The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homeowners and businesses have received a grant from the Repair and Renew Grant fund, and what is the average payment.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Over 6,000 home and business owners have benefitted from the Repair and Renew Grant scheme to help protect their property against future flooding events. The average payment was £3,918.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money has been spent on flood defences in each year from 2010.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The amount of capital investment on flood defences in each year from 2010 is shown below:
|
Financial year |
Capital investment on flood defence excluding the exceptional funding provided as a result of the 2013/14 floods (£m) |
Exceptional funding provided as a result of the 2013/14 floods (£m) |
|
2010/11 |
364.9 |
|
|
2011/12 |
260.7 |
|
|
2012/13 |
269.1 |
|
|
2013/14 |
295.3 |
25.0 |
|
2014/15 |
353.3 |
125.0 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider distributing hand-held devices to households in flood-prone areas to allow them to transmit information, and to receive real-time news, about local water levels.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are currently no plans to consider such devices. However, we do already urge households to take care and be prepared by checking their flood risk, signing up to free flood warnings and keeping an eye on the latest flood updates, which are available on the Environment Agency website and Twitter. These are readily accessible from personal mobile phones with internet access. People can also call our 24-hour Floodline for updates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Haworth on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the acquisition of assets in the UK by Rakhat Aliyev, they will introduce unexplained wealth orders so that assets held by foreign public officials can be frozen pending criminal investigations.
Lord Bates
On 15 October 2015, the Government published the National Risk Assessment on money laundering and terrorist financing. The Government has committed to publishing an Action Plan, which will set out the work that we will undertake to improve the UK response to these crimes, and to fill the gaps identified in that Assessment. The Plan will include consideration of new powers to address the proceeds of grand corruption and other forms of illicit enrichment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether UK aid is able to enter Nepal by road without interference or delay.
Baroness Verma
We have been closely monitoring the movement of humanitarian and health goods over the land borders to Nepal. A number of DFID partners providing winter assistance for vulnerable households living over 1,500m affected by the earthquake have trucks that have not been able to move freely across the border. Other DFID humanitarian partners have been procuring goods from Nepal but are struggling with their distribution due to shortages of fuel.
We are actively advocating to all parties for the free movement of humanitarian and health supplies and peaceful resolution of the current disruption. The UN Resident Coordinator and the UK Ambassador met with Nepal’s Prime Minister this week to raise the issue of access to fuel for humanitarian operations. This has resulted in a positive commitment to prioritise a supply of fuel to humanitarian partners. UK ministers and senior civil servants continue to raise concerns over the current crises and need for quick resolution with concerned groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of aid provided by the UK following the earthquake in Nepal last year.
Baroness Verma
DFID gave £70 million to the Nepal earthquake response to support humanitarian and early recovery efforts, making us one of the major donors. The Department for International Development’s expenditure in Nepal is assessed in a number of different and complementary ways. Across the portfolio, monitoring plans are in place for every programme including our response to the 2015 earthquake. This places emphasis on results delivery, ensuring we are well placed to monitor the effectiveness of our programmes. Our strong focus on evaluation, both globally and in our country programmes, ensures we can evaluate performance and impact across the sectors in which we work.
In addition to regular monitoring and evaluation, since the earthquake DFID Nepal has set up a regional office in Gorkha district to increase oversight of humanitarian and reconstruction programmes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 8 December (HL3697), what is the name of the new school; whether that school is a free school; and what involvement, if any, the New Schools Network had in founding that school.
Lord Nash
We cannot yet confirm which school the Commercial Road site will be developed for as the latest wave of applications is currently being assessed. Whether the entire site will be used will depend on the type of school approved.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that local authorities with a low council tax base are not disadvantaged in relation to authorities in more affluent areas by the new power to raise council tax by 2 per cent in order partially to offset cuts in social care following the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Government recognises that councils have varying capacity to raise money through council tax. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government set out, in the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, proposed changes to rebalance support, including to those authorities with social care responsibilities, by taking into account the main resources available to councils. In particular, he published illustrative allocations for the extra funding we are providing to local authorities for adult social care through the improved Better Care Fund: these allocations directly take into account the council tax-raising capacity of authorities.
I refer the noble Lord to information accompanying the Oral Statement made on 17 December, Official Report, Column 2238-2239 (attached).
Further details are available on the Government website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Article 2, section 1(b)(xiv) of EU Regulation 235/2014 and the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, what action they have taken, and what action they plan to take, ahead of the EU Referendum to ensure that (1) active and engaging European and EU citizenship education is integrated into every primary and secondary school’s curriculum, and (2) training for specialist citizenship teachers is included in initial teacher education, and in teachers’ continuing professional development.
Lord Nash
Schools are aware of their duties regarding impartiality and treatment of political issues. Sections 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996 require maintained schools to prevent political indoctrination and secure the balanced treatment of political issues. The new national curriculum includes an improved programme of study for citizenship education at key stages 3 and 4, which is organised around core knowledge and democracy, government and how laws are made and upheld. Pupils are also taught about local, regional, and international governance, and about the United Kingdom’s relations with the rest of Europe, the Commonwealth, the United Nations, and the wider world.
The Government does not prescribe initial teacher training (ITT) content. However, all ITT courses must ensure that trainee teachers can meet the Teachers’ Standards. This sets clear expectations and defines the minimum level of practice expected of teachers in England. The standards require all teachers and trainees to have secure knowledge of relevant subject and curriculum areas and demonstrate a critical understanding of developments in them. Ofsted inspects the quality of ITT against the Teachers’ Standards and no trainee can be recommended for qualified teacher status (QTS) until they have met the Standards in full at the appropriate level. Schools and headteachers are best placed to determine which development activities will be most beneficial for their schools and we expect them to lead on the development of their teachers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) which UK terrestrial broadcasters produce annual original homemade content for children, and (2) how much those broadcasters spend annually on such content.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Ofcom’s 2015 report into the future of public service broadcasting included an assessment of the amount of UK originated Children’s television programming by the public service broadcasting channels.
In 2014, the BBC spent £84 million on children’s television programming. The combined spend of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 was £3 million.