The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times have mines and improvised explosive devices been detected in the vicinity of UK military bases in the last 10 years.
Penny Mordaunt
Specific statistics regarding mines and IEDs either detected or causing injuries or fatalities in the vicinity of UK military bases are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what decisions his Department has made on the distribution of funding to relieve the immediate pressures in general practice, set out in NHS England’s General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016.
Alistair Burt
The General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016, sets out that an extra £2.4 billion a year will be invested in general practice services by 2020/21, representing a 14% increase in real terms. This means that investment will rise from £9.6 billion a year in 2015/16 to over £12 billion a year by 2020/21.
There will be a national £508 million five year Sustainability and Transformation package for general practice to help support struggling practices, develop the workforce, stimulate care redesign and tackle workload. This package will include:
― £56 million, to include a new practice resilience programme starting in 2016/17, and the offer of specialist services to general practitioners suffering from burn out and stress;
― £206 million for workforce measures to grow the medical and non-medical workforce; and
― £246 million to support practices in redesigning services, including a requirement on clinical commissioning groups to provide around £171 million of practice transformational support and a new national £30 million development programme for general practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which agencies perform child protection checks prior to a self-employed adult being permitted to provide extracurricular activities to children for which activity or sport there is no governing body.
Tracey Crouch
The current system relies on parents to ask self-employed coaches or private providers whether DBS checks have been obtained and what their safeguarding arrangements are.
Sport England has recently provided input on safeguarding into Baroness Grey-Thompson’s Duty of Care Review, which is exploring issues around the duty of care that sport has towards its participants. The terms of reference for the review are wide ranging, covering many aspects relating to safety and wellbeing, and safeguarding is one area under consideration.
Sport England is also currently looking at how it can improve safeguarding through its sponsorship of and investment into the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU), a partnership between the NSPCC, Sport England, Sport Northern Ireland and Sport Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass contract in Scotland with Serco for asylum accommodation and the press notice issued by Serco on 21 September 2016, Compass contract in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which headings will be covered in the due diligence process.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Serco are considering the acquisition of their sub contractor in Scotland and Northern Ireland region and are undertaking analysis of all pertinent matters. The due diligence activity is a matter for Serco.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he had with women’s organisations in Scotland prior to his proposal to devolve responsibility for abortion legislation to the Scottish Parliament.
David Mundell
The Smith Commission considered the issue of the devolution of abortion carefully and was ‘strongly of the view to recommend the devolution of abortion’ and regarded it as an ‘anomalous health reservation.’ The Smith Agreement said that ‘further serious consideration should be given to its devolution and a process should be established immediately to consider the matter further.’ That process took place between the UK and Scottish Governments and resulted in an amendment to the Scotland Bill to devolve responsibility for abortion law to the Scottish Parliament. Since laying that amendment the Government has been engaging with interested parties about how the process of devolution will work and it will be for the Scottish Government to set out what approach it will take once responsibility for abortion law rests with the Scottish Parliament. The 1967 Act will continue to apply in Scotland unless and until the Scottish Parliament chooses to legislate in this area, and the First Minister recently confirmed that the Scottish Government have no plans to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
Richard Harrington
I am responding on behalf of the Secretary of State (SoS), as Minister for Pensions with overall responsibility on this issue.
The previous Minister Baroness Altmann and Minister Shailesh Vara (the previous Under-Secretary of State for DWP) met with representatives of the WASPI group on 29th June 2016 to listen to their concerns. Although WASPI’s ask was unclear, at the time, Ministers indicated that the DWP did not have the available funds to deliver further concessions.
One other outcome from that meeting was that WASPI agreed to explore options with the relevant All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). A meeting between APPG representatives, the SoS and myself is being taken forward, and consequently there is nothing further to be gained from meeting WASPI representatives directly.
I should add that I have been quite clear that the Government will make no further changes to the pension age or pay financial redress in lieu of a pension.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many recorded suicides there were by (a) men under 18, (b) men aged 18 to 30, (c) men aged over 30, (d) women under 18, (e) women aged 18 to 30 and (f) women aged over 30 in each London borough in each year since 2010.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Leeds North West of 12 January 2016 on meeting hon. Members with constituencies along the River Wharfe.
Rory Stewart
The Secretary of State received five letters in January from the hon. Member for Leeds North West about the recent flooding in Leeds. The Secretary of State met him and all Members for Leeds constituencies on 20 January to discuss the flooding in Leeds, as well as flood defences on the nearby River Aire (to which the River Wharfe is a tributary). The Secretary of State will be responding to the specific points raised by the hon. Member for Leeds North West within the next week. In the meantime, I can confirm that I am happy to meet MPs with constituencies along the River Wharfe
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Allan on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle cyber harassment.
Karen Bradley
Legislation is in place to deal with internet trolls, cyber-stalking and cyber harassment, and perpetrators of grossly offensive, obscene or menacing behaviour. Through the Criminal Justice Act 2015, we have strengthened two communications offences which can be used to prosecute misuse of social media: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, giving the police longer to investigate either offence, and increasing the maximum penalty for the former to two years imprisonment.
Through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, we have brought together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to work in partnership to help keep children and young people safe online.
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.