The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role local authorities will have in school place planning under the proposals in her Department’s White Paper, Educational excellence everywhere, published in March 2016.
Edward Timpson
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Earl Howe, House of Lords Official Report, 27 April 2016, column 1201, and his announcement of a review by the Service Justice Board into the procedures for handling allegations of sexual assault in the armed forces, what the (a) current membership of the Service Justice Board is and (b) terms of that review are.
Mark Lancaster
The established membership of the Service Justice Board is as follows:
Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans – Chair
Minister of State for Policing, Fire, Criminal Justice & Victims
Solicitor General
Judge Advocate General
Director of Service Prosecutions
Chief of Defence People
2nd Sea Lord
Deputy Chief of the General Staff
Air Member for Personnel
MOD Central Legal Services
Director Army Legal Services
Commander Navy Legal Services
Director RAF Legal Services
Provost Marshal (Army)
Provost Marshal (RAF)
Provost Marshal (Navy)
Chief Constable Ministry of Defence Police
Director Military Courts Service
Other officials may be invited to attend as and when necessary.
The review into the procedures for handling allegations of sexual assault in the Armed Forces is to consider whether all, or any, of the offences of: sexual assault, exposure, voyeurism, or sexual activity in a public lavatory should be added to Schedule 2 to the Armed Forces Act 2006. The views expressed in both Houses during the passage of the Armed Forces Act 2016, and by external organisations such as Liberty, are an important factor in the on-going work on this issue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, 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.
Caroline Dinenage
The Department for Education hosted four secondments from KPMG in 2013/14. All four individuals were seconded into external assurance roles in the department’s Education and Funding Agency. There were no secondments from PwC, Deloitte, Ernst and Young or any other consulting firm in 2013/14, and none from any consulting firms in 2014/15 or 2015/16.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department advised the Northern Ireland Executive on human rights concerns and other sensitivities for Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas Ltd undertaking a contract for Bahrain’s prison system.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK Government continues to assist Bahrain in their reform agenda including by working with the Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas programme, whose aims are to assist the Government of Bahrain to bring its justice system into compliance with international standards. The UK Government continues to have frank discussions with the Government of Bahrain about our concerns on human rights cases. We continue to encourage the Bahraini authorities to respect the rights of all its citizens and we have encouraged them to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression most recently at the UN Human Rights Commission meeting in September.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evaluation he (a) has made or (b) plans to make of the effect of local authority commissioning of long acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) in primary care on the number of GP surgeries offering LARC fitting and removal.
Jane Ellison
The Department’s Framework for Sexual Health Promotion in England (2013) sets out our ambitions and objectives to improve sexual health for all people. It takes account of the commissioning arrangements from 2013 including the new role for local authorities (LAs) as commissioners of most sexual health services. Later this month Public Health England (PHE) will undertake a survey of local commissioning arrangements for sexual health. It has also produced sexual health and reproductive health profiles to help LAs and others monitor the sexual and reproductive health of their populations and the performance of local public health related systems.
It is for LAs to decide on what research and evidence they need to inform their tenders for sexual health and reproductive health services in line with procurement requirements and good practice. In 2014 PHE published Making it Work, a guide to commissioning for sexual health across the whole system, to improve the sexual health of both individuals and the wider public.
We have made no formal assessment of the effect on sexual health services of reductions in the Public Health Grant to LAs for 2015/16, although PHE continues to monitor relevant outcomes data for every LA in England. Decisions on local public health spending are a matter for LAs. They are mandated by legislation to commission open access sexual health services that meet the needs of their local population. Officials meet regularly with sexual health organisations who would raise any concerns if LAs were not meeting their mandatory requirements for sexual health services.
The Framework for Sexual Health Improvement includes as a priority reducing unwanted pregnancies and highlights the need to increase access to long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods and emergency contraception for women of all ages. We have no plans to evaluate the effect on general practitioner surgeries of LA commissioning of LARCs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether there have been any unintentional violations of international humanitarian law carried out by Saudi coalition forces in Yemen.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by all sides to the conflict and take these very seriously. It is important that all sides conduct thorough and conclusive investigations into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached. As the Saudi Arabian authorities announced on 31 January, they have mechanisms in place to investigate alleged incidents and to learn lessons if things go wrong. The Ministry of Defence also monitors incidents of alleged IHL violations using a range of available information, which in turn informs our overall assessment of IHL compliance in Yemen. At this stage, looking at all the information available to us, we have not assessed that there has been a breach of IHL by the coalition, but we continue to monitor the situation closely, seeking further information where appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) age and (b) gender was of each potential victim recorded on the NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline between July 2014 and July 2015; how many such cases were referred to the police and for what reasons; and how many such callers agreed to a reference to the National Referral Mechanism.
Karen Bradley
Between 31 July 2014 and 31 July 2015, 849 contacts were made to the NSPCC-run modern slavery helpline including 57 contacts made by potential victims themselves. 403 referrals were made to the police during the same period. Many calls to the helpline are made by concerned members of the public rather than victims themselves and so the number of potential victims is based on the information provided by a third party. The helpline refers information to the police or social services if the operator believes someone to be in danger or at risk of modern slavery.
From the 849 contacts the NSPCC was notified of a potential 1,163 victims. Of those potential victims, 340 were reported as female, 530 were male and 293 were recorded as both or unknown. The table below shows the breakdown of those potential victims by age group.
|
Age group |
Total |
|
0-17 |
83 |
|
18-25 |
152 |
|
26-35 |
114 |
|
36-45 |
46 |
|
46-50 |
17 |
|
51-60 |
37 |
|
61-70 |
10 |
|
Unknown |
704 |
|
Grand Total |
1163 |
The Home Office does not maintain a record of how many potential victims were subsequently found or referred to the NRM as a result of these contacts. However, all potential adult victims who contact the helpline are signposted to The Salvation Army for support and referral into the National Referral Mechanism, if they consent. Potential child victims are referred to the NSPCC’s Child Trafficking Advice Centre for further action.
No funding has been allocated for the NSPCC helpline for the financial year 2016-17. Polaris, a US-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), is establishing an enhanced UK helpline in collaboration with a UK-based NGO, which will supersede the current NSPCC helpline. The NSPCC helpline will remain in operation until the enhanced helpline is up and running. Start up funding of up to £1 million has been provided by Google.org. The new helpline is expected to be in operation later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-03-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the Tampon Tax Fund was allocated to (a) Women’s Aid and (b) other women’s charities in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.
Mr David Gauke
The Chancellor announced initial donations from the Tampon Tax Fund at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million were announced at Budget to support a range of charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls. This included an award of £118,000 to Parenting NI.
£5.2 million of funding was allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, who will disburse funding to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.
Details of all charities awarded funding at Budget can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions his Department has requested access to post-activity operational reports of air strikes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
Mr Philip Hammond
The Government reviews a range of information on Saudi operations which helps inform our analysis of Saudi Arabian activity in Yemen. The UK is not a member of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition and British military personnel are not directly involved in the Saudi led Coalition’s operations. We have deployed a small number of military personnel serving as liaison officers to Saudi headquarters to provide insight into Saudi operations. They remain under UK command and control.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the extent of changes in the workload of teachers arising from the new Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 testing regime.
Nick Gibb
The removal of unnecessary workload is a priority for this Department and is considered carefully when introducing any significant change for schools. Our primary assessment reforms have been designed to put arrangements for the majority of classroom assessment back into the hands of the school and to reduce the tracking burdens that national curriculum levels previously encouraged. We believe schools are best placed to decide how to assess pupils in line with their curriculum and that over time this should lead to a reduction in workload for teachers.
Following the introduction of the new national curriculum and the removal of levels, we have developed new forms of statutory assessment at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2. The duty to report assessment at these points remains unchanged from previous years. We do recognise, however, that in this first year of the new forms of assessment teachers will be adapting their approach. Significant reforms like take time to embed and the best way to prepare pupils remains to focus on teaching the core knowledge set by new national curriculum, which schools have been doing since September 2014.
Throughout the introduction of our important reforms to primary assessment, we have worked closely with teachers and head teachers and continue to listen to the concerns of the profession as the details of the new arrangements are finalised. We are working constructively with the teaching profession and their representatives to find solutions to some of the remaining issues.