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Tag: 2016

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, how many local authorities received advice from her Department on Education, Health and Care plans that were considered to be non-compliant with statutory requirements in 2015.

    Edward Timpson

    Since September 2014, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans have been regularly monitored and reviewed. This is part of the Department’s ongoing work to support and challenge local authorities’ implementation of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The Department also gathers information about EHC plans from parents and young people, through termly surveys of Parent Carer Forums, correspondence, and regular dialogue with parents’ and young people’s groups.

    Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on how to improve them has been provided directly to the local authorities concerned by the Department’s team of SEND advisors. Thus far, our SEND advisors have noted issues around non-compliance for 29 local authorities, all of which were subsequently given advice about improving their EHC plans in order to fulfil statutory requirements

    Our advisors are currently delivering a number of workshops for local authorities on how to write high quality, legally compliant EHC plans, and to share good practice. The training resources from these workshops will be published shortly.

    There are a number of places where local authorities can find guidance about EHC plans. This includes the statutory SEND Code of Practice, which clearly sets out what must be included in a plan, and provides detailed guidance on the process that must be followed to produce one. There are also examples of good quality EHC plans produced by the SEND Pathfinder local authorities.

    The review of EHC plans carried out in 2014 looked specifically at EHC plan templates.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what comparative assessment she has made of recent trends in domestic fires caused by (a) an electrical source of ignition and (b) other reasons for domestic fires.

    Mike Penning

    Between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2015 there were over 36,000 accidental dwelling fires in England where the source of ignition was “Electrical Distribution” or “Other Electrical appliances”. Over the same period, there were 149,000 accidental dwelling fires in England.

  • Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on convening a cross-government and stakeholder working party on the application of the national minimum wage for seafarers; and when he expects that working party to meet.

    Nick Boles

    The application of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for seafarers continues to be considered by the cross-Government working group which is reviewing the implementation of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011.

    The Government is working with key stakeholders through this working group to agree and finalise revised guidance on the NMW for seafarers which will be published shortly.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department’s risk register assesses risks to (a) the provision of education places and (b) changes in the level of the cost of providing education which result from immigration from (i) other EEA member states and (ii) countries from outside the EEA; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections, which include migration, have been published up to 2024.

    Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area. We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities based on their own projections of local pupil numbers. These projections reflect all drivers of increased pupil numbers: rising birth rates, housing development and migration from within the UK and overseas. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation – there is no shortfall between the number of places we fund and the number of places local authorities say they will need to create.

    We have already committed to invest £7 billion on school places, which along with our investment in 500 new free schools we expect to deliver 600,000 new places by 2021. We have also protected the schools budget so that as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools. Revenue allocations to local authorities are calculated by reference to pupil numbers and do not differentiate on the basis of immigration from other EEA member states or countries from outside the EEA.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Ministry of Defence Police officers are employed in safeguarding the Trident nuclear deterrent.

    Mark Lancaster

    I am withholding the numbers of Ministry of Defence Police officers deployed to protect the Trident nuclear deterrent for the purpose of safeguarding national security.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a list of all secondees to her Department from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.

    George Eustice

    The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has had no secondees from PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG or any other consultancy firm in the last three financial years.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is on supporting people with mental health issues who are employed in traditionally male-dominated industries.

    Nicola Blackwood

    We are committed to supporting people with mental health problems to stay in work and the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions established a joint Work and Health Unit to look at these matters.

    Improving access to mental health services for those who need them is important and we are increasing access to talking therapy services so that 1.5 million people per year will be able to access support by 2020.

    We will shortly be publishing a Green Paper on work and health, which will include a focus on mental health as we know that people with mental health conditions fare poorly in the labour market. Our aim is to help transform the lives and prospects of disabled people and those with a health condition.

    We know that the stigma surrounding mental health can create barriers to people seeking and receiving support. We have recently announced £20 million of additional funding to the national Time to Change anti-stigma programme, in conjunction with Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund, which works with employers to support them in tackling the stigma in the workplace associated with poor mental health. This next phase of Time to Change places a particular focus on stigma experienced by men.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the numbers of sham (a) marriages and (b) civil partnerships since March 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    Since the marriage referral scheme commenced on 2nd March 2015, the number of marriages considered to be a sham has reduced slightly although these numbers are too small to indicate any trend.

    Referrals under Section 24 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and allegations have remained stable since March.

    From the data extract it is not possible to determine if a notification under the scheme relates to a Civil Partnership or a Marriage as the referrals are identical.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office raised the alleged breaches of international humanitarian law outlined in the final report of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen with the Saudi Arabian government during his recent visit to Rome.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We regularly raise the importance of compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the Saudi Arabian government and other members of the military coalition. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), raised this issue of IHL compliance on 4 February with the Saudi Ambassador in London. The Saudi Arabian government has its own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail of how they investigate such incidents on 31 January.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to encourage vets, re-homing centres and dog wardens to scan stray dogs for microchips.

    George Eustice

    It is already best practice for vets, re-homing centres and dog wardens to scan strays and they have a duty of care to do so. To assist dog wardens, the Kennel Club has provided free scanners to all local authorities. We will also be reminding these parties of the need to scan dogs.