Tag: 2016

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many contracts relating to (a) secure training centres and (b) prisons MTC Novo have been awarded; and how many such contracts that firm is currently under consideration for.

    Andrew Selous

    The Ministry of Justice holds contract information related to (a) secure training centres and (b) prisons, and can confirm that MTCnovo Limited have been awarded one contract associated with Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre. At present MTCnovo Limited are not under consideration for any further secure training centre or prison contracts.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to maintain the level of funding for specialist nurses.

    Ben Gummer

    It is Health Education England’s (HEE) responsibility to ensure that there is sufficient future supply of staff, including those needed in specialist fields, to meet the workforce requirements of the English health system.

    HEE publishes an annual Workforce Plan which is built upon the needs of local employers, providers, commissioners and other stakeholders who, as members of its Local Education Training Boards (LETBs), shape the 13 local plans.

    The Workforce plan is predominately an aggregate of the local LETB plans, but the final national plan is only agreed with the advice and input of its clinical advisory groups and Patients’ Advisory Forum, as well as the Royal Colleges and other stakeholders.

    Once staff are qualified, it is for individual employers to ensure their staff remain up to date with, or acquire, specialist skills to provide safe and effective patient care through Continuous Professional Development and provide sufficient funding locally to ensure this occurs.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will respond to the findings of the Human Rights Watch report, Saudi Coalition Airstrikes Target Civilian Factories in Yemen, on remnants of UK-manufactured weapons found at three strike sites in that country.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Ministry of Defence analyses allegations of International Humanitarian Law violations arising from air strikes in Yemen conducted by the Saudi-led Coalition. Allegations are identified from a range of sources, including reports published by Non-Governmental Organisations such as Human Rights Watch.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ensure funding parity for the fast track and graduate training schemes for social workers.

    Edward Timpson

    The Government remains committed to providing appropriate levels of funding to a range of entry routes to social work.

    An independent evaluation of the Frontline programme was published in March 2016, and is accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/509240/DFE-RR507-Frontline-pilot-independent-evaluation.pdf

    The first cohort of Think Ahead participants started the programme in summer 2016. Plans are being made to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.

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  • 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 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities her Department has identified as being non-compliant with the statutory requirements relating to the content of the Local Offer since September 2014.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.

    All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.

    In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.

    Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.

    The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.

    Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.

    The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.

    The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.

    A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

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  • 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 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2016 to Question 26202, how many items of correspondence his Department has received from the public on the extension of the plug-in grant for motor cycles.

    Andrew Jones

    The last Government announced plans for a new grant to support plug-in motorcycles on 27 March 2015. Since then, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles has answered 38 items of correspondence from 20 members of the public on this issue.

  • Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, how long they estimate tolling on the Severn Bridges will have to continue in order to collect the additional £63 million beyond the date of the end of the concession on these bridges.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    This depends on traffic levels and on maintenance costs, both of which may change over time. However our current estimates suggest the £63m could take around 18 months to recoup at the toll levels announced in the recent Budget.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether funding for UK-based consultancy firms is included in the UK’s 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product overseas development assistance target.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Consultancy funding for UK-based firms is included in the UK’s 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product overseas development assistance target.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of climate change on (a) agriculture, (b) food security and (c) levels of malnutrition in developing countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is supporting research organisations to make assessments of the impact of climate change on agriculture, food security and malnutrition. This includes support to the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme. One of its recent assessments found that 60% of production of beans in sub-Saharan Africa was at risk from climate change. DFID also supports the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition which has recently made an assessment of the effects of climate change on food systems and nutrition.

    DFID is using these assessments to inform our policies and programmes on agriculture. For example DFID’s Agriculture Policy Framework includes action on climate change as one of its priorities for our programmes. An example is our support to the International Fund for Agriculture Development’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). Our support to ASAP is helping 6 million smallholder farmers to cope with the effects of climate change and at the same time increasing their agriculture productivity, incomes and food security.

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to remove any potential conflict of interest between National Grid and its support for new interconnectors to import electricity.

    Jesse Norman

    There is a case for greater independence for the system operator to promote more competition and flexibility in our electricity system. We are working alongside National Grid and Ofgem to this end, so that the electricity system continues to be operated in the best interest of consumers.