The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2016-07-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the size of the Privy Council on 13 July; and how many appointments had been made to it up to that date since 11 May 2010.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The information is set out in the table below.
|
Date |
Number of Privy Counsellors |
|
13th July 2016 |
657 |
|
Appointments since 11th May 2010 |
179 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many instances of Islamophobic abuse have been recorded in each of the last five years.
Sarah Newton
The Home Office does not hold the requested information. The Home Office has published data for 2011/12 to 2014/15 on hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales for the five centrally monitored strands (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity) but these data cannot be broken down by religion of the victim. The 2015/16 data will have been published on 13 October 2016.
From April 2016, the Home Office began collecting data from the police on the targeted religion of religious hate crime offences in order to help forces build community trust, target their resources and enable the public to better hold them to account. This information will be provided voluntarily in 2016/17, but we intend to make it mandatory from the following year. We will publish the first data from this collection in the 2016/17 Hate Crime statistics publication in 2017.
This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s policies of providing bursaries and mathematics enhancement programmes to teaching staff in the further education sector on the total number of mathematics teachers in that sector; and on what evidential basis he made the decision to offer bursaries and mathematics enhancement programmes to teaching staff in the further education sector.
Nick Boles
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) began offering bursaries to graduates to train to teach maths in the academic year 2013/14. 61 and 136 people took up such bursaries in 2013/14 and 2014/15, respectively. It is estimated that 167 maths bursaries will be taken up in 2015/16.
The maths enhancement is a joint BIS/Department for Education supported programme and commenced in the academic year 2013/14. During 2013/14 and 2014/15 over 2,450 existing further education teachers participated in the maths programmes. During 2015/16 we are continuing to support access to a pipeline programme to enhance the maths skills of existing teachers. This is being delivered by the Education and Training Foundation. We have not made an estimate of the number of programmes that will be taken up in 2015/16.
Emerging findings from the evaluation of the further education (FE) workforce programmes have shown a positive impact on the confidence and effectiveness of FE teachers delivering maths either as a core subject or in vocational context. The evidential basis for intervention in maths teaching was based on the clear need to raise the Maths attainment rates of students in further education; and improve the quality of Maths teaching as identified by Ofsted inspection reports.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many senior officers have attended at least one week of training at force development training centres.
Mark Lancaster
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to BT regarding the case for selling Openreach.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
This is a matter for the independent telecoms regulator, Ofcom, who is currently reviewing the markets for digital communications in the UK and is due to report at the end of this month. Government has made no representations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with epilepsy have been assessed as being fit to work by their work capability assessments in each year since 2010.
Priti Patel
The information requested is shown in the table below.
|
Assessment type |
10/11 |
11/12 |
12/13 |
13/14 |
14/15 |
|
FFW outcomes |
2,200 |
4,000 |
3,300 |
1,500 |
900 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-03-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the discovery in the UK of the tick-borne canine parasite Babesia canis and the associated disease babesiosis in dogs; what action they are taking to provide information to dog owners, breeders, vets and others who come into contact with dogs, including those who deal with stray dogs; and what assessment they have made of the possible introduction into the UK of species of Babesia that may also infect humans, and of the possible presence of, and risks presented by, ticks that can host and spread both Babesia and Borrelia pathogens.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Experts at the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Public Health England (PHE) are working together to investigate the locally acquired cases in Essex and this will include providing advice to the local authority, vets, pet owners and the public on what to do in the event of finding ticks on animals or observe clinical signs in pet dogs, through specialist press and public messages from the Defra, APHA and PHE communications teams.
On the risks of introduction of pathogens such as Babesia and Borrelia to humans and potential spread by ticks, PHE is responsible for the monitoring of Lyme disease through surveillance of reference laboratory diagnosed cases and provides guidance on avoiding tick bites. PHE runs a “Tick Surveillance Scheme” for ticks found by members of the public, general practitioners, vets and those working with wildlife, so PHE can map tick species across the UK and monitor changes in distribution.
Humans can be infected by Babesia microti, a rodent pathogen, and by Babesia bovis and Babesia divergens. Very few human cases have been reported in Europe or the UK, but virtually all have been related to B. divergens. In the US, human cases are caused by B. microti linked to white footed mice, a common rodent host of Borrelia burgdorferi in N. America. There are no reports of human infection with B. canis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20367, how the figure of approximately two million adults who have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them was reached; and how such behaviours were measured.
Karen Bradley
Cyber Streetwise is a cross Government campaign, developed by private and public stakeholder partners and coordinated by the Home Office. It is designed to measurably make the UK a safer place to interact and do business online by increasing individual and SME adoption of safe online behaviours.
Government experts estimate that a significant proportion of cyber security issues would be avoided by safer online behaviours. Cyber Streetwise supports this by increasing digital confidence by informing people about the key things that keep them safer online. It does this by:
• Delivering actionable and positive solution focussed advice on how to be secure
• Creating arresting communications that highlight the consequences and cut through low interest
• Reminding and reinforcing individuals and SMEs of the core protective behaviours at the point of risk/incidence
The impact of Cyber Streetwise on behaviours is evaluated via regular quantitative tracking research. Since its launch in January 2014, it is estimated that 2 million adults have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them.
This is estimated using data from the National Cyber Security Tracker. This is a regular non-random online panel survey of 2000 people, designed to measure the adoption (claimed behaviour) of safer cyber security behaviours amongst SMEs and the public.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Advanced Cancer Care Equality Strategy for Gender and Sexual Minorities study in improving palliative and end-of-life care for LGBT people.
Ben Gummer
We are committed to ensuring that everyone who is at, or approaching, the end of life has access to high quality, compassionate care that is tailored to their individual needs and preferences.
Many people already receive excellent end of life care but, as shown by the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) recent review of inequalities in end of life care, A different ending: Addressing inequalities in end of life care, there is clearly more that can be done to ensure that all patients experience good quality care, regardless of their age, gender, race, condition, sexual orientation or gender identity.
We welcome the CQC’s review and we will work together with NHS England to use its findings, and those of the ACCESSCare: Advanced Cancer Care Equality Strategy for Sexual Minorities study, when it is published, to inform ongoing work to reduce inequalities in access to care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-07-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which ministers have official ministerial Twitter accounts; and whether they have plans to close those accounts.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Civil servants manage departmental social media accounts, but not individual MP Twitter handles.