The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what level of funding was awarded to the UK from the DAPHNE and Progress programmes in each year to 2014; to which Departments this funding was awarded; and which regions received action grants under which headings.
Matthew Hancock
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the sustainability of private sector funding for the (a) Civil Nuclear Constabulary and (b) Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Andrea Leadsom
The effectiveness and efficiency of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) is the responsibility of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) – a Non-Departmental Public Body of DECC. Representatives from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and EDF are appointed to the CNPA board, as well as representatives of two of the largest NDA sites where the CNC are deployed – Sellafield and Dounreay – ensuring those using the CNC to be directly involved in ensuring the efficiency, capacity and capability of the organisation.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is wholly publicly funded at around £3 billion per year. Income generated from commercial activities is surrendered to HM Treasury. The recent spending round covers both the anticipated reducing profile of income (as commercial activities cease) and circumstances where such reductions occur earlier than planned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department remains committed to a target of delivering one million homes by 2020; and what recent projections his Department has made on whether this target will be met.
Gavin Barwell
The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that we need to build more homes. We remain committed to delivering one million new homes, having doubled the housing budget to help us to so.
Since the end of 2009, we have delivered 900,000 new homes, and in the year to March 2016 permissions were granted for 265,000 homes, up 8% on the previous year, thanks to the reformed planning system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why clinical research in mental health is scheduled to receive a tariff 32 per cent lower than for other clinical medicine subjects, including dentistry and nursing, for the same type of research, in the light of the overall increase in funding following the 2014 Research Excellence Framework conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is allocated funding from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) Science and Research budget to distribute to higher education institutions (HEIs) in England. Most of HEFCE’s funding is allocated as an unhypothecated research block grant to institutions, ensuring university leaders have flexibility to support their own research priorities. While this block grant is calculated using research quality and volume information from the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) at a subject level, it is a matter for individual HEIs to determine how it is ultimately distributed to particular activities/subjects.
In developing the REF, the attribution of different disciplines to particular units of assessment was agreed with the relevant professional bodies. Research relevant to clinical mental health was assessed in a unit including psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience. As this unit included a mix of research with higher costs (clinical psychology and psychiatry, and neuroscience) and lower costs (social psychology), the funding was allocated at an intermediate cost rate, reflecting the mix of disciplines.
REF2014 demonstrated significantly improved research quality in all disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience. As a result, the funding allocated on the basis of performance to this group increased by 16.5 per cent.
As announced in the Spending Review 2015, the Government is taking forward a review of the REF to ensure that future university research funding is allocated efficiently, offers greater rewards for excellent research and reduces the administrative burden on institutions. This review will be led by Lord Stern, and he is expected to deliver his review to the Government in summer 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of pupils who achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE in 2015 received no higher than a C grade in any subject.
Nick Gibb
Of those pupils[1] achieving five A* to C grades at GCSE[2] in 2015:
4.5% received no higher than a C grade in any subject
32.8% received no higher than a B grade in any subject
[1] Based on pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the 2014/15 academic year
[2] Based on those pupils entering single award GCSEs only
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure the UK meets (a) the EU target to 50 per cent of municipal waste by 2020 and (b) the proposed EU target to recycle 65 per cent of such waste by 2030.
Rory Stewart
The UK recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century, to 44.9% now. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of Local Authorities and householders.
The Government is committed to meeting the 2020 EU recycling target of 50% of household waste.
Local Authorities are best placed to determine the most appropriate waste collection and recycling services in their areas and we work with them and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to promote best practice.
I have asked WRAP to look at what further measures can be taken to improve recycling rates and, in particular the benefits and opportunities there are from having greater consistency in the materials collected and collection systems to enable Local Authorities to recycle more, and to make it easier for householders to put the right materials in the right bin.
The UK is still assessing the implications of the proposed recycling targets for 2030.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress he has made on reducing the number of robocalls received by consumers.
Mr Edward Vaizey
It is unacceptable for consumers to be harassed by nuisance calls, and this Government continues to make progress tackling this issue. The latest figures from the ICO show that reported automated calls accounted for approximately 42% of total calls reported to them – a drop of 3% since the start of the year. This is thanks to tougher enforcement against organisations making automated calls. The ICO recently imposed its largest fine ever of £350,000 on Prodial Ltd for making over 46 million automated nuisance calls. This is 70 times the amount of the maximum possible penalty issued before 2010 – when fines were capped at £5,000, and average fines were considerably less.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make representations to the Office for National Statistics on including a separate ethnicity box for Sikh in the (a) 2021 census and (b) 2017 test questionnaire.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what date his Department plans to respond to the email from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West of 9 June 2016, reference ZA4209, on delayed correspondence received by NHS Improvement.
Ben Gummer
NHS Improvement replied to the email of 13 May that it received from the hon. Member on 28 June 2016.
In April 2016 NHS Improvement brought together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England’s Patient Safety team, the National Reporting and Learning System, NHS England’s Advancing Change team and its Intensive Support Teams.
NHS Improvement advise that they are strengthening their regional presence and refining their processes, including how they respond to queries. Their aim is to respond to letters and other correspondence from hon. Members within the Whitehall standard of 18 working days.
The Department has no record of having received an email from the hon. Member on 9 June 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of Army Reserves successfully passed the annual mandatory training test in 2015.
Harriett Baldwin
Military Annual Training Tests (MATTs) are a series of 10 tests which members of the Army undertake to ensure that individuals remain competent and proficient in basic military skills and attitudes. The number of MATTs individual members of the Army are required to take varies depending on the role or specialism they are in, whether Reserve or Regular. For example those working in HQ or specialist/professional roles are not required to undertake all MATTs. Those Reserves failing to pass the MATTs they are required to take risk not qualifying for their annual training bounty.
The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.