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  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department is (a) carrying out and (b) encouraging into extending the use of materials that biodegrade more quickly.

    Rory Stewart

    In October 2014, Defra commissioned the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) project on biodegradable plastic carrier bags – solutions through innovation. The project is contracted to the plastic packing manufacturer Aquapak Polymers Ltd, and is due to report in December this year. The project is testing the biodegradability of a hydrophilic polymer under simulated composting and anaerobic digestion conditions, and in experiments simulating natural conditions, and testing the impact on aquatic life.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people who are eligible to receive the winter fuel payment and have voluntarily chosen not to receive it in each of the last three years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Details of the number payments made to individuals and households are publicly available on the GOV.UK website.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/winter-fuel-payments-caseload-and-household-figures

    The voluntary relinquishments requests for the past three years are as follows:-

    2013 139

    2014 78

    2015 82

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  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of households which receive the Warm Home Discount are in fuel poverty.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Based on our estimates, around 15% of those in receipt of rebates under the Core and Broader Group elements of the scheme are households with both low incomes and high energy costs.

    Subject to positive progress on data sharing legislation, Government plans to consult formally later this year on whether in future the Warm Home Discount should be targeted more towards fuel poor households.

  • Nia Griffith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nia Griffith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she expects the Government’s review of the case for the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon to be completed.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The timeframe depends on a number of factors, many of which would be outside the control of the Department. Talks between Government and the developer are on-going and will be fed into the independent review of tidal lagoons for consideration. The independent review will be completed as soon as possible.

  • Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Andrew Bingham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bingham on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that smart meters are installed in areas with poor mobile signal.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Data and Communications Company (DCC) is putting in place a communications network across GB to send and receive information from smart meters to energy suppliers, energy network operators and energy service companies in a Wide Area Network (WAN).

    The DCC is contracted to provide network coverage of at least 99.25% of GB premises by the end of 2020 and to achieving at least 80% coverage of GB premises when it begins live services later this year.

    Our ambition is for all domestic and small business premises to have smart meters.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to increase the number of school places in Crawley.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities are responsible for planning and securing sufficient school places in their area, and supporting them to do so is one of this Government’s top priorities. That is why we have committed to spending £7 billion on school places up to 2021, which along with our investment in the free schools programme we expect to deliver 600,000 new places.

    Basic need funding is allocated to local authorities to help them to create new school places. West Sussex received £113 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create almost 10,000 new places between 2010 and 2015. These new places include over 1,000 provided by the Gatwick School, an all-through free school in Crawley.

    West Sussex has also been allocated a further £85 million to create the places needed by 2019, including in Crawley.

    Information on basic need allocations can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations

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  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of additional breakfast club places which will be created by the £10 million increase in funding announced in paragraph 1.95 of Budget 2016 in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Bradford.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Chancellor announced in the recent budget that funding from the new sugar levy would be used in part to expand breakfast clubs in up to 1,600 schools from September 2017. We are currently refining the details of how this scheme will operate and further details will be announced in due course.

  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans for the £10 million increase in funding to expand breakfast clubs in schools announced in paragraph 1.95 of Budget 2016 to be distributed; and how her Department plans to monitor the spending of that funding.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Chancellor announced in the recent budget that funding from the new sugar levy would be used in part to expand breakfast clubs in up to 1,600 schools from September 2017. We are currently refining the details of how this scheme will operate and further details will be announced in due course.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to make autism awareness a compulsory part of initial teacher training.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government does not prescribe a curriculum for initial teacher training (ITT). Providers of ITT must ensure that their courses allow trainees to demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards in full; this includes ensuring that trainees are equipped to “adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils”. The standards require trainees to demonstrate that they “have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs”. It is for individual providers to decide how best to ensure that their programmes meet the requirements of the standards.

    Following a review of ITT quality by Sir Andrew Carter, the Secretary of State appointed a leading head teacher, Stephen Munday CBE, to lead an independent expert group tasked with developing a framework of core initial teacher training content. This will provide further guidance for ITT providers and trainees on how the Teachers’ Standards should be applied to the initial training phase. We expect to receive the group’s report shortly and will consider their recommendations carefully and determine how they should be taken forward.

    The Teachers’ Standards can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283566/Teachers_standard_information.pdf

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  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children attending a breakfast club in secondary schools in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Bradford in last 12 months for which figures are available.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The most recent results of the Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey suggest that in England in 2013, around 591,200 school-aged children under eight attended before school care in a typical term-time week. However, it is not possible to identify within this total the number of children who attended provision in primary and secondary schools separately. In addition, the survey sample sizes do not allow for an estimate for Yorkshire and the Humber, or LA level estimates, nor does it collect information about secondary age children.

    The findings of the Survey can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2013

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