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Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 10 December 2015 to Questions 18458 and 18543, what assessment he has made of the compatibility with the conditions applicable to grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health of its the provision of secretariat assistance to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health; if he will review the conditions set out in the award letters for such grants; and if he will investigate any breaches in such conditions.

    Jane Ellison

    The conditions applicable to grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) are set out in the grant award letters. The Department has made clear that none of this funding is to be used for lobbying purposes.

    The Section 64 grant must be spent in delivering the agreed project outputs set out in the grant award letter and it does not fund secretariat support for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health.

    ASH’s compliance with the conditions of the grant is assessed at the grant monitoring meetings held between the Deputy Director of tobacco control and representatives from ASH as well as in the final full year grant monitoring and governance reports.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s 2015 Annual Report, published in December 2015, what assessment she has made of the effect of the level of the religious oversubscription criteria used by some schools on parents applying to such schools.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the School Admissions Code. These changes will respond to concerns from parents and to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports. These changes will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

    Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the Code. This includes a requirement that ‘the practices and the criteria used to decide the allocation of school places are fair, clear and objective’.

    The Code is clear that parents have a right to object to a school’s admission policy. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the admission arrangements are unclear, or unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority is required by law to change them. The deadline for objections is set many months in advance of the closing date for school applications. This ensures that any admission arrangements which breach the Code can be amended to comply before parents apply for a place.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementation of the recommendations of the report by Charlie Taylor, Improving Alternative Provision, published in March 2012.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department accepted the recommendations made by Charlie Taylor in ‘Improving Alternative Provision (AP)’, and has made a number of changes in response.

    We have put in place the framework for Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) to convert to AP academies and for high quality independent providers to become AP free schools. PRUs now have greater autonomy over their staffing and budgets as a result. We have revised the funding system for AP to support more informed decisions on the best AP for individual pupils.

    We have ensured that Initial Teacher Training placements can now be delivered by PRUs, AP academies and AP free schools. Schools’ use of AP is now a greater focus of school inspection. We have also removed restrictions over the use of maintained schools’ power to direct pupils to be educated offsite for the purposes of improving their behaviour. We have published stronger statutory guidance on the use of AP and the education of pupils unable to attend school because of health needs.

    Since the review, the Department has undertaken further research into the AP system, working with local authorities, head teachers of AP or special schools, and reviewing international evidence.

    The Department announced in the White Paper published on 17 March 2016, ‘Education Excellence Everywhere’, that we will be taking further steps to build on the recommendations made in Charlie Taylor’s review in order to meet our vision for a world class system of AP. This paper is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere.

    “

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Yemen claimed asylum in the UK in 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    There were 66 and 111 asylum applications from Yemeni nationals in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

    The Home Office publishes figures on asylum applications by nationality in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics, October to December 2015, is available from:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up was for superfast fixed broadband in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    BDUK do not hold take-up data at constituency level, but do have take-up data on local projects with BDUK funding. BDUK publish these statistics for local projects on the programme’s webpage, which is publically accessible at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=0

    “

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children in West Lancashire have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in each of the last five years.

    David Mowat

    This data is not collected centrally.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of Network Rail’s administrative performance in providing weekly operating and signalling notices to train drivers and other rail staff.

    Paul Maynard

    No such assessment has been made of this operational matter. The publication of the Weekly Operating Notice is for Network Rail and the train and freight companies to manage.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations to make audio-visual announcement systems a requirement on all new buses.

    Andrew Jones

    I understand the benefits that audio visual systems on buses can bring to passengers. There are a number of different potential solutions for achieving better audio visual information, not all of which will necessarily require on-bus equipment. Making on-board systems a requirement on all new buses would be a significant cost to the industry and I have no current plans to mandate such systems through Regulation.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Written Statement on 9 December 2015, HCWS369, whether the new franchisees referred to will be required to replace all Pacer trains on both the TransPennine Express and Northern franchises; and by what year all Pacer trains will be replaced on both franchises.

    Andrew Jones

    As we have made clear both publicly and in the House (UINs 5008 and 19363) all Pacer trains in service on the Northern Franchise will be withdrawn by the end of 2019.

    There are no Pacers in service with the TransPennine Franchise.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many websites encouraging recruitment to Daesh or al Qaeda her Department has helped close down in the last six months.

    Mr John Hayes

    Extremist and terrorist organisations are exploiting the internet to disseminate propaganda and recruit individuals to their groups or to support their aims. Some vulnerable individuals, including young people are being misled by this damaging propaganda through its use of social media sites.

    Since 2010, over 130,000 pieces of terrorist-related material have been removed by industry from various online platforms at the request of the dedicated police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). Approximately 31,000 removals were made in the last 6 months alone. Removal requests are now at over 1,000 a week and approximately 70% of CTIRU’s caseload is Daesh related.

    The Counter Extremism Strategy, published in October 2015, sets out further work to uplift efforts to outmatch the scale and pace of terrorist and extremist use of the internet. As part of this we are pressing industry to take a lead in tackling the abuse of their services by terrorist and extremist groups.