Tag: 2016

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on increasing the number of BME police officers.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Since 2013, officials in the Government Equalities Office have been working with the Home Office and police representatives on how best to use provisions within the Equality Act 2010 to help increase the number of BME police officers.

    The officer workforce is more representative in terms of gender and ethnicity than it has ever been. At 31 March 2015, there were 6,979 BME officers representing 5.5% of all police officers (compared with 4.6% in 2010, 3.6% in 2006 and only 2.2% in 2000).

    At 31 March 2015, there were 35,738 female officers, representing 28.2% of all police officers (compared with 25.7% in 2010, and only 16.5% in 2000).

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will announce a public consultation to determine the level of support for including mothers’ names on marriage certificates.

    James Brokenshire

    There is agreement that the names of both parents should be included in the marriage entry. The Home Office has, therefore, been working with all interested parties to consider the most efficient and effective way to achieve this. Doing so is likely to require additional funding and changes to legislation, IT systems and administrative processes. A timetable will be confirmed for changes as soon as there is an opportunity to legislate on this matter.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of teacher recruitment and retention in primary and secondary schools.

    Nick Gibb

    There are now more, better-qualified teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before. We are attracting top graduates and career-changers with generous incentives, including tax-free bursaries worth up to £30,000 and the opportunity to earn a salary whilst training.

    This year, over 1,000 more postgraduate trainee teachers were recruited than in 2014/15. We exceeded our target for new primary teachers and finished ahead of last year in key secondary subjects such as maths and physics.

    Teacher retention rates have remained broadly stable for two decades. 72% of those who qualified in the 2009 calendar year and entered teaching by November 2009 were still teaching five years later.

    It is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers. That is why we have made significant policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most, such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload. We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in dealing with disruptive children and to consider all of the challenges of managing behaviour in schools.

    We have established three groups to address the biggest concerns that teachers raised in the workload challenge: marking, planning and data management. The groups will create principles for practice and make specific recommendations for action. All three groups are due to report to Ministers in 2016 and we are commissioning a biennial survey to track teacher workload, starting in the spring of 2016.

    We have also given schools the freedom to pay the best teachers more, recognising excellence and improving retention.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it the policy of the Government that electricity customers across the UK should pay the same for electricity transportation.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Electricity network charges vary by region and reflect the costs of running the network in that area and the number of consumers that those costs are spread over. The Government does not plan to move to national network charging, as the current cost reflective approach helps to ensure efficient use of the network and keeps overall costs down for bill payers across Great Britain. In contrast, national pricing risks an overall increase in network costs by weakening each network company’s local accountability to its customers, as well as making charges less transparent. On 23 October 2015, Ofgem published a report on the regional differences in network charges, which found no compelling case from a regulatory perspective to move to a national network charge. The report is available at:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/regional-differences-network-charges.

    The Government will continue to consider any evidence that is presented.

    “

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for proposals for a tunnel on the A303 near Stonehenge of the UNESCO Advisory Mission to Stonehenge October 2015 Report.

    Andrew Jones

    A report from the cultural heritage advisors to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee completed in October 2015 recognised the on-going and constructive engagement that is taking place between the Department of Transport, Highways England, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Historic England, English Heritage, National Trust and Wiltshire County Council.

    The Department for Transport also shares the report’s view that the design and location of a road improvement for this section of the A303 needs to be carefully considered in order to protect and enhance the World Heritage Site.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness in delivering medicines savings in the community of the not-dispensed scheme for community pharmacies proposed by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.

    Alistair Burt

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Workington (Sue Hayman) on 14 June 2016 to Question 40161.

    “

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many premises are connected to exchange activated telephone exchanges; and if she will make funds available to upgrade such exchanges.

    Matt Hancock

    The information requested in not available. £121.73m has been made available by the UK Government to fund the roll out of superfast broadband in Scotland.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for a final decision on an asylum application in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Information regarding Asylum data is published as part of the Government’s Transparency agenda the latest release of which can be found at can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-transparency-data-november-2016

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of nitrogen dioxide pollution in the UK is caused by emissions from private cars.

    Rory Stewart

    We assess emissions in terms of nitrogen oxides (NOx) rather than nitrogen dioxide (NO2) because the proportion of NO2 varies significantly across vehicle types. Passenger cars (including both petrol and diesel vehicles) contribute 29% of the total emissions of NOx in the UK. Passenger cars contribute 45% of NOX emissions from road transport.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Type 45 destroyers will have additional generating capacity installed, and what is the estimated cost of that work.

    Earl Howe

    The current planning assumption is that all six ships in the class will have additional generating capacity installed. The total cost of implementing the diesel generator upgrade will be determined at the main investment decision.

    I am withholding details of our current cost estimates as premature disclosure of this information could prejudice the commercial interests of the Department.