Tag: 2016

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect of the new grading system for GCSEs on students of Latin and Greek; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to encourage provision of public sector work experience placements for 14 to 19 year-olds in education.

    Nick Boles

    We encourage all employers, including those in the public sector, to provide quality work experience opportunities, and government guidance is available.

    Additionally, the government works in partnership with Movement to Work to offer placements in the Civil Service and we encourage all public sector bodies to offer traineeships, which include a quality work placement, and are available for 16-24 year olds.

    In January, the Prime Minister gave a speech focusing on life chances during which he expressed his wish to set out a plan for using work experience more creatively. We are well aware that work experience can be a transformative opportunity, and we look forward to receiving the Lord Sainsbury-led Independent Panel Report on Technical and Professional Education which we expect will make recommendations in this area.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to page 169 of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s report, Economic and fiscal outlook March 2016, to which partners the £800 million loans will be disbursed in 2016-17; what assessment she has made of the comparative utility of loans and grants for effective development projects; how repayments of those loans will affect the level of recorded Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend; and what assessment she has made of the effect of the growing proportion of capital departmental expenditure limits (DEL) ODA spend and a declining proportion of resource DEL ODA spend on her Department’s effectiveness.

    Justine Greening

    DFID is planning to invest around £400m in loans in 16/17 rather than the £800m figure erroneously reported in the Office for Budget Responsibility figures. The precise breakdown of those loans has not been finalised.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers for what reasons have taken long-term sick leave in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    Long-term sick leave is defined within the Civil service as periods of absence of more than 28 calendar days. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers to have taken at least one period of long-term sick leave in each of the last five years for which information is available is shown in the table below.

    Table: Number of Band 3-5 Officers who had an incidence of sick leave of 28 or more days, by type of sickness, 2010/11 to 2014/15

    Type of Sickness

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Blood and Blood-Forming Organs

    ~

    ~

    ~

    10

    10

    Circulatory System

    120

    130

    120

    120

    110

    Digestive System

    150

    140

    140

    110

    90

    Ear and Mastoid Process

    20

    10

    20

    10

    10

    Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

    10

    20

    20

    20

    ~

    Eye and Adnexa

    20

    20

    20

    10

    20

    Genitourinary System

    60

    60

    50

    70

    60

    Infective and Parasitic Diseases

    50

    40

    50

    40

    50

    Injury and Poisoning

    300

    310

    300

    380

    380

    Mental and Behavioural Disorders

    840

    850

    850

    960

    920

    Musculoskeletal System

    920

    800

    730

    610

    550

    Neoplasms

    40

    40

    40

    40

    40

    Nervous System and Sense Organs

    60

    70

    70

    60

    50

    Pregnancy Complications

    50

    40

    40

    30

    30

    Respiratory System

    50

    50

    60

    40

    40

    Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue

    20

    20

    30

    20

    10

    Symptoms Ill-Defined

    670

    750

    790

    790

    680

    Not Recorded

    80

    80

    90

    80

    160

    Grand Total

    3490

    3430

    3410

    3390

    3200

    Where an officer has more than one period of long-term absence within a year for the same reason, they are counted once. Where multiple absences were for different reasons they are counted more than once.

    All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

    Totals are formed from unrounded parts prior to rounding. For this reason, rounded totals may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

    ~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

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

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional qualifications are required to teach Careers Education in schools.

    Lord Nash

    We want schools to build the skills and expertise required to plan strategically for the provision of careers education and guidance, embedding careers and employability skills in the curriculum and engaging external partners in the delivery of high quality, inspirational support. The careers strategy, to be published later this year, will set out further details of how we will support schools to achieve this. The strategy has been developed in consultation with key partners across the education and careers sectors.

    Pupils can gain confidence and motivation from the opportunity to explore career ideas through individual, face-to-face discussions with a range of people. The careers statutory guidance sets out the main qualifications for careers professionals: the Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG) (which replaced the earlier Diploma in Careers Guidance) and the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development. The statutory guidance also provides information about the register of careers professionals, developed by the Career Development Institute, which schools can use to search for a career development professional who can deliver a particular service or activity.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the link between a family and their social worker in the event of a failed submission for a Care Protection Order.

    Edward Timpson

    No assessment of the effectiveness of the link between a family and their social worker in the event of a failed application for a Care Order has been made by my Department. It would be for the local authority to determine what action to take following a failed application for a Care Order, including whether or not a change of social worker is necessary and whether the child remained at risk of harm and/or the family needed support.

    In these circumstances, a further assessment of need should be undertaken by a social worker to decide whether the child and/or their family should receive services as a child in need, or if a child protection plan is needed.

  • Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with urinary incontinence in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the NHS was of treating that condition in each such year.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department does not hold information on the number of people admitted to hospital for a catheter-associated urinary tract infection, urinary tract infection or urinary incontinence.

    The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

    YEAR

    FAEs

    2010-11

    215

    2011-12

    294

    2012-13

    447

    2013-14

    641

    2014-15

    942

    The following table shows a count of FAEs in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of urinary incontinence in England.

    Year

    FAEs

    2010-11

    27,797

    2011-12

    26,751

    2012-13

    24,938

    2013-14

    23,498

    2014-15

    20,969

    The following table shows a count of FAEs in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of urinary tract infection in England

    YEAR

    FAEs

    2010-11

    168,581

    2011-12

    174,818

    2012-13

    184,924

    2013-14

    187,594

    2014-15

    195,282

    Source: Hospital episode statistics (HES), Health and social care information centre

    Notes:

    A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

    The primary diagnosis provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.

    The costs to the National Health Service of treating people with urinary tract infections and urinary incontinence is not available centrally.

    Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs of providing defined services to patients. Reference costs for acute care are published by Healthcare Resource Group (HRG), which are standard groupings of similar treatments that use similar resources. For example, costs relating to kidney or urinary tract interventions are assigned to the same HRGs.

    Table: Estimated total costs of kidney or urinary tract interventions and urinary incontinence or other urinary problems reported by NHS trusts and foundation trusts, 2010-11 to 2014-15 (£ millions)

    Kidney or urinary tract interventions

    Urinary incontinence or other urinary problems

    2010-11

    370.5

    28.2

    2011-12

    398.9

    28.1

    2012-13

    432.4

    27.8

    2013-14

    464.8

    28.3

    2014-15

    506.5

    27.6

    Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

  • 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 key findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, whether she plans to publish guidance for schools on how best to comply 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.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which projects in Kosovo have received funds from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

    Mr David Lidington

    There are 39 projects worth £4,236,948 in Kosovo, funded under the Western Balkans Programme of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) in Financial Year 2015-16. These projects are listed in the attached table. CSSF programme activity in Kosovo has focused on promoting political, economic and security sector reform – including in the areas of rule of law, reconciliation, addressing corruption and increasing cross-border cooperation with Serbia – in order to address the causes of instability and to help support Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic accession path.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to establish an Infrastructure Police Force to replace the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police.

    Mike Penning

    The Strategic Defence and Security Review made a commitment to “integrate infrastructure policing further and to review the options to do this” and this review is underway.