Tag: 2016

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to prevent the E-ACT Academy chain from dismissing community governors from its school governing bodies.

    Edward Timpson

    In a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT), individual academies are all under the control of the trust board, as the legal entity. A trust is allowed to exercise its choice about whether and how to construct its local governing bodies for each academy. The composition of those boards and the range of functions delegated to any such boards, are all a matter for the board to determine. In all cases the board remains accountable for all of the academies in the MAT. We expect Government bodies to drive strong governance so that standards remain high. We trust these boards to decide on the most appropriate arrangements for their trust. They may choose to delegate duties to local governing bodies, but trustees maintain overall responsibility. E-ACT has reviewed its governance arrangements and is planning to change its regional and local governance structure.

    The Secretary of State can intervene where a trust is in breach of its funding agreement due to a serious breakdown in governance.

    Fewer, higher quality and more highly skilled boards overseeing groups of schools is central to the Government’s strategy for improving the quality of school governance. It is also the key to schools realising a wide range of other educational and financial benefits.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with social media providers on steps to combat cyber bullying.

    Edward Timpson

    The Government continues to work closely with social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use social media platforms. Ministers from the Department for Education, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Home Office meet quarterly with social media providers and other key stakeholders at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board meetings, to discuss important issues relating to child safety online, including cyberbullying.

    Recently, Ofcom led a social media working group on behalf of UKCCIS, with representation from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, and MindCandy. The group developed best practice guidance aimed at encouraging responsible practice from industry to ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way. The guidance was issued by UKCISS in December 2015 and can be found on their website.

    To help schools prevent and tackle bullying, we are providing £1.3m this year (2015-16) to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying including cyberbullying, on top of the £4m provided in 2013-15. We are also providing £2m this year (2015-16) to organisations to specifically tackle homophobic bullying, which includes cyberbullying.

    We do not want to make any form of bullying a criminal offence as to do so would risk criminalising young people. In some circumstances that may be justified, but probably only in a limited number of very serious cases, for which there are already laws in place to protect people. Internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.

    The Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice for schools on how to keep children safe online. This is scheduled for publication this spring.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish the actual or potential conflicts of interest declared by the Pubs Code Adjudicator, Mr Paul Newby, prior to his appointment.

    Anna Soubry

    The appointment panel satisfied itself there were no conflicts of interest when they made recommendations to Ministers. In due course and as is usual practice, the Adjudicator’s office will publish a register of interests.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will request that train operating companies publish the criteria they use for calculating rail fares.

    Claire Perry

    The rail fares we regulate have been capped at inflation (Retail Price Index) for three years running, and will continue to be capped for the life of this parliament. The Government sets the maximum amount by which regulated fares can rise. Details of how fares regulation applies to train operators can be found in Schedule 5 of the Franchise Agreement which can be found on the Department’s website. Other fares are unregulated, and train operators are permitted to set these on a commercial basis.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-register-of-rail-passenger-franchise-agreements

    “

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the recommendations of the final report of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in May 2016, if she will introduce (a) a UK-specific target for the reduction of farm antibiotic use in livestock, (b) restrictions or bans on the use in farming of highly critical antibiotics and (c) improved transparency from food producers on antibiotics used for raising meat.

    George Eustice

    The UK Government welcomes the report and recommendations from the Independent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. A full Government response to the recommendations will be published following purdah.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of change to train services by (a) scheduled departure and (b) number of carriages provided by Southern Railway Limited the Government has agreed under the conditions of its franchise with that company.

    Claire Perry

    Timetabling and rolling stock allocation are a matter for the operator. We monitor their performance against the specified benchmarks as set out in the Franchise Agreement and the Remedial Plan.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans routinely to offer screening tests for Group B Strep to pregnant women as part of their antenatal care.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is in the process of updating its evidence review into antenatal screening for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) in accordance with its published three year review cycle.

    When the update is completed, a public consultation on the evidence review document will begin, and will remain open for a three month period.

    The UK NSC will then review the recommendation for GBS, taking into consideration the outcomes of the public consultation and the evidence review, at the successive meeting.

    More information and how to contribute to the public consultation will be available at the following link:

    http://legacy.screening.nhs.uk/screening-recommendations.php

    “

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department and its executive agencies spent on advertising to promote awareness of the health risks associated with alcohol in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Spend on advertising is defined as covering only media spend (inclusive of agency commissions but excluding production costs, Central Office of Information commission and VAT).

    In reference to the Department’s media spend on advertising to promote awareness of the health risks associated with alcohol, spend is set out below:

    Financial Year

    Expenditure

    2010-11

    £0

    2011-12

    £980,000

    2012-13

    £1,840,000

    Public Health England (PHE) took over responsibility for public health campaigns formerly run by the Department on 1 April 2013. Although there was no advertising spend in 2013-14, other marketing activity would have taken place. For example: the publication and distribution of leaflets and the maintenance of the website. In 2014-15, in addition to this activity, PHE allocated £530,000 of media spend on advertising.

    All figures are rounded to the nearest £10,000.

  • 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 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which specialist contractors her Department has hired to advise regional school commissioners.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department will publish an award notice on GOV.UK that names suppliers that have been awarded contracts, business addresses and contract values over £20,000. The Department will also be publishing related supplier contracts that support the academy and free school programme on Contract Finder on GOV.UK by 31 March 2016.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that businesses are able to recruit employees with the required level of skills.

    Nick Boles

    Officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) are working together at all levels to deliver the ambitious 16+ skills reform programme, supporting me in my role as joint Minister. This programme aims to achieve the best possible outcomes for young people and adults and set high standards and promote strong qualifications. Our work is intended to ensure that people have the education, training and skills that business and employers need in order to be competitive and grow.

    Apprenticeships are our flagship policy for equipping people with the skills employers demand. For young people (aged 16-19), we want the new norm to be them considering university or an apprenticeship (or both, in the case of Degree Apprenticeships), as equally valid routes to a successful career. 2.6m apprentices have started since 2010 and we are committed to 3m starts by 2020. BIS and DfE are also supporting traineeships, which are designed to equip young people aged 16-24 with skills and experience that employers are looking for. Both apprenticeships and traineeships are joint DfE/BIS programmes that are managed through clear and collaborative joint working between both Departments and their Agencies.

    The Government’s ambitious reforms to the education system raise standards in English and maths, giving people the essential literacy and numeracy skills and qualifications that we know employers seek from new recruits more than any other qualifications. Learners who did not achieve a Level 2 in English and maths by the age of 16 are now required to continue to study those subjects post-16. We have also increased the level we expect people to study in apprenticeships and in traineeships and fully fund all adults to achieve their first English and maths GCSE. In addition, we are jointly leading a programme to reform Functional Skills qualifications to ensure they are robust and credible qualifications that develop the skills that employers need.