Tag: 2016

  • Lord Northbourne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Northbourne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Northbourne on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to require all schools, including academies, to provide high quality sex and relationship education as part of their syllabus.

    Lord Nash

    The Government is clear that all schools should make provision for high-quality sex and relationship education, which is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain.

    Academies, like maintained schools, must teach a broad and balanced curriculum and in respect of sex and relationship education, they must – under the terms of their funding agreement – have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education guidance published in 2000.

    The issue of statutory personal, social, health and economic education and sex and relationship education was raised during the Education Select Committee session in September. The Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education. The Government is considering all the options and will come to a view in due course.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan have access to basic services such as health and education.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has allocated £304 million in Lebanon and £193 million in Jordan to support Syrian refugees and vulnerable host communities in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the region. Whilst addressing the immediate needs of refugees and vulnerable members of host communities, UK aid is also supporting their longer-term resilience and stability through funding to essential basic services. For example, the UK has allocated over £27 million in Lebanon and £21 million in Jordan to support health related activities such as providing over 229,157 medical consultations in Lebanon and 102,205 in Jordan for emergency trauma and primary healthcare cases.

    As part of the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLGI) the UK is also working with other donors, UN agencies, NGOs and governments in the region to prevent a whole generation being lost to the Syria conflict through long-term negative impacts on psychological wellbeing and lack of access to quality education. In Lebanon, the UK’s total pledge to support education now stands at £80 million, and in Jordan, the UK is providing £15 million over three years to improve the quality of public school education for both Jordanians and Syrians. In addition to this support to the formal sector in Jordan the UK has also providing £3 million so far to support Jordanians and Syrians in informal education.

  • Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Inglewood on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 1 February (HL5225) about grey squirrel control, what is their definition of free shooting”.”

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government does not have a standard definition for the free-shooting of grey squirrels. However, Forestry Commission England considers free-shooting of grey squirrels to be where they are shot in any circumstances other than after having been live trapped, lured into or located in a pre-prepared area with, for example, a ground feeding station and high seat to facilitate shooting with a safe backstop.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on which local authorities hold information on the tenure of a property from completed council tax registration forms.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does hold information on which local authorities hold information on the tenure of a property from completed council tax registration forms.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 to Question 30330, if he will publish examples of the feedback received on the placing of work coaches in foodbanks.

    Priti Patel

    The Department has shared findings from the food bank initiative with Jobcentre District Managers. There are no plans to publish the Lalley Community Centre findings externally.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effects on wider biodiversity of commonly used pesticides; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Strict regulation is in place to reduce the risk of environmental damage by pesticides. A pesticide may only be placed on the market if and when the product has been authorised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Following a thorough risk assessment, HSE imposes conditions on the way pesticides are used, to ensure there is no harm to human health and no unacceptable effect on the environment. Pesticides that pose unacceptable risks are not authorised.

    Assessments by Defra and others identify three types of impacts on biodiversity:

    • General impacts of past agricultural intensification. The 2011 UK National Ecosystem Assessment identified significant biodiversity loss over the last 50 years, with pollution and land use change on farmland as major drivers. Land use change includes the loss of flower-rich habitat, changes to cropping types and timings, drainage, hedge management, and pesticide use. It is not simple to disentangle these impacts;

    • Direct impacts on non-target organisms, including insects and aquatic species. For example, Defra-commissioned research on the status of UK pollinators identified some correlative evidence of reduced species richness at the landscape-scale associated with more intensive use of pesticides, but concluded that further research on direct empirical evidence of field-scale impacts was required. Further research is ongoing; and,

    • There is evidence on indirect impacts of pesticides on species such as birds or bats that feed on invertebrates or plants. This is an area of active research in the UK, Europe and North America, with population impacts recorded for some species such as grey partridge.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations of jobseekers’ allowance sanctions there have been in each of the last five years; and what the total cost was of processing such reconsiderations in each of those years.

    Priti Patel

    Mandatory Reconsiderations were introduced in October 2013. There were 1,100 decisions made from October to the end of 2013; 54,100 in 2014; and 18,500 in 2015.

    This is the latest data available. The total cost of processing those reconsiderations is not available at the level of detail requested.

    These figures are published here https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

    “

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passenger interviews were undertaken with people of each (a) ethnicity, (b) religion and (c) nationality by UK Border Agency officials at each UK airport in the last five years; and whether each of those passengers was permitted to continue their journey after that interview.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Data on the number of interviews carried out at port is not available centrally. However, there is information already in the public domain on those who are subject to an intervention at the border and refused entry ie not permitted.

    This information can found via the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables

  • Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress is being made on maintaining an open border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

    James Brokenshire

    Leaders in both Ireland and the UK have been unequivocal – both want to maintain the current arrangement and avoid the introduction of physical border controls within the Common Travel Area.

    I attend regular meetings with representatives of the Irish Government and we are working together to achieve this outcome.

  • Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Southeastern trains and Network Rail have contingency plans in the event of a rail line being closed due to unforeseen circumstances in order to (a) minimise disruption to other rail lines, (b) provide extra capacity on adjacent lines to get passengers as close as possible to their usual destinations and (c) ensure that up-to-the-minute information is provided to passengers regarding alternative routes and replacement services; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    Southeastern have Key Route Strategies in place in case of a line closure. These include options such as replacement buses, ticket acceptance on other routes and if possible on other forms of transport.

    Where events are likely to disrupt the service longer term, Southeastern consider re-working the timetable to minimise disruption as much as possible.

    Southeastern work closely with Network Rail in managing such events. Network Rail and Southeastern have confirmed that whilst rail lines in the South East are extremely busy and tend to already run at capacity at peak times, it may sometimes be possible to provide extra capacity by strengthening the service on adjacent lines, depending on both rolling stock availability and operating capacity in the peak.

    Network Rail support train operators in providing timely information to passengers. Arrangements for putting contingency timetables in place have been improved significantly in recent years, which enables National Rail Enquiry Service to be amended earlier and more timely information to be communicated to passengers. This helps particularly with communicating timetable changes and rail replacement services.