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Tag: 2015

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve the retention of students who have the potential to succeed in higher education but face financial difficulties.

    Joseph Johnson

    Continuation rates for students in publicly-funded institutions are at a record high, with 94.3% of young full-time first degree entrants to higher education in English HEIs in 2012/13 continuing after their first year and, 90.0% of full-time first degree starters of all ages in English HEIs in 2012/13 were expected to receive an award or transfer. Improvements in these areas have come at a time of considerable expansion in student numbers and increasing diversity in the backgrounds of students.

    Institutions wishing to charge higher fees must agree access agreements with the independent Director of Fair Access. In these, institutions set out what more they will do to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds and help them to complete their studies and progress to post-graduate study or employment. In 2016/17, institutions expect to spend £425m on financial support through their access agreements.

    The Higher Education Green Paper set out further steps to encourage universities to improve retention rates, including for students from disadvantaged and under-represented groups, through a Teaching Excellence Framework.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy for the NHS to screen all people over the age of 55 for hearing loss.

    Alistair Burt

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the NHS in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy.

    In 2009-10 the UK NSC recommended that routine screening for adult hearing loss should not be offered because of the lack of evidence to warrant a screening programme. In particular:

    – it is not clear what the test should be;

    – there is no agreed time or schedule for carrying out the testing;

    – the acceptability of the test and in particular the treatment (hearing aids) is unclear; and

    – there had been no randomised trials of screening.

    As part of its routine evidence review process the UK NSC has just reviewed its recommendation on screening adults for hearing loss again. Ministers expect to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC shortly.

  • Byron Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Byron Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Byron Davies on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2015 to Question 2354, when the review of the enforcement response to bribery and corruption will be published.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The UK Anti-Corruption Plan, published in December, announced that Cabinet Office would take forward a review of the enforcement response to bribery and corruption. The review has now concluded and its findings are being considered by Ministers.

  • Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) rates of admission to hospital, (b) total hospital bed-days per population and (c) rates of admission to hospital from a nursing home or residential care home for patients with a secondary diagnosis of dementia and aged over (i) 65 and (ii) 75 years of age for each clinical commissioning group in England were in each month of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on (a) the rates of admission to hospital, (b) the total hospital bed-days per population and (c) the rates of admission to hospital from a nursing home or residential care home for patients with a secondary diagnosis of dementia who are aged (i) over 65 and (ii) over 75 for each clinical commissioning group (CCG) in England for the each month in the past five years could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

    We have provided data attached which shows patients with a secondary diagnosis of dementia by CCG of residence for individuals aged (i) over 65 and (ii) over 75, for 2013-14 showing:

    (a) the rates of admission to hospital per age group population,

    (b) the total hospital bed-days per age group population and

    (c) the rates of admission to hospital from a nursing home or residential care home per age group population.

    Please be aware that the 2013-14 data supplied by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) in November 2014 was provisional at the time. HSCIC have since published the 2013-14 data. Further information can found through this link:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?productid=17192&q=diagnosis+hospital+2013-14&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1&area=both#top

    Note that some patients who live in nursing homes or residential care may have their source of admission recorded as ‘usual place of residence’ by the hospital staff but we cannot identify these.

    “

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what data his Department holds on the (a) employment rate and (b) income of graduates with dyslexia in comparison with people with dyslexia who did not attend university.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department publishes statistics on labour market conditions for English domiciled graduates and postgraduates relative to non-graduates as part of the Graduate Labour Market Statistics series. The latest figures refer to the quarter from April to June 2015 and are available at the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-labour-market-statistics-april-to-june-2015

    These statistics cannot be disaggregated to the level of detail requested.

    “

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s expenditure was on the Joint Service Housing Advice Office in each year since 2010.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Joint Service Housing Advice Office has had eight posts since 2010.

    The total expenditure of individual departments, including the Joint Service Housing Advice Office, is not collated at a single point. For example, infrastructure costs (including utilities) are managed through Regional Prime Contracts which do not split out individual units. Similarly, equipment costs cannot be split out. For this reason, the total expenditure of the Joint Service Housing Advice Office cannot be provided.

  • Jim Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Dowd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dowd on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many students have enrolled at further education establishments in (a) London, (b) the London Borough of Lewisham, (c) the London Borough of Southwark and (d) the London Borough of Bromley in each of the last five years.

    Nick Boles

    Adult skills funding allocations to further education providers are published on the Skills Funding Agency website:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2015-to-2016

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2014-to-2015

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-funding-allocations-to-training-providers-2005-to-2013

    Funding to further education providers for learners aged 16-18 is provided by the Department for Education.

    Information on the number of learners participating in English and maths courses by geography from 2005/06 onwards is published in a supplementary table (first link) to a Statistical First Release at the FE Data Library (second link). Information on the number of learners participating in further education and skills by geography from 2005/06 onwards is published in a second supplementary table (third link).

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/382085/englishandmaths-participation-by-geography-learner-demographics.xlsc

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fe-data-library

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/378262/feandskills-participation-by-geography-learner-demographics.xls

    “

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to reduce net migration from Europe, other than seeking reform of provision of welfare for non-British EU citizens.

    James Brokenshire

    Free movement is an important principle of the EU but it is not an unqualified right and it must be grounded in the freedom to take up work in another Member State, to contribute to the economy and to integrate into society.

    We have taken firm steps to restrict access to out of work benefits by EU jobseekers and we can remove them if they are not in a job within six months. We have removed access to Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for jobseekers and introduced a new test to check whether EU nationals who claim in-work benefits really have meaningful and effective employment here.

    We have toughened the Habitual Residence Test, the gateway test which all migrants have to satisfy to access benefits, and we have introduced tougher checks for the payment of child benefit and child tax credit to EU nationals. To tackle abuse, we have introduced new powers so that EU nationals who don’t meet the requirements for residence are removed and banned from coming back for 12 months, unless they have a valid reason to be here (for example an immediate job start).

    The Prime Minister set out in his speech on 10 November and in his letter to the President of the European Council the issues we are seeking to tackle through the EU reform negotiations to restore a sense of fairness to our immigration system and to reduce the current very high level of population flows from within the EU into the UK.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-11-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions the Government has had with (a) Amazon and (b) eBay on VAT fraud conducted by online traders operating from outside the EU; and what safeguards his Department has put in place to prevent such fraud.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is actively targeting operational and intelligence activity, as well as a range of other options, to tackle this issue. However, HMRC is unable to give details of their plans in respect of any individual taxpayer because of taxpayer confidentiality.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of halving Air Passenger Duty in Scotland on Birmingham Airport.

    Damian Hinds

    The government is currently undertaking a consultation into options to support regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution. We are carefully considering the evidence we have received from stakeholders and will respond in due course.