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Tag: 2016

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s consultation, Out-of-school education settings: call for evidence, published on 26 November 2015, what definition her Department uses for (a) supplementary schools, (b) tuition centres, (c) intensive education and (d) the eight hours threshold for inspection.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government wants children to be educated in a safe environment where they are not exposed to hateful and extremist views that undermine British values.

    The call for evidence on out-of-school settings described:

    (a) Supplementary schools as settings which offer support or education in addition to mainstream or core learning, and which operate after school hours and on the weekends; and

    (b) Tuition centres as settings which could often be used in place of mainstream education and support home education, and which can operate at any time of day.

    The proposals are about making sure that where there are concerns raised by parents and others about issues of extremism, child cruelty or inappropriate teaching in unregulated settings, the Government can take action to protect children and empower parents.

    The call for evidence defined intensive education as anything which entails an individual child attending a setting for more than betweensix toeight hours a week. Such settings would be required to register with their local authority and be eligible for inspection where concerns were reported.

    Settings providing ad hoc classes or regular classes below a specified time threshold would not be captured by the proposal. One-week holiday clubs and Sunday schools would not, therefore, be covered. The proposal is intended to capture settings where children receive intensive education, regardless of faith or whether provided by a community group.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government intends to apply to the EU Solidarity Fund to help support those affected by the recent flooding.

    James Wharton

    The Government will consider an application once the full costs are known. The European Union Solidarity Fund does not provide additional funding to local areas, but simply reimburses emergency costs that the Government would have incurred anyway. For this reason, the Government’s immediate priority remains dealing with the urgent needs of those affected, which is why we have provided just under £200 million to help those affected by the floods to support recovery and repair.

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25652, whether people resident in Northern Ireland are able to apply for apprenticeships in England.

    Nick Boles

    The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) funds apprenticeships training in England. The devolved administrations of Northern Ireland (NI), Wales, and Scotland have their own funding arrangements for apprenticeships. Employers and training providers must not actively recruit learners who live or work outside of England.

    Residents in NI can apply for English Apprenticeships provided they want to live in, or travel to, England to work and study. The SFA will only apply funding under these circumstances.

    The SFA will not fund individuals whose main employment or normal place of work is not in England.

    Skills is a devolved matter to NI and are funded by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in NI.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what evidence he has received to demonstrate that the construction of Phase One of High Speed 2 will not breach the requirements of Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Environmental Statement and Supplementary Environmental Statements for the Phase One hybrid Bill fully assessed the impact on air quality from HS2 construction. The method of assessment is specifically directed at the limit values set out in Annex II of Directive 2008/50/EC, and identifies whether the limit values are currently breached, anticipated to be breached in the future, and to what extent any breaches are affected by the construction of Phase One of HS2.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil servants were employed at each location at (a) Business, Innovation and Skills Core, (b) the Office for Fair Access, (c) the Higher Education Funding Council for England, (d) the Financial Reporting Council, (e) the Green Investment Bank, (f) the UK Commission on Employment and Skills and (g) the British Business Bank in the last year for which figures are available.

    Joseph Johnson

    The number of civil servants that were employed by the (a) Department Business, Innovation and Skills at each location as at 31 December 2015 are shown on the attached table.

    There are no civil servants employed by (b) the Office for Fair Access, (c) the Higher Education Funding Council for England, (d) the Financial Reporting Council, (e) the Green Investment Bank, (f) the UK Commission on Employment and Skills or (g) the British Business Bank. All people employed by those organisations are public servants. The number of those and their locations is also shown on the attached table.

  • Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many consignments of dogs were exported from the UK to Hong Kong in the last 12 months; and how many dogs were exported within those consignments.

    George Eustice

    The Animal and Plant Health Agency have issued export health certificates for 281 consignments of dogs to be exported to Hong Kong within the last 12 months, relating to 309 dogs in total. To date 266 of these consignments have been confirmed, relating to 293 dogs in total.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many times his Department has used the services of (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what (i) work was undertaken and (ii) the cost to the public purse was on each such occasion.

    David Mundell

    The Scotland Office has not used the services of (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the late cancellation of operations.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The commitment that ‘all patients who have operations cancelled, on or after the day of admission (including the day of surgery), for non-clinical reasons to be offered another binding date within 28 days, or the patient’s treatment to be funded at the time and hospital of the patient’s choice’ is included as a pledge in the Handbook to the NHS Constitution. A copy is attached.

    Every quarter, NHS England publishes the number of operations cancelled at the ‘last minute’ for non-clinical reasons. A last minute cancellation is defined as ‘when a patient’s operation is cancelled by the hospital on or after the day of admission (including the day of surgery) for non-clinical reasons’. The financial sanction for not meeting the pledge in 2016-17 is non-payment of costs associated with cancellation and non-payment or reimbursement (as applicable) of the re-scheduled episode of care.

    Every month, NHS England also publishes data on urgent operations that are cancelled by the trust for non-medical reasons, including those cancelled for a second or subsequent time. This includes all urgent operations cancelled, not just those cancelled at the last minute. Although there is no pledge for cancelled urgent operations, NHS England has set a National Quality Requirement that no urgent operation should be cancelled for a second time, and the NHS Standard Contract provides for a financial sanction of £5,000 per incidence.

  • Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many intervention providers her Department has approved as part of its Channel Programme.

    Mr John Hayes

    There are currently 55 Home Office approved Intervention Providers for the Channel programme. They play a central role in reducing the vulnerability of people being drawn into terrorism. They are recruited on the basis of proven experience in mentoring, their work with key communities affected by terrorism and extremism and their knowledge of extremist ideologies and recruitment narratives.

    Recruitment rounds take place approximately every quarter. Candidates can be recommended by local partners, including Local Authorities, community groups, or other local partners.

    Applications undergo stringent background checks and where candidates are suitable they will be invited to interview. Candidates who meet the requirements at interview are put forward for Ministerial approval. This robust process, given that they will be working with the most vulnerable individuals on sensitive issues, takes up to twelve weeks.

    The list of Intervention Providers is kept under regular review and the Home Office is working on their number of providers and to respond to the changing threat, for example to recruit more female providers. Intervention Providers are given ongoing professional training.

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the steps the Sri Lankan authorities have taken to implement the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    During my visit to Sri Lanka on 14 to 17 January I was able to see for myself the progress that Sri Lanka has made in implementing its commitments to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution as well as the considerable challenges that remain. There have been some encouraging developments such as the return of some military occupied land, the deproscription of Tamil diaspora organisations and the release on bail of some long-term Tamil detainees held under anti-terrorism legislation. There is still much to be done and the UK is committed to supporting Sri Lanka to fulfil all of its UNHRC commitments. We welcome Sri Lanka’s engagement with the UN. The High Commissioner for Human Rights will visit shortly to inform his assessment of Sri Lanka’s progress, which he will present to the UNHRC in June.