The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the reviews carried out by his Department on the deaths of social security claimants since 2014.
Damian Hinds
All our currently published reviews can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-foi-releases-for-may-2016
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the recent National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme report.
Mr Marcus Jones
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research Impact Study was just one of 6 reports comprising the independent evaluation of the first Troubled Families Programme. The evaluation found that the programme had many positive achievements. These include:
The data shows that nearly 120,000 of the families on this programme saw their lives improve – more children attending school, youth crime and anti-social behaviour significantly cut and, in more than 18,000 families, an adult holding down a job. The evaluation does not dispute this fact.
Unsurprisingly, the ambitious and innovative impact study which used national administrative datasets to track changes in families circumstances over comparatively short time periods, was unable to specifically attribute positive outcomes achieved in employment, youth crime or school attendance to the Troubled Families Programme.
This was because at that time the level of change achieved was not significantly different from that seen in a group of families not on the programme with whom comparisons were made. This is not the same, however, as saying that the evaluation shows family outcomes did not improve, as some have wrongly inferred.
Of course, we will continue to review all evidence of how the programme is working, to learn from it and see if there’s more we can do to help families facing such multiple problems. In fact, we have already adapted the new programme in a number of ways, including extending the length of time over which family outcomes will be tracked – from 12 months to 5 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the change in the number of jobs in the solar sector that will be lost as a result of the Government changes to the feed-in tariff in (a) Barnsley East, (b) Barnsley, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) Yorkshire and the Humber.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government proposed changes to the feed-in tariff scheme (FITs) as part of the FIT review, on which we consulted widely between 27th August and 23rd October.
Part of the purpose of that consultation was to gather views on the broader economic impact of the proposals. The actual impact on the sector will, of course, depend on the options taken forward after all responses to the consultation have been considered. We are currently analysing feedback submitted during the consultation and intend to publish a Government response in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 2015-12-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in the Cabinet Office budget on the budget for the Office of Civil Society.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The Office for Civil Society will make general efficiency savings in its core budget, but it will also receive an additional £80million to grow social investment and the funding to offer up to 300,000 National Citizen Service places in 2019/20.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2016-01-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made towards agreement within the EU on updating the fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (‘the Directive’) has been agreed and was formally adopted in June 2015. Member States now have until June 2017 to transpose its requirements into national law. The Government plans to publish a consultation on transposition of the Directive by early Spring which will run for a full 12 weeks. We will consult on areas where the Directive gives us options or discretion on how we transpose its provisions as well as areas where we can improve the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism regime.
We will continue to consider any further changes to this regime in response to emerging threats.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the state aid approval in relation to BDUK requires BT to provide Wholesale Open Access to other communication providers for ducts and poles built with BDUK funding which are (i) over one km in length and cost more than £50,000 to build and (ii) less than one km in length and cost less than £50,000 to build.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The UK 2012 state aid Decision applied different wholesale access conditions to new and existing infrastructure. On new infrastructure over one km in length and costing more than £50,000 to build, BT must provide access for any purpose, while on existing infrastructure and on new infrastructure less than one km in length or costing less than £50,000 to build, the primary use must be retail services (with business services only permitted where it supports the primary objective.) Both cases exceed what is required by Ofcom under regulation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much public funding has been provided to (a) NHS Blood and Transplant, (b) Anthony Nolan, (c) NHS England and (d) other bodies for stem cell donation purposes in each year since 2003-04.
Jane Ellison
Since 2011, the Department has provided funding to both NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and Anthony Nolan to support the improvement of provision of stem cells in the United Kingdom. Details for each of the last four complete financial years is as follows:
|
Year |
Anthony Nolan |
NHSBT |
|
2011/12 |
2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
|
2012/13 |
2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
|
2013/14 |
2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
|
2014/15 |
2,000,000 |
2,000,000 |
NHS England does not commission stem cell donation services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of her Department’s reform of AS and A-level qualifications on the number of hours of study students are undertaking in post-16 education.
Nick Gibb
The number of guided learning hours for AS and A levels have not changed as a result of our reforms. However, with the move to linear qualifications, there will no longer be the routine and automatic external assessment of students at the end of year 12 which places unnecessary burdens on students’ and teachers’ time.
Study programmes are funded per student rather than per qualification. Funding rates are based on an average of 600 hours per year of planned activities per student.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many contracts have been terminated early by the Skills Funding Agency due to the provider being at risk of failure in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.
Nick Boles
The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) does not terminate contracts on the grounds of a provider being ‘at risk of failure’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) establish an additional National Teaching Service (NTS) pilot in Teesside and (b) give priority to the Tees Valley in the NTS national roll-out in response to the recommendation in Lord Heseltine’s report, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited to prioritise the Tees Valley for national roll-out of the NTS.
Nick Gibb
In November 2015 we announced that by 2020 the National Teaching Service (NTS) will have placed 1,500 high-performing teachers and middle leaders into challenging schools in areas of the country that struggle to attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers.
The NTS was launched with plans for a pilot scheme in the North West of England from September 2016 with the aim of attracting 100 NTS teachers and middle leaders into schools in the region. The national programme will include a clear focus on delivering cohorts of NTS teachers and middle leaders into eligible schools in Achieving Excellence Areas (AEAs) as set out in the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper. We will confirm our plans for rolling out the NTS in due course.