Tag: 2015

  • 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 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the operational capabilities are of the Type 26 frigates announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Type 26 Global Combat Ship, designed to provide an anti-submarine warfare capability, will be a multi-mission warship designed for joint and multinational operations across the full spectrum of warfare, including complex combat operations, counter piracy, humanitarian and disaster relief work.

    It will be capable of operating independently for significant periods, or as part of a task group. Its design is inherently flexible, allowing greater choice in operational tasking through the incorporation of modular systems, to allow incremental upgrades to its systems through the life-time of the class. These include the flexible strike silo (able to host anti-submarine, anti-ship and, if required, land attack strike missiles) and the modular mission bay (able to host unmanned air, surface or sub-surface systems, boats for an embarked force, further command facilities or humanitarian relief stores).

    I am withholding further detail as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the most significant key risks to the UK’s food security; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Food supply is one of the UK’s critical national infrastructures and Defra produces an annual sector resilience plan as lead Government Department.

    The UK food sector has a highly effective and resilient food supply chain, owing to the size, geographic diversity and competitive nature of the industry. The resilience of the sector has been demonstrated by the response to potentially disruptive challenges in recent years, although it is dependent on other critical services such as fuel, energy, transport and communications. The Government and industry work together closely to identify and mitigate risks and ensure the continued resilience of food supply.

    The Government is developing a 25 year food and farming plan to further grow our food and farming industry. We want to export more and produce more for the domestic market. We aim to improve productivity and profitability through greater efficiency, the deployment of new technology and by building on the strong international reputation of British food at home and abroad.

  • 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 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost of recapitalising the Command Support Air Transport fleet.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    A full assessment phase will be undertaken to ensure that any recapitalisation decisions provide the most efficient way of delivering capability and offer best value for money.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the costs of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    Alistair Burt

    No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

    Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

    Commissioner

    Year

    Total £ billion

    PCTs

    2011-12

    2.26

    PCTs

    2012-13

    2.30

    CCGs

    2013/14

    1.61

    Note:

    1 This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost of establishing a National Cyber Security Centre.

    Matthew Hancock

    As announced in the Chancellor’s speech of 17 November, a National Cyber Centre will be launched in 2016. Work is underway to determine the exact costs, as part of the £1.9bn budget for cyber security announce in the Spending Review.

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on what grounds UK aid is given to countries on the EU Commission tax haven blacklist.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID uses a range of criteria to inform how we allocate aid across countries. These criteria include, for example, current and projected poverty levels in the country, the country’s ability to self-finance its development (e.g. through domestic taxation), and the likely effectiveness of UK aid.

    A number of EU member states maintain lists of jurisdictions for tax purposes against criteria concerning tax transparency and/or the prevailing tax rate. The EU does not maintain a blacklist; however a list of 30 jurisdictions that featured on 10 or more member state lists was compiled and then superseded by a recent European Commission update.

    This update included UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories which had the UK’s signature of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters extended to them in 2014. The updated individual member state lists can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/gen_info/good_governance_matters/lists_of_countries/.

    Of the 30 jurisdictions named in the original list, 14 received UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2013 (the most recent year for which consolidated figures are available). Of these 14, only three (Liberia, Montserrat and Vanuatu) received ODA from DFID for development and humanitarian assistance in that year. Details of funding amounts to these 14 jurisdictions can be found at the Statistics on International Development 2014 page of the gov.uk website.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the National Security and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, by what date the new team sponsoring the defence nuclear enterprise is scheduled to be established.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We expect to announce further details of the new organisation in 2016.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to fund Bikeability beyond 2015.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Funding for Bikeability is currently confirmed until the end of March 2016. We will take a decision on future funding for the Bikeability programme beyond March 2016 following the outcome of the Spending Review.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Goverment is providing for mature students who wish to enter the teaching profession; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Mature students are an important source of new teachers and bring relevant knowledge and skills from their previous employment. In 2015/16, 21 per cent of new entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) courses were aged 30 or over. To attract more potential career changers, our marketing campaign, ‘Your Future, Their Future’, uses a range of media, including television advertising, national newspaper advertising and targeted digital and print communications. As part of this we will be running the ‘New Year New Career’ sub-campaign, which is dedicated to attracting career changers, throughout January 2016.

    We provide support specifically for career changers to make the transition to teaching, especially in the subjects where they are needed the most, including:

    • The School Direct (salaried) route is specifically targeted at career changers with three years’ work experience and allows them to earn a salary whilst they train to teach. We provide grant funding to schools to subsidise the costs of salary and training for trainees on this route.
    • For ITT 2016/17, we are working with 18 School Direct lead schools to develop and recruit to part-time and abridged School Direct (salaried) courses in maths and physics starting in September 2016. The aim of this pilot is to test whether schools can attract more career changers by offering flexible training routes which meet the needs of different individuals.

    In addition, career changers can access extensive support that is available for all ITT candidates. This includes bursaries or scholarships of up to £30,000 tax-free; advice and guidance from the expert advisers on the Get Into Teaching Line; help with arranging school experience to assist with their ITT application; and access to our free Train to Teach events.

    Those who wish to teach secondary biology, geography, maths, physics, chemistry, languages or computing are also eligible for our enhanced Premier Plus service. This includes tailored advice from a dedicated adviser, including the practicalities that often affect career changers, such as childcare funding. Applicants who wish to teach these subjects can also access funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses, through which they can boost or refresh their subject knowledge.

  • Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many places in category D prisons in England and Wales were occupied by prisoners in each month since January 2013.

    Lord Faulks

    Progression to open prisons is never automatic, and prisoners must generally be within two years of release before they can be considered for allocation. Public protection is paramount, only those prisoners who are assessed as low risk of escape/abscond and low risk of causing harm to the public are transferred to an open prison.

    The following table shows the number of category D places that were available and occupied by prisoners in open prisons in England and Wales as at the last Friday in each month since January 2013. This information is published monthly on gov.uk

    The data above does not include the number of places available and in use in category D units in otherwise closed prisons.

    Breakdown of the population and capacity of the dedicated open estate from

    January 2013 to October 2015.

    Month

    Capacity

    Population

    Jan-13

    5,131

    4,933

    Feb-13

    5,131

    4,953

    Mar-13

    5,131

    4,982

    Apr-13

    5,131

    4,993

    May-13

    5,131

    4,988

    Jun-13

    5,131

    4,981

    Jul-13

    5,131

    4,988

    Aug-13

    5,131

    4,994

    Sep-13

    5,131

    4,990

    Oct-13

    5,131

    5,005

    Nov-13

    5,203

    5,048

    Dec-13

    5,217

    4,993

    Jan-14

    5,217

    4,932

    Feb-14

    5,217

    4,994

    Mar-14

    5,217

    5,037

    Apr-14

    5,339

    5,159

    May-14

    5,339

    5,122

    Jun-14

    5,339

    5,087

    Jul-14

    5,339

    5,082

    Aug-14

    5,374

    5,011

    Sep-14

    5,374

    4,943

    Oct-14

    5,397

    4,846

    Nov-14

    5,397

    4,814

    Dec-14

    5,397

    4,759

    Jan-15

    5,405

    4,666

    Feb-15

    5,329

    4,680

    Mar-15

    5,131

    4,691

    Apr-15

    5,453

    4,922

    May-15

    5,468

    4,876

    Jun-15

    5,544

    5,020

    Jul-15

    5,569

    5,019

    Aug-15

    5,569

    5,062

    Sep-15

    5,520

    5,076

    Oct-15

    5,550

    5,127