Category: Speeches

  • Lord Norton of Louth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Norton of Louth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Norton of Louth on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to introduce a Civil Service parliamentary scheme to enhance civil servants’ awareness of the role of both Houses of Parliament.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Industry and Parliament Trust run the established Civil Service Attachment Scheme (CSAS) and Civil Service Learning endorses the use of this scheme, subject to departmental budgetary approval. This programme enables Civil Servants to shadow MPs, Peers (and MEPs where relevant) both in parliament and in their constituencies.

    Civil Service Learning provide two courses that address this subject area – “Induction: An introduction to Parliament” and “Parliamentary processes”. They also provide training on taking a Bill through Parliament.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities her Department has identified as being non-compliant with the statutory requirements relating to the content of the Local Offer since September 2014.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.

    All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.

    In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.

    Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.

    The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.

    Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.

    The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.

    The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.

    A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

    “

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when each allocated route under the Regional Air Connectivity Fund will be launched.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Funding through the Regional Air Connectivity Fund is now available to the 11 successful bids. The start dates of the successful routes are a matter for the airlines. Flybe have announced start dates for their air services from Norwich to Exeter and Southampton to Lyon which will commence operations in March and May respectively. Funding will only be paid to airlines upon the service being provided.

  • Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, whether they intend to continue tolling the Severn Bridges at the prevailing rate at the end of the concession until they have collected an additional £63 million above and beyond operational costs of managing the Bridges.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Chancellor announced in his Budget speech that tolls at the Severn Bridges will be cut by 50% at the end of the current concession. Tolls will continue at this lower level to collect the costs of £63m incurred outside of the concession.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect on Africa’s development needs of the recent downward revision of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa by the World Bank.

    Justine Greening

    Our assessment highlights a mixed picture: the slowdown in aggregate economic growth for SSA is dominated by a few large economies affected by the fall in commodity prices (e.g. Nigeria), but growth remains robust among some other DFID priority countries (e.g. Tanzania). DFID’s programme and policy support to African countries is designed to address the economic and human development challenges these countries face.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to provide for (a) mothers’ names to be added on marriage certificates and (b) a marriage registration system that takes account of different family circumstances where there may not be a mother and a father; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    The Marriage Registration Reform Bill, introduced by my Right Honourable Friend the Member for Meriden (Caroline Spelman) in the previous Parliamentary session, would have enabled the details of both parents of the couple to be included on the marriage certificate.

    The Home Office is continuing to develop proposals that will allow mothers’ names to be recorded on marriage certificates.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Terrence Higgins Trust’s report Shh.No Talking, published in July 2016, what steps she is taking to ensure that sufficient resources are given to local authorities and schools to ensure that sex and relationships education lessons are properly resourced and teachers are trained.

    Edward Timpson

    High quality sex and relationship education is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain. It should also help young people to make informed choices, stay safe and learn to respect themselves and others.

    Our statutory Sex and Relationship Guidance is clear that young people, whatever their developing sexuality or identity, should feel that sex and relationship education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs.

    Sex and relationship education is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and many primary schools also teach it in an age appropriate manner. Decisions relating to resources and teachers’ professional development rest with schools, headteachers, and teachers themselves, as they best know the needs of their staff and pupils.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of her Department.

    Caroline Dinenage

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

    Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will take steps at EU level to encourage better labelling of alcoholic drinks by providing (a) uniform information about strength and calorie content, (b) guidelines on safe drinking levels and (c) health warnings.

    Jane Ellison

    Current food labelling regulations, including those for alcoholic drinks, are set at a European level.

    Alcoholic drinks are currently exempt under European law from needing to provide nutritional information and ingredients lists. However, there is a provision allowing the voluntary labelling of the energy content of alcoholic drinks.

    We are not currently planning any national policies on nutrition labelling of alcohol. However, some businesses are choosing to label calories voluntarily on their alcoholic beverages.

    Guidelines on safe drinking levels and health warnings are not being taken forward at EU level at this time. However, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is overseeing a UK-wide review of all alcohol guidelines so that people can make informed choices about their drinking at all stages of their lives. Under the previous Government’s Responsibility Deal, independent monitoring has shown nearly 80% of bottles and cans on shelf now carry unit content, the CMO’s lower-risk guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant, fulfilling a Responsibility Deal pledge.

  • Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Clinical Commissioning Groups in England have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health services in 2015–16.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    As part of the mental health parity of esteem requirement for 2015-16, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were asked to plan for an increase in spend on mental health services at least in line with the increase in their overall funding allocation for the year, which set a higher bar than achieving a real terms increase in spending, though not all CCGs were able to achieve this target. 192 of the 209 CCGs achieved a real terms growth in mental health planned spend measured against the 1.4% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator for 2015-16.

    The list attached shows which CCGs have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health in 2015-16.

    The final data for CCGs’ spending on mental health in 2015-16 will be submitted to NHS England by commissioners in May 2016, and it is anticipated NHS England may be in a position to provide final spend information by around the end of the first quarter of 2016-17.

    NHS England has not yet published CCG planning guidance for 2016-17. Consideration will be given to holding commissioners to account for spending on mental health.

    CCG and NHS England mental health spending information is now routinely collected as party of NHS England’s monthly financial reporting regime. Monthly financial reports by CCGs are scrutinised and quality assessed by NHS England’s regional teams. The monthly reports also form part of the CCG assurance process. NHS England is also in the process of setting up the financial plan assurance process for 2016-17, which will incorporate the review of planned spending on mental health services for future years.