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Tag: 2016

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to nationally commission (a) minor ailments services and (b) minor eye conditions services.

    George Freeman

    There are no plans to commission either service at a national level. Those with a minor ailment may visit a pharmacy, walk in centre or practice nurse for treatment and those concerned they may have a minor eye condition can visit their general practitioner, optical practice or pharmacy.

    Services for minor ailments are commissioned by clinical commissioning groups who are also able to commission services from local optometrists to provide treatment for minor eye conditions. This ensures that services are commissioned to reflect local need.

  • Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to eradicate the presence of asbestos on school sites in England and Wales.

    Lord Nash

    The issue of asbestos in schools is a serious one and the government is supporting those that are legally responsible for managing asbestos in schools.

    The Health and Safety Executive, which is the lead regulator on managing asbestos advise that as long as asbestos is in good condition and unlikely to be damaged or disturbed, it is not a significant risk to health to pupils and students during the course of their daily activities. On this basis, the department has provided targeted guidance to schools on the effective management of asbestos in their schools and has recently concluded a voluntary data collection exercise to understand how duty holders are managing asbestos in their schools.

    The department directly funds the removal of asbestos through schemes such as the Priority Schools Building Programme and provides capital funding for asbestos management and removal where appropriate for those schools that have identified that asbestos is in poor condition or poses a high risk of deterioration.

    The department is not committing to the removal of asbestos in all schools as blanket and accelerated removal of asbestos in schools is potentially more dangerous and may involve greater risk to school children and staff.

    It is the aim of the government that, over time, as more school buildings are replaced and refurbished, all asbestos will be removed from schools.

  • The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Listowel on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to continue to improve quality of early education for two-, three- and four-year olds, including increasing graduate leadership.

    Lord Nash

    The Government wants all children to have access to quality early education, as this makes a difference to their outcomes in later life. That is why we have taken the following steps to support the quality of early years provision:

    The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) helps early years providers to prepare young children for school and improve their life chances by requiring them to deliver high-quality provision. The 2015-16 EYFS Profile results show that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 69% in 2016 compared to 52% in 2013.

    We work closely with Ofsted to ensure a robust regulatory and inspection framework to drive continuous improvement in quality. The sector has responded positively and the latest statistics show that 86% of early years providers were rated “good” or “outstanding” as of 31 March 2016.

    The quality of the workforce continues to improve, with 87% of staff in full day care settings now qualified to level 3. The Department is also developing a workforce strategy that will aim to remove barriers to attracting, retaining and developing staff.

    The Government recognises that graduates play an important role in improving quality in the early years, and that is why in 2013 we introduced the early years initial teacher training programme which leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status. We have made a significant investment in this programme by providing funding for course fees and bursaries to eligible trainees, and also funding for employers to support trainees. As such, the number of graduates in the workforce continues to rise, and between 2008 and 2013 the proportion of full day care staff with a degree or higher increased from 5% to 13%.

  • 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 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of her Department’s performance in adhering to the statutory time limit for responding to Freedom of Information requests.

    Nick Gibb

    The Secretary of State publishes statistics on the Department’s performance in responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

    “

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have represented themselves as litigants in person in (a) civil, (b) criminal and (c) family courts in 2015-16 to date.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Ministry of Justice does not collect information centrally on Litigants in Person in civil related court cases, criminal court cases or family court cases.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many International Civil Aviation Organisation category (a) A and (b) B Airprox incidents there were in the (i) Scottish Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region and (ii) London Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region involved foreign military aircraft in each year since 2010; and in each of those incidents what the (A) type of foreign military aircraft involved and (B) country of origin was.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There were 2 Category (Cat.) (A) and 1 Cat. (B) Incident(s) in the Scottish Flight Information Region/Upper Information Region (Scottish FIR/UIR) and 1 Cat (A) and 4 Cat. (B) incidents in the London FIR/UIR.

    The table below outlines the type of military aircraft involved in each incident in both regions since 2010.

    Airprox No

    Date

    Risk

    Location

    Aircraft Type

    Country of origin

    2012060

    27/04/2012

    A

    LONDON FIR

    KC135 STRATOTANKER

    USA

    2015009

    04/02/2015

    B

    LONDON FIR

    F15 EAGLE

    USA

    2013037

    16/05/2013

    B

    LONDON FIR

    F15 EAGLE

    USA

    2015111

    14/07/2015

    B

    LONDON FIR

    C5 GALAXY

    USA

    2015123

    30/07/2015

    B

    LONDON FIR

    F15 EAGLE

    USA

    2012057

    24/04/2012

    A

    SCOTTISH FIR

    C130 HERCULES

    USA

    2010163

    13/10/2010

    A

    SCOTTISH FIR

    SAAB JAS39 GRIPEN

    Not recorded

    2013149

    10/10/2013

    B

    SCOTTISH FIR

    MIRAGE 2000

    France

    The associated Airprox reports can be found on the UK Airprox board website (www.airproxboard.org.uk) under ‘Reports and Analysis’.

    “

  • Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the use of administrative detention in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain concerned about Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary. Officials regularly raise concerns about the treatment of administrative detainees with their Israeli counterparts.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to engage the private sector in sustainable investments in Africa and South Asia.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is committed to supporting economic development in Africa and South Asia as it recognises the central importance of inclusive economic growth in eradicating poverty. One of DFID’s priorities is to partner with businesses investing in frontier markets in order to unlock economic opportunities that also have high development benefits.

    DFID is working to create a business environment in Africa and South East Asia which is more conducive to attracting private sector capital; key to this is ensuring that investments are made in companies which have responsible business practices. Within DFID we ensure that investment vehicles like CDC and Private Infrastructure Development Group have investment codes with sustainability at their core. We also support internationally recognised Codes of Conduct like the UN Global Compact and organisations which aim to drive better reporting standards like the Global Reporting Initiative.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure nurses are consulted on his Department’s future policies after the proposed closure of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions policy unit in his Department.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department leads the health and care system in England, working closely with a range of organisations on whose expertise it draws, including the nursing and midwifery expertise in NHS England and Public Health England. The Department’s approach to ensuring that nurses are consulted about future policies is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arms-length bodies, regulators, stakeholders and professional bodies.

    The Department’s policy teams will establish new networks and relationships with stakeholders and partners and collaborate with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to ensure systems are in place to secure advice when developing evidence based policy. These changes do not affect the role of the CNO, who as CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing and midwifery issues.

    The Department is changing the way it works to deliver its essential work for the Government while achieving efficiency savings. All of the changes we are making through the resulting DH2020 programme are being done transparently and communicated to staff.


  • Baroness Janke – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Janke – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Janke on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that “structural and investment funds projects signed before the Autumn Statement and Horizon research funding granted before we leave the EU will be guaranteed by the Treasury after we leave”, whether they intend to publish the number and value of contracts signed for each funding stream approved between the Chancellor’s announcement and the Autumn Statement.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Treasury does not hold information about individual EU funded projects, so the detailed information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Information about EU funded projects in the UK is in the public domain, e.g. a list of European Structural and Investment Funds beneficiaries is available on Gov.uk.

    In line with the Chief Secretary’s letter of 12th August, a copy of which has been deposited in the Libraries of the House, further details will be provided ahead of the Autumn Statement.