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Category: Speeches

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce knife crime.

    Sarah Newton

    Tackling knife crime is a priority for the Government. On 23 March this year, we published the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy which sets out a range of measures to strengthen our response to knife crime including working with the police and industry to ensure there are effective controls on the sale of knives to under-18s.

    We have also passed legislation to ban the sale and importation of ‘zombie knives’ which came into force in August. We are encouraging the police to undertake a series of coordinated weeks of action to tackle knife crime under the Operation Sceptre banner.

    This includes targeting habitual knife carriers, weapon sweeps, test purchases of knives from identified retailers, and use of surrender bins. The next operation will take place the week of 17 October.

    We are also working with Crimestoppers and other potential organisations in delivering knife crime prevention messages to young people. In July 2015, the Government also introduced the sentencing provision that anyone caught in possession of a knife for a second time will now face a mandatory minimum custodial sentence.

  • Amanda Milling – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Amanda Milling – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Milling on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of women taking up apprenticeships.

    Joseph Johnson

    Women made up over 50% of apprenticeship starts in England over the past 4 years, just as they make up more than half of people entering higher education.

    We want to make apprenticeships accessible to the widest possible range of people, as part of meeting our commitment to reach 3 million starts by 2020.

    To increase apprenticeship starts, the Enterprise Bill will set targets for public bodies to employ apprentices. We have amended procurement rules to demonstrate a clear commitment to apprenticeships.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of pupils take a full EBacc range of subjects in (1) sponsored academies, and (2) maintained schools.

    Earl of Courtown

    Provisional figures for 2014/15 show that 27.8 per cent of pupils in sponsored academies and 37.5 per cent of pupils in local authority maintained mainstream schools were entered for all components of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

    This information is published in the Statistical First Release “Provisional GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015”.[1]

    A list of qualifications which count towards the English Baccalaureate is available on the school performance tables’ website.[2]

    [1] 2014/15 provisional table can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467605/SFR37_2015_National_Tables.xlsx. (Years: 2014/15 Table 3a)

    [2] A list of qualifications which count towards the English Baccalaureate can be found at: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/secondary_14/English_Baccalaureate_list_of_qualifications_July_2015.xls.

    “

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Indian government on the case of Nick Dunn, Billy Irving, Ray Tindall, Paul Towers, John Armstrong and Nicholas Simpson.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I refer the hon. Member my answer of 14 January to Parliamentary Question 21057.

  • Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of long-term trends in the prevalence of autism in the UK.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The number of children, young people and adults diagnosed with autism by the National Health Service is not collected centrally. Latest figures from the School Census (2015) state that there were 90,775 pupils with an autistic spectrum disorder at state funded schools and non-maintained special schools in England. This has increased from a total of 56,250 in 2010 who were recorded as having a primary need of autism, but it is not directly comparable to the 2015 figures because of a change in collection methodology. Local authority areas provide information for Public Health England’s annual self-assessment exercise on implementing the Autism Strategy. This includes the number of adults receiving an autism diagnosis but because information is submitted on a voluntary basis a complete total for England is not available.

    The Department has discussed with NHS England the difficulties that people on the autistic spectrum can have in getting an appropriate diagnosis and support in a timely manner. NHS England has commenced a programme to visit clinical commissioning groups to identify and share good practice in accessing autism diagnosis, and look at possible barriers. The Department is funding the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to support this work. NHS England will complete a report on this by the end of April 2016.

    The Department is also encouraging the autism third sector to work together and the four charity representatives on the Cross Government Autism Programme Board, which oversees the implementation of the Autism Strategy, gave presentations at the meeting on 18 February on work they are doing to increase public awareness. The charities are the National Autistic Society, the Autism Alliance UK, Autism Plus and Ambitious about Autism. The Autism Alliance UK is also being funded by the Department to undertake work with national and local organisations, to make reasonable adjustments to services and to train staff to be aware of what autism can mean to individuals who have the condition and their families.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre’s publication Estimating the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Conditions in Adults – Extending the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) gave the overall prevalence of autism in England as 1.1% (95% confidence interval 0.3% to 1.9%). Among adults with learning disabilities living in private households whose learning disability was sufficiently severe that they could not have taken part in the 2007 APMS, the prevalence of autism was 35.4% (95% confidence interval 24.7% to 46.2%). Among adults with mild or severe learning disabilities living in communal care establishments, the prevalence of autism was 31% (95% confidence interval 23.9% to 38%). Detailed supporting information regarding the underlying data and how figures have been derived is found within the detail of the report, a copy of which is attached.

    The APMS was repeated in 2014 and findings are scheduled to be published in September 2016.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the proportion of (a) mothers and (b) fathers in the labour force who were not able to claim statutory parental leave because of the requirement for 26 weeks of continuous employment with the same employer in the last 12 months.

    Nick Boles

    The Shared Parental Leave and Pay system is designed to strike the right balance between giving employees flexibility and giving their employers the certainty that they need to plan.

    We do not routinely collect information that would enable us to estimate the proportion of (a) mothers and (b) fathers in the labour force who were not able to claim Shared Parental Leave and Pay because of the ‘continuity of employment requirement’.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost and headcount implications of moving the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills office from Sheffield to London by 2018, as indicated in BIS2020 Finance and Headcount.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government does not comment on leaked documents.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37536, on Govia Thameslink Railway Reforms Standards, what the predefined contractual change referred to in that Answer is; and what changes have been made to the cancellation and train operating company Minute Delay benchmarks.

    Claire Perry

    When competing for the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise the Department for Transport gave all bidders certain assumptions to use in relation to the train services to be provided until December 2015 and informed them where it would be a Change to the Franchise Agreement if the actual position was different. As a result of the Change, the benchmarks were reviewed.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps (a) local authorities, (b) housing associations, (c) his Department and (d) the National Audit Office have taken to investigate the extent of fraud relating to the Right to Buy scheme.

    Brandon Lewis

    This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.

    We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.

    We have recently set up a Right to Buy Working Group with representative of housing associations, local authorities and lenders to identify additional safeguards to curb fraud when the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme is rolled out to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Work is underway developing the detailed design of the scheme in collaboration with the housing association sector, specifically looking at how fraud and opportunistic practice prevention measures can, as far as possible, be designed into the sales process.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to promote cooperation on the resettlement of Syrian refugees between local authorities with experience of resettlement programmes and local authorities without such experience.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Local authorities are already working together to provide support, ensure best value in the services they provide and to deliver efficiencies.

    The Government will continue to provide local authorities with support and guidance including sharing resettlement best practice and case studies, detailed information on the cohort from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and advice about the cultural, ethnic and religious groupings from Syria.