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  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has allocated staff resources or established a dedicated unit in his Department to deal with proposed amendments to the Hunting Act 2004.

    George Eustice

    Some departmental staff time has been used to look into the issues raised by Welsh farmers about lamb predation by foxes and the stalking and flushing out exemption of the Hunting Act 2004. This has not involved establishing a unit dedicated to this issue within the Department. Staff resources are allocated to look into issues as they arise on a flexible basis. The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation to make amendments to the Hunting Act 2004 this Parliament.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in his Department spent some or all of their time working on the Hunting Act 2004 in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014 to date; and what the grade is of each such staff member.

    George Eustice

    Since 2010 a range of civil servants in Defra from across all grades have had some responsibilities for working on the Hunting Act 2004 and have spent some of their time doing so. However, the amount of time they spend on this varies considerably according to levels of correspondence, interest and activity at any one time. As these officers also work on a range of other issues, no specific records are kept for how much of their time is spent working on the Hunting Act 2004.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004.

    George Eustice

    The Government has no legislative plans to make an amendment to the Hunting Act 2004. However, the Government’s position remains that we will bring forward a motion for a free vote on the repeal of the Hunting Act when Parliamentary time allows.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the estimated cost of the direct damage caused by recent flooding in Somerset meets the eligibility criteria for the European Union Solidarity Fund; and what discussions his Department has had with EU officials on an application to that fund.

    Dan Rogerson

    EU Solidarity Fund money is available to all Member States suffering from large-scale natural disasters, but is subject to a number of eligibility requirements, including on the level of direct damages. Comparing the damage today to the 2007 floods, and following contact with the Commission, the Government’s assessment was that we had not met these conditions. The Regulation governing the EUSF sets the deadline for applications as ten weeks after the first damage caused by the disaster.

  • Neil Parish – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Neil Parish – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what bilateral funding arrangements his Department has with (a) governmental and (b) non-governmental projects and bodies in Argentina.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra does not have any funding arrangements with either governmental or non-governmental projects or bodies in Argentina

  • Dr Alan Whitehead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dr Alan Whitehead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Alan Whitehead on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent estimate he has made of the number of treatable cavity wall homes in areas prone to flooding treated with inappropriate filling agents.

    Gregory Barker

    DECC does not hold data on the materials that have been used to fill individual cavity walls.

  • Dr Alan Whitehead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dr Alan Whitehead – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Alan Whitehead on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the number of homes classified as solid wall construction and built before 1920 that possess fillable cavities.

    Gregory Barker

    The English Housing Survey shows there were 4 million homes built in England before 1919 of non cavity wall construction. It is possible that a proportion of these could possess fillable cavities, although no estimate on how many is available.

    The tool used to produce the above figure can be accessed from the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cambridge-housing-energy-tool-guidance-note

    “

  • John Pugh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what requirements there are for academies and free schools to publish their curriculum for prospective parents; and what form that must take.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Academy trusts that have a funding agreement published pre-July 2010 are required to publish an annual prospectus, which includes details of the curriculum offered. Since July 2011, the funding agreement with each academy or free school has included a requirement to publish details of their curriculum.

  • Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of long-term trends in the number of hours of literacy teaching which primary school children receive and how this affects reading and writing attainment.

    Elizabeth Truss

    We do not collect data on the number of hours of literacy teaching primary school children receive.

    We are committed to raising standards of literacy in schools and making sure that every child masters the basics of reading and writing at a young age. The new primary national curriculum for English is explicitly designed to make sure that all children leave primary school fully literate and ready to progress at secondary school.

    The new national curriculum sets out very clearly what should be taught to pupils. However, it gives school the flexibility to decide how to teach it, including how much time to spend on teaching literacy, because schools are best placed to determine the needs and abilities of their pupils and how to meet them.

  • Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-03-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, to whom the National Panel on Serious Case Reviews is accountable; and what the terms of reference of that Panel are.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    The members of national panel of independent experts on Serious Case Reviews (SCR) were appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and are ultimately accountable to him, though they operate independently.

    The role of the panel is set out in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’ as follows:

    “The role of the panel will be to support Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) in ensuring that appropriate action is taken to learn from serious incidents in all cases where the statutory criteria are met and to ensure that those lessons are shared through publication of final SCR reports. The panel will also report to the Government their views of how the SCR system is working”.

    The panel’s remit will include advising LSCBs about:
    1. application of the SCR criteria;

    2. appointment of reviewers; and

    3. publication of SCR reports.