Category: Speeches

Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many offices were operated by the (a) Skills Funding Agency and (b) Education Funding Agency in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles

In response to your question:-

Year	EFA	SFA
April 2012	11 sites	21 sites
April 2013	11 sites	18 sites
April 2014	7 sites	20 sites
April 2015	6 sites*	21 sites
April 2016	6 sites*	15 sites

* In addition a small number of EFA staff are based at a satellite office in Bristol

EFA is co-located on all sites with other parts of the Department for Education and the reduction in the number of sites since 2012 was part of a DfE wide change programme.

01/01/2023

Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to make oral contraceptive pills available without a doctor’s prescription.

George Freeman

The Government has no plans to make oral contraceptive pills available without a prescription.

Any applications to reclassify specific products from prescription only to non-prescription supply would be considered in accordance with its usual procedures by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

01/01/2023
Richard Benyon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Benyon on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what data her Department holds on the number of (a) seals, (b) cetaceans and (c) other marine species killed by tidal energy installations.

Andrea Leadsom

The monitoring of the impacts of tidal energy installations is a requirement of marine licences issued by the relevant body for such infrastructure.

01/01/2023
Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 13 June (HL566), what assessment they have made of why the UK has claimed £49,736,125 from EEA countries and Switzerland for the cost of the NHS providing treatment to people for whom they are responsible under EU law, but has reimbursed EEA countries and Switzerland £674,418,036 for the cost of providing treatment to people for whom the UK is responsible under EU law in 2014–15.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Because of European Union healthcare rules, millions of United Kingdom citizens who work, visit or retire to other European countries can receive the free or reduced cost healthcare they need. That is what we are paying the £674 million for.

Some 80% of this (over £500 million) is for our pensioners who chose to retire to Europe.

Many more of our pensioners choose to retire to other European Economic Area countries than pensioners from those countries retiring to the UK, it is therefore inevitable that we will pay more to cover healthcare costs of our pensioners.

01/01/2023
Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on the rollout of digital infrastructure in rural areas as part of the move to deliver public services through digital technology.

Ben Gummer

I meet Cabinet colleagues regularly to discuss a range of issues. My officials in the Government Digital Service work with the Department of Culture, Media & Sport on digital inclusion and engagement. Government is working in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors to ensure that everyone in the UK has the basic digital skills needed to benefit in the digital age. To date, more than 90 organisations, including EE, Vodafone, Age UK, the LGA, Tinder Foundation, Microsoft, Shelter and Google have signed up to the Government’s Digital Inclusion Charter to develop initiatives that reach as many people as possible. We are committed to ensuring every UK citizen who can be online will be by 2020.

01/01/2023
Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the government of Equitorial Guinea on human rights and freedom of speech in that country.

James Duddridge

We remain concerned about the human rights situation in Equitorial Guinea, including the lack of freedom of expression and assembly, the lack of transparency and high levels of corruption. We are concerned about a recent Presidential decree which saw a total dissolution of the judiciary. Equitorial Guinea must meet its international obligations to protect the independence of the judiciary and respect the rule of law.

We have no diplomatic mission or resident diplomatic staff in Equatorial Guinea. Nonetheless we remain committed to raising human rights concerns with the Government of Equitorial Guinea where we can, and we have outlined concerns to the Equitorial Guinea Ambassador in London, and through visits to Equitorial Guinea of our non-resident Ambassador (based in Cameroon). We will continue to raise our concerns through these channels.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Independent Adjudicator can monitor the implementation by higher education institutions of provision for disabled students who do not have complex needs.

Joseph Johnson

Higher education institutions have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled students and to monitor their compliance with their Equality Act duties. The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 require institutions to publish information as to their compliance with the general public sector equality duty.

Students who are dissatisfied with the provision of support, and raise their concerns through their institution’s formal complaints procedures, can then also take their case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. This is a free service for the student.

01/01/2023
Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what timetable has been set for the introduction of NHS England’s new National Clinical Director for Cardiac Services after April 2016.

George Freeman

NHS England expect the National Clinical Director for Cardiac Services to take up their role from 1 April 2016.

01/01/2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to make training on teaching Sex and Relationships Education mandatory for all teachers.

Edward Timpson

The Government believes that all children should have the opportunity to receive a high quality and appropriate sex and relationship education (SRE). SRE is compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and many primary schools also teach it in an age-appropriate way. The Government also expects academies and free schools to deliver SRE as part of their provision of a broad and balanced curriculum.

Any state-funded school teaching SRE must have regard to the Secretary of State’s SRE guidance (2000). The Department has received requests about updating the existing SRE guidance which we will carefully consider.

Initial Teacher Training (ITT) is currently determined by the Teachers’ Standards, which all trainee teachers must be able to demonstrate by the end of their training. The Standards set out the key principles of good subject pedagogy and the importance of subject knowledge development across the curriculum. Schools and headteachers are best placed to determine which staff learning activities will be most beneficial for their schools and we expect them to lead the personal development of their teachers to improve the quality of all round teaching.

The Department supports schools’ efforts to improve PSHE teaching by drawing schools’ attention to a range of high quality PSHE education teaching resources, including quality resources, lesson plans, a programme of study, factsheets and case studies. These resources are kite-marked by the PSHE Association to ensure that schools can trust the materials they use and improve their teaching.

Ofsted does not inspect individual curriculum subjects. However, aspects of PSHE education and SRE will inform its judgment on personal development, behaviour and welfare. Inspectors must also consider the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. Schools have responsibility for acting upon the inspection reports they receive and any weaknesses will be considered when the school is next inspected.

We expect schools to ensure that young people, whatever their developing sexuality or identity, feel that SRE education is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs. The statutory SRE guidance is clear that schools should teach about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Sexually transmitted infections are also covered as part of the national curriculum for science at key stage 3.

We welcome the supplementary SRE guidance ‘SRE for the 21st Century’ produced by Brook, the PSHE Association and the Sex Education Forum, which includes guidance on ensuring that SRE is inclusive. All children and young people, regardless of background or identity, are entitled to quality SRE that helps them build confidence and stay healthy.

01/01/2023
Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that there is no reduction in the funding of grammar schools as a result of recent changes to funding for pupils aged 16 to 19.

Mr Sam Gyimah

All providers of 16-19 education, including school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and general FE colleges, are funded according to a single national formula. We announced, as part of the Spending Review, that we will protect the national base rate of £4,000 per student for the duration of the parliament. From 2016/17 the large programme uplift will apply, which will give a funding uplift of 10 per cent for study programmes of four A levels and 20 per cent for five A levels, when at least a grade B in all subjects is gained. Equivalent uplifts will apply to the full level 3 International Baccalaureate and large TechBacc programmes.

We set out full details of the funding rates for 16-19 institutions in 2016/17 in January and aim to provide further information on savings that will be required from 2017/18 as soon as possible. We have already announced that we will remove transitional formula protection funding over six years from 2016/17, ensuring sufficient lead-in time for institutions to manage this reduction.

01/01/2023