Tag: 2016

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils are home schooled; and how many were so schooled in (a) 2005 and (b) 2010.

    Edward Timpson

    Data for the numbers of children educated at home in England are not collected by the Department for Education. Some local authorities maintain voluntary registers of children educated at home but as they have no statutory basis, they cannot be regarded as an authoritative source of data.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much compensation her Department paid for the unlawful detention of individuals under immigration powers in each of the last three financial years; for what categories of reason compensation was so paid; and how many such payments were made for each such category of reason.

    James Brokenshire

    Our records indicate that over the past 3 financial years (covering 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15), that a total of £13.8 million has been paid out to 573 claimants, as per the below table. All of whom were paid compensation following a period of unlawful detention.

    Total Unlawful Detention Compensation payments (£ million)

    Number of claimants for the last 3 financial years

    FY 2012-13

    £ 5.0

    195

    FY 2013-14

    £ 4.8

    199

    FY 2014-15

    £ 4.0

    179

    Caveat to provided data: This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to extend the terms of reference of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse to investigate the abuse of children in mainstream schools.

    Karen Bradley

    The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse already has wide-ranging terms of reference to examine the extent to which public and other bodies in England and Wales have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse. Decisions around what it investigates, and the specific terms and scope of the investigations, are a matter for the Independent Inquiry. There are no plans to extend the terms of reference further.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies are in place to ensure that newly arrived asylum seekers placed in Home Office initial accommodation have immediate access to the education system.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The issue of education provision for children seeking asylum is an important one and the Home Office makes every effort to ensure that families with children who claim asylum support have access to education at the earliest opportunity.

    To enable access to education, internal checks are in place to triage applications involving children of school age for priority dispersal from initial accommodation facilities into permanent accommodation.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure the Mandarin Excellence Programme is delivered to all local authorities in the UK; and how many (a) schools and (b) pupils in Birmingham are planned to start the programme this year.

    Nick Gibb

    The Mandarin Excellence Programme offers intensive study in the language. The programme is expected to result in at least 5,000 young people heading towards a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.

    Secondary school pupils in an initial 14 secondary schools will study Mandarin for eight hours a week – a significant increase on the time pupils currently spend on the subject.

    Currently two schools in the Midlands, one in Coventry and one in Walsall, have joined the programme. Around 300 pupils are expected to join the programme this year. There will be further opportunity for schools to apply to join the programme in subsequent years.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK has identified any people or ministries responsible for human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We have strongly supported the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The UN Commission of Inquiry documents serious human rights violations committed by the state in the DPRK and we have urged the DPRK authorities to respond in detail to the contents of the report. The report, which can be found at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/CommissionInquiryonHRinDPRK.aspx, includes details of human rights violations committed by officials from a number of state institutions and ministries. There must be no impunity for those accused of serious human rights violations.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that there is a lack of transparency in the school admission system, what steps she plans to take to monitor and enforce compliance with the School Admissions Code.

    Nick Gibb

    Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’. We consider that the code provides clear advice to all admission authorities.

    Compliance is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

    The degree to which maintained schools comply with the code is monitored through the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. We consider the findings of the report and whether changes to the system are necessary.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate has she made of the number of vulnerable Syrians who have not sought refuge in refugee camps owing to concerns for their own safety; and whether the Government’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme contains provisions to assist such people.

    James Brokenshire

    It is estimated that across the region, only 23% of Syrian refugees are in formal camps: the remaining 77% are living amongst host communities.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies and proposes Syrian refugees for the Vulnerable Person Relocation scheme from among the whole of the registered refugee population in the region, over 4 million people. This includes people in formal refugee camps, informal settlements and host communities. Therefore many of those coming to the UK for resettlement will not be coming from UN camps.

    We are working with UNHCR and other partners to intensify their outreach to groups that might otherwise be reluctant to register for fear of stigma/discrimination and unaware of the safe space and options available to them. This includes all religious minorities, LGBT, people with disabilities, survivors of torture and sexual violence and others.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with local authorities in Northern Ireland about the illegal trafficking of puppies into Scotland; and what assessment she has made of the effect on such trafficking of the transfer in Scotland of search powers from Trading Standards to local port authorities.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    The Government takes the illegal movement of dogs and puppies seriously and it is committed to working with the Devolved Administrations, delivery bodies, enforcement agencies and non-government organisations to tackle this issue.

    While I have had no discussions with local authorities in Northern Ireland about the illegal trafficking of puppies into Scotland, the Defra Chief Veterinary Officer has recently discussed the issue with his Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland counterparts. Additionally, there have been discussions on this issue between other Defra officials and officials within the Devolved Administrations.

    The Government has not carried out an assessment of the impact of transferring Trading Standards search powers to local port authorities in Scotland as this is a devolved matter. However, Defra will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and other interested parties to ensure that there is a full exchange of ideas and information on combating the illegal importation of puppies.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the following European Union implementing acts, when those acts were due to be transposed into UK law; when they intend to have transposed each; why they have not yet done so; and what action the European Commission has taken against the UK government for any delay: (1) Implementing Regulation (EU) 909/2015 regarding charging and direct cost; (2) Implementing Regulation (EU) 545/2016 regarding framework agreements; (3) Implementing Regulation (EU) 171/2015 regarding licensing; (4) Implementing Regulation (EU) 10/2015 regarding applicants; (5) Implementing Regulation (EU) 869/2014 regarding the principal purpose and economic equilibrium test; (6) Implementing Regulation (EU) 429/2015 regarding noise differentiated track access charges; and (7) Implementing Regulation (EU) 1100/2015 regarding rail market monitoring.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    These implementing Regulations are directly applicable and do not require transposition into UK law. Their legal effect in the UK derives from the European Committee Act 1972.