Tag: 2016

Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many trained regular army soldiers there were in each of the Army’s regiments and corps in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning

The number of trained Regular Soldiers as at the 1 April, each year from 2010 to present, broken down by corps, is shown in the table below. These figures do not include Gurkhas or Full Time Reserve Service who are part of the Full Time Trained Strength but are not counted as Regular Soldiers.

	April 2010	April 2011	April 2012	April 2013	April 2014	April 2015	April 2016
Total	98,040	97,280	94,800	90,530	84,250	79,540	77,100
General Staff	840	810	760	740	730	720	690
Household Cavalry & Royal Armoured Corps	5,990	5,840	5,520	5,230	4,770	4,600	4,520
Royal Artillery	7,720	7,550	7,350	7,050	6,560	6,220	6,080
Royal Engineers	9,520	9,630	9,450	8,970	8,120	7,810	7,460
Royal Signals	7,570	7,670	7,540	7,180	6,680	6,320	5,910
Infantry	24,940	24,210	24,080	23,280	21,710	20,130	19,630
Army Air Corps	2,140	2,120	2,020	1,900	1,760	1,690	1,640
Royal Army Chaplin’s Department	140	130	140	140	140	140	130
Royal Logistic Corps	15,300	15,020	14,080	12,980	12,100	11,130	10,660
Royal Army Medical Corps	3,060	3,010	2,990	3,100	3,110	3,030	2,940
Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers	9,830	10,030	9,700	9,010	8,060	7,770	7,570
Adjutant Generals Corps	6,000	6,050	6,030	5,760	5,470	5,210	5,200
Royal Army Vetinary Corps	350	340	370	400	410	380	360
Small Arms School Corps	160	160	160	150	150	150	150
Royal Army Dental Corps	370	370	350	360	310	250	220
Intelligence Corps	1,500	1,580	1,650	1,750	1,750	1,720	1,700
Royal Army Physical Training Corps	490	480	470	440	420	410	430
Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps	900	900	890	910	890	870	860
Corps of Army Music	800	770	740	720	740	710	690
Other (including SSCP)	410	620	540	460	370	280	260

The figures are for Trained Regulars only and so exclude Ghurkhas, Reserve services and Untrained Regulars.

"Other" includes those with unknown Cap badges and those in Senior Soldier Continuity Posts (SSCP).

Figures have been rounded to "10". Figures ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.

01/01/2023

Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that local authorities which find a dog dead or injured scan the dog’s microchip and contact its owners.

George Eustice

Following a debate in the Westminster Hall on 2 March 2015, the then Minister of State, for the Department of Transport undertook to instruct the Highways Agency to make it their policy to ensure that it collects and identifies every animal that is killed on the strategic road network and to contact the owners by whatever practicable means. The Minister also wrote to all local highway authorities and Transport for London to draw attention to the Government’s policy and reflect on their own policy. It is established good practice for all authorities, including local authorities and dog rescue centres that come into contact with a stray, injured or deceased dog to scan it for a microchip so that the dog’s keeper can be traced. To assist this process, the Kennel Club has donated microchip scanners to every local authority in England and Wales. The compulsory microchipping of all dogs in Great Britain comes into force on 6 April 2016.

01/01/2023
Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of (a) the school a pupil attends and (b) access to transport on participation in after-school sport.

Nick Gibb

Local authorities are responsible for making sure that local travel arrangements enable children to attend school. The responsibility covers transport from home to school at the start and finish of the school day. Local authorities can use their discretionary powers to provide transport to meet local needs. They should engage both with parents and schools in deciding what support can be expected from the local authority.

01/01/2023
Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make it her Department’s policy to replace the Green Deal with a scheme to improve energy efficiency in able-to-pay households, in addition to the post-2017 Energy Company Obligation and extension to the Warm Home Discount announced as part of the Spending Review.

Andrea Leadsom

We intend to focus our efforts through ECO and the Warm Home Discount more effectively on the fuel poor and continue to deliver on our commitment to insulate 1 million more homes this Parliament.

We are also looking at a range of policy levers for driving take up of low carbon heat and energy efficiency in non-fuel poor households.

We have commissioned The Bonfield Review to ensure that the current quality and standards framework properly supports and protects consumers; a report will be published in Spring 2016.

01/01/2023
Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with her Greek counterpart on the implementation of human rights safeguards for refugees under the EU-Turkey deal.

James Brokenshire

Ministerial discussions continue to take place at EU meetings on implementation of the EU-Turkey deal.

More detailed discussions at official level are taking place with Greece on a regular basis. These are ensuring that the deal is carried out in accordance with all international and EU law including human rights safeguards.

01/01/2023
Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payment appeals his Department conceded prior to their being heard at the First-Tier Tribunal in the last 12 months.

Justin Tomlinson

The requested information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve teenage literacy, in the light of the 2016 OECD report Building skills for all: A review of England, which stated that the UK has the lowest literacy rates among 16 to 19 year-olds out of 23 developed countries.

Lord Nash

We are pleased that the OECD recognises in their review the changes we have made in recent years to ensure that all young people leave full-time education with a high standard of English.

The primary National Curriculum emphasises the teaching of early reading through systematic phonics and the importance of accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. At secondary school pupils are expected to read a wide range of texts fluently and with good understanding.

We have reformed GCSEs to ensure they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy than the old GCSE. We are also taking action to improve the rigour and relevance of English Functional Skills qualifications, which are taken by many students and apprentices aged 16 and over.

To ensure all young people have every opportunity to secure proficiency in English, since 2014 we have required every 16-19 year old not holding a good pass in GCSE English and mathematics to continue to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 study programme. We have also embedded English and mathematics into our work-based training programmes such as apprenticeships and traineeships.

Last summer’s GCSE results show that over 4,000 more students aged 17 and over secured GCSE English at grades A*-C than the previous year.

01/01/2023
Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authority children’s services departments subject to improvement notices have been visited by Ministers of her Department in each of the last six years.

Edward Timpson

Since my appointment in September 2012, as the relevant minister, I have visited and/or met with councillors and/or officers from 15 local authorities that were subject to Improvement Notices and/or Statutory Directions. I have also visited and/or met with councillors and or/officers from nine local authorities that have been subject to intervention since 2010. A list of these appointments is in the attached document.

01/01/2023
Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital for falls and fractures associated with urinary incontinence in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the NHS was of treating people so admitted in each such year.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not hold information on the number of people admitted to hospital for falls and fractures associated with urinary incontinence and related costs.

01/01/2023
Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will hold a consultation on changing the School Admissions Code to require religiously selective schools to prioritise all looked-after children and previously looked-after children in their admission arrangements in addition to such children of the same denomination of such schools.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’.

We support the right of schools with a religious designation to prioritise children of their faith. The code requires such schools, as a minimum, to prioritise looked after and previously looked after children of their faith ahead of other children. We have no plans to change this requirement.

The code can only be applied to bodies within the education sector. It cannot place requirements upon religious bodies. It does, however, require that when schools with a religious designation adopt admission criteria which prioritise children based on their faith, the schools must take account of religious activities as laid out by their religious authority.

Compliance with the code is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the code which will both respond to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports and concerns raised by parents. That package will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

01/01/2023