Tag: 2014

  • Bob Blackman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Bob Blackman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the compliance of Iranian businesses with financial sanctions imposed by the UK.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK implements EU and UN sanctions against Iran – it does not independently impose financial sanctions on Iran. The UK is firmly committed to ensuring compliance, including working with partners to freeze assets, authorising and monitoring relevant transactions, and investigating alleged sanctions breaches. EU financial measures apply within the EU and to EU nationals and entities rather than directly to Iranian businesses based outside of the EU. However, Her Majesty’s Treasury continue to ensure that the assets of designated Iranian entities, held in the UK, remain frozen.

  • Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Barry Sheerman on 2014-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of faith free schools opened to date have met the 50 per cent target of children and young people attending the school who do not belong to that faith.

    Edward Timpson

    There is no target for the proportion of children attending a free school who do not belong to the designated faith of such a school. When over-subscribed, faith designated free schools may take account of faith in allocating up to 50% of their places. The remaining places must be allocated on the basis of over-subscription criteria not related to faith, and may be filled by pupils of the faith, other faiths or none.

  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the government of Sudan facilitates the full deployment of UNMISS troops and equipment.

    Mark Simmonds

    The Governments of both Sudan and South Sudan have now granted the necessary clearances for the transfer of a Rwandan battalion from the UN-Africa Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to UNMISS. We understand that that battalion has now arrived in South Sudan.

    We have made clear to the Governments of both Sudan and South Sudan that any actions that impede UNMISS in the delivery of its mandate are unacceptable.

  • Jenny Chapman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Jenny Chapman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent voter confirmation dry run conducted in (a) Darlington constituency and (b) the Borough of Darlington.

    Greg Clark

    The information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-confirming-electors-through-data-matching

    “

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of sex education in schools for life in the 21st century.

    Lord Nash

    Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory in maintained secondary schools, and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. When teaching SRE, all schools must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory guidance.

    Schools are encouraged to develop their SRE practice with the support of specialist organisations and expert professionals who are best placed to provide schools with up-to-date materials and advice on changing technologies that fit within the framework of our sex and relationship education guidance. ‘Sex and relationships education (SRE) for the 21st century’, recently published by the PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum, and Brook addresses changes in technology and legislation since 2000.

    We believe that headteachers and their staff are best-placed to decide what resources, including help from outside organisations, are needed to support excellent teaching of SRE. We have recently extended the grant funding to the PSHE Association until 2015 and we have commissioned them to develop a set of exemplar case studies of high quality teaching on key issues in PSHE and SRE.

  • Mr Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mr Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Jim Cunningham on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many service leavers have (a) applied to and (b) been accepted on the Troops to Teachers programme to date.

    David Laws

    The Troops to Teachers undergraduate programme is a brand new programme, which started in January 2014. It provides a route into teaching for non-graduates with relevant skills and experience. It is a school-based two year programme, at the end of which service leavers will have both a degree and Qualified Teacher Status.

    982 service leavers submitted an initial application to cohort 1 of the new undergraduate Troops to Teachers programme. 332 of these applications went forward to be considered by the initial teacher training provider, which is the normal first stage for initial teacher training applications. 41 service leavers joined the Troops to Teachers programme in January 2014.

    These figures represent only the first cohort of Troops to Teachers trainees. We are looking forward to more service leavers joining the programme this September.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether plans to cascade rolling stock between rail franchises are made by officials in the Department for Transport; and whether proposed cascades have been examined by operating and engineering people to ensure that costs associated with the cascade are kept to a minimum.

    Baroness Kramer

    In line with the Government’s policy set out in the March 2012 Command Paper, which is for a market-led approach to rolling stock, the Government does not believe that the cascade of units between franchises should be planned by officials within the Department for Transport.

    When proposals arise, such as the transfer of the nine Class 170 trains from TransPennine, officials will work with industry to help find a solution, but the Department has made it clear that it expects train operators and rolling stock companies ultimately to resolve such situations.

  • Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of merging the e-borders programme into the border system programme.

    James Brokenshire

    The activities of the e-Borders programme have been absorbed into the Border
    Systems Programme. The estimated cost to close the e-Borders programme and
    define the Border Systems Programme was £340,000. These costs are attributable
    to civil servants already in post and there has been no additional expenditure
    or procurement in order to move the work from e-Borders to Border Systems.

    The procurement approach to replacing the primary border security elements of
    the Border Systems Programme will reflect broader Government ICT and Commercial
    strategy, and there will be no single, large supplier. The Home Office will
    lead development, with services procured from a range of providers, potentially
    including small and medium enterprises; no tenders have been received at this
    time.

    By March 2015 the Border Systems Programme aims to:

    • Complete resilience of all current business critical systems;
    • Develop replacement primary border security systems;
    • Provide the capability to support commitments on exit checks;
    • Establish a programme for the next generation of Radiological and Nuclear
    detection (Cyclamen);
    • Continue the implementation of second generation e-Gates across the estate;
    • Develop and implement new freight targeting capability for Sea Containers;
    • Establish contracts to purchase new detection equipment;
    • Continue to assure live operations of existing systems.

    The breakdown of FTE Civil Servants engaged by the e-Borders and subsequently
    the Border Systems Programme in each year since 2010, is:

    Dec-10 Dec-11 Dec-12 Dec-13
    SCS PB 2 1 1 1 0
    SCS PB 1 2 1 2 2
    G6 7.8 7.8 7.8 9.8
    G7 11.8 9.8 10.8 17.8
    SEO/HMI 33.5 34.7 48.8 49.7
    HEO/CIO 26 25.4 22.5 30.9
    EO/IO 22 19.3 25 20.8
    AO/PS 7 5 5 3

  • Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost to public funds of the evacuation of tourists from Mombasa in May.

    Baroness Warsi

    The British Government did not evacuate British nationals from Mombasa in May and there was no cost to public funds.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, if he will list each local authority database used by electoral registration offices in the dry run for individual electoral registration (IER) for the 10 local authorities with the (a) best and (b) worst registration rates during the IER dry run.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that this information was provided to the Hon. Member in the answer to Question 191356.