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  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on disadvantaged students of the Education Funding Agency discontinuing funding for summer school programmes.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The recent Spending Review confirmed that we will protect the pupil premium at its current rates for the duration of this Parliament, so that schools will continue to attract additional funding for their disadvantaged pupils. To achieve this settlement for schools, we have had to make difficult decisions about a number of smaller grants. The grant for the summer schools programme will therefore not continue next financial year. Secondary schools can continue to run a summer school if they wish to, and will be able to use their pupil premium allocation to fund places for their disadvantaged pupils.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many summer school programmes there were for disadvantaged students transitioning from primary to secondary school in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    In 2014, approximately 2,121 secondary schools received summer school grant funding. This figure rose to 2,259 in 2015.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on Ofsted’s budget of the expansion of Ofsted’s control over early years inspectors.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Ofsted’s budget, like those of all government departments, was considered as part of the spending review in 2015. Their settlement will be published in due course.

    As Ofsted are an independent non-ministerial government department, it is accountable for its own budget and operational decisions, including how to deploy and contract inspection resources.

    It would not be appropriate for me to comment on Ofsted’s operational or commercial matters.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority funding on levels of homelessness.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    This Government has always been clear that we are committed to supporting the most vulnerable people in our society. One person without a home is one too many. During the last Parliament the Homelessness Prevention Grant and our investment in homelessness programmes helped prevent 935,700 households from becoming homeless.

    We have protected the homelessness prevention funding that local authorities receive, totalling £315 million by 2019-20. This builds on our commitment to increase central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the next four years.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GPs have notified cases of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected in England.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidance, Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children, published in 2007, estimates that the annual prevalence is approximately 4,000 cases per million of the population.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis have been recorded in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Lancaster and (d) East Anglia in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected in England.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidance, Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children, published in 2007, estimates that the annual prevalence is approximately 4,000 cases per million of the population.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to encourage body confidence in young disabled people.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The government wants all young people to be confident and positive about their body image. My department has worked with a range of bodies, including the Advertising Association and the National Citizen Service, to develop materials that support good practice and encourage young people to become more informed and resilient consumers of media content; and with the PSHE Association to provide guidance for teachers on teaching about body image using accredited resources.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on reducing Air Passenger Duty.

    Damian Hinds

    In the absence of any taxation of international aviation fuel and no VAT on international or domestic flights, Air Passenger Duty (APD) ensures that the aviation sector plays its part in contributing towards general taxation and helping to bring down the deficit. In 2014-15, APD raised £3.2bn, an important part of the Government’s tax revenues.

    Nevertheless, the Government has recently made reforms to APD to cut the longest haul rates and exempt children, reducing the tax burden by £1.5 billion over the period 2015-2020.

    Like all taxes, APD is kept under review with any changes announced at fiscal events.

  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to encourage discussions between business leaders and the education sector on improving young people’s readiness for work and their future employment prospects.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government is taking a number of steps to encourage discussions between business leaders and the education sector.

    We have provided funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company which is increasing the number and quality of links between the education and business sector. The Company’s national network of enterprise advisers is already brokering relationships in 30 LEP areas, working with schools, colleges, employers and careers and enterprise organisations. The Government’s forthcoming careers strategy will set out the additional steps we will take to encourage interaction between business leaders and the education sector to support young people to prepare for working life.

    My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister, in his speech on life chances on 11 January, announced £70 million funding over the parliament to transform the quality of the careers education, advice and guidance offered to young people. It will include funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company to continue the excellent work it has begun. It will also include delivery of a campaign to recruit a new generation of mentors to support young people at risk of under-achieving or dropping out, many of who will be business people.

    We are also planning reforms to technical education which will ensure that the skills system is simple and genuinely owned, understood and valued by employers.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has received from hon. Members since the coming into force of the Act.

    Matthew Hancock

    Due to the nature of the way FOI requests are recorded it is unfortunately not possible to identify the number of requests from all former and existing Cabinet Office Ministers or honourable members except at disproportionate cost.