The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the objectives for NHS England’s National Clinical Directors post April 2016 will be agreed.
George Freeman
From 1 April 2016, objectives for the National Clinical Directors will be set according to the priority areas and major programmes, as set out in the Mandate and planning guidance. They will relate, where appropriate, to established programmes of service improvement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in the Cabinet Office’s most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.
Mr David Lidington
Departments publish details of Ministers meetings’ with external organisations routinely on Gov.uk.
Details of meetings held during the period October – December 2015 will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Government spending on Syria has been spent on (a) military action and (b) the provision of humanitarian aid.
Penny Mordaunt
It is not possible to separately identify the costs of military action in Syria. However, from August 2014, the net additional costs of counter-Daesh activity in Iraq and Syria have been £280 million. Since February 2012, the UK has pledged over £2.3 billion in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has undertaken research on the potential effects of electromagnetic emissions on children who are passengers in autonomous vehicles.
Andrew Jones
All new vehicles are required to comply with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) Regulation 10, which governs the level of electromagnetic emissions from vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been allocated for travel and subsistence costs for officials of her Department related to the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow during June and July 2016.
Nick Gibb
The cost of the nine National Schools Commissioner Roadshows during June and July 2016 will be met from within Schools Commissioner’s Group (SCG) allocated programme budget. The programme budget is to cover the costs related to events and other communications activities. For the 2016/17 financial year, this budget is £425k.
It is expected that approximately 1,500 system leaders will attend the nine National Schools Commissioner Roadshows taking place in June and July 2016.
There was no specific allocation made for travel and subsistence costs for officials related to the National Schools Commissioner Roadshows during June and July 2016. These costs will be met from within SCG allocated administrative budget.
An official in each of the RSC offices has been involved in organising the nine National Schools Commissioners roadshows, supported by a lead in SCG. We expect approximately five officials to attend each roadshow, plus the National Schools Commissioner and the relevant Regional School Commissioner (RSC).
There has been no budget allocated to advertising the National Schools Commissioner Roadshows.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans his Department has to hire third party contractors to support its work on trade negotiations; what the duration of such contracts will be; and what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of such contractors over the lifetime of those contracts.
Greg Hands
The Rt hon Member will be aware that my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has created a new Department for International Trade, which is responsible for promoting British trade across the world and ensuring the UK takes advantage of the huge opportunities open to us. We are building up our trade policy capability. The new Department has begun a process to recruit and train staff to work on the UK’s trade policy. We will adapt the resource devoted to trade policy in line with future demands.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research her Department has commissioned on the effect of selective education on the educational attainment of children in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.
Nick Gibb
The Department has reviewed a wide range of external research and evidence on the impact of academic selection, including research on the impact of selection on the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils.
The evidence shows that grammar schools provide a good education for those who attend them. Grammar school pupils outperform those of similar ability in comprehensive schools and they also make more progress than other pupils with similar primary school results. Nearly 78 per cent of high ability pupils achieve the English Baccalaureate at grammar school, compared to just over 52 per cent at comprehensive schools, and the attainment gap for disadvantaged students in grammar schools is practically eliminated
This evidence is based on the existing system of grammar schools. We are proposing significant changes to the requirements placed on selective schools to ensure that they raise standards for all pupils as part of a diverse schools system.
Our proposals will help deliver a school system that works for all children and offers parents genuine choice by increasing the number of good and outstanding school places.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with multiple sclerosis who were awarded the daily living component of personal independence payment scored all of their points due to aid and appliances.
Justin Tomlinson
For Multiple Sclerosis, the number of individuals awarded the Daily Living component of PIP who scored all of their points due to aids and appliances is 2,200.
This data relates to the period April 2013 to 30th September 2015, and includes Normal Rules awards only.
DWP are currently running a consultation to seek views on how support can best be provided to help meet the costs of disability which are faced by people who are currently awarded points due to aids and appliances. The department is keen to hear views from all interested parties, especially disabled people and disability organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many G4S employees in contracted-out facilities have been charged with a work-related criminal offence since 2010; and in which facility was each such person employed.
Andrew Selous
A total of 10* G4S employees in the 8 contracted-out facilities they run on behalf of the Ministry of Justice have been charged with a work-related criminal offence since 2010. The vast majority of staff working in these facilities are honest, hard-working professionals. There is no place for criminal behaviour within prisons and secure training centres.
*All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in the public health grant for local authorities on local smoking cessation services in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.
Jane Ellison
Local authorities, funded by the Government’s public health grant, have responsibility for providing a programme of tobacco control that meets the needs of their populations, including the provision of locally commissioned services. Over the next five years, local authorities will receive £16 billion through the public health grant.
The evidence shows that specialist stop smoking services are the most effective way to help smokers quit. Public Health England supports local authorities by developing and distributing information and advice for the commissioning of effective regional approaches to tobacco control which maximise value for money at a local level.