The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an updated timetable on the development of the Institute for Apprenticeships.
Robert Halfon
The Institute for Apprenticeships will come into being in April 2017. We expect to publish further information about how the Institute will operate in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Stewart on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he has any plans to inform NHS users of the actual costs of visits, treatments and prescriptions.
Alistair Burt
The Government intends to publish the indicative medicine costs to the National Health Service on the dispensing label of all medicines dispensed in the community in England costing more than £20 from late 2016.
Reference costs, which show the average unit costs to National Health Service hospital trusts of treatments and visits, are published annually by the Department on the Government website. There are no plans to inform patients of these costs each time they use the service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had on the steps necessary to ensure driverless cars are safe before they are permitted on the road.
Andrew Jones
Officials in the Department for Transport, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles are engaging on this issue at a national and international level. In July 2015 the Department for Transport published a Code of Practice for driverless cars to help make the UK the best place for testing without placing additional regulatory burden on industry and ensuring safety and security.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-01-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over recent reports that he said that violence by Palestinians constitutes a justified popular uprising”.”
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Our Deputy Consul General to Jerusalem raised this issue with President Abbas’s Diplomatic Adviser, Majdi Khaldi, on 17 December. Mr Khaldi informed us that President Abbas condemned violence against Israelis and Palestinians.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, how much specific additional funding her Department has provided to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new special educational needs and disabilities duties.
Edward Timpson
Local area inspections will begin in May 2016 and will be completed over the next five years. For this financial year of 2015-16, the Department has allocated £349,087 of funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to meet the costs of developing this new type of inspection. We intend to provide Ofsted with funding to support this activity over the next five years.
The data we will draw on to determine whether the special educational needs and disabilities provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children with special educational needs or a disability will include data on outcomes achieved by disabled children.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many deaf children attended mainstream schools in England in each of the last 10 years; and how many such children were taught British Sign Language in each of those years.
Edward Timpson
The number of children with special educational needs (SEN) who have ‘hearing impairment’ listed as their primary need can be found in the annual statistical first release ‘Special Educational Needs in England’ on GOV.UK. Table 1, below, provides collated figures for the last ten years, for pupils attending state-funded primary and secondary schools. These figures include children in resourced provision or SEN units but not children in special schools. There will be children whose primary need is not ‘hearing impairment’ but who, nevertheless, have a hearing impairment. These children are not covered by this information.
From September 2014 the ’SEN support’ category replaced the ’school action’ and ‘school action plus’ categories. Those recoded, in 2015, as having ‘SEN support’ but who were formerly included in the ‘school action’ category will not previously have had a primary type of need recorded. This is likely to have contributed to the large increase – between 2014 and 2015 – in the numbers of children recorded as having a hearing impairment.
The Department does not collect statistics on the number of deaf children in mainstream schools who are being taught British Sign Language.
Table 1:
|
Year |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
State funded primary schools |
6,390 |
6,570 |
6,650 |
6,860 |
7,230 |
7,370 |
7,510 |
7,610 |
7,915 |
9,275 |
|
State funded secondary schools |
5,510 |
5,670 |
5,980 |
6,350 |
6,730 |
7,080 |
7,125 |
7,225 |
7,125 |
8,705 |
|
Total |
11,900 |
12,240 |
12,630 |
13,210 |
13,960 |
14,450 |
14,635 |
14,835 |
15,040 |
17,980 |
The links to published data can be found here:
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-03-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether plans to introduce a hepatitis C improvement framework have been abandoned and, if so, why.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has been rapidly working on their plans for access to treatment during 2016/17 following enactment of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technical appraisal guidance and has committed to produce an operational framework for the treatment of hepatitis C during 2016/17. This will set out NHS England’s commitment to improving outcomes in hepatitis C across England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will establish an office within his Department with a focus on assisting UK military veterans in terms of housing, health, employment, pensions and other needs.
Mark Lancaster
As I stated on 24 March 2016 during a debate in the House (Official Report, columns 1865-74) the concept of such an office, while well-intentioned, would duplicate existing provision. We already have strong cross-Government support for veterans from the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as other Departments. In addition, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) operates Veterans UK which focuses on the provision of pensions, compensation and welfare support for veterans.
The Armed Forces Covenant is designed to stop the Armed Forces community facing disadvantage and provides an effective mechanism to connect the various stakeholders who have an interest in supporting our community. The Covenant Reference Group brings together all relevant Departments and Devolved Administrations in a way that a single agency or Ministry could not. In addition, the Defence Secretary ensures that the MOD publishes an annual report to Parliament to communicate the delivery of our Covenant commitments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the (a) Royal Navy and (b) Royal Air Force are deployed to the 77th Brigade.
Penny Mordaunt
77th Brigade includes 10 members of the Naval Service (Royal Navy and Royal Marines) and 11 Royal Air Force personnel.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps her Department plans to take in the remainder of 2016.
Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and conducting these withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working very closely with other government departments, including the Department for Education, and a wide range of other interested parties.