of positive tests for BBVs in these data are presented in Table 2 using currently available data. The higher number is due to the greater coverage of prisons by this dataset.

    Table 1: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons for calendar years 2012-14

    2012

    2013

    2014

    hepatitis B

    60

    51

    49

    hepatitis C

    456

    400

    327

    HIV

    16

    19

    16

    Source: PHE Sentinel Surveillance Study

    Table 2: Reported levels of positive tests for BBVs for people in prisons from April 2015 to December 2015

    April 2015 – December 2015

    hepatitis B

    743

    hepatitis C

    2164

    HIV

    1777

    Source: NHS England

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on whether Passenger Service Performance by the TSGN has exceeded the Default Performance Level for any benchmark for any (a) three consecutive reporting periods, (b) four reporting periods within a period of 13 consecutive reporting periods or (c) any five reporting periods within a period of 26 consecutive reporting periods except in relation to any reporting periods falling within a no breach reporting period.

    Claire Perry

    The Department receives information on each franchised operators’ performance against respective benchmarks every four weeks. Delays and Peak Short formations have not exceeded the Default Performance level as defined in the Franchise Agreement. However, GTR exceeded the breach performance level for cancellations last year and the Secretary of State issued Govia Thameslink Railway with a Remedial Plan Notice requiring them to set out the measures they will take in order to improve performance. Subsequently, the Secretary of State has accepted the Remedial Plan that sets out the steps the operator is taking to improve their performance.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions officials in his Department have had with Public Health England on the potential effects of minimum unit pricing of alcohol on liver disease health outcomes in England.

    Jane Ellison

    There have been no meetings specifically to discuss the potential effects of minimum unit pricing on liver disease health outcomes in England.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 1150 of Session 2015-16, Legal protection for unborn children.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has no plans to repeal the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929, or sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation her Department has undertaken on the draft adults at risk policy for vulnerable people detained under immigration powers.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Stephen Shaw carried out a comprehensive consultation in preparing his report of his review of the welfare of vulnerable people in immigration detention and the adults at risk policy, which will come into force on 12 September 2016, forms part of the Government’s response to Mr Shaw’s review. The Government has seen no reason to duplicate this in developing the adults at risk policy. However, when the draft policy was published on 26 May 2016, the Government wrote to a wide range of relevant non-governmental organisations and offered them the opportunity to discuss it. Subsequently Home Office officials held meetings with a number of interested organisations, and received written representations, and the views of these organisations have been taken into account as the policy has been developed further.

  • Lord Wigley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Wigley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wigley on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to publish a route map for the development of small modular nuclear reactors in the UK.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Policy development for small modular reactors, including plans in respect of publishing a Roadmap, remains on-going. We are drawing on the findings of the independent Techno-Economic Assessment, the Phase One expressions of interest documents, the meetings held by officials over the summer with 32 technology vendors, service providers and potential investors, and our continuing discussions with regulators.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to remind the government of Turkey of its undertakings contained in the Dolmabahçe Declaration of 27 February.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We welcomed previous steps taken by the Turkish government to take forward the Kurdish peace process, including through discussions with Abdullah Öcalan and his representatives. We understand that the Government of Turkey did not commit itself to specific undertakings following the talks at the Dolmabahçe Palace in February. We have been very clear that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) violence must end and that the peace process should be resumed, in the interests of Turkey and the wider region. The UK stands ready to help in any way it can.