The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of preventing civil society organisations from submitting complaints about school admission arrangements on the transparency and accountability of the admissions system.
Nick Gibb
I refer my honourable friend to the answer to parliamentary question number HL5704.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of freedom of information requests (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of processing these applications was in each such year.
Mr David Lidington
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 25 February 2016 (PQ 26939).
https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/34348
The processing of Freedom of Information requests is part of staff responsibilities across the Department. The number of hours spent on this activity, and therefore the total cost of processing applications, is not recorded.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that ex-offenders are helped into work or education upon the completion of their sentence.
Caroline Dinenage
We want prisons to be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and employment opportunities.
We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by Prison Governors. But we want Governors to do more so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works.
We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release. I regularly meet businesses across the country, to encourage them to get involved and new businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and provides a range of advice and support to new employers considering working with offenders and provides business to business mentoring to members of the Forum. We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses. The Prime Minister has also announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same.
Separately, the Secretary of State for Justice has commissioned a review of prison education led by Dame Sally Coates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35165, on Personal Independence Payments, what changes his Department has put in place to take account of the finding that 75 per cent of successful appeals resulted from additional oral or documentary evidence being submitted.
Justin Tomlinson
The 75% can be broken down as follows:
Cogent oral evidence – 66%
Cogent documentary evidence supplied at the appeal – 9%
These figures are from internal DWP systems, where only one of possible multiple reasons can be recorded, and are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard.
The Department encourages claimants to provide as much relevant evidence as necessary to support their claim. The “How your disability affects you” form and accompanying guidance sets out the range of information that can help the Department reach a decision. The guidance for Health Professionals also sets out sources of further evidence which could help inform their advice to the Department.
At the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, again claimants are encouraged to provide any further evidence about their disability. Following the first independent review of Personal Independence by Paul Gray, the Department is reviewing all communications (including those used by Assessment Providers) it has with claimants throughout the claim, assessment and reconsideration process to ensure that claimants clearly understand the importance of providing sufficient evidence to support their claim and application.
Further, once a claimant has submitted their claim, the Department has created a new Standard Work Instructions (SWI) for its decision making staff to gain further evidence, where appropriate. For Mandatory Reconsideration, the SWI puts a process in place to establish what the areas for dispute are, consider any gaps in the evidence, ensure any expected further medical evidence is received and referring that to the Assessment Provider. “
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-07-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance has been provided to the Legal Aid Agency about section 47 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Lord Keen of Elie
The Lord Chancellor has the power to issue guidance or directions to the Director of Legal Aid casework under section 4 of LASPO. No such guidance or directions have been issued in respect of legal aid available as a result of section 47 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects to receive the £2 billion green dividend that the Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food announced before the EU referendum on 23 June 2016.
George Eustice
Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union (EU) and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation and receive funding under the Common Agriculture Policy. The Government will work with stakeholders and NGOs to design new domestic policy arrangements to be put in place after we leave the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the numbers of 16 to 24 year olds who have turned down training or further education for transport reasons in the last 12 months.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The statutory responsibility for transport to education or training for 16- to 18-year-olds rests with local authorities who are expected to make appropriate decisions bearing in mind local circumstances. However, most young people have access to a discount or concession on local travel, from their local transport providers, their local authority, or from their education or training provider.
Young people are participating at their highest rate since consistent records began with 90.8% of 16- and 17-year-olds being in education and work based learning (apprenticeships) at the end of 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent to date on planning and developing the South East Flexible Ticketing programme.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
To date, £37.64m has been spent on the South East Flexible Ticketing programme. This has facilitated investment by five train operators accounting for 73% of the annual season ticket market in the south east. Commuters on c2c and GTR can already use smartcards on their journeys into London and within the Transport for London boundary. Abellio Greater Anglia and South West Trains will follow early in 2016 and Southeastern later in the year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to specialist care for people with muscular dystrophy.
Jane Ellison
Through the Mandate we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making our health service among the best in Europe at supporting people with long-term conditions such as muscular dystrophy, to live healthily and independently, with much better control over the care they receive.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including for patients with muscular dystrophy. The neurosciences service specifications set out that patients with neuromuscular conditions, such as muscular dystrophy should have access to, including a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to will assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT team will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other care professionals. One of the key service outcomes of the specification is that all patients with long-term neurological conditions have an individualised care plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the Sellafield workforce reform initiative.
Andrea Leadsom
A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place at Sellafield to deliver savings. There is no additional cost to the public purse from implementing this model change.
Details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/.
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