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  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to work with local authorities to ensure that the education provided to home educated children is effectively regulated and safeguarded.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education has frequent contact with local authority officers and elected members on the subject of elective home education. Published guidance for local authorities is available on the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

    “

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to announce national minimum fostering allowances for 2016-17.

    Edward Timpson

    The recommended national minimum allowance rates for fostering for 2016-17 will be published before the end of the financial year on GOV.UK.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what definition his Department uses for cyber warfare.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) (through its Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre) does not seek to define terms or elements of terms, particularly those applied in compound form, that are already in common use (i.e. "warfare").

    The MOD defines cyber activity as: "To operate and project power in and from cyberspace to influence the behaviour of people". The OECD defines "warfare" as: "engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict".

    The MOD describes the active engagement in the conduct of "cyber operations" within our lexicon as being: "the planning and synchronisation of activities in and through cyberspace to enable freedom of manoeuvre and to achieve military objectives." This term applies to activities that include those conducted in war or conflict.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by how much he plans that his Department’s contribution to public sector pensions will increase in 2019-20 and future years.

    Mark Lancaster

    The full valuation of the public service pension schemes will commence in April this year. Following that full valuation process, which will take into account the new discount rate set in the Budget, the new employer contribution rates for the Armed Forces and Civil Service Pension Scheme will be set.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    None.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will reconsider its decision to withdraw Volunteer Gliding Squadrons provision for Air Cadets in Wales.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    No. Cadets from all Welsh cadet units will still have the opportunity to fly gliders.

    Volunteer Gliding Squadrons (VGS) due to disband are 634 Squadron currently based at St Athan and 636 Squadron currently based at Swansea. The intention is that these will be offset by an expansion of 1 Air Experience Flight at St Athan and that VGS in the West of England will become regional hubs.

    The reduced VGS footprint will allow resources to be focused on the remaining Squadrons. This will enable more suitable infrastructure to be built and maintained that supports the Air Cadet Organisation more fully. The key development across the estate over time will be to provide new overnight accommodation and training facilities that safely allows cadets and adult instructors, over full residential weekends, to carry out gliding alongside flying related ground training including gliding simulators, funded by the RAF Charitable Trust. This should improve access to such activities for those that are located further from VGS sites.

    Volunteers at affected Volunteer Gliding Squadrons will be offered opportunities to fill other posts within the Air Cadet Organisation dependent upon their own transferable skills and their personal preferences.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications for the Legion d’Honneur have been withdrawn since July 2015 due to the death of the applicant; and what further steps his Department is taking to ensure that people nominated to receive that medal receive it as quickly as possible.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence has been made aware of 37 cases from the original list of approximately 3,300 names submitted to the French authorities where the veteran had died before their case could be submitted. In addition, the French Embassy has advised us of 14 cases in which the medal has been sent out but was returned to them specifically because the individual had died.

    Under the terms of the arrangement with the French authorities, within which the normal timetable for processing awards has greatly reduced, the Ministry of Defence can submit 100 cases per week. Cases are normally submitted in order of their original submission to the Department; but we prioritise cases where we are notified of life-threatening or serious conditions.

    Since the new system began in July last year we have sent 3,150 applications to the French Embassy and it should be remembered that this alone is more cases than would normally be dealt with by the Legion d’Honneur in all categories for a whole year. The French are also receiving applications from the other Allied nations that took part in D-Day, and the overall level of applications will clearly be far higher.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 27079, on Victory 1744, how many such meetings, on which dates, have been held between his officials and those in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

    Mark Lancaster

    Since my previous answer of the 22 February 2016 officials met on the 11 March and further meetings between officials from both Departments will be held as these discussions continue.

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. This would include some senior civil servants, such as ambassadors and chargés d’affaires. The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.

    The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. The Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    DCMS received no funding from the European Social Fund (ESF) programme during the period specified.