Tag: 2016

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage schools and students to use Public Health England’s Sugar Smart app.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Department for Education fully supports Public Health England’s current campaign to encourage children to reduce the amount of sugar they eat.

    The Department’s considerable social media reach has been mobilised in support of the campaign. We have been using numerous channels to promote the Sugar Smart app and other materials related to this year’s Change4Life campaign, including the teacher toolkits distributed directly to 16,500 primary schools in England.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of private rented properties are priced above the local housing allowance in the (a) UK and (b) West Midlands.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not available.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to (a) reduce the number and (b) support the families of people reported as missing for more than three months; and when he expects to bring forward legislative proposals on the proposed guardianship bill.

    Dominic Raab

    The government is currently reviewing the Missing Children and Adults strategy, originally published in 2011. We are engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, including the charity Missing People, to update the guidance given in relation to all cases of children and adults going missing. The refreshed strategy will be published later this year and will include measures relating to preventing people going missing and improving the responses by all agencies to the families of long-term missing persons. We will introduce legislation to create a new legal status of guardian of the property and affairs of a missing person as soon as parliamentary time permits.

  • Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how many indebted prepayment meter customers there are in (a) Wakefield constituency and (b) the UK; and what the change in the number of such customers has been over the last five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy supplies’ performance and publishes information on the number of prepayment meters installed for debt in Great Britain each year. The data does not show how many prepayment meters were installed for indebted customers in the Wakefield constituency.

    The table below shows the number of prepayment meters installed to manage debt in GB in 2010 to 2014. Ofgem does not monitor the gas and electricity supply market in Northern Ireland, as it is devolved matter.

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Gas

    199,964

    184,726

    208,235

    226,999

    195,841

    Electricity

    227,352

    199,483

    211,519

    227,886

    175,348
  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other nations to contribute bilateral donations to the Great Lakes regional appeal.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UN regional refugee response covering Burundian refugees is for $314 million (£216 million) and is currently funded at 27%. DFID has contributed £21.15 million to that appeal since April 2015, to support refugees in Tanzania and Rwanda. We are considering further allocations to address the continuing crisis. DFID is also supporting refugees in the DRC and Uganda through existing programmes and the provision of technical advice. DFID is working closely with other donors to the appeal such as the EU and US, as well as UNHCR and NGOs, to highlight priorities and encourage other countries to donate.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 20373, what criteria he has used to assess the level of competitiveness in the motor insurance market.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is committed to ensuring that insurance markets operate on the basis of fair and open competition.

    The Government has established the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to promote competition for the benefit of consumers and investigates any issues that may arise in this respect, including in insurance markets.

    In 2014, the CMA investigated the competitiveness of the UK private motor insurance. It found evidence that there was strong price competition for motor insurance sold via price comparison websites (PCWs), which are responsible for over half of insurers’ new motor insurance business, and that PCWs had increased competition between private motor insurance providers overall.

    Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) data on “net combined ratios” of motor insurers provides further indication that there is strong competition in the private motor insurance market.

    The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills also found that the private motor insurance has high switching rates compared to other markets, providing another indicator of strong competition.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on gender equality of school uniforms.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The department has published advisory guidance on school uniform policy. The guidance makes clear that it is for the governing body of a school to decide whether there should be a school uniform policy and if so what that should be. It also makes clear that, when deciding on uniform policy, a school will have to consider its obligations not to discriminate unlawfully, including on the basis of gender.

    The guidance can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what projection her Department has made of use of the Thames Barrier in each of the next five years.

    Rory Stewart

    The Thames Barrier will be required to close more frequently due to sea level rise but it is projected to protect London from tidal flooding to its designed standard until 2070.

    The Environment Agency monitors a number of indicators to ensure that this projection remains valid but does not develop projections of the number of closures on a year on year basis.

  • Sheryll Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sheryll Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sheryll Murray on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her announcement of 2 November 2015 Introducing greater emphasis on literacy and numeracy at key stage 2, what representations she has since received on that policy; and approximately how many such representations were (a) against and (b) in favour of that statement.

    Nick Gibb

    We have not received specific representations on literacy and numeracy following the Secretary of State’s announcement in November. The government remains committed to raising standards of literacy and numeracy and works closely with professionals to raise standards for all pupils so that they are equipped to succeed in education and in life. In 2010, one in every three children starting secondary school was unable to read, write, or add up properly. Following government reforms, teachers have driven up standards with the figure now at one in five.

    It is vital that we get the foundation right so that every child has a fair chance to succeed through all key stages. That is why we have placed phonics at the heart of the early teaching of reading and introduced a phonics check at the end of year 1 to enable schools to assess whether the essential building blocks of reading are in place. The percentage of pupils meeting the required standards of phonics in year 1 has increased from 58 percent in 2012 to 77 percent in 2015, putting 120,000 more 6 year olds each year on track to become confident readers. We fund a programme of 200 book clubs in primary schools where reading attainment at key stage 2 is currently low, and support schools to enrol year 3 pupils with a public library.

    Beyond this, we have placed a greater emphasis within the primary curriculum and assessment on a secure grasp of the essentials such as grammar, punctuation and spelling, introducing a grammar, punctuation and spelling test in year 6.

    For mathematics, we have placed particular emphasis in the primary curriculum on fluency in mental and written calculation. Just as knowledge of phonics is an essential foundation for success in reading, sound knowledge of arithmetic is essential for future success in mathematics. We removed the use of calculators for the end of key stage 2 mathematics tests from 2014 and in January 2016 we announced that all children will have their multiplication skills checked at the age of 11.

    We want to ensure that all children have the right foundation at primary school and that any child who falls behind can catch up quickly. We provide funding to secondary schools to help year 7 pupils catch up and, as the Secretary of State said in her November speech, we have announced a resit test for year 7 pupils who do not meet expected standards in reading or mathematics at the end primary school.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has received any representations from senior officials in HM Courts and Tribunals Service seeking to reverse the decision for Skelmersdale criminal cases to be heard at Wigan Magistrates’ Court.

    Caroline Dinenage

    No representations have been received from senior officials in HM Courts and Tribunals Service saying that Skelmersdale criminal cases should not be transferred to Wigan Magistrates’ Court.