Category: Speeches

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the relative distribution of engineering workload across naval bases; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    As part of the Surface Ship Support Alliance between the Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems and Babcock Marine, the relative distribution of engineering workload is subject to regular assessment. This ensures that peaks and troughs of workload are managed to ensure key skills are maintained across the Naval Bases, engineering outputs are delivered in accordance with the needs of the Royal Navy, and the Department obtains best value for money from its industry partners.

    The workload allocation for submarines is dictated by a clearly defined programme of work designed to meet the operational requirements of the Fleet. This programme has been constructed noting the capability and capacity of Her Majesty’s Naval Bases at Clyde and Devonport and work is allocated accordingly.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had on devolving responsibility for rail services to the Midlands.

    Claire Perry

    West Midlands Rail made a submission to the Secretary of State in October 2014 to devolve rail services in the West Midlands region. The Secretary of State confirmed his support in a letter to West Midlands Rail in March 2015 for rail devolution in the West Midlands and set out the expectation that West Midlands Rail will work with the Department for Transport in developing the specification for the re-letting of the next franchise. A public consultation was launched jointly with West Midlands Rail in December 2015 to inform the specification of the next West Midlands franchise. The new West Midlands Franchise is expected to commence in October 2017.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Prime Minister has been involved in discussions about how many F35B aircraft should routinely deploy on HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

    Earl Howe

    The Prime Minister is briefed regularly on the development of our carrier strike capability. The composition and size of the embarked air group will be tailored to meet the required task, as directed by the Strategic Headquarters in the Ministry of Defence and reflecting national priorities set by the Government.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of tuberculosis screening.

    Jane Ellison

    Actions to raise awareness and tackle stigma among populations at high risk of tuberculosis (TB) are highlighted in the Collaborative TB Strategy for England 2015 to 2020.

    These actions consist of awareness raising of symptoms, targeted TB screening and education as part of new patient checks at general practice surgeries and the use of community workers and health advocates to signpost and facilitate patient access to local services. In addition, TB awareness raising is provided to statutory and voluntary agencies working with: the homeless; individuals who misuse drugs or alcohol; and migrants from countries with high TB incidence. Efforts to raise awareness of TB among health professionals are supported nationally by Public Health England and the leading national TB charity, TB Alert.

    In addition, I have attended and hosted a number of events to raise awareness, most recently for World TB Day in March which included visiting the Find and treat mobile unit.

  • Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of changes to funding levels on the provision of breastfeeding services.

    Ben Gummer

    There has been no assessment made on the effect of changes to funding levels on the provision of breastfeeding services. However, the Department is working with Public Health England and other stakeholders to develop a method and sources of information to monitor the impact of its policy on infant feeding.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the consideration of the Greater Essex Combined Authority bid.

    Andrew Percy

    We are encouraging all areas to come forward with locally led devolution proposals. If Greater Essex takes the decision to proceed with a combined authority and consults on those proposals, as statue provides, we will consider whether the creation of a combined authority is likely to improve the exercise of statutory functions in that area and lead to more effective and convenient local government.

    We look forward to discussing with Greater Essex any proposals they have to form a combined authority.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) tutors and (b) students in higher education institutions was (i) male and (ii) female in each of the last 10 years.

    Joseph Johnson

    Information on students and the workforce at UK higher education institutions is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Statistics on student enrolments by gender have been provided in Table 1, and on academic staff with teaching functions by gender in Table 2.

    Table 1: Proportion of Higher Education enrolments by gender

    UK Higher Education Institutions

    Academic years 2005/06 to 2014/15

    Academic Year

    Female

    Male

    2005/2006

    57%

    43%

    2006/2007

    57%

    43%

    2007/2008

    57%

    43%

    2008/2009

    57%

    43%

    2009/2010

    57%

    43%

    2010/2011

    56%

    44%

    2011/2012

    56%

    44%

    2012/2013

    56%

    44%

    2013/2014

    56%

    44%

    2014/2015

    56%

    44%

    Source: Information is derived from the Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record

    Coverage:

    – Includes students across all years of study, at all levels and modes of higher education and distance learners

    – Figures include students of all domiciles.

    Table 2: Proportion of Academic Staff with Teaching Functions by gender

    UK Higher Education Institutions

    Academic Years 2005/06 to 2014/15

    Female

    Male

    2005/2006

    40%

    60%

    2006/2007

    41%

    59%

    2007/2008

    41%

    59%

    2008/2009

    42%

    58%

    2009/2010

    43%

    57%

    2010/2011

    44%

    56%

    2011/2012

    44%

    56%

    2012/2013

    44%

    56%

    2013/2014

    44%

    56%

    2014/2015

    44%

    56%

    Source: Information is derived from the Higher Education Statistics Agency Staff Record

    Coverage:

    – Members of academic staff who have the following academic employment functions: teaching only, teaching and research

    – Percentages based on headcount of members of academic staff across all modes of working

    – Atypical members of staff are not included. Atypical staff are those members of staff whose contracts involve working arrangements that are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider.

  • Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Dawn Butler – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to aid agencies and international partners to prepare Syrian refugee camps for winter.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the US.

    DFID is supporting 11 implementing partners to prepare and respond to the onset of winter across Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. This financial year, we have provided £221 million to these 11 partners to support their emergency programmes, of which £12.9 million has been committed for specific winter response activities such as the provision of warm clothing, thermal blankets, fuel and cash to support thousands of vulnerable families across the region.

  • Lord Mancroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mancroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to measure the effectiveness of the implementation of the new medicines for hepatitis C treatment, and when they will publish those results.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has advised that it is working with Public Health England and the clinical leads of the operational delivery networks to agree a common dataset which will enable the effectiveness of new medicines for hepatitis C to be measured.

  • 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 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve collection of data on the outcomes achieved by children who have a disability but not a special educational need.

    Edward Timpson

    Information regarding the attainment of students with special educational needs (SEN) in England is broken down by type of SEN and published in the “Phonics screening check and key stage 1 assessment: England 2015”[1], “National curriculum assessments at key stage 2: 2015”[2] and “GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2015”[3] statistical first releases.

    A wider summary of available SEN information is provided in “Special educational needs – an analysis and summary of data sources”[4]

    Information on the average points score of students with a hearing impairment or the number that achieve three A* to A grades or better at A level is not held by the Department. The Department also does not hold information on the number of students with a hearing impairment who have not achieved a level 2 qualification in English by the age of 19.

    Currently, there are no plans for the Department 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, although this is reviewed every year as part of the collection process.

    [1] Phonics and KS1 assessments for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/phonics-screening-check-and-key-stage-1-assessments-england-2015

    [2] KS2 for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-2-2015-revised

    [3] KS4 for 2014/15: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015

    [4] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf