Tag: 2016

Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to apply the agent of change principle to pubs which play live music.

Brandon Lewis

Elements of the agent of change principle already exist within planning policies and guidance. The planning guidance supporting the Framework is clear that the potential effect of a new residential development being located close to an existing business giving rise to noise should be carefully considered. The guidance underlines planning’s contribution to avoiding future complaints and risks to local business like live music venues from resulting enforcement action. To help avoid such situations, local councils are encouraged to consider appropriate mitigation including designing the new development to reduce the impact of noise from the local environment and optimising the sound insulation provided by the building envelope.

01/01/2023
Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s policy is on the use by HM Ambassadors of their official Twitter accounts to promote arguments for staying in the EU ahead of the referendum on 23 June.

Mr David Lidington

The Government has published official guidance for Government departments on activities during the period 27 May to 23 June 2016, which is publicly available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/526184/eu-referendum-guidance-for-uk-government-departments-on-activities-during-the-period-27-may-to-23-june.pdf

The guidance states that: “Updates to government websites or social media feeds must not deal with any issues raised by the referendum question or put any arguments for or against any outcome, or be designed to encourage voting at the referendum. Civil servants may respond to specific online queries by providing links to published material. Material that has already been published before 27 May will be regarded as part of the public record and does not need to be removed from websites and social media sites, although links to these sites should be removed.”

01/01/2023
Tania Mathias – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will estimate the number of long-haul business passengers that will terminate at Heathrow Airport in 2050 (a) with and (b) without a third runway at that airport; and what proportion of those passengers will be (i) UK residents and (ii) foreign visitors.

Mr John Hayes

The estimated numbers of total passengers that will terminate at Heathrow Airport in 2050 are as follows:
- without airport expansion: 88.0 million terminal passengers. Of these, the estimated number of long-haul business passengers is 16.08 million, of which 59.75% of these are estimated to be UK residents and 40.25% foreign visitors;
- with a third runway at Heathrow: 114.8 million terminal passengers. Of these, the estimated number of long-haul business passengers is 16.29 million, of which 59.81% of these are estimated to be UK residents and 40.19% foreign visitors.
These estimates are based on the Airports Commission forecasts of July 2015, Assessment of Need/carbon traded scenario.

These estimates include both departures and arrivals at Heathrow airport and exclude transfer passengers.
01/01/2023
Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what definition of underperforming local authorities, or other measures of performance her Department will use in a decision to convert a school to academy status.

Edward Timpson

We have been clear that we want to see all schools, over time, become academies. But our focus is on schools where standards need to be raised. So we will continue to convert all schools that are judged inadequate by Ofsted, and work with those that are coasting or otherwise underperforming to identify the support they need to improve. We expect that in some cases this support will be through conversion to become a sponsored academy. No new legislation is required for these purposes.

01/01/2023
Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to prepare for the outcome of the EU referendum.

Priti Patel

The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain – so we get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. The Government is focused on delivering a successful renegotiation: it believes it can and will succeed in reforming and renegotiating our relationship with the EU.

01/01/2023
Bill Wiggin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many copies of the Agra-Europe report on Brexit her Department has.

George Eustice

My Department is aware of Agra Europe’s recent report but has not purchased any copies.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25153, on which Type 45 Destroyers all 16 recommendations of the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review have been implemented in full; when he expects the implementation of all 16 recommendations to be completed across the class; and if he will publish the recommendations made by the review.

Mr Philip Dunne

Fourteen of the recommendations involved a modification to the Power and Propulsion system and all fourteen have been completed across all six ships in the class.

The remaining two recommendations, involving changes to existing training procedures and documentation, have also been adopted. As these two recommendations are administrative in nature, they do not require physical modification of the ships.

With regard to the request to publish the recommendations made by the Independent Power and Propulsion System Performance Review, dated March 2011, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman) to question 25234 on 8 February 2016.

01/01/2023
Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-03-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any of their projects in Cameroon, Nigeria or South Africa protect young girls from breast ironing.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government is concerned about the harmful practice of breast ironing in some Commonwealth and other African countries. Whilst there is little data on the number of girls suffering from this abuse, we have, for example, worked with the government and religious leaders in Cameroon on campaigns to raise awareness and to support community-led efforts to end breast ironing.

The Government condemns violence against women and girls in all its forms and places gender equality at the heart of our bilateral development programming. In Nigeria we are investing over £40 million to change harmful social norms towards women and girls, and to protect women and girls against violence. I raised these issues with the Government of Nigeria during my visit to the country in February. Baroness Verma, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for International Development (DfID), discussed gender-based violence in South Africa in October 2015, including DfID’s support to the re-establishment of South Africa’s Sexual Offences Courts and its work with the African Prosecutor’s Association on research into preventing violence against women.

The manifestations of violence against women and girls may change but it is critical to address the structural causes of violence, including harmful beliefs and attitudes. We shall continue to work through diplomatic and development channels to engage with governments and local communities in Africa and beyond, to support the rights of women and girls, including ending harmful practices which constitute violence.

01/01/2023

Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of school pupils aged 18 or under had either a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan in each of the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The transition period from statements to Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) runs until April 2018. Every local authority has published an individual Local Transition Plan setting out the timings for transfers to the new system. We are monitoring local authority progress and published figures about transition up to January 2015, returned by local authorities, in the Special Educational Needs in England Statistical First Release of May 2015[1]. We will publish the figures up to January 2016 in May 2016.

The Department does not collect information on the number of children who are home educated. Some local authorities choose to maintain registers so that parents can voluntarily register children being educated at home.

The number and proportion of school pupils who had a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an EHCP in each of the last five years is as follows:

x	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Pupils with statements or EHCPs	224,210	226,125	229,390	232,190	236,165
Pupils on roll	8,123,865	8,178,200	8,249,810	8,331,385	8,438,145
Incidence (%)	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.8[2]

The number of permanent and fixed period exclusions received by pupils with a Statement of Special Educational Needs in each of the last five years for which data is available is as follows:

x	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Fixed period exclusions	37,140	36,740	35,640	32,210	33,190
Permanent exclusions	420	430	380	330	330[3]

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2015

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions

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01/01/2023

Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to review the current time limits for abortion.

Jane Ellison

The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks gestation only where:

― the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman Section 1(1)(b); or

― the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated Section 1(1)(c); or

― there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped Section 1(1)(d).

In England and Wales it is accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes to the Abortion Act come from backbench members and that decisions are made on the basis of free votes. The Government has no plans to review this legislation.

01/01/2023