The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who has attended meetings of the Child Protection Task Force and on what dates; and what action has been decided at those meetings.
Edward Timpson
Information relating to the proceedings of recent meetings of Implementation Taskforces is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help provide (a) compensation from VW Group for drivers and (b) partial or full reimbursement for retesting cars under the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme.
Andrew Jones
We continue to press Volkswagen on the issue of compensation for UK consumers. The Secretary of State summoned the Managing Director of VW UK to a further meeting this week to discuss the issue.
We undertook the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme to check for further test cycle manipulation strategies as used by the Volkswagen Group. To ensure the independence of this important programme neither the vehicles nor the testing facilities were provided by the vehicle industry, and the department funded the testing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the time taken for NICE appraisal processes for the provision of Nivolumab on the treatment of NHS patients with non-small cell lung cancer; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
No such assessment has been made.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently carrying out technology appraisals of nivolumab for two lung cancer indications:
(i) Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. The expected publication date for this final guidance is September 2016.
(ii) Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small-cell lung cancer after prior chemotherapy in adults. The publication date for this final guidance is to be confirmed.
Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued. In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.
From July 2016, the new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund will ensure that the most promising and innovative medicines get to patients as quickly as possible. In particular, NICE will issue draft guidance on new cancer drugs or significant new licence indications before they have received marketing approval in the United Kingdom. Any drug that receives a positive draft recommendation would then be funded from the point of licence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of eviction possession hearings that took place in respect of (a) private and (b) social landlords in the last year for which data is available.
Sir Oliver Heald
The number of possession hearings that took place in respect of (a) private and (b) social landlords are available on GOV.UK using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics-april-to-june-2016
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports have been confiscated from Syrian citizens by UK officials in 2016 on the basis of being stolen.
Mr Robert Goodwill
This information is not collated centrally. To collate this date would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish a full impact assessment of the Government’s proposal for clean air zones.
Rory Stewart
We will be working closely over the coming months with the five cities in which Clean Air Zones are to be introduced to develop the detail of the actions required. An impact assessment of the proposals for Clean Air Zones will be published later this year alongside a consultation on a framework for Clean Air Zones and the secondary legislation to be introduced.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government where the criteria for standards in initial teacher training can be found, and whether there are any specific legislative instruments enforcing those criteria.
Lord Nash
The Teachers’ Standards were published in 2011 and apply to all teachers. They define the minimum level of practice expected of teachers. The document can be found on the GOV.UK website, and has been attached to this answer.
The standards refer to:
Schedule 2 of The Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003
The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012
As such, the Teachers’ Standards apply to:
Trainees working towards Qualified Teacher Status;
All teachers completing their statutory induction period (newly qualified teachers [NQTs]); and
Teachers in maintained schools, including maintained special schools, who are covered by the 2012 appraisal regulations.
The National College for Teaching and Leadership will use Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards, which relates to personal and professional conduct, when assessing cases of serious misconduct, regardless of the education sector in which the teacher works.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 10 February (HL5652), what (1) proportion, and (2) volume, of excavated spoil from each of the HS2 Phase 1 construction sites will be transported from them by (a) rail, (b) road, and (c) river.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Excavated material arising from the construction of Phase One of HS2 will be transported along the construction corridor (site haul) where it is reasonably practicable to do so. Where that is not possible, or for movement along longer distances, the material will be transported by public highway, along designated routes. Where reasonably practicable, rail has been considered for the transportation of large quantities of excavated material over long distances. There are currently no plans to move any of the excavated material by river.
The approximate quantities and relative proportion of each of these transportation methods, allocated to broad sections of the proposed route is set out in the table below. These figures reflect the assumptions reported in the Environmental Statement deposited alongside the Phase One Bill and, as such, are a plausible worst case in terms of both total volume of excavated material and proportion transport by highway and rail. The project has made a commitment to maximise the amount of excavated material transported by rail and are working to increase the proportion transport by rail and decrease the proportion transported by highway wherever reasonably practicable.
(All figures are in million tons and movements may include multiple handling)
|
|
Site Haul |
Public Highway Haul |
Rail Haul |
|
Central London & Metropolitan area |
16.9 (56%) |
4 (13%) |
9.46 (31%) |
|
Buckinghamshire Northants & Warwickshire Country areas |
72.4 (80%) |
17.9 (20%) |
– (0%) |
|
West Midlands Metropolitan area |
29.9 (61%) |
18.9 (39%) |
– (0%) |
|
Total Phase One Routewide |
119.2 (70%) |
40.8 (24%) |
9.46 (6%) |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The figures requested are attached and as follows:
|
Number of Staff |
Cost CEA Home |
Cost CEA Overseas |
Total |
|
|
2012/2013 |
442 |
£8,736,957 |
£6,189,104 |
£14,926,061 |
|
2013/2014 |
378 |
£6,727,304 |
£6,435,519 |
£13,162,823 |
|
2014/2015 |
370 |
£7,193,211 |
£5,749,923 |
£12,943,134 |
It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests from his Department for evidence to inform a work capability assessment were (a) made and (b) responded to by GPs and other professionals, in each of the last three years; and what the professional discipline was that each of those requests were made to.
Priti Patel
Information requests made by Healthcare Professionals to inform a Work Capability Assessment:
|
Year |
Requests made: |
Responses received: |
|
Apr. 2013 to Mar. 2014 |
599,261 |
396,847 |
|
Apr. 2014 to Mar. 2015 |
536,101 |
314,170 |
|
Apr. 2015 to Mar. 2016 |
534,677 |
280,736 |
Source: Centre for Health Disability Assessments (CHDA)
Information on the professional discipline of the individual from whom information is requested is not held