Tag: 2016

Lord Teverson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the impact on the electricity market of limiting operational run hours for gas-reciprocating-engine-driven electricity back-up plants under environmental permitting legislation.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Defra will consult later this year on options which will include legislation that would set binding emission limit values on relevant air pollutants from small engines – which may include proposals that would be implemented under environmental permitting legislation. As part of this process Defra will assess the impacts of any policy options it proposes to take forward, and will work with DECC to understand any implications this may have for the electricity market.

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of how many non-extremist opposition fighters in Syria have fought against Daesh since 21 December 2015.

Penny Mordaunt

We share the Joint Intelligence Organisation’s assessment that opposition numbers have held up despite recent pressure and that there are significant numbers of non-extremist opposition inside Syria. Numbers in groups fighting Daesh are likely to have increased.

01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to become a founding donor of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies when it is launched at the World Humanitarian Summit 2016.

Mr Nick Hurd

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided on 24 May to Question number 37332.

01/01/2023
Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39360, on his Department’s reorganisation, whether graduates taking part in the cross-government graduate scheme can take up policy roles in his Department based outside of London.

Joseph Johnson

The Executive Board announced on 26 May that from January 2018 all policy roles will be based in our single HQ and policy centre in London.

01/01/2023
Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-10-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the Department for International Development’s total overseas development aid was spent on sexual, reproductive, maternal and child health in (1) 2013, (2) 2014, and (3) 2015.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Department of International Development spent 12.4% of its official development assistance on sexual, reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in each year 2013 and 2014. Data for 2015 is not yet published.

01/01/2023
Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the costs, rather than the tariff, of a cancer molecular profile using (1) a whole tumour-normal pair using Illumina technology at 70× tumour coverage, and (2) a deep sequenced next-generation sequencing panel test, as deployed in most major NHS teaching hospitals; and if those figures are not available, why not.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This information is not held centrally by NHS England. Where the cost of these tests falls outside of tariff, costs will vary according to commissioning arrangements, the systems in place and the technology used.

Further information on the costs to the National Health Service of whole genome sequencing in cancer and rare diseases will be derived through the 100,000 Genomes Project. The intended NHS re-procurement of Regional Genetic Laboratories will aid in defining the costs of genomic tests.

01/01/2023
Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 1 February (HL5287), whether they intend to ask the National Infrastructure Commission to undertake work on railway links between London and South West England; and if not, why not.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) currently operates in shadow form, and the Government is consulting on its governance, structure and operation. The NIC has a mandate to examine the country’s most pressing infrastructure challenges across all sectors of economic infrastructure – including energy, transport (roads, rail, ports and airports), water and sewage, waste, flood defences, and digital communications‎. There has not yet been decision on future studies to be undertaken by the NIC.

The Government remains committed to investment in railway links between London and the South West, regardless of whether a study is undertaken by the NIC. This is an unprecedented investment in rail infrastructure in the South West, totalling over £400m. This includes; resignalling the mainline from Totnes to Penzance, developing a strategic freight network, electrifying the Great Western Main Line, refurbishing the Cornwall sleeper, £35m to repair the tracks at Dawlish, a brand new station at Newcourt and another planned at Marsh Barton and 29 new AT300 trains.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many new school places will be required over the next ten years.

Lord Nash

Pupil forecasts based on Office for National Statistics population projections have been published to 2024 and they suggest that pupil numbers are due to rise significantly over that period. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area.

We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities three years in advance in order to balance the need for robust forecasts with the need to ensure certainty for local authorities over their future funding allocations. Supporting local authorities to create additional school places is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is signalled by this Government’s commitment to investing £23 billion by 2021 to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 new free schools and address essential maintenance needs.

01/01/2023
Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.30 of Educational excellence everywhere, Cm 9230, when she plans to amend the academy articles of association models to remove the requirement for new academy trusts and school governing boards to elect parent governors; and if she will take steps to enable existing academies to make that change.

Edward Timpson

The model articles of association give multi-academy trust (MAT) boards the freedom to appoint a local governing body. The board is also free to decide on what, if any, governance functions they delegate to subsidiary governance structures at the level of either individual schools or clusters of schools. Whatever arrangements MATs use, they must set out and publish on their website their chosen arrangements in a clear scheme of delegation.

The White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere outlines our intention to place a new expectation on all academies to put in place specific arrangements to engage with all parents in a meaningful way to listen to their views and feedback. To enable a move to fully skills-based governance, the White Paper also announces an end to our requirement on new and existing trusts to reserve places on the board for elected parents.

01/01/2023

Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) average waiting time for a practical driving test and (b) number of staffing opportunities at test centres not yet filled was in each region of England in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency recruitment strategy.

Andrew Jones

The average waiting time for a car driving test for the 2015/16 financial year was 8.4 weeks. The average waiting time for a car test measured at the time of writing (24 May) was 11.5 weeks.

The following table explains the current driving examiner recruitment position:

	New Recruits 2015/16	Planned Recruits 2016/17	completed training since 1 Apr 2016	currently undergoing training	training start confirmed	offer made – undergoing pre- employment check	Ongoing recruitment (latest advert)
Scotland & N England	28	58	2	8	16	9	32
Central England & N Wales	64	67	7	4	24	3	49
Southern England & S Wales	59	58	9	8	30	2	45
London & S E England	42	104	8	8	13	7	52
	193	287	26	28	83	21	178

During 2015 DVSA carried out a review of the end to end process of driving examiner resourcing – from forecasting demand for driving tests to understand where and how many driving examiners are needed, through the attraction and selection stages of recruitment to offer of appointment and training. The overall assessment was that there was significant scope for improvement at all stages in the process. The recommendations of the review are being implemented and include:

the use of improved forecasting models
modernised attraction approaches
more focussed assessment methods
streamlined training programmes.

The overarching objectives are to shorten the time from a driving examiner vacancy being identified to it being filled. DVSA also wants to improve the diversity and capabilities of the new starters it appoints.

01/01/2023