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Tag: 2015

  • Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to raise the issue of the abuse of human rights in Kashmir and Punjab with Prime Minister Modi during his visit to the UK.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of allegations of human rights abuses in Kashmir, and of recent communal violence in Punjab. We are clear that any allegations of human rights abuses should be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently. Human rights were discussed during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UK and we welcome his reaffirmation that he governs for all Indians.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what Government property is located in Salford and Eccles constituency.

    Matthew Hancock

    A list of properties located in the Salford and Eccles constituency drawn from the central database of Government properties and land across the UK, e-PIMS™ is attached. A copy of this will be placed in the Library of the House. Government owned property can be found at:www.gov.uk/find-government-property.

    Information is only held centrally on the Central Civil Estate. Any information outside of this is held locally by departments.

    “

  • Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the current visa regime has had on international student numbers in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The student migration system we inherited was too weak, and open to widespread abuse, damaging the UK’s reputation as a provider of world-class education.

    We have clamped down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions selling immigration rather than education, and since 2010 we have struck off more than 900 bogus colleges. Visa applications for the further education sector, where abuse has been most prevalent over recent years, are down 74 per cent compared with 2010.

    At the same time, we have maintained a highly competitive offer for international students who would like to study at our world-class institutions. This is borne out by the figures: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 17 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our world-leading Russell Group institutions are up by 33 per cent since 2010.

    We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of homeless people (a) are ex-service personnel, (b) have mental health problems and (c) identify as LGBT.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether evidence sessions will be held in the course of Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords, and whether those sessions will be public.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

    Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

    Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

    The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

    Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

    Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17694, how many training courses have been completed at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanrwst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell in each year from 2010 to 2015; how many students of each service attended each such course; what the cost of each such course was per trainee; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Due to the variation in course length (from one day through to 42 weeks), the number of courses completed is not recorded. Rather, delivery is measured on the number of weeks of training delivered. For financial year (FY) 2014-15, the number of weeks of training delivered at each centre is as follows (historical data is not held).

    Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Grantown – 46 weeks

    Joint School for Adventorous Training (JSATI) Llanrwst – 41 weeks

    FDTC Fairbourne – 45 weeks

    FDTC Crickhowell – 46 weeks

    Information on the number of attendees is not held as costs are solely dependent on the maximum bed space capacity, regardless of the number of students attending.

    Please see the information below giving the operating costs covering all locations for the last four financial years, for which information is available.

    FY 2011-12 £

    FY 2012-13 £

    FY 2013-14 £

    FY 2014-15 £

    FDTC Grantown

    295,624

    220,819

    213,781

    231,290

    JSATI Llanrwst

    292,320

    302,366

    382,063

    281,695

    FDTC Fairbourne

    259,855

    292,885

    325,181

    279,093

    FDTC Crickhowell

    688,808

    654,010

    646,027

    643,985
  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote walking football.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    We are investing in walking football via Sport England as part of the FA’s new National Game Strategy toget more people playing football. Sport England is currently working closely with the FA to understand the growing market for walking football.In partnership with the FA, the Premier League and Football League Community Foundations are also getting people playing walking football.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve awareness of cerebral palsy among people working in children’s services.

    Edward Timpson

    The reforms introduced in September 2014 will ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25, including those with cerebral palsy, have improved access to the support they need.

    Local authorities are responsible for meeting the educational needs of all children with SEND within their local area. They must co-ordinate education, health and care provision for individual children and ensure that young people and parents are involved in discussions about their individual support and about local provision more generally. Statutory Local Offers published by each local authority must set out what support is available for all children and young people with SEND in their area, including those with more complex needs.

    The reforms detailed in the SEND Code of Practice were drawn up in consultation with a wide range of interested parties, many of whom represented the interests of children and young people with specific impairments. They are intended to improve outcomes for every child or young person with SEND by placing them at the heart of a system designed to respond to their individual needs and aspirations.

    The Department has not assessed the impact of the SEND Code of Practice, or regional variations in provision, on the basis of any specific impairment but is monitoring implementation closely.

    This monitoring includes inputs from annual data collection; termly surveys of local authorities and Parent Carer Forums; and feedback from specialist SEND Advisers and funded voluntary sector organisations. From May 2016, this monitoring will be enhanced by a new joint Ofsted/CQC inspection framework for SEND, which is currently the subject of a national consultation.

    Schools are required by the Children and Families Act 2014 to identify the SEN of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need. Teachers are expected to be able to adapt their teaching to the needs of all pupils, and to have an understanding of the factors that can inhibit learning and how to overcome them.

    To support the school workforce, the Department has funded almost 11,000 SEN Coordinators to attain Masters-level national awards between 2009 and 2014, at a cost of almost £33 million; is funding SEND conferences for school leaders and supporting the development of a ‘SEND gateway’ for education professionals, which offers a wide range of online training and information.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2 November (HL3058), whether the measures taken to counter the loss of generating capacity resulting from the closure of coal fired power stations will include (1) the use of small diesel generators, and (2) the closure or interruption of industrial production by industry to maintain security of supply during the coming winter; and what is their estimate of the extra costs of those measures to energy consumers and taxpayers.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The operators of Ferrybridge and Longannet power plants have announced plans to cease generation in 2016 while the operator of Eggborough plant is currently consulting staff on possible closure. These announcements relate to closures from March 2016 and do not affect security of supply this winter.

    Our priority is to ensure that British families and business have access to secure and affordable energy supplies that they can rely on. Since 2014 National Grid have had the ability to procure a Contingency Balancing Reserve (CBR), which consists of the Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR), where existing power stations stand by ready to generate additional electricity and the Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) where companies bid for contracts with National Grid to receive payments in return for reducing their electricity usage times of peak demand should National Grid so require. National Grid and Ofgem agree that we should retain the ability to procure CBR for the next two winters. Government supports this position and we expect confirmation later this month following an Ofgem consultation.

    Organisations contracted under DSBR can reduce their use of grid electricity in many ways while still remaining in operation. For example, an industrial customer could switch to a back-up generator or a supermarket chain might raise the temperature slightly on its refrigerators for a short time, using less energy but maintaining safe refrigeration levels.

    National Grid’s CBR is tendered competitively keeping procurement at the lowest possible cost to consumers, whilst ensuring electricity security. The additional reserve capacity that National Grid has purchased for 2015/16 represents less than 50p a year on the average annual consumer bill.

    From winter 2018/19, the Capacity Market will take over as the long term solution for security of supply. The Capacity Market is a key part of our reform of the electricity market and it will drive new investment in gas and demand side capacity to help keep the lights on, as well as getting the best out of our existing power stations as we transition to a low carbon electricity future. Small-scale flexible generation such as diesel can also bid into the Capacity Market – generation that can turn on quickly has a small but important role to play in securing our electricity system. It is typically run for short periods to meet peaks of demand or local system constraints, so emission impacts can be relatively limited.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-12-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made of the effect on (a) environmental bodies, (b) biodiversity conservation, (c) pollution prevention, (d) waste reduction and (e) public parks of the proposed reduction in the Landfill Communities Fund.

    Damian Hinds

    Since its introduction in 1996, the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) has contributed over £1.4bn to community projects in areas affected by a local landfill site and the government acknowledges the positive impact of this funding for communities. However, as the LCF is a tax credit scheme, it reduces the government’s tax revenues and we therefore have a responsibility to seek value for money for the taxpayer.

    Despite difficult decisions on spending, the government has decided to retain and reform the LCF. The value of the LCF for 2016-17 will therefore be set at £39.3m. The government is committed to providing the best value for communities, and over the next five years £20m of the additional Landfill Tax revenues resulting from this change will be used by the Environment Agency to address waste crime.

    The government wants LCF money to get to communities more quickly. Our reforms will encourage money to be spent in the communities that need it. The LCF will provide £39.3m additional funding for communities in 2016/17 alone and we hope more unspent funds, which this year totalled £118m, will also reach projects as soon as possible.