Tag: 2016

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 22089, what plans her Department has to collect subject level retention rates for teachers in funded secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education produces statistics on the number of teachers joining, remaining in, and leaving the profession each year using the annual School Workforce Census.

    This census also collects information on teachers’ qualifications and, for a large sample of secondary school teachers, the subjects they teach. We are investigating how best to combine the qualifications and sampled curriculum data with the teacher flow data to produce, for example, entry and leavers rates by subject.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    In the Department, legal spend is captured as part of a budget line which includes other expenditure. It would incur disproportionate costs to establish the exact amount of the relevant expenditure on employment tribunals alone.

  • Lucy Frazer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lucy Frazer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Frazer on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to undertake the review of shared ownership announced in the report, Proposals to streamline the resale of shared ownership properties, Consultation: summary of responses, published in March 2015.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government carried out an internal review of Shared Ownership policy last year. Following this, the Autumn Statement confirmed £4.1 billion for 135,000 new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership starts by 2021. It also raised the income cap on Shared Ownership in England from £60,000 to £80,000, removed restrictions on who can buy Shared Ownership homes, enabled existing shared owners to climb the Shared Ownership ladder and removed restrictions on how many bedrooms Shared Ownership buyers can purchase.

    The prospectus for the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 to 2021 was launched on 13 April 2016 and invites applications for up to £4.7 billion of funding to increase the supply of new shared ownership and affordable homes.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of active service on the mental health of (a) drone operators and (b) conventional pilots.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government is committed to improving the mental health of our Armed Forces and has long recognised that Service life can cause stress. Support to all personnel (including pilots of Remotely Piloted Air Systems) is continually improving. We provide pre- and post-operational stress management training; a wide range of psychiatric and psychological treatments; and initiatives such as Decompression, Trauma Risk Management (TRiM), and post operational stress management. Measures are in place to increase awareness at all levels of the risk of mental health disorders and indicators to help identify these.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to change surrogacy law to give single parents with children born through surrogacy the same rights as couples.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has accepted the judgment by Sir James Munby from the High Court. We will be looking to update the legislation on Parental Orders, and are now considering how best to do this.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of indefinitely vacant properties.

    Gavin Barwell

    Our strong record on the economy has created a strong buoyant housing market where owners of empty properties are bringing these homes back into use without government intervention. As a result the number of empty properties are at their lowest since records began.

    Local authorities have powers and incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Councils may also charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty over two years. We have extended permitted development rights to make it easier to convert property from business to residential to give life to thousands of empty buildings.

  • Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last three years in (a) the UK and (b) Manchester Withington constituency.

    Sarah Newton

    In the last 12 months (1 October 2015 – 30 September 2016), the proportion of disclosure applications which took longer than 60 days was as follows: (a) the UK – 5.4%, (b) Manchester – 3.9%, (c) Manchester Withington – 2.8%. The Disclosure and Barring Service is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and is working closely with those forces whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The average time taken in days to process disclosures checks in the last three years is as follows:

    Time Period

    Average waiting time – United Kingdom

    Average waiting time – Manchester Withington

    Oct-13 to Sep-14

    13.4

    12.0

    Oct-14 to Sep-15

    14.4

    12.1

    Oct-15 to Sep-16

    15.5

    12.6

    The average processing time for applications to the DBS for each police force area in England from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2016 is set out in the table below. This shows the average number of days each application took from the point at which the application form was received to the date the certificate was issued, broken down by the applicant’s geographical police force area. This information reflects all applications sent to the DBS, of which a proportion are sent to police forces for consideration for disclosure.

    Police Force Area in which applicant lives

    Average time taken in calendar days

    Metropolitan

    28.1

    Cumbria

    11.5

    Lancashire

    11.6

    Merseyside

    12.1

    Greater Manchester

    14.1

    Cheshire

    11.1

    Northumbria

    13.9

    Durham

    11.9

    North Yorkshire

    14.1

    West Yorkshire

    12.7

    South Yorkshire

    19.8

    Humberside

    12.2

    Cleveland

    13.5

    West Midlands

    10.3

    Staffordshire

    9.6

    West Mercia

    11.9

    Warwickshire

    9.4

    Derbyshire

    14.1

    Nottinghamshire

    11.7

    Lincolnshire

    10.5

    Leicestershire

    9.4

    Northamptonshire

    17.9

    Cambridgeshire

    10.1

    Norfolk

    9.1

    Suffolk

    9.9

    Bedfordshire

    11.6

    Hertfordshire

    14.8

    Essex

    14.2

    Thames Valley

    16.1

    Hampshire

    14.2

    Surrey

    14.1

    Kent

    15.8

    Sussex

    11.9

    City of London

    11.9

    Devon & Cornwall

    11.3

    Avon And Somerset

    10.7

    Gloucester

    10.7

    Wiltshire

    10.2

    Dorset

    26.8

    For a breakdown of how long police forces take to process applications they receive; this information is regularly published on the DBS website and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-performance

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2015 to Question 8917, what recent assessment she has made of the performance of the Disclosure and Barring service; and what the average processing time is for disclosure applications.

    Karen Bradley

    The average processing time for disclosure applications was 15.3 days in December 2015, the latest month for which figures are available. The DBS operates to a target to issue 95% of disclosure certificates within 56 days (8 weeks) and 94.3% were issued within this target in December 2015.

    DBS is working closely with those forces who performance does not meet turnaround time targets.

  • Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the long term liabilities of the Risk Protection Arrangement; and how her Department has estimated the total funds needed to cover these liabilities.

    Edward Timpson

    The Secretary of State for Education has engaged with professional actuaries both from the private sector and Government, to provide an actuarial assessment of the long term liabilities applicable to the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA).

    The estimated total funds needed to cover these liabilities are modelled on the current RPA membership and expected future pupil numbers of the academy trusts which are forecast to join the RPA.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed as IT professionals who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in recognised shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

    Data of the number of people employed in specific regions of the United Kingdom is not available. The Home Office holds individual records showing the working location of Tier 2 (General) migrants, but centralised records show the registered address of the Tier 2 Sponsor, which is normally that organisation’s Head Office.

    The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This includes the impact on the top ten occupations and is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf