Tag: 2016

  • Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government where the criteria for standards in initial teacher training can be found, and whether there are any specific legislative instruments enforcing those criteria.

    Lord Nash

    The Teachers’ Standards were published in 2011 and apply to all teachers. They define the minimum level of practice expected of teachers. The document can be found on the GOV.UK website, and has been attached to this answer.

    The standards refer to:

    • Schedule 2 of The Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003

    • The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012

    As such, the Teachers’ Standards apply to:

    • Trainees working towards Qualified Teacher Status;

    • All teachers completing their statutory induction period (newly qualified teachers [NQTs]); and

    • Teachers in maintained schools, including maintained special schools, who are covered by the 2012 appraisal regulations.

    The National College for Teaching and Leadership will use Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards, which relates to personal and professional conduct, when assessing cases of serious misconduct, regardless of the education sector in which the teacher works.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 10 February (HL5652), what (1) proportion, and (2) volume, of excavated spoil from each of the HS2 Phase 1 construction sites will be transported from them by (a) rail, (b) road, and (c) river.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Excavated material arising from the construction of Phase One of HS2 will be transported along the construction corridor (site haul) where it is reasonably practicable to do so. Where that is not possible, or for movement along longer distances, the material will be transported by public highway, along designated routes. Where reasonably practicable, rail has been considered for the transportation of large quantities of excavated material over long distances. There are currently no plans to move any of the excavated material by river.

    The approximate quantities and relative proportion of each of these transportation methods, allocated to broad sections of the proposed route is set out in the table below. These figures reflect the assumptions reported in the Environmental Statement deposited alongside the Phase One Bill and, as such, are a plausible worst case in terms of both total volume of excavated material and proportion transport by highway and rail. The project has made a commitment to maximise the amount of excavated material transported by rail and are working to increase the proportion transport by rail and decrease the proportion transported by highway wherever reasonably practicable.

    (All figures are in million tons and movements may include multiple handling)

    Site Haul

    Public Highway Haul

    Rail Haul

    Central London & Metropolitan area

    16.9 (56%)

    4 (13%)

    9.46 (31%)

    Buckinghamshire Northants & Warwickshire Country areas

    72.4 (80%)

    17.9 (20%)

    – (0%)

    West Midlands Metropolitan area

    29.9 (61%)

    18.9 (39%)

    – (0%)

    Total Phase One Routewide

    119.2 (70%)

    40.8 (24%)

    9.46 (6%)
  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The figures requested are attached and as follows:

    Number of Staff

    Cost CEA Home

    Cost CEA Overseas

    Total

    2012/2013

    442

    £8,736,957

    £6,189,104

    £14,926,061

    2013/2014

    378

    £6,727,304

    £6,435,519

    £13,162,823

    2014/2015

    370

    £7,193,211

    £5,749,923

    £12,943,134

    It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests from his Department for evidence to inform a work capability assessment were (a) made and (b) responded to by GPs and other professionals, in each of the last three years; and what the professional discipline was that each of those requests were made to.

    Priti Patel

    Information requests made by Healthcare Professionals to inform a Work Capability Assessment:

    Year

    Requests made:

    Responses received:

    Apr. 2013 to Mar. 2014

    599,261

    396,847

    Apr. 2014 to Mar. 2015

    536,101

    314,170

    Apr. 2015 to Mar. 2016

    534,677

    280,736

    Source: Centre for Health Disability Assessments (CHDA)

    Information on the professional discipline of the individual from whom information is requested is not held

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the request of the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey for an urgent meeting on behalf of his constituents as requested by that hon. Member on 30 May 2016.

    James Brokenshire

    I have arranged to meet the Honourable Gentleman.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Brimstone missiles have been used in Syria in each month since December 2015.

    Mike Penning

    The following number of Brimstone missiles have been released by UK aircraft engaged on Operation SHADER in Syria.

    Year

    Month

    2015

    December

    0

    2016

    January

    17

    February

    2

    March

    0

    April

    0

    May

    0

    June

    1

    July

    0

    August

    6

    “

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many 999 calls were made over the last three calendar years from HM prisons.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to provide an answer to Question 18568, tabled by the hon. Member for East Ham on 2 December 2015.

    Nick Boles

    The Government has not made an estimate of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates for these age groups for each year until 2020.

    The Government asks the Low Pay Commission to make NMW rate recommendations each year based on maximising the wages of the low paid without damaging employment opportunities. The Low Pay Commission will recommend the October 2016 NMW rates and indicative rates for 2017 by the end of February 2016.

  • Baroness Massey of Darwen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Massey of Darwen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Massey of Darwen on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional steps, if any, they will take to monitor and enforce compliance with the School Admissions Code in the light of their decision to limit those who can formally object to school admission arrangements; and what estimate they have made of what percentage of the objections submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator by (1) parents, and (2) groups or organisations, were successful between 2012 and 2015 inclusive.

    Lord Nash

    The School Admissions Code exists to ensure that places in all state funded schools are allocated in a fair and transparent manner. The Department for Education will shortly be consulting on a package of changes to the Code, which will include measures to assist parents and promote fairness and transparency. The proposed changes in relation to objections are designed to ensure that the Schools Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school and is not held up by the need to also consider large numbers of objections referred by interest groups from outside the area. Local authorities will continue to have the right to object so that they are able to act on behalf of the local community.

  • Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are aware of the recent case of 15 year-old Matthew Garnett who, as a consequence of being on the autistic spectrum, has been confined to a psychiatric intensive care unit for six months without having been moved to a more appropriate care facility, and what action they are taking to prevent such cases arising in future.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We are aware of this case, and we welcome NHS England’s confirmation that Matthew will be moving to a more appropriate facility in the next month.

    Delivery of appropriate care for the few individuals with very complex needs will always be a challenge. The people who can best assess local care needs and ensure that those needs are met are local commissioners, though some people will require care that is commissioned on a national level for rare conditions, including some mental health conditions with comorbidities such as autistic spectrum disorders or learning disabilities. This includes inpatient treatment for children and young people with mental health conditions.

    NHS England is continuing Care and Treatment Reviews for children and young people with learning disabilities in inpatient settings and 52 week residential schools. These reviews ensure the care and setting are appropriate to the child or young person’s needs, and where needed, allow planned moves to community-based care or more appropriate inpatient accommodation.