The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-07-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have applied to study Design and Technology in teacher training colleges.
Lord Nash
The latest published data, from 30 June 2016, shows that 1,370 applications have been submitted for Design and Technology ITT courses, either to a university or a school-led route.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many non-UK citizens are employed by his Department.
David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly; all staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other Government bodies, who remain the employers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current weekly costs of the Chilcot Inquiry.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The Iraq Inquiry, which is independent of Government, publishes its annual costs after the end of each financial year. The Inquiry’s costs for FY 2014/15 were £1,358,500, providing an average weekly cost in the last financial year of £26,125.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 January (HL5200), whether they have had regard to the preaching and teaching of Wahhabism in mosques and Muslim education bodies in Britain as part of their work on their Counter-Extremism Strategy.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We published our Counter Extremism Strategy in October 2015 which sets out a range of measures to deal with the broad challenge of extremism. We have placed a duty on specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being radicalised.
We consider vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values as extremist, whatever guise these are expressed under. This includes when religions are hijacked by those wishing to promote extremism. As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in July last year “extremist ideology is not true Islam”.
HM Government’s Counter Extremism Strategy and counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, set out our approach to tackling the full range of factors that allow extremist and terrorist groups to grow and flourish. These include directly challenging ideologies, including those which have a theological basis.
The Prime Minister recently commissioned a review into the funding of extremism in the UK. This will include an assessment funding that comes from overseas. The review is due to report in spring 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many current Child Support Agency arrears cases there is (a) a current or ongoing liability for a child and (b) no such ongoing liability.
Priti Patel
As at December 2015, there were 418,300 CSA cases with a current liability and arrears and 748,600 CSA cases with no liability and arrears.
Information on Caseload Status is set out on Page 54 of the CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics which can be accessed online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics–2
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people had retrospective claims for winter fuel payments agreed for 2013-14.
Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The majority of Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically from information already held by the Department. We invite claims mainly from men under 65 who meet the eligibility criteria, as the largest group not identified and paid automatically. Claims can be made up to and including 31 March and are not accepted after that date.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the total number of visit visa applications was from Sri Lanka in 2015; and how many such applications were refused.
James Brokenshire
The information requested is as follows:
Applications: 16745
Issued : 10940
Refused : 5785
*These figures are based on Management Information, not published statistics, and are therefore liable to change.
*These figures relate to all visit visa applications made via the Visa Application Centre in Columbo, Sri Lanka, in 2015. It will therefore incorporate applicants other than Sri Lankan nationals.
*Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to reduce the financial burden on people with cancer which arises from their condition and affects their ability to recover.
Jane Ellison
In its report Achieving World Class Cancer Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015-2020 (July 2015), the independent Cancer Taskforce called for an acceleration of the commissioning and provision of services to support people affected by cancer to live as healthy and as happy lives as possible. Over the last few years, NHS England has been working with Macmillan Cancer Support to roll out the Recovery Package, which describes a set of actions that ensure that the individual needs of all people going through cancer treatment and beyond are met by tailored support and services. By working through a Recovery Package, patients and clinicians assess patients’ holistic needs and plan appropriately for their care and support. They ensure that a treatment summary is sent between a patient’s hospital and their general practitioner (GP), that they are appropriately followed up by their GP, and can attend health and wellbeing events for patients and carers.
In September 2015, we announced that by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. In April 2016, NHS England published guidance on the commissioning of these services to support people living with and beyond cancer, and will continue to support both Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints and clinical commissioning groups to put this guidance into action. Support for patients living with and beyond cancer should be tailored specifically to the needs of every patient, including to access the financial support they need.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-07-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the continuing impact of the alterations to the state pension age on women born in the 1950s, on or after 6 April 1951.
Lord Freud
The decision to equalise the State Pension age for men and women dates back to 1995 and addresses a longstanding inequality. Since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing for those born after 6 April 1950. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.
The Government listened to concerns expressed by those affected by the Pension Act 2011 changes, and took action to limit the maximum change to State Pension age to 18 months, a concession worth over £1billion.
All those affected by the faster equalisation timetable will reach State Pension age following the introduction of the new State Pension, which is more generous for many women who have historically done poorly under the current system.
The average woman reaching State Pension age in the first forty years of the new State Pension is estimated to receive 10 per cent more State Pension over her lifetime than the average man.
Women retiring today can still expect to receive the State Pension for 26 years on average – several years longer than men. And this generation of women will spend a higher proportion of their lives in retirement than any before.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the autism employment gap.
Penny Mordaunt
We will shortly publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation aimed at disabled people, their representative organisations and a wide range of other stakeholders.
We have put in place the Autism Alliance UK contract to upskill autism leads across the JCP+/DWP Network – Delivering autism and associated hidden impairments training by specialists in this area. So far we have reached over 1,100 staff.
It is hoped the training will help increase the proportion of autistic adults in full-time employment, which currently stands at 15%, according to the National Autistic Society.
DWP has also developed an uncovering hidden impairments toolkit to help colleagues support those with hidden impairments, including autism.