The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many of his Department’s 24 vacant Deputy Director posts have been filled.
Mr David Jones
The Department for Exiting the EU now has over 200 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and we are still growing rapidly. We are not in a position to give a final total nor a breakdown by directorate as recruitment is ongoing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of teaching vacancies at the start of September 2016.
Nick Gibb
The department collects the number of teacher vacancies in November each year. The November 2015 collection is still underway as schools, Local Authorities and Academy Trusts have until the end of January 2016 to provide their workforce data.
The latest available data on the number of vacancies in schools is from the November 2014 School Workforce Census which was published in July 2015 and is available from table 14 at the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014
The published data shows that 0.3% of teaching posts in state funded schools in England were vacant in November 2014.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2016 to Question 26044, which three of the five funds Northstar Ventures manages are closed to new investments; and when the decision was taken that Northstar Ventures should exit from remaining deals.
James Wharton
The three Northstar Venture Funds that are closed to new investments are the Proof of Concept Fund, Co Investment Fund and North East Creative Content Fund.
Each Fund was designed with an investment phase and closure/end date, specified in the fund management agreements signed at the outset.
No decision has been made to exit Northstar Ventures from teh remaining deals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department last reviewed the arrangements at RAF Northolt on the safety of residents living under the flight path and nearby vicinity; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Lancaster
Military safety regulations mandate that a continual assessment of air safety risks are carried out. This provides not only internal assurance of operating procedures and air safety standards, but considers wider safety aspects such as the risks to individuals’ off-station.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) actively manages air safety via this system, across all of its aerodromes, publishing any mitigated or permitted deviations via the individual stations’ Defence Aerodrome Manual.
For MOD aerodromes that accept commercial/civilian flying activity, these processes have additional Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) oversight and assurance. Commercial operators are required to have similar safety management systems by the CAA, including those operating into RAF Northolt. The MOD and the CAA requires commercial operators to satisfy themselves that RAF Northolt is suitable for the safe operation of their particular aircraft.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of (1) the effect of immigration, and (2) the effect of immigration from the EU, on the UK’s GDP per head in the last 10 years.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
No such estimate has been made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the London Power Tunnels Project is (a) on schedule for completion in 2018 and (b) within budget.
Andrea Leadsom
National Grid has said that:
The London Power Tunnels Project is on schedule for completion in 2018 with all significant work completed in 2017 a year ahead of the original programme.
The London Power Tunnels Project is currently within budget.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) who holds responsibility for training magistrates and (b) how many magistrates have received training on the use of (i) slavery and trafficking risk orders and (ii) slavery and trafficking prevention orders.
Mr Shailesh Vara
Judicial training is the responsibility of the Lord Chief Justice and is exercised through the Judicial College.
To fulfil their judicial decision making responsibilities magistrates, their legal advisers and District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) receive comprehensive induction and continuation training in across the jurisdictions, which includes new legislation.
It is not however possible to identify where magistrates have received standalone or direct training on the use of slavery and trafficking risk orders or slavery and trafficking prevention orders.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Leader of the House what explanation she has received from the Department for Education concerning its failure to answer by 9 September two Questions for Written Answer that were asked on 19 July (HL1338) and 21 July (HL1440).
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park):
I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. My office immediately approach departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remain in contact with them until the questions are answered. This process has been followed in both of the cases to which the noble Lord refers.
In the case of the Ministry of Justice question, I am informed that the delay related the process of transferring it to the right department for response. After discussion it was transferred to the Cabinet Office, who will provide a substantive answer by close of play this week. As regards the Department for Education questions, I am informed that the delay related to gathering complex data spanning a long period and the need to obtain clearance from across government. Both of the questions concerned have now been answered.
Regarding timely replies more generally, I have recently written to the three departments with the greatest proportion of late responses in the last session and I regularly set out the House’s expectations as they apply to QWAs to my frontbench team. Notwithstanding the cases referenced above, I am pleased to say that the proportion of on-time responses from the Ministry of Justice rose from 74% of questions in 2014-15 to 87% in 2015-16; while the Department for Education answered well over 90% of questions on time in both sessions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2016 to Question 21765, on birds: census, when she plans to publish her Department’s internal allocations.
Rory Stewart
Defra’s Business Planning process is still underway. At this time it would not be appropriate to comment on how this translates into internal allocations for both the core Department and its Network Bodies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 2.2.72 of his Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15, for which roles responsibility has been transferred from military to civilian personnel since 2010.
Mark Lancaster
The potential for non-operational Armed Forces roles to be filled by civilian personnel is routinely considered under the Whole Force Approach. However, details of these changes are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.