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  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage schools to teach (a) CPR and (b) other life-saving methods.

    Edward Timpson

    All schools are required to teach a balanced and broadly based curriculum that prepares them for adult life. The new national curriculum focuses on the essential knowledge so that teachers can design a wider school curriculum that best meets the needs of their pupils.

    Many schools already choose to include CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and defibrillator awareness as part of their PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) teaching. The non-statutory PSHE Programme of Study produced by the PSHE Association, teaches young people how to recognise and follow health and safety procedures, ways of reducing risk and minimising harm in risky situations, and how to use emergency and basic first aid.

    Many schools also make use of organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance, to provide information to young people about first aid and dealing with emergencies.The British Heart Foundation has offered to provide free CPR training kits to every secondary school in the country, allowing young people to gain first-hand experience of this important life-saving skill. We have promoted this kit to schools through the all schools termly email and social media channels and we expect many schools to take up this offer.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that British veterans who develop cancer through exposure to asbestos are entitled to the same level of compensation as civilians.

    Mark Lancaster

    As the Prime Minister said during Prime Ministers’ Questions on 4 November 2015, the Ministry of Defence is looking into the matter.

    The Government has continuously made compensation available under the War Pensions Scheme for injuries, illness or disease caused by service before 6 April 2005, including mesothelioma. The War Pensions Scheme provides Veterans with mesothelioma with the maximum award paid on a weekly/monthly basis and additional supplementary allowances and, where appropriate, entitlement to dependent’s benefits.

    While there are currently no plans for separate compensation arrangements for veterans suffering with mesothelioma, consideration is being given to whether any flexibility can be provided for future claimants under the War Pensions Scheme. As this issue is a complex matter, officials have been undertaking a detailed review. I hope we will be able to present our conclusions soon.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on how many sets of British brothers were killed in the First World War.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence no longer holds information on this subject. Service records from the First World War that have survived are held at the National Archives at Kew.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, to whom and for what price the site of the Royal Hospital Haslar was sold.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Haslar Hospital site in Gosport was sold in November 2009 to Our Enterprise (Haslar) Ltd for £3 million. The Department retains no formal interest in the site.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has received notification of, or has itself noted, any unusual submarine activity in the vicinity of internet and telephony cables in the Atlantic Ocean; and if he will make a statement.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 3 November 2015 to Question 13593 to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Mr Chapman).

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent (a) in real terms and (b) as a share of departmental spending on (i) temporary agency staff, (ii) consultants, (iii) non-payroll staff, (iv) administration and (v) marketing and advertising for each year since 2010-11.

    Michael Fallon

    This information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I can, however, provide an analysis of non-permanent staff and the Ministry of Defence’s Administration Costs.

    Financial Year

    Budget Element

    Outturn (£ million)

    Outturn (Percentage of Total Departmental Expenditure Limit)

    2010-11

    Contingent Labour

    46.9

    0.12%

    Advisory Consultancy

    23.5

    0.06%

    Other Non-Permanent Staff (1)

    316.8

    0.80%

    Administration Costs (2)

    2,026.0

    5.13% (3)

    2011-12

    Contingent Labour

    49.2

    0.13%

    Advisory Consultancy

    18.3

    0.05%

    Other Non-Permanent Staff (1)

    315.1

    0.85%

    Administration Costs (2)

    2,691.9

    7.24% (3)

    2012-13

    Contingent Labour

    50.3

    0.15%

    Advisory Consultancy

    44.5

    0.13%

    Other Non-Permanent Staff (1)

    270.7

    0.79%

    Administration Costs (2)

    2,178.9

    6.36% (3)

    2013-14

    Contingent Labour

    99.3

    0.29%

    Advisory Consultancy

    90.4

    0.26%

    Other Non-Permanent Staff (1)

    219.5

    0.64%

    Administration Costs (2)

    2,129.2

    6.16%

    2014-15

    Contingent Labour

    118.7

    0.35%

    Advisory Consultancy

    91.2

    0.27%

    Other Non-Permanent Staff (1)

    332.5

    0.97%

    Administration Costs (2)

    1,473.7

    4.29% (3)

    Notes:

    (1) Comprising: fee earners, manpower support, technical support and casual staff.

    (2) HM Treasury define Administration Budgets as covering costs other than the costs of direct frontline service provision; for example, activities such as the provision of policy advice and business support services. Administration costs therefore usually include expenditure on employee costs, accommodation, office services, contracted-out services and relevant depreciation. From financial 2011-12 the Department and HM Treasury agreed that Administration Budgets would in future only include the costs of civilian staff (excluding health-care professionals and staff working in operational areas) and the cost of Advisory Consultancy; the Armed Forces were excluded from this revised Administration Cost Regime as were the MOD’s Arms Length Bodies. The scope of Administration Costs was updated in 2014-15 to include military administration costs and exclude civilian costs where they relate directly to programme or frontline service delivery.

    (3) Elements of expenditure on Contingent Labour, Advisory Consultancy and other non-permanent staff are also included in the MOD’s Administration Costs and there is therefore some duplication with other statistics provided in the table.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) the amount of any underspend expected against departmental expenditure limits in the current fiscal year and (b) his Department’s latest forecast of total AME spend for this year is; and what the forecasts were for those sums at the time of the Summer Budget 2015 and March Budget 2015.

    Michael Fallon

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not forecasting an underspend against its total Departmental expenditure limit in 2015-16. The forecast of total Annually Managed Expenditure spend for 2015-16 is included in MOD’s Main Estimate [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441360/PU_1815_Main_Estimates_book_WEB.pdf]. These forecasts will be updated in our Supplementary Estimate.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department retains any formal interest in the site of the Royal Hospital Haslar.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Haslar Hospital site in Gosport was sold in November 2009 to Our Enterprise (Haslar) Ltd for £3 million. The Department retains no formal interest in the site.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) Grade I listed buildings, (b) Grade II* listed buildings, (c) Grade II listed buildings and (d) scheduled monuments his Department owns; under which top level budget those buildings and monuments fall; and what plans he has for their disposal.

    Mark Lancaster

    Details of all Grade I listed buildings, Grade II* listed buildings, Grade II listed buildings and scheduled monuments the Department owns, including those which are located on sites that are currently in disposal are shown in the attached tables.

    Details of the top level budget for these Monuments and Buildings could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the physical and mental health of refugees arriving by boat at RAF Akrotiri; and what steps he plans to take to ensure the wellbeing of those refugees.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The transit facility at Dhekelia Station in Cyprus has been developed with advice from the Department for International Development (DfID) and has been visited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Cyprus, who has said that the conditions of the facility exceed the standard of comparable set-ups.

    We have a DfID adviser embedded at the transit facility who continues to advise on best practice which has enabled us to maintain these high standards.

    All of the migrants have been assessed by medical personnel and provided with any necessary treatment.