The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passengers have received payments from Southern’s enhanced compensation scheme since it’s introduction as a result of the disruption caused at London Bridge from work on the Thameslink Programme.
Claire Perry
We do not hold this information as the operator is under no obligation to provide it to us.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what further investment he plans to provide for the hardened aircraft shelters used by the Quick Reaction Alert at the former RAF base at Leuchars.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence is planning to undertake £100,000 of safety compliance related work over the next 12 months, on top of the regular levels of service and maintenance for the hardened aircraft shelters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding of the Syria Relief Network’s survey of refugees that only a third of Syrian child refugees currently attend school; what assistance her Department is providing to ensure that more Syrian child refugees receive an education; and if she will make a statement.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK, alongside UNICEF, has led the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLGI), which supports education for children in Syria and the region. We have allocated £122 million to NLGI since the start of the crisis, providing formal and non-formal education for hundreds of thousands of children in the region. We have improved early grade education, provided non-formal education and counselling in Jordan, and boosted formal, non-formal and catch-up education for underserved children in Lebanon. Our programmes provided catch-up classes in essential subjects for more than 160,000 inside Syria, and textbooks for more than 350,000 in Lebanon.
In February we hosted the Supporting Syria and the Region conference in London, where participants agreed that all 1.7 million refugee and vulnerable children in countries neighbouring Syria will be in quality education by the end of 2016/2017 school year. DFID committed to increase funding on education in Jordan and Lebanon to £240 million up to 2020/2021 and is currently designing new programmes, aligned behind national education plans, to help deliver these ambitious goals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether meeting notes, correspondence and plans produced by the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprint leadership teams are included within the remit of clinical commissioning groups in their capacity as public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will place in the Library a list of contacts for each footprint area.
George Freeman
Every health and care system in England is producing a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the next five years – ultimately delivering the Five Year Forward View vision of better health, better patient care and improved NHS efficiency. Freedom of Information (FoI) requests would be responded to in line with the FoI Act. It is the intention is to publish STPs once they are final and agreed. Organisations within footprints such as clinical commissioning groups will adhere to their own local governance and engagement arrangements.
The list of Footprint leads is attached and also contained on the NHS England website:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/03/leaders-confirmed/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-09-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions of community amateur sports clubs for operating incorrectly there have been in the last two years.
Jane Ellison
Rather than prosecute Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) for operating incorrectly, any club that does not meet the new regulations, introduced in April 2015, will be de-registered by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and assessed for potential Capital Gains Tax charges on the deemed disposal and acquisition of assets.
Statistics are not kept on former CASCs that set up a charity that they subsequently register with HMRC. These new charities are required to simply register the charity with HMRC in the normal way.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a visitor’s visa application was in each of the last five years.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Published data on visa processing times is available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the purpose was of the visit of his officials to the USS Ronald Reagan on 8 January 2016; and what the rank of the visiting officials was.
Michael Fallon
The purpose of my visit to the USS Ronald Reagan was to share US thinking about security challenges in North and Southeast Asia. I was accompanied by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, the Director General for Security Policy, the UK Ambassador and the Defence Attache.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24371, how many Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) staff carried out complete checks on vessels working in all sulphur dioxide emission control areas contiguous with the UK coastline in 2015; and how many MCA staff will carry out this work in 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Marine Surveyors carry out a full range of Port State Control (PSC) and inspection tasks including assessment of compliance with environmental requirements such as the use of low sulphur fuel forming part of their normal duties.
Surveyor resources are not dedicated to specific tasks and inspections will consider a range of safety and environmental issues so it is not possible to disaggregate staff numbers on this specific issue.
In 2015, there were 74 qualified and accredited MCA Marine Surveyors carrying out PSC inspection activity, including that related to sulphur compliance across the UK.
In 2016, there are 64 qualified and accredited MCA Marine Surveyors who have been supplemented by a further 30 trained sulphur inspectors.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on the recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Uneven Growth: Tackling City Decline and its ranking of Dundee as seventh highest on its index of relative decline.
David Mundell
I am aware of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report and the issues it raises. The Government is committed to growing the economy across the UK and empowering Cities to realise their potential.
Last week my Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord Dunlop, participated in a Jobs Summit in Dundee along with the Scottish Government, Dundee City Council and others aimed at boosting employment in the area and regenerating one of our finest Scottish cities. Following the summit we have committed to work with interested parties to drive forward investment in Dundee.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will issue guidance to schools on the terminology used for children who do not reach the national standard grade under the proposed reforms to Key Stage 2.
Nick Gibb
Schools have been informed that pupil outcomes will be described as meeting or not meeting the expected standard in the Key Stage 2 (KS2) tests. Pupils who do not meet the expected standard in the teacher assessment of writing will be awarded one of a number of standards: Foundations for the expected standard, Early development of the expected standard, Growing development of the expected standard or Working towards the expected standard. The Standards and Testing Agency will provide additional guidance on scaled scores in July 2016.
Schools are required to report to parents of year 6 children their child’s scaled scores for the KS2 tests; whether they have met the expected standard or not; and their teacher assessed standards for English writing, English reading, mathematics and science. Schools are also required to give parents more general information about the child’s achievements, general progress and attendance record. This is intended to give a more comprehensive view of a child’s overall achievements at the end of the key stage than just their attainment in the national curriculum assessments. The Department does not prescribe the terminology to be used in these reports.
We expect schools to ensure that children’s achievements are reported in a professional and appropriate manner.