Category: Speeches

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children at key stage (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4 are in receipt of the service pupil premium.

    Edward Timpson

    No children in an early years setting are in receipt of the service child element of the pupil premium grant. The grant is payable to schools and local authorities for pupils in year groups reception to year 11.

    The number of school-age children in England eligible for the service child pupil premium in January 2016, broken down by Key Stage, is provided in the table.

    Reception

    Key Stage 1

    Key Stage 2

    Key Stage 3

    Key Stage 4

    Total

    Number of pupils (headcount)

    6,008

    13,098

    26,489

    17,479

    10,358

    73,432

    Source: School Census, January 2016

  • Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Argar on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the tree-planting rates have been in England in each year since 2006.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Forestry Commission collect and publish National Statistics for England on the area, in hectares, of new woodland planting. It also estimates the number of trees planted, based on the average number of trees planted per hectare in the grant supported planting. In 2015-16 this average was 1,566 trees per hectare.

    Table 1 below provides annual planting area published by the Forestry Commission since 2006 and its estimate of the number of trees planted.

    In 2015-16 the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) supported 546 hectares of planting and it is estimated that 165 hectares of woodland was created, without RDPE support, bringing the total created during 2015-16 to 711 hectares.

    In the period April 2016 to June 2016, a further 422 hectares of woodland was recorded as being planted with RDPE support.

    The RDPE figures reflect the slow initial take up of Countryside Stewardship support for woodland planting. Planting is recorded at the time the grant is paid, which means that some planting will have taken place in the previous financial year to that in which it is recorded. Approximately 1,292,000 trees were planted in England with RDPE support since April 2015.

    Table 1: New planting of woodland in England since 2005-06

    Financial Year to 31st March

    a) New planting by land area

    b) Estimated number of trees

    Thousand hectares

    Million trees

    2005-06

    3.7

    4.1

    2006-07

    3.2

    3.5

    2007-08

    2.6

    2.9

    2008-09

    2.5

    2.8

    2009-10

    2.3

    2.5

    2010-11

    2.5

    2.8

    2011-12

    2.7

    3.0

    2012-13

    2.6

    2.9

    2013-14

    3.3

    3.6

    2014-15

    2.4

    2.6

    2015-16

    0.7

    0.8

    Source: Forestry Statistics 2016 (Forestry Commission)

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2015 to Question 13135, if he will place in the Library a copy of the review described at section A7 of Schedule One of the contract for the provision of tobacco control legislation enforcement undertaken by the contractor.

    Jane Ellison

    Section A7 of Schedule One, entitled ‘Grounds for discretionary rejection’ is available at:

    https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/contract/1072169/

    The schedule does not describe a review.

    Two applications were submitted for the current tobacco control legislation enforcement contract.

  • Peter Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Peter Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Dowd on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to publish the White Paper on supporting people with health conditions and disabilities get into work.

    Justin Tomlinson

    As outlined in the Spending Review 2015, the government will publish a White Paper in 2016 that will set out reforms to improve support for people with health conditions and disabilities:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-documents/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015

    “

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on aid to least developed countries of spending on refugees arriving in European countries.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Spending on refugees in the UK is expected to increase over the course of the Parliament to reflect the government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. However, this is in the context of wider growth in the UK’s aid budget.

    This is in line with the UK aid strategy: UK aid: tackling global challenges in the national interest, which is available on the gov.uk website.

    The precise geographical focus of the Department for International Development’s aid spending will be determined through the multilateral and bilateral aid reviews, to be published in Spring 2016.

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2016 to Question 23324, for what reasons her Department has decided not to publish A-level data split by type of special educational need or to collect additional data on the outcomes achieved by students who have a disability but not an identified special educational need in 2015.

    Edward Timpson

    The statistical first release Level 2 and 3 attainment by young people aged 19 [1] includes attainment data broken down by School Action, School Action Plus and those with statements of SEN at academic age 15. The 2015 update will be published in April 2016.

    The Revised A level and other level 3 results in England statistical first release does not currently provide SEN or disability breakdowns but, as part of our reforms to 16-19 accountability measures, we will consider if it is possible to provide these breakdowns at national level in the future.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/level-2-and-3-attainment-by-young-people-aged-19-in-2014

    “

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26129, in which constituencies the £380,000 that the Government spent on community organisations preventing female genital mutilation and forced marriage in 2014-15 was spent.

    Karen Bradley

    In 2014/15, the Government provided over £380,000 to community organisations through the Home Office’s Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Community Engagement Initiative and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s FGM and forced marriage prevention projects.

    Many of the projects had regional or national remits, or both, meaning it is not possible to breakdown the project spend by constituency. However, areas covered included:

    Birmingham

    Leeds

    Bolton

    Liverpool

    Bradford

    London

    Bristol

    Milton Keynes

    Cambridgeshire

    Nottinghamshire

    Cardiff

    Oxford

    Coventry

    Portsmouth

    Derby

    Rotherham

    Essex

    Solihull

    Exeter

    Stoke-on-Trent

    Gloucester

    Surrey

    Greater Manchester

    Wales

    Hertfordshire

    Yorkshire

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he takes to monitor the economic effect of projects his Department has funded.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has taken a number of steps to embed systematic monitoring of our policies and programmes, including economic effects. The Department’s vision for monitoring and evaluation is outlined in our Evaluation Strategy, found on the GOV.UK website.

    In particular:

    1. For all new spending the Department ensures fit for purpose monitoring and evaluation plans are embedded before policy implementation.
    2. The Department publishes an updated summary of the monitoring and evaluation coverage for each policy area on an annual basis. The BIS Evaluation Plan 2016 was published in January and is the second annual publication of BIS’s evaluation coverage, also found on the GOV.UK website.

  • Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kate Hollern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of small and medium-sized enterprises in his Department’s supply chain, other than direct suppliers, in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2013-14.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Small businesses are an important source of innovation and flexibility, as both direct and indirect suppliers, to meet our defence and security requirements. The estimated number of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) directly supplying the Ministry of Defence (MOD) during financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 is provided below. The figures for 2015-16 are not yet available.

    MOD Direct Expenditure with SMEs

    Estimated Number of SME Suppliers

    2013-14

    7,000

    2014-15

    5,400

    The MOD spent 19.4% (direct and indirect) of its procurement budget with SMEs in both 2013-14 and 2014-15. The MOD has a new 25% target for SME procurement spend by 2020.

    The information has been taken from the Department’s published Official Statistics on Trade, Industry and Contracts which summarises MOD contracting with industry. Further information about MOD expenditure with SMEs is available on the Gov.UK website at the respective links:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2015 and https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-industry-trade-and-contracts-2014

    The MOD does not hold information on the number of SMEs providing indirect supplies through the supply chain.

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) exercises and (b) deployments the 77th Brigade has conducted in each of the last three years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Since 77th Brigade was formed in April 2015, 116 personnel have deployed on 30 exercises, the vast majority of which have been UK based; 20 personnel have deployed on four separate operations; and a further 23 personnel have deployed non-operationally as part of Short Term Training Teams to five countries.