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Tag: 2016

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the role of (1) the Department for Culture, Media And Sport, (2) the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (3) the Department of Health, (4) the Department for Education, and (5) the Department for Communities and Local Government, in the promotion of non-competitive outdoor activities; the provision of, and access to, outdoor green spaces, and the development of healthier life styles by involvement in such activities and the use of such spaces; what priority they give to the promotion of such activities; and which is the lead department in this area.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government recognises the importance of cross-government cooperation in considering policies which impact on the provision, access and promotion of outside spaces. There is not one single government department, which that leads on the promotion of healthier lifestyles through non-competitive outdoor recreation activities. Instead, Government departments jointly recognise the value of outdoor recreation to health, environment and education. Outdoor recreation is referenced in the Government’s new sport and physical activity strategy, which was published on 17th December 2015. Government will submit a formal annual report to Parliament, which sets out progress in implementing this strategy later this year. Individual government department’s involvement in outdoor activities is outlined below:

    Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The importance of outdoor recreation is reflected in our new sport and physical activity strategy, published in December 2015. Sport England is currently working with the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) on the ‘Getting Active Outdoors’ insight report – the largest ever of its kind – to get the nation active – particularly children, pensioners and women. In the meantime, Sport England is investing over £68 million in outdoor recreation sports, including £3 million invested in the Britain on Foot campaign, to get more people hillwalking, trail running and mountaineering.

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs holds policy responsibility for the legal and land-use aspects of access to the countryside (in forests, protected landscapes, on public rights of way, commons, town and village greens, open access spaces and on waterways).

    The Department of Health

    The Department of Health acknowledges the health benefits of being in a natural environment are significant and that it is important that children have opportunities to play in clean, secure outdoor environments. The department recognises the importance of outdoor activities and they have included an indicator on use of green space for exercise and health purposes in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. The health promotes outdoor physical activity through a variety of channels, which includes: Change4Life Sports Clubs – a programme providing indoor and outdoor non-competitive physical activity to the least active children; the 10 Minute Shake Up campaign – Change4Life teamed up with Disney to inspire children to get active with over the summers of 2014 and 2015; providing funding of over 1million to Play England for a three year project ‘Street Play’ to promote outdoor play activities; and National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE) guidance to promoting outdoor physical activity.

    The Department for Education

    The Department for Education are is determined that all children lead healthy active lives. Physical Education is compulsory at all four key stages in the national curriculum for maintained schools. The programmes of study at key stages 2, 3 and 4 sets out the expectation that pupils should take part in outdoor adventurous activities. At key stage 4 these activities should take place in a range of environments and present intellectual and physical challenges. Independent research on the primary PE and sport premium demonstrates that some schools are using their funding to provide enhanced opportunities for their pupils in this area – including rock-climbing, surfing and sailing. The Department does not specifically promote non-competitive outdoor activities as teachers have the freedom to organise and deliver the curriculum to ensure it is challenging and effectively meets programme of study.

    The Department for Communities and Local Government

    The Department for Communities and Local Government role in outdoor recreation is community focussed. It recognises that Parks, sports grounds and other green spaces, which are shared by lots of people, holds great benefits to the health and wellbeing of local communities. We want local communities to be empowered to play a significant role in maintaining and protecting green spaces of most importance to them. The Department owns the Green Flag Award scheme, a recognised accreditation setting the national standard for parks and green spaces across the UK, which is currently run under licence by Keep Britain Tidy. The scheme awards well-managed green spaces run by the local authority and has a separate category for community managed green spaces. The Department is currently running a Pocket Parks programme to establish up to 100 pocket parks – small areas of inviting public space where people can enjoy relief from city streets. It is expected that an announcement of the successful projects will be made in February. Through the Community Right to Bid, communities are listing the parks and green spaces that are important to them. Hundreds have been listed including allotments and playing fields.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the police take to ensure the safety of people sleeping rough.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. One person without a home is one too many, which is why we will increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

    We also want to help local authorities provide advice and assistance to those at risk of homelessness which is why we have protected the homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the provisional local government finance settlement, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

    Decisions about frontline policing, and how resources are best deployed, are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. We have seen forces make significant changes to frontline policing to reflect the priorities of local people, including the most vulnerable. For example, several forces have established multi- agency teams to work collaboratively with other local public and voluntary sector services to tackle rough sleeping.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.1 of The process for withdrawing from the European Union, CM9216, what procedure will be adopted in the event of votes to remain and to leave being identical during the oncoming referendum on the UK’s EU membership.

    Mr David Lidington

    The procedure in the unlikely eventuality of a tied vote is not provided for under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, or the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been purchased in (a) England, (b) the East Midlands and (c) Ashfield constituency through the Help to Buy Scheme in each year since that scheme was introduced.

    Brandon Lewis

    Since the launch of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan, Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee and Help to Buy: NewBuy schemes, the total number of homes sold under all schemes total 138,997 in England, of which 15,684 are in the East Midlands.

    Figures for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan and Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee show 494 homes sold in the Ashfield constituency. Figures for the total number of homes sold under the Help to Buy: NewBuy schemes are not published at this level.

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress the Joint Work and Health Unit has made on its priority of (a) productivity and growth in the economy, (b) halving the disability employment gap and (c) reducing health inequalities relating to gender, age and geographies; and if he will make a statement.

    Priti Patel

    The Work and Health Unit has been established to lead the drive for improving work and health outcomes for people with disabilities and long term health conditions, as well as improving prevention and support for people absent from work through ill health and those at risk of leaving the workforce.

    Since Q1 2014 the number of disabled people in employment has increased by around 365,000 people, with a total of 3.3million disabled people now in work as of Q1 2016.

    The Unit will build on this progress by improving integration across healthcare and employment services as well as supporting employers to recruit and retain more disabled people and people with long term health conditions. We have set up work-streams focused on delivery workforce, fitness for work, culture change and stakeholder engagement, employers and building the evidence base through developing a ‘test and learn’ approach.

    We have been seeking and listening to the views of people that use current health, care and employment services, engaging with charities and other stakeholders, to understand what works and what needs to change and will continue to engage at all levels over the coming months.

    The Work and Health Unit is leading the process for preparing a green paper which will be published later this year that will begin the consultation about how to improve support for people with disabilities and long term health conditions.

  • Alex Salmond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Salmond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Salmond on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle food insecurity in Southern Africa.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Southern Africa’s unprecedented El Nino-related drought has triggered a second year of hunger and hardship. More than 31 million people are estimated to be food-insecure across the region. DFID was one of the first donors to respond to the crisis and has already increased the levels of our humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia. We have also allocated additional funding to support the regional response. As well as responding to the immediate humanitarian needs, we will have increased our efforts to ensure our programme portfolios continue to build resilience and preparedness.

    DFID is using its influence within the international community to encourage the scaling up of support and to strengthen coordination regionally and at country level. We are also using our influence with partner governments to advocate for the logistical measures to improve the transport of supplies into and within the region.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of (i) male and (ii) female offenders convicted of each offence in the violence against the person offence category were remanded in custody (A) pre-conviction and (B) post-conviction in each of the last three years.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The number and proportion of male and female offenders remanded in custody before conviction for violence against the person offences, at magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales, between 2013 and 2015, can be viewed in the table.

    Reliable information on post-conviction remand status for offenders convicted at Crown and magistrates’ courts is not centrally held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Court proceedings data for 2016 will be published in due course.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 8988, whether the Government has taken a decision on the funding of the Green Investment Bank’s business activity in future years.

    Anna Soubry

    Government funding for the Green Investment Bank (GIB) for the 2016-17 period and beyond has now been announced as part of the current spending review. This is a good settlement for GIB and provides what GIB management wanted by allowing for 100% funding of GIB’s investments to the point of majority sale, assuming a sale in the next financial year.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Prime Minister, what the (a) job description, (b) budget and (c) selection criteria is for each of his trade envoys.

    Mr David Cameron

    Information regarding trade envoys can be found on the gov.uk website.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds that increasing the national expectations in writing from 4b to 5c will improve the outcomes in writing for children at the end of Key Stage 2.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government has set a more a challenging expected standard for assessment at the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) to reflect the high expectations set by the new national curriculum. The curriculum standards align with the highest performing jurisdictions internationally and have been raised because too many children who met the old expected standard at the end of primary school did not go on to achieve at least five good GCSEs.

    The new expected standard is not, however, equivalent to the old level 5c for KS2 English writing or any other subject. While there will be no need to make comparison to the old national curriculum levels once the new system is established, we have been clear that the new expected standard is broadly equivalent to 4b.

    The Standards and Testing Agency published exemplification materials for KS2 writing in early February to support teachers in making their teacher assessment judgements. These were developed in consultation with a number of teacher panels and are real examples of work by pupils currently in year 6. The materials show two examples of pupils assessed as working at the expected standard: one shows work that has met the expected standard and is broadly equivalent to the old 4b, while another shows work at the higher end of the expected standard. We have published these two different examples to show the breadth of competence covered by ‘meeting the expected standard’. I have asked the Standards and Testing Agency to issue further guidance to schools shortly to clarify the assessment arrangements and eliminate any misunderstandings.