The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Freedom of Information Request, CTS reference M12288/15, submitted by the hon. Member for Preston and received by her Department on 30 August 2015.
James Brokenshire
A response has been sent to the hon. Member.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the land in England is open access land, and what plans they have to increase that amount.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 there is a right of access for open-air recreation on foot to 2,137,756 acres of land which are mapped as open country and registered common land. This is about 6.5% of the total area of England.
Section 16 of the Act enables the owner, or a person with a long-leasehold, of any land to voluntarily dedicate open access rights over that land. To date, 384,419 acres of land have been dedicated, mostly by the Forestry Commission.
Natural England is aiming to dedicate all 224 of the national nature reserves and similar holdings it owns, or land held on a lease of at least 90 years. Natural England has dedicated 31,876 acres of national nature reserves with a further 2,915 acres becoming accessible on 7 February 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage the European Commission and the World Bank to promote road safety in their infrastructure funding; and if she will make a statement.
Grant Shapps
Road traffic injuries cost developing countries an estimated 1-2% of their gross national product, equivalent to over US$100 billion annually, with a widening of the disparity between advanced and developing countries. Road accidents kill an estimated 1.3 million people and injure up to 78 million people each year.
DFID is committed to supporting the international community to reach the Sustainable Developments Goals, including Goal 11 which includes improving Road Safety as one of its targets.
DFID recently increased its funding to the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) hosted at the World Bank and will contribute £4.5 million between 2013 and 2017. The GRSF provides funding, knowledge, and technical assistance that lever road safety investments into transport sector programmes.
We also work with the European Commission through the Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund for financing transport projects. Through our role on the Global Road Safety Facility and our work on transport with Multilateral Development Banks we require all such projects to include stronger components on road safety.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how he plans for part-time taught masters students who study at a minimum of 50 per cent intensity, but not by means of distance learning, to access the proposed new postgraduate loans scheme.
Joseph Johnson
A consultation on support for postgraduate study was launched in March of this year. The consultation sought views on the Government’s intention to introduce a new loan scheme for taught Master’s study and a review of how to broaden and strengthen support for postgraduate research. Consultation responses have been analysed and the Department is preparing its response.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Leader of the House, if he will consult political parties on proposals to change the sitting days of the House during party conferences.
Chris Grayling
The sitting days of the House are kept under review and I would welcome representations on the issue the hon. Gentleman raises, either from individual Members or political parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK aged under 18 earning £3.87 per hour.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, from which non-party political organisations he has received representations on the proposed Wales Bill.
Stephen Crabb
As Secretary of State I meet regularly with many non-party political organisations to discuss a range of issues, including the draft Wales Bill. These include business organisations, representatives of the legal profession, academics and representatives of Welsh civil society.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the inclusion of renewable energy in the Climate Change Levy on incentives for businesses to operate in a more environmentally friendly way.
Andrea Leadsom
The Climate Change Levy (CCL) renewables exemption offered poor value for money, as it provided indirect support to renewable generators, and a third of its value went to supporting overseas renewable generation projects, which did not contribute to the UK’s climate change or renewables targets and often received subsidies from home Governments. The rise in UK renewable electricity generation and imports led to a decline in CCL revenue. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility published forecasts showing that this decline would have continued to 2020 if the exemption remained in place and that virtually no CCL tax would have been paid on electricity by 2020, which would have undermined the energy efficiency objectives of the CCL.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the evidential basis is for the proposition that freezing the repayment threshold for plan 2 student loans is likely to result in student loans being repaid to a greater extent than under the current terms.
Joseph Johnson
Estimates of the impact of freezing the repayment thresholds for borrowers are illustrated in the consultation document, which has been published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freezing-the-student-loan-repayment-threshold
These are based on analysis using the Department’s Student Loan Repayment Model: further details on the model are available at the Department’s website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simplified-student-loan-repayment-model
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is taking to ensure that registered nurses in its employment are able to comply fully with the requirements of revalidation with the Nursing and Midwifery Council; and what training is being provided to such nurses for that purpose.
Ben Gummer
Information on support provided by individual National Health Service providers is not collected centrally and may be obtained from the organisations themselves.
All nurses and midwives practising in England are required by law to be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. From April 2016, nurses and midwives will have to revalidate every three years, when they renew their registration.
It is the responsibility of nurses and midwives to register and undertake revalidation.There is no specific requirement for employers to help nurses and midwives through revalidation but it is in their interests and a matter of good practice, to support nurses and midwives to provide safe and effective care.
As part of its inspection process, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) considers staff access to training and related support. Where nurses are employed, the CQC makes enquiries about the maintenance of continual professional development and the levels of support offered by the provider.