The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of converting schools into academies in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) Merseyside.
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 Baroness Goudie on 2016-06-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the £660 million to be available to Northern Ireland and the southern border counties under PEACE IV, and other EU Structural Fund subventions, will continue to be made available to those areas.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. It will be for the government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to leave, and set out arrangements for those currently in receipt of EU funds.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-09-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide the names of the receiver organisations currently reported as Supplier Name Withheld” for the £5.49 million in disbursements given to the Norwegian Refugee Council for legal assistance in the West Bank and Gaza from September 2013 to May 2016.”
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
All disbursements listed on the Development Tracker for the programme entitled ‘Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Legal Assistance to prevent demolitions and displacement in the OPTs’ have been made directly to the NRC, which is the supplier for this programme. Due to a technical issue inherent in the Development Tracker management information system, some supplier names appear as withheld when in fact they should be published. Our central management information team is working on a solution to this problem.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much imported steel will be used in the manufacture of the new Type 26 frigates in (a) market value and (b) weight in tonnes.
Mr Philip Dunne
Steel is sourced by our contractors from a range of UK and international suppliers, reflecting the need to ensure a competitive price and delivery at the required time and quality. UK suppliers have provided significant quantities of steel for major defence equipment procurement programmes, whenever they have been able to meet specified standards. Our new Government guidelines, published in November 2015, will help UK steel suppliers to compete effectively with international suppliers for major projects, including those in defence.
No steel suppliers have been selected or any orders placed for the Type 26 Global Combat Ships. It is therefore too early to say how much steel will be used in this programme or from where it will be sourced.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 attended military meetings in Tobruk between 18 January and 31 January 2016.
Penny Mordaunt
The Government has a long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been received about services at (a) Penarth and (b) Cardiff Jobcentre Plus in the last 12 months; and what the general subjects of those complaints were.
Priti Patel
In the last 12 months 8, 34 and 88 complaints have been received at Penarth Jobcentre, Alexander House Jobcentre, Cardiff and Charles Street Jobcentre, Cardiff, respectively.
The general subjects of complaints were: the relevance of information provided; whether claimants were treated with respect; the fairness of DWP policies; accessibility of the Department’s systems and services; whether it took too long to deliver the service and whether the Department got it wrong.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups and local authorities are jointly commissioning children’s palliative care as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.
Ben Gummer
The Department does not collect information centrally on commissioning of children’s palliative care by clinical commissioning groups. Clinical commissioning groups have responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting the needs of those requiring children’s palliative care services, considering the full range of local provision, both statutory and voluntary sectors and the wishes of children and young people and their families.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires joint commissioning arrangements between local authorities in England and their partner commissioning bodies for children and young people with special educational need and disability. It does not require clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to jointly commission children’s palliative care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Andrea Leadsom
In January the Prime Minister announced a package of new measures to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea. This included £20m of additional funding for seismic surveys, a £1m prize fund to maximise use of the 2015 seismic surveys and £700k funding for new 3D visualisation centre at Heriot Watt University.
This builds upon previous fiscal measures and seismic funding made by this government to ensure the UK Continental Shelf remains an attractive destination for investment – safeguarding the future of this vital national asset.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training teachers preparing to work in prisons receive beyond their teaching qualification.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
In the majority of adult prisons in England education is delivered by Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) providers. Individuals wishing to be employed by OLASS providers to teach in prisons should meet the same standards as those preparing to teach SFA funded provision in the learning and skills sector in England.
In addition, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills grant funds the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) to deliver a specific programme of work to support teaching and learning in prisons, this includes activity to support the professional development of OLASS teachers. In 2016-17 we made available £0.6m to the ETF.
Training such as in health and safety is the responsibility of the Prison Governor and is arranged locally for OLASS staff by individual prisons.
There are also a number of privately managed prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service. The Directors of those prisons ensure that, beyond their teaching qualifications, teachers will attend a training course varying between three days and one week, depending on which prison they work at. This training is aimed at preparing them to work in the prison environment. A number of these prisons operate a further period where the new starter will observe and shadow existing staff, usually lasting two weeks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff he plans to recruit to oversee the audit to tackle racial disparities in public service outcomes.
Ben Gummer
Senior appointments to the new unit are currently being made from within the Civil Service. The size of the team will be determined over the coming weeks as the details of the work to undertake the Audit are completed.