The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Govia Thameslink Railways Ltd on extending driver-only operation on its services.
Claire Perry
Govia Thameslink Railway have made officials aware of the intention to engage with staff and their representatives regarding future plans for Driver Only Operation on some services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether appointments to the posts of NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan Footprint Leaders were subject to open selection.
George Freeman
Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas have been determined by local health and care services coming together in ways that make sense for their local areas, in order to transform the way that health and care is planned and delivered for their populations.
Following local discussions about who is best placed to play the role of footprint leaders, together with discussions with national bodies, 41 of the 44 planning areas have identified and agreed leaders.
They are mostly a mix of trust chief executive officers, clinical commissioning group leaders and local government executives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of street level cabinets served by a fibre enabled exchange that are not planned to be upgraded for fibre broadband in commercially viable areas.
Mr Edward Vaizey
BT’s commercial deployment programme is still ongoing. We will not have access to information on the proportion of cabinets that remain to be upgraded in commercial areas until this is completed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who drive heavy goods vehicles in city centres receive training that specifically addresses the risks of urban driving.
Andrew Jones
The importance of being aware of vulnerable road users is tested during the process of a professional driver passing their test and gaining their heavy goods vehicle driving licence.
Additionally, all professional drivers of heavy goods vehicles have to complete ongoing Driver Professional Certificate training of 35 hours spread over a 5-year period. This periodic training includes a wide range of topics, including awareness of vulnerable road users in urban areas or city centres.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been granted asylum in the UK on the grounds of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of religion in each year since 2010.
Mr Robert Goodwill
When an individual makes an asylum claim on religious grounds it is recorded in the interview records and any written representations they provide. Data on asylum claims on religious grounds is not systematically recorded on the Casework Information Database (CID) and therefore it is not possible to provide a breakdown of information in this way without individual analysis of thousands of casework files at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-11-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress there has been in holding to account directors responsible for promoting, managing and supervising Connaught Asset Management.
Harriett Baldwin
This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government.
These questions have been passed on to the FCA. They will reply directly to the Honorable Member Kirsten Oswald by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much will be made available in additional discretionary housing payments for people in supported accommodation in each financial year from 2018-19 to 2020-21.
Justin Tomlinson
In the Autumn Statement it was announced that additional Discretionary Housing Payment funding will be made available to Local Authorities to protect the most vulnerable, including those in supported accommodation. A further £70 million will be made available across 2018-19 and 2019-20.
This will be in addition to the funding for the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme that was announced in the Summer Budget where the allocation for 2018-19 to 2020-21 is as follows:
|
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
|
£170m |
£155m |
£140m |
It should be noted that local authorities have the discretion to set their own priorities to ensure Discretionary Housing Payments are awarded to those who most require assistance based on local circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers local authorities have to intervene regarding safeguarding concerns at an academy school.
Lord Nash
Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are under a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people within their area by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs. This is regardless of the type of educational provision.
Section 47 of the same act requires the local authority to investigate whether action should be taken by them to safeguard or promote the welfare of children suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm.
The statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) and Keeping children safe in education (2014) clarifies the core legal requirements for individuals and organisations to keep children safe. The guidance applies in its entirety to all schools. Schools have responsibilities to notify the local authority if there are safeguarding concerns about individual children or recruitment issues linked to individual staff. Statutory guidance also sets out how all schools are expected to cooperate with the local safeguarding children board to ensure that safeguarding practice across the area is joined up and robust.
If a local authority has concerns about the general adequacy of statutory safeguarding arrangements in place in a particular academy, they may notify the academies regulator, i.e. the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which can seek compliance, or Ofsted, which has powers to inspect safeguarding arrangements. In such circumstances, the EFA will take appropriate action to check that the academy’s arrangements are compliant with its statutory responsibilities. The EFA may also notify Ofsted of any concerns or evidence it has about an academy’s apparent failure to operate adequate safeguarding arrangements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of Highways England’s compliance with the conditions on environmental duties set out in paragraphs 5.23 and 5.24 of the Highways England: Licence, published in April 2015.
Andrew Jones
The Office for Rail and Road (ORR), as Highways Monitor, published a six month report on Highways England’s performance in December 2015. This comments on the Highways England Biodiversity Action Plan, which was published in June 2015.
ORR will report annually on Highways England’s performance and in line with the requirement in the Licence, I expect Highways England to publish their environmental strategy shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on what date he became aware that his Department would not be able to deliver the Universal Credit programme to its original deadline of the end of 2017.
Priti Patel
In early 2013 the Government reset the Universal Credit Programme, and a clear plan was developed to ensure delivery. The Programme has since been delivering against that plan in a safe, steady and secure way.