Category: Speeches

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in receipt of universal credit had their entitlement reduced as a result of taking up paid work in the most recent month for which figures are available.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is not currently available. The Department published its strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit (UC) in September 2013. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring data for UC therefore it is not yet possible to give a definitive list of what statistics will be provided in the future. These statistics however will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for official statistics.

    The latest official experimental statistics on UC and the Departments release strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics.

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  • Phil Boswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 11065 and with reference to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s report, Downward Mobility, Opportunity Hoarding and the Glass Floor, published in June 2015, what discussions the Government has had with the devolved administrations on that report’s findings that children from better-off families are hoarding opportunities in the education system and in the labour market.

    Nick Boles

    There have been no discussions with devolved administrations specifically in relation to this report.

    However, it should be noted that many key levers for improving social mobility such as apprenticeships, traineeships and higher education have some degree of devolution across the UK and so policy decisions on these issues should be referred to the relevant devolved administration.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) assets and (b) personnel of his Department took part in Exercise Platinum Lion in collaboration with the US, Romanian and Bulgarian armed forces.

    Penny Mordaunt

    40 personnel from 40 Commando Royal Marines took part in Exercise PLATINUM LION during July 2015. This was primarily an infantry skills exercise with no major assets deployed.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent employment and support allowance in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.

    Priti Patel

    The information* requested has been published and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487615/expenditure-by-la-2014-15.xlsx

    * Expenditure is on a Great Britain basis; expenditure in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency.


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  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to meet demand for school places in Romford.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government is investing £23 billion in school buildings to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs.

    Havering local authority received £23 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create nearly 3,000 new places between 2010 and 2014.

    It has also been allocated a further £47 million to create the places needed by 2018.

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

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to provide additional support for educational studies to young carers.

    Edward Timpson

    Schools play an important part in identifying pupils who are young carers and in offering them appropriate support. That is why my Department works with Carers Trust and The Children’s Society to share tools, good practice and increase awareness in schools of young carers’ issues. Ofsted inspectors will also pay particular attention to the outcomes achieved by young carers in schools.

    We have changed the law so that, since April 2015, all young carers are entitled to an assessment of their needs for support, regardless of who they care for, what type of care they provide or how much time they spend caring.

    The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund enables students from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in further education by helping them to overcome any financial barriers they face. With the help of Carers Trust, we have recently improved our guidance to the schools, colleges and training providers that administer the bursary on how they can better identify and support eligible young carers. We also have strong links with the National Association of Managers of Student Services, a network of college staff who have direct responsibility for providing appropriate support for students. We have provided Carers Trust with access to this network so they can agree in partnership how they can better raise awareness of young carers’ circumstances and support requirements.

    Around 60%, of young carers are thought to be eligible for free school meals, and those who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years will be attracting pupil premium funding to the schools that they attend.

    Additionally, all young people who have not achieved their full potential at age 16 in terms of achieving a grade C in English and maths GCSE at the age of 16 attract extra funding to provide the educational support they need to achieve and progress. Any young carer who finds themselves in this situation will be able to access additional educational support from their school or college.

    We also funded Suffolk Family Carers over £111,000 in 2015-16 to run a local project to raise awareness of young carers amongst teachers, non-teaching staff and school nurses, including a focus on young carers’ mental health, supporting Suffolk County Council’s strategy on young carers. We are now evaluating that project.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what programmes are in place to increase the numbers of children cycling to school.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government would like to see an increase in the number of children cycling to school. We believe that cycle safety training can give children the skills and confidence they need to cycle on local roads.

    Bikeability is the Government’s long-standing programme of cycle training for school children, with over 1.7 million children trained since 2010. It is available to every local body in England (London has separate funding arrangements for Bikeability). Funding of £12 million a year has been confirmed for the next four years. This will provide a range of cycling activities to schools including on-road cycle training and Bikeability Plus, a new suite of training modules focussed on increasing levels of cycling school and cycle safety.

  • 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 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with (a) local education and training boards, (b) Public Health England and (c) Health Education England on the training of healthcare professionals to fit intra-uterine methods of contraception.

    Jane Ellison

    No specific discussions have been held about the training of healthcare professionals to fit intra-uterine methods of contraception. The continuing professional development of doctors and nurses is the responsibility of individual employers. Health Education England has a role in ensuring employers remain committed to continuing professional development and in developing the overall strategy for workforce skills and development in their areas.

    Funding and commissioning of contraceptive services outside of the GP Contract is the responsibility of local authorities though the ring-fenced public health grant. Local authorities are mandated to ensure the provision of open access contraception services that enable reasonable access to a broad range of contraceptive substances and appliances (including intra-uterine methods) and advice on preventing unintended pregnancy. While not directly comparable because of changes in data collection, intra-uterine contraception fitted in sexual and reproductive health services increased from 65,300 in 2004/05 to 121,900 in 2014/15.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that best practice in planning is shared between local authorities.

    Gavin Barwell

    My department continues to fund the work of the Planning Advisory Service, which exists to help local planning authorities share best practice, improve procedures and understand changes in national legislation and policy. Its current work concentrates in particular on places that need to prepare up-to-date plans and improve their development management services.

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to promote use of the Employer Checking Service.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Employer Checking Service is promoted on GOV.uk. Employers are also directed to the service by the Preventing Illegal Work help line. The Employer Checking Service meet regularly with large employers to promote the service.