The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many middle schools there are in England; and how many of those schools are academies.
Mr David Laws
There are 190 schools in England that are recorded on Edubase, the Department’s database of education providers, as being middle schools. Of these, 59 are converter academies and three are sponsored academies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will assess the potential effect on levels of passenger ticket revenue of London Midland’s proposal to reduce the number of revenue protection staff.
Stephen Hammond
London Midland is not currently in receipt of revenue support. Unless revenue was to fall to such an extent that they were to be eligible for such payments, the revenue during this franchise term is entirely its risk. London Midland has assured us that their staff restructuring plans will not prevent them fulfilling their obligations in meeting the requirements of the Franchise Agreement. Therefore, unless revenue was to fall to the extent that London Midland were eligible for revenue support payments, no further assessment is planned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they are doing to ensure that there is no excessive delay in issuing passports.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
As My Rt. Hon. Friend the Home Secretary explained in the House on 12 June, we have agreed a range of measures to deal with the current high levels of demand for passports. I refer the noble Lord to the answer given on 12 June 2014, Official Report, columns 693 and 694.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 13 May (WA 467), whether the annual gross income of charities included contributions from central government; and, if so, what was their total contribution.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Central government does contribute to the total income of registered charities, but the Charity Commission does not keep figures on this. According to the 2014 UK Voluntary Sector Almanac, published by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, in 2011/12 voluntary sector organisations received over £5.9 billion of central government and NHS funding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to make legal aid-funded immigration representation available to migrants detained in HMP The Verne.
Lord Faulks
Currently, advice on immigration matters within the scope of Legal Aid can be given to detainees in HMP The Verne by any provider that holds an Immigration & Asylum contract with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA).
Earlier this year the LAA conducted an expression of interest exercise among existing contract holders providing immigration surgeries at other Immigration Removal Centres, with four providers confirmed as interested in operating surgeries in HMP The Verne. Communications will be issued shortly regarding when these services are likely to commence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are considering the award of a United Kingdom national defence medal for Her Majesty’s armed forces personnel who have served since the end of the Second World War; and, if not, why not.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Sir John Holmes was invited to undertake further work to implement the recommendations set out in his Military Medals Review, published on 17 July 2012. This included a review of the case for some form of National Defence Medal, to recognise all military service. Work on this has begun, but – as Sir John noted in his report of July 2012 – the National Defence Medal is an issue of broad national significance which would require a broad political and public consensus and consideration by the government as a whole, in consultation with other political parties and concerned organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the conduct of the recent census in Burma.
Baroness Warsi
The UK (through the Department for International Development) joined an international effort to provide funding to the census in 2014 because it will be a critical step in the country’s development process, underpinning better planning and delivery of vital services and infrastructure, such as schools, roads and hospitals.
The UK, UN and other international donors argued strongly for the right of all people to be enumerated fairly and to be able, where necessary, to self-identify their ethnicity in the census. In most areas where the census was conducted, self-identification was permitted. We were deeply disappointed that, in the case of the Rohingya, the Burmese government contravened its long-standing assurance that all individuals would have the right to self-identify their ethnic origin. We have been clear that this decision is contrary to international norms and standards on census conduct. The Minister of State, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), summoned the Burmese Ambassador on 7 April to make these concerns clear.
Reports from independent international observers of the census suggest that, with the exception of Rakhine and parts of Kachin state, the enumeration process appears to have been largely carried out effectively. We continue to closely monitor the process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laming on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to improve the services for sufferers of dementia and their carers.
Earl Howe
On 26 March 2012, the Prime Minister launched his Challenge on Dementia. The Challenge sets the commitment to increase diagnosis rates, raise awareness and understanding and double funding for research for dementia by 2015.
On the 28 February 2014, the Secretary of State announced his ambition for improving dementia care and support for people with dementia, their family and carers. This signalled the importance of a tailored plan of care as part of a package of high quality, personalised dementia care and support.
The co-chairs of the three Champion Groups supporting delivery of the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia have reported their progress to the Prime Minister on the second year of the Challenge. They have also set out their ambition for driving improvements in year three of the Challenge and beyond and to highlight cross-cutting themes and challenges shared across the champion groups, which they will continue to work on together. For example, working together to support the work on global action on dementia; increasing public and professional awareness and understanding of dementia and; the need to accelerate learning across the system on making integrated care and support a reality.
Since the launch of the Challenge, we have also made significant progress across all three strands of the challenge, but there is still work to be done.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Newby on 6 May (WA 314), what is their estimate of the average additional weekly cost of food to United Kingdom families arising from membership of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Lord De Mauley
As stated in the previous response to WA 314, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calculates the annual monetary value of gross transfers from EU consumers arising from policies underpinning the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The OECD estimates that EU consumers faced higher food prices equivalent to approximately €16 billion in 2012. This equates to 4% of consumption expenditure on agricultural commodities (at farm gate prices), and compares to an average 71% in the late 1980s.
Agricultural commodity prices are a key factor in determining food retail prices but other factors are also important, such as energy prices and exchange rates. Therefore the impact of CAP on consumers’ weekly cost of food will be less than the 4% figure reported above.
There is no agreed OECD methodology to disaggregate estimates to individual EU member states, so these figures are not available at the UK level.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to implement fully the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010, including the secondary legislation and a programme to ensure that the public is aware of the dangers of sunbeds.
Earl Howe
The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 came into effect in 2011 to ensure sunbed businesses are properly supervised. In England some local authorities choose to enforce the under 18 ban enshrined within the primary legislationand the Department has published guidance to support them
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_125656
The Government has recently received a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin which gives a number of recommendations including the introduction of secondary regulations in England and how the public can be fully informed. Government has noted the report and is currently considering how to progress the recommendations.