Tag: 2016

  • Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chris Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a mandatory dog-breeding licence for any household planning to produce two or more litters per year; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    We are reviewing certain local authority licensing schemes, including the breeding and selling of dogs. The public consultation on this issue closed on 12 March. The consultation proposed that anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs, or who breeds more than two litters in a twelve month period, would need a licence.

    We also proposed to prohibit the sale of puppies under eight weeks of age in all cases. We are currently analysing the 1,500 or so responses before making any firm decisions.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the retention of case files for victims of serious child abuse in local authority-provided care.

    Edward Timpson

    Paragraphs 7.10 and 7.11 of Volume 2[1] of the guidance and regulations to Children Act 1989 (on care planning, placement and case review) explains how a local authority should retain and safe keep all looked after children’s case files.

    Paragraphs 4.21 et seq of Volume 3[2] of the same guidance (on transition to adulthood for care leavers) includes information about access to records for people who have spent all or part of the childhood or adolescence in local authority care.

    [1]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441643/Children_Act_Guidance_2015.pdf

    [2]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397649/CA1989_Transitions_guidance.pdf

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  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in connection with the reference in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting communiqué to the proposal for a Commonwealth Advantage under which all member governments would consider further possible measures to enhance the scope for Commonwealth citizens to access each other’s countries more easily and for longer than is currently possible.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Home Office officials continue to contribute to a Working Group led by the Commonwealth Secretariat which is looking at the movement of Commonwealth citizens and how that can be improved, taking due regard to the requirement in the Communiqué that the actions should “not conflict with national legislation and international obligations”. Commonwealth Heads of Government have requested a progress report on these Working Group discussions at their next meeting.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it policy to adopt a national assessment framework at Key Stage 3 in order to remove from schools the need to spend time writing their own assessment guidelines.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government removed the system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment in September 2014 and has no plans to replace it. At Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, schools are expected to implement assessment systems that meet the needs of their pupils and takes account of their curriculum.

    Levels were only ever intended to be used for end of Key Stage statutory assessment but, over time, they came to dominate all assessment and have a damaging impact on teaching practice. Removing levels has put assessment back in the hands of schools and restored its real purpose of helping teachers to evaluate pupils’ understanding of curriculum content and plan lessons to support their progress. The removal of levels should also help to alleviate teacher workload over time by reducing the tracking burdens that levels encouraged.

    In order to support schools so that they can make the most of the freedoms created by the removal of levels, we set up the Commission on Assessment Without Levels. In 2015, the Commission published guidance for schools, which includes examples of best practice. This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commission-on-assessment-without-levels-final-report

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  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward proposals to reduce the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals.

    Tracey Crouch

    The Triennial Review of Stakes and Prizes is due to be published shortly, and will consider stakes and prizes of all gaming machines.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the intelligence and surveillance technology components that will be retrofitted to Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft procured by his Department will be supplied by UK manufacturers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 3 December 2015 in response to Question 17838.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will take steps to provide compensation for people in Scotland who have lost out financially as a result of the increase in the women’s pension age.

    David Mundell

    In-work and out of work working age benefits are available for those who have not yet reached State Pension age.

    The women affected by the Pensions Act 2011 will reach State Pension age after the introduction of the new State Pension, which will be more generous for those historically worse off under the current system.

    Further, a £1 billion concession was made, limiting the delay that anyone would experience to their State Pension age to 18 months, relative to the Pensions Act 1995 timetable. This mitigated the effect of the changes for those most affected by the Pensions Act 2011.

  • Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alan Mak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Mak on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to increase the personal allowance during this Parliament.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is committed to raising the income tax personal allowance from £10,600 to £12,500 by the end of this parliament. This is alongside our commitment to raise the higher rate threshold to £50,000. Over 30 million individuals will benefit from these changes.

    Summer Budget 2015 confirmed that the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17, and £11,200 in 2017-18.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has for the next National Clinical Audit of avoidable deaths in relation to epilepsy.

    Jane Ellison

    The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership commissions, develops and manages the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), on behalf of NHS England, Wales and other devolved administrations. Whilst there is no specific audit planned that covers all cases of deaths from epilepsy, the following NCAPOP audits and reviews are of relevance:

    – The audit for paediatric epilepsy, which is being re-commissioned this year, covers the quality of health care services for children and young people with epilepsy in the UK. The audit is managed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the first audit report can be found at the following link:

    www.rcpch.ac.uk/news/variation-care-children-epilepsy-revealed-first-uk-wide-audit;

    – The 2013 review report into cases of mortality and prolonged seizures in children and young people with epilepsies that was managed by the RCPCH. The report is available at the following link:

    www.rcpch.ac.uk/child-health-reviews-uk/programme-findings/programme-findings-chr-uk;

    – The recently commissioned national mortality case record review programme for England and Scotland which aims to improve understanding and learning about problems in care that may have contributed to a patient’s death:

    www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/rcp-hosts-pioneering-national-mortality-case-record-review-programme

    – The maternal, newborn and infant clinical outcome review programme will be undertaking a review of cases of mortality and morbidity for pregnant women with severe epilepsy that will report in December 2017. This will be carried out by MBRRACE-UK at The University of Oxford. Further information can be found at the following link:

    www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/topic-proposals

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, against which community rehabilitation companies the Authority Step-in action provided for by section 27 of the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) Amended and Restated Services Agreement has been used since 1 February 2015; and in response to which issues such an action has been taken.

    Andrew Selous

    Thanks to these reforms, offenders in prison for less than 12 months are now receiving support from the probation providers for the very first time.

    Since new owners began running Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) on 1 February 2015, the Secretary of State has not exercised his powers of written consent against any Boards of any CRC. The Secretary of State has also not used section 27 of the Amended and Restated Services Agreement against any CRC.

    We closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments to maintain service delivery, reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.