Category: Speeches

Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage more women to franchise their businesses.

Matthew Hancock

The Government offers a wide range of support to all types of businesses to start up and grow, including franchises, for example through the Growth Accelerator, the New Enterprise Allowance, mentoring and the Start Up Loan scheme.

Women-led small and medium-sized businesses contribute around £82 billion to the economy. 42% of the 15,000 mentors trained through the Get Mentoring initiative are women and have contributed to the 27,000 strong mentoring network at www.mentorsme.co.uk. The latest figures show that over 37% of Start Up Loans have gone to female entrepreneurs.

We will continue to work closely with the Women’s Business Council and others to help ensure that more women see starting and growing their own business as a real option.

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01/11/2022
Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregg McClymont on 2014-04-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to privatise HM Revenue and Customs Debt Management and Banking operations; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has no plans to privatise its Debt Management and Banking (DMB) Operations.

HMRC has been using debt collection services provided by private sector suppliers for several years. This has given HMRC additional capacity to complement its in house operations and increase the flexibility of its business operations, with Debt Collection Agencies (DCAs) working alongside in house debt collection activity.

HMRC plans to continue to use private sector services – the overall aim being to strengthen further HMRC’s debt collection service, making optimal use of both internal and external collection specialists.

In the future, HMRC will purchase those externally provided services through the Debt Market Integrator (DMI), a Cabinet Office led initiative to create a “one stop shop” for all government departments to access a range of private sector debt collection services.

01/11/2022
Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions (a) photographs have been taken of intercepted aircraft on Quick Reaction Alert flights and (b) such photographs have been released to the public in each of the last three years.

Mr Mark Francois

Photographs are routinely taken during Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) interceptions. There is strong public and media interest in the RAF Quick Reaction Alert deterrent capability. MOD policy is to release a limited amount of non-sensitive information on QRA launches, sometimes including photographs. This provides the public with strong examples of how the RAF is able to respond to this kind of incident. It also provides public awareness of the RAF’s ability to defend the UK through the effectiveness of its air defences and to maintain the full deterrence value of the QRA mission. Media enquiries regarding QRA launches also often include requests for photographs.

Consequently, RAF Operations Staffs in coordination with MOD officials, including the MOD Directorate of Media and Communications, will occasionally consider these photographs for public release.

Photographs of a recent QRA mission were released on 25 April 2014. The previous release of photographs of intercepted aircraft from a recent mission was in March 2010; additionally for other QRA information releases in the last three years, MOD have utilised stock images from the Defence Image Library.

01/11/2022
Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-29.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Tax Credit Error and Fraud Adding Capacity trial involving the private company Transactis in 2013.

Nicky Morgan

From April to July 2013, HMRC carried out a trial to test whether it would be feasible to increase the number of compliance checks on tax credits claims, through the use of private sector resource. HMRC will publish the evaluation of the trial and the customer research report in due course.

It is not appropriate to place the business case in the public domain given the commercial sensitivities and the risk of prejudice to HMRC’s ability to tackle tax credits error and fraud.

In terms of the external costs of the trial, I refer the Hon Member to the Thirty-Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts [2013/14] into HMRC Tax Collection: Annual Report & Accounts 2012–13, which may be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/666/66602.htm. All internal HMRC operating costs are published annually in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.

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01/11/2022
Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the number of surgical care practitioners on the training of junior doctors in surgery.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Government has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service.

HEE supports the delivery of excellent healthcare and health improvement to the patients and public of England, by ensuring that our workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours, at the right time and in the right place. A key part of that role is a continuing responsibility for ensuring the provision of an appropriate number of surgical trainees. Assurance of the quality of surgical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council.

01/11/2022
Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what items prisoners are barred from purchasing with earned income.

Jeremy Wright

Prisoners are barred from purchasing those items which could compromise good order, security and safety, or which is otherwise unlawful. Prisoners are also not permitted to purchase items that are prohibited for reasons of Public Protection.

Under the incentives and Earned privileges national policy framework, prisoners can purchase those items that the Governor has selected from the standardised facilities list, which identifies and limits the property that prisoners can retain in their cells.

01/11/2022
Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the proven re-offending rate was of (a) those released from prison and (b) those released from prison who self-identified as Muslim in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright

The latest proven re-offending rates for those offenders released from prison can be found in tables 1 and 2 below. Table 1 provides overall proven re-offending rates for offenders released from prison and has been taken from the Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly Bulletin series. Table 2 provides proven re-offending rates for Muslim offenders released from prison.

A proven re-offence is defined as any offence committed in a one year follow-up period resulting in a court conviction, caution, reprimand or warning in the one year follow-up. Following this one year follow-up, a further six month waiting period is allowed for the offence to be proven in court.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. A prisoner’s religion is self declared and prisoners are under no obligation to declare.

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders

1. A certain proportion of offenders could not be matched to the Police National Computer (PNC) and are, therefore, not included. Therefore, this number does not represent all proven offenders.

2. Data on offenders’ religious beliefs are not available for 2010 due to data quality issues following the introduction of a new prison IT system.

01/11/2022
Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many prisoners did not have (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 3 qualifications in (i) English and (ii) mathematics when they entered prison in each of the last five years.

Matthew Hancock

We do not centrally hold information on prior attainment.

Work is under way to introduce, this summer, mandatory education assessment by the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) provider for all newly-received prisoners. This will ensure that all offenders, not just those that go on to learning, receive a learning assessment (focused around English and maths, but also covering learning difficulties and disabilities).

Table 1 shows Offender Learner English and Maths Achievements for the 2012/13 academic year. The data are broken down by Level rather than Key Stage as this is the appropriate measure for further education qualifications.

Table 1: Offender Learners – English and Maths Achievements by level, 2012/13

Level

English

Maths

Entry level

5,100

5,250

Level 1

3,550

4,020

Level 2

1,280

1,930

Total

9,300

10,100

Notes

1) The data source is the Individualised Learner Record.

2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest ten except for the Grand Totals which are rounded to the nearest hundred.

3) Learners undertaking courses at more than one level will be counted once for each applicable level, but once only in the Total.

4) Offender learners are defined as offenders aged 18 or over that participated in Skills Funding Agency funded learning while in the prison system. These offenders were funded via the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) budget.

Information on Offender Learner English and maths achievements by level for 2010/11 and 2011/12 is published as a Supplementary Table to a Statistical First Release. Data for earlier years are not available on a comparable basis.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284253/January2013_OLASS_Participation_Achievement.xls

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-further-education-and-skills

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01/11/2022
Tim Farron – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenancy relations officers are currently employed by each local authority.

Kris Hopkins

This information in not centrally held.

01/11/2022

Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 414W, on pre-school education, who the 43 early years providers are who have been granted full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.

Elizabeth Truss

Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure free early years provision for eligible children in their area. Local authorities determine which providers should receive early education funding in accordance with statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. Since September 2013, local authorities have been expected to base their decision on whether to fund providers to deliver early education places solely on a provider’s most recent Ofsted judgement.

Exemptions to the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) can only be made in one of two circumstances:

When the provider is a good or outstanding independent school.
When the provision is governed by established principles relating to learning and development and those cannot be reconciled with an element or elements of EYFS, for example in Steiner schools.

Exempt providers remain subject to inspection and any independent school which subsequently falls below ‘good’ loses their exemption. The first exemption was introduced in 2012. The second exemption was in place under the previous Government.

The Answer of 10 April 2014 (Official Report, col 414W, on pre-school education) explained that Departmental records showed there were 43 early years providers with full or partial exemptions from the learning and development requirements of the EYFS, that were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time the exemption was granted to the provider.

34 of these are still in receipt of local authority funding for early education. A further five providers with a full or partial exemption are now in receipt of early education funding but were not at the point their exemption was granted. One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding. Of these 40 providers, 33 are exempt under the exemption in place under the previous Government, only 7 are exempt under the exemption introduced in 2012. These 40 providers are listed below.

Providers who were in receipt of local authority funding for early education at the time their exemption was granted and continue to receive such funding:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Apple Star Early Years (Community Interest Company), Reading	Steiner – established principle route
2. AZBUKA Russian Nursery, London	Language – established principle route
3. Beechtree Steiner Kindergarten, Leeds	Steiner – established principle route
4. Botton Village School, North Yorkshire	Steiner – established principle route
5. Brighton Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
6. Bromsgrove (Pre-Prep and Nursery) School, Worcestershire	Independent – Good
7. Buttercups Little Kindergarten, Cambridgeshire	Steiner – established principle route
8. Calder Valley Steiner School, Calderdale	Steiner – established principle route
9. Cambridge Steiner School Kindergarten	Steiner – established principle route
10. Children of One End Street, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
11. Children’s Garden, Exeter	Steiner – established principle route
12. Children’s Garden, Richmond	Steiner – established principle route
13. Children’s Garden, University of East London	Steiner – established principle route
14. Cobnuts Steiner Kindergarten, Kent	Steiner – established principle route
15. Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School, Dudley	Steiner – established principle route
16. Falkner House, London	Independent – Outstanding
17. Greenwich Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
18. Hoathly Hill Kindergarten, West Sussex	Steiner – established principle route
19. Kingsley School, Bideford	Independent – Good
20. Lancaster Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
21. Laurel Farm Kindergarten, Bath	Steiner – established principle route
22. Michael Hall School Kindergarten, East Sussex	Steiner – established principle route
23. Michael House a Steiner Waldorf School, Heanor	Steiner – established principle route
24. North London Rudolph Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route
25. Rowan Tree Kindergarten, Bristol	Steiner – established principle route
26. Rudolph Steiner School, Kings Langley	Steiner – established principle route
27. St Albans Steiner Kindergarten	Steiner – established principle route
28. St Michael Steiner School, London	Steiner – established principle route
29. St Paul’s Steiner School, London	Steiner – established principle route
30. Sunlands Kindergarten, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
31. The Ryleys School, Cheshire	Independent – Outstanding
32. Waldorf Steiner of South West London	Steiner – established principle route
33. Willow Tree Steiner School, Bristol	Steiner – established principle route
34. York Steiner School	Steiner – established principle route

The following five providers are now in receipt of early education funding, but were not at the point their exemption was granted:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Elysia Children’s Garden	Steiner – established principle route
2. James Allen’s Preparatory School, London	Independent – Outstanding
3. Oswestry School (Bellan House), Shropshire	Independent – Outstanding
4. The Linden Kindergarten, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route
5. Wynstones School, Gloucestershire	Steiner – established principle route

One further provider has received an exemption since the previous PQ was answered and is in receipt of early education funding:	Reasons for Exemption
1. Finton House, London	Independent – Outstanding

01/11/2022

Level	English	Maths
Entry level	5,100	5,250
Level 1	3,550	4,020
Level 2	1,280	1,930
Total	9,300	10,100