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Tag: 2016

  • Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether students who have not achieved at least a C grade in English and mathematics GCSE will be required to resit those exams as many times as it takes them to achieve that grade.

    Robert Halfon

    Departmental funding rules require full time students with prior attainment of a D to work towards achieving a C grade or higher in GCSE English and maths. Students who achieve lower than a D grade at 16 may study other qualifications such as Functional Skills as a ‘stepping stone’ towards GCSE.

    For those opting to retake their GCSE(s) or being required to do so due to having previously attained a grade D, there is no requirement for them to repeatedly re-sit the GCSE exam. Schools and colleges have the freedom to determine when a student is ready to re-sit their GCSE. This is because our 16-19 English and maths requirements relates to enrolments rather than exam entries. This provides a school or college the flexibility to determine when best for a student to be entered for and sit an exam. For some students that might be the following November, while other students may require

    a year, or two years study and tuition before they are ready to re-sit the exam.

    If students resit their GCSE part way through their programme and fail to gain a grade C then they are expected to continue studying for the GCSE.

  • Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people of each gender work in his Department.

    Mike Penning

    The Department publishes diversity report which contains workforce data broken down by gender on an annual basis. The last published report for 2013/2014 can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-report-2013-to-2014

    “

  • Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what preparations the Government is making for the auction of 5G spectrum.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom takes independent decisions on how to assign spectrum. The Government is making spectrum available – including future 5G – through its programme of public sector spectrum release.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in his Department.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    I refer my Hon Friend to the answer to PQ 27946

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have established the current facts concerning access by the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration to (1) the informal and organised camps for refugees near Calais and Dunkirk, and (2) the Centres d’Accueil for asylum applicants elsewhere in France; and in both cases, whether there is full access during the whole, or only part, of the working week.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    This is a matter for the French authorities.

  • Lord Jopling – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Jopling – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jopling on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Leader of the House what discussions she has had with Ministers in the Cabinet Office with regard to the number of Questions for Written Answer not answered within 10 working days.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    My responsibility as Leader of the House, to encourage Ministers to be punctual in answering written questions, is one I take seriously. My office immediately approach departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remain in contact with them until the questions are answered. This process was followed with the Cabinet Office for the seven questions that remained unanswered after 10 working days on 18 March. All of those questions have now been answered. At the end of this Session I will publish data on each department’s promptness in dealing with Questions for Written Answer to allow for proper scrutiny of their performance.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Kenyan government on the closure of the Dadaab refugee camp.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The Secretary of State for International Development, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) discussed the announcement about the Dadaab refugee camp with Kenya at the World Humanitarian Summit on 25 May.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the level of potential savings to NHS budgets were the targets set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy to be met.

    Andrew Jones

    We have published a report commissioned on the health benefits of active travel “Claiming the Health Dividend: A summary and discussion of value for money estimates from studies of investment in walking and cycling” https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371096/claiming_the_health_dividend.pdf.

    “

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Skills Plan, what her policy is on the future provision of BTECs.

    Robert Halfon

    As set out in our Post 16 Skills Plan, we will take forward the recommendations of the Sainsbury Review to put in place a world-class technical option that provides preparation for highly skilled employment. The technical option will be a prestigious and high-quality option for 16 year olds as an alternative to academic study. Applied general qualifications such as BTECs are not designed to be part of the technical education option. We plan to review the contribution of these qualifications to preparing students for higher education and the impact any reform would have on widening participation. We will announce our decisions later in the year.

    It is important that individuals are able to switch between the academic and technical options so that students’ options are not closed down. Flexible learning will be important to learners of all ages, given the changing labour market. We accepted the Sainsbury panel’s recommendation that there should be appropriate bridging courses to make movement between the two options easily accessible and will be looking at options for putting these courses in place.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the contribution of the cycle to work scheme to meeting the Government’s objective to double the number of journeys made by bicycle by 2020.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cycle to Work Scheme is an employee benefit covered by an exemption and therefore employers do not have to make an annual tax return regarding the benefit.

    The Cycle to Work Alliance (made up of Cyclescheme, Cycle Solutions, Evans Cycles and Halfords) have provided figures of the take up from Jan –September 2015 141,454 people participated in the scheme.

    A recent survey by the Alliance showed that 62% of participants in the scheme were either non-cyclists, novice cyclists (cycling less than once a month) or occasional cyclists (cycling once or twice a month) before joining the scheme. Having joined the scheme 79% of respondents described themselves as enthusiastic cyclists.