Category: Speeches

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) assets and (b) personnel of his Department took part in NATO Exercise Dragon 2015 in collaboration with the Polish armed forces.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Exercise Dragon 15 was a Polish-led multinational exercise involving up to 7,000 personnel and 900 combat vehicles at multiple training locations across Poland. The UK contribution to the exercise is a clear demonstration of the UK’s significant support to NATO’s Assurance Measures which are designed to reassure East European NATO members and deter aggression against them. Totalling approximately 1,350 Army personnel and around 400 vehicles, Exercise Dragon 15 constituted the largest UK armoured deployment in Eastern Europe in 2015.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) forecast reduction in cases of and deaths from infection by influenza as a result of the nasal flu vaccine in 2015, (b) forecast number of nasal flu vaccines administered and (c) cost of delivering that programme in each of the next three years.

    Jane Ellison

    It is difficult to forecast the population impact that the nasal flu vaccine will have in the forthcoming season as vaccine effectiveness will vary according to the circulating influenza virus in any one season together with the vaccine uptake achieved. In general the effectiveness of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) ranges from 50% upwards against illness caused by antigenically matched strains in children, but has also shown some protection against antigenically mismatched strains. The provisional uptake in two, three and four year olds in England up to week 46 2015 (ending 15 November 2015) was 23.0%, 24.0% and 19.4% respectively.

    In 2016/17 the childhood flu programme will cover all 2-7 year olds and at risk children.

    In 2017/18 the childhood flu programme will cover all 2-10 year olds and at risk children.

    Table 1: The forecast number of nasal flu vaccines administered to children in each of the next three years.

    Year

    Forecast number of doses of nasal flu vaccine administered to children

    2016/17

    2.8 million

    2017/18

    4.3 million

    2018/19

    4.3 million

    Source: NHS England’s Spending Review submission for childhood flu.

    Table 2: The forecast cost of delivering the childhood flu programme in each of the next three years.

    Year

    Estimated cost of delivering the childhood flu programme

    2016/17

    £80 million

    2017/18

    £120 million

    2018/19

    £120 million

    Note: These are the full programme costs (including the cost of the vaccine).

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will suspend all licences permitting UK-produced arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia.

    Anna Soubry

    All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to amend social care charging guidance so that compensation awarded to military veterans injured before 6 April 2005 is fully disregarded from financial assessments for support.

    Alistair Burt

    Armed forces veterans injured in service receive payments either through the War Disablement Pension (WDP) or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). The AFCS applies to veterans injured from 6 April 2005. These payments are divided into a personal injury compensation element and other payments. Traditionally, only the personal injury compensation payment has been fully disregarded.

    Since October 2012 Guaranteed Income Payments made to veterans under the AFCS have been disregarded. The Department has been in discussion with the Royal British Legion about how WDP payments are treated. Currently the first £10 per week of WDP payments is disregarded. The Government is considering how WDP payments to veterans should be treated in the financial assessment for social care charging in future.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to open her Department’s consultation on changes to the Warm Home Discount scheme.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government announced in the Spending Review on 25 November 2015 that the Warm Home Discount scheme would be extended to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m per year, rising with inflation, to help households who are at risk of fuel poverty with their energy bills. Government will publically consult on changes to the scheme later this year.

  • Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what their policy is for the provision of textbooks and exercise books in primary and secondary schools in England; and what assessment they have made of differences in provision between the UK and other European countries.

    Lord Nash

    Good teaching and high academic standards are strongly associated with adequate provision and widespread use of high-quality textbooks.

    Cambridge Assessment’s report, ‘Why textbooks count’, analysed the use of high-quality textbooks around the world. The report found that use of textbooks is common in high performing education jurisdictions. In Finland, 95% of maths teachers use a textbook as a basis for instruction. In Singapore, 70% of maths teachers use a textbook. In England, only 10% of maths teachers use a textbook for their core teaching.

    A well-designed textbook provides a coherent, structured programme which supports a teacher’s own expertise and knowledge as well as a pupil’s.

    On 26 March 2016, the Department for Education published a report from a review group looking at teacher workload in relation to planning and resources. The group concluded there is a case for schools to place greater emphasis on quality- assured resources, including textbooks, to reduce the time teachers spend on searching for resources.

    Good textbooks also have workbooks which support homework in a positive way by providing well-structured practice exercises linked to clear explanations, which parents can understand and use to help their children.

    We have been working with textbook publishers with the aim of improving the quality of textbooks available to schools, to better support excellent teaching and teacher professional development. Last year, the publishers produced a set of common guidelines for the production of textbooks.

  • 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 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils who had either a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan were excluded from schools in England in each of the last five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The transition period from statements to Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) runs until April 2018. Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. We are monitoring local authority progress and published figures about transition up to January 2015, returned by local authorities, in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release of May 2015[1]. We will publish the figures up to January 2016 in May 2016.

    The Department does not collect information on the number of children who are home educated. Some local authorities choose to maintain registers so that parents can voluntarily register children being educated at home.

    The number and proportion of school pupils who had a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP in each of the last five years is as follows:

    x

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    2015

    Pupils with statements or EHCPs

    224,210

    226,125

    229,390

    232,190

    236,165

    Pupils on roll

    8,123,865

    8,178,200

    8,249,810

    8,331,385

    8,438,145

    Incidence (%)

    2.8

    2.8

    2.8

    2.8

    2.8[2]

    The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions received by pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs in each of the last five years for which data is available is as follows:

    x

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    Fixed period exclusions

    37,140

    36,740

    35,640

    32,210

    33,190

    Permanent exclusions

    420

    430

    380

    330

    330[3]

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

    “

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that training in the diagnosis and treatment of ME forms part of medical students’ training.

    Ben Gummer

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council (GMC), to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

    Higher Education Institutions are responsible for ensuring the programmes they provide allow healthcare students to meet the outcomes set out by the regulators upon graduation.

    The royal colleges, for example the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons, also have responsibility for developing curricula for doctors and nurses, in particular postgraduate curricula.

    Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the GMC and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the number of people using railway stations in West Yorkshire since 2010.

    Paul Maynard

    The Office of Rail and Road publish estimates of passenger demand for all railway stations in West Yorkshire since 2010. These figures can be found in their ‘Estimates of Station Usage’ publication, which can be found at the following link: http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates.

    “

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the introduction of a new national funding formula will prioritise schools in disadvantaged areas for the allocation of funding.

    Nick Gibb

    The national funding formula will ensure that all children, whatever their background, are supported to achieve their full potential. Children from deprived backgrounds will attract funding in addition to the basic per pupil amount so that they get the extra help they need to succeed. We will also continue to provide targeted funding through the pupil premium, worth £2.5 billion this year.

    We proposed in the first stage of the national funding formula consultation to use a combined pupil-and area-level deprivation measure in the formula to best identify those children and schools that need additional support. We will put forward our detailed proposals in the next stage of consultation later this year.