The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mims Davies on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people are in receipt of a war widow or widower pension.
Mark Lancaster
As at 31 March 2015, the latest date for which data was available, the number of people in receipt of a War Widow or Widower Pension was 20,535.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how he takes account of the wellbeing of children in agreeing the activities which lone parents are required to undertake as part of their action plan or claimant commitment.
Priti Patel
The claimant commitment, which Work Coaches put together with claimants, sets requirements that are tailored for a broad range of circumstances, including for matters relating to the wellbeing of children. These reasonable requirements are recorded within the jobseeker’s agreement or action plan.
Where appropriate, the claimant commitment may limit the hours lone parents claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance are available for work to a minimum of 16 hours a week based on their caring responsibilities.
In addition, lone parents with children aged 12 or under have the right to restrict their availability for work and work-related activities to their children’s normal school or early education hours.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what action can be taken within state aid rules to secure assets of national strategic significance to the British economy.
Anna Soubry
A Member State may purchase or invest in an asset on purely commercial terms, as commercial investment is not subject to state aid rules. However, any subsequent injection of funds would be subject to the rules, unless it too was on commercial terms. It should be noted that the state aid rules apply equally to nationalised and privatised companies. With losses of over £600 million in just over three years and hundreds of millions in debts, commercial terms for SSI UK would have been impossible to meet.
More generally, it is possible to give a variety of types of aid under the rules including aid for research and development, and environmental protection. Restructuring and rescue of steel however is prohibited.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Fearn on 2015-12-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the annual value of tourism to the UK economy.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Office for National Statistics has estimated that tourism was worth £59.6 billion Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary schools signed up to (a) Centre for Education and Monitoring, Durham University, (b) Early Excellence, (c) GL Assessment, (d) Hodder Education, (e) National Foundation for Educational Research and (f) Speech Link as baseline assessment providers by 30 April 2015; and which schemes were subsequently approved by her Department.
Nick Gibb
A full break down of suppliers which were removed from the approved list has not been provided because of potential commercial sensitivities for the suppliers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-12-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the extent of self-harm among school children as a consequence of bullying in the education system.
Lord Nash
The Department has not made a systematic assessment of the extent of self-harm as a consequence of bullying. There is wide variation in reported rates of self-harming among school children because individuals often do not disclose it. However, schools are well placed to spot a change in behaviour that may indicate something is wrong. To assist school staff, we published advice for schools on mental health and behaviour, providing teachers with information and tools that will help them to identify and support pupils with mental health needs, including advice about making referrals to a specialist service when necessary. The advice includes specific information about self-harm and effective treatment, as well as a school case study about how to address mental health issues in a non-stigmatising way in the classroom.
The SEND Code of Practice makes it clear that schools need to look past any behaviour issues to identify underlying problems, including mental health issues, and put support in place where learning is affected. Our new joint training pilots with the NHS will further help to schools to effectively support children and young people with mental health concerns.
The new PSHE lesson plans include teaching about self-harm and to help schools teach about mental health we have funded the PSHE Association to provide new mental health guidance and resources. This will help schools provide age appropriate teaching about mental health issues through the teaching of PSHE.
All bullying is unacceptable and every school is required to have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle all forms of bullying. They are held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour. In 2015-16, the Government has provided £3.3m to charitable organisations to help tackle bullying and to provide support for those who are bullied. This is further to the £4m provided over the period 2013-15.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to revise his Department’s position on the European Commission’s Green Paper on safety of tourism accommodation services to take account of the recent coroner’s report on the death of Christi and Bobby Shepherd.
Tracey Crouch
The deaths of Christi and Bobby Shepherd were a horrific tragedy and our deepest condolences remain with their parents. The safety of tourists at home and abroad is an absolute priority and we will continue to keep the area under review.
The Government is currently examining the Coroner’s recommendations from the inquest into the children’s deaths and will respond in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2015-12-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much NHS England pays for paracetamol, and how much paracetamol it procures annually.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has advised that it does not procure paracetamol. This is done by dispensing contractors in primary care and by hospital trusts in secondary care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has overall ministerial responsibility for meeting the objectives set out in Fixing the foundations: creating a more prosperous nation, Cm9098, published in July 2015.
Greg Hands
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have overall responsibility for meeting the objectives set out in “Fixing the foundations: creating a more prosperous nation”.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and attended by Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, is ultimately responsible for tracking and driving forward these objectives.
Lord O’Neill, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, has day to day responsibility for implementing the commitments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015, whether the £30 million allocated to the City regions take the form of a cash grant from HM Treasury.
Greg Hands
Investment fund allocations agreed as part of devolution deals will be paid out annually by the Department for Communities and Local Government as a cash grant, via Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003.