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Tag: 2016

  • 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.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the Government’s planned increase in the number of presenting officers at employment and support allowance and personal independence payments tribunal hearings.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department is increasing the attendance of Presenting Officers at appeals to help ensure the right decision is reached.

    We’ve estimated that it will cost approximately £22m to increase the number of Presenting Officers at ESA and PIP Tribunal hearings. The vast majority of the £22m, which will be spent over three years, will be used for Presenting Officer salary costs, with a small proportion for Learning and Development, communications and start up project costs.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on the number of Christians in Aleppo.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There is a lack of reliable information on the number of Christians in Aleppo. At a press conference at the UN in Geneva in March 2016 the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo, Antoine Audo (also President of Caritas Syria), estimated that the population of Christians in Aleppo had fallen from 160,000 pre-conflict to only 40,000 in 2016. My noble friend, the Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns recently met with Armenian Church leaders, including one from Aleppo, who stated his congregation had fallen by 50%.

    Overall, prior to the conflict, Christians numbered about 2.2 million — 10% of Syria’s population. 40% of the Christian population have now left Syria. Many of the Christians left because of the widespread perception they supported the regime. Those remaining vehemently reject the claim.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they made on 19 May to the government of Saudi Arabia about the case of Mr Waleed Abu Al-Khair; what response they received; and whether there has been any progress on that case since then.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are not aware of progress in the case of Walid Abu Al-Khair since last raised with the Saudi Arabian authorities on the 19 May. We believe that we will be more successful in discussing cases privately with Saudi Arabia and we will continue to follow this case closely and will raise when appropriate.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase understanding of dental care among young people.

    David Mowat

    We are committed to improving the oral health of school children. As part of every child having the Best Start in Life, Public Health England (PHE) has established a Child Oral Health Improvement Programme Board with a substantial programme of work, working with others to improve children’s oral health.

    As part of this programme of work, PHE has produced a toolkit to support local authorities (LAs) in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children and young people in their area. The toolkit supports LAs to invest in programmes which have demonstrated improvement in children’s dental health such as targeted community-based fluoride varnish programmes, targeted nursery and school based tooth brushing programmes and water fluoridation.

    More broadly, sugar consumption is the primary cause of tooth decay in children. The Change4Life Sugar Smart app launched in January 2016 provides parents with a tool to show how much total sugar is in every day food and drinks, to help them make healthier choices. Dental health professionals have also been provided with Change4Life toolkits to help them have conversations with parents about their children’s oral health.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed by the Metropolitan Police Service are former employees of News International.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of people employed by the Metropolitan Police Service who were former employees of News International.

    Individual police forces in England and Wales are responsible for deciding when and how they run their recruitment and selection processes.

    Decisions on whether to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of the police force concerned.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25804, what the two sites are that are being considered for disposal within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority area.

    Edward Timpson

    Until a decision has been made, the Department does not wish to name both schools in order to protect the Secretary of State’s decision making powers when considering whether to give consent.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to UK firms of implementing Capital Requirement Directive IV.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) implements, in the EU, the prudential banking standards agreed by the international Basel Committee. The Government supports these global standards to ensure that we do not again face severe economic impacts as a result of inadequate banking regulation and would have implemented these with or without EU legislation.

    It is difficult to isolate the costs and benefits from other prudential banking measures introduced since the global financial crisis. And the benefits in particular are hard to capture as they take time to materialize. However, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) stated in its cost-benefit analysis carried out 2013 that ‘the CRDIV package is net beneficial to the UK economy.’

    Taking all of the prudential measures together, the PRA has estimated that the net economic benefit is £8.25bn per annum.