The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to participate in the initiative of the government of France for ending the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We will continue to work closely with the French government to ensure that their initiative makes a constructive contribution that encourages the parties to resume negotiations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-07-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the Small Schools Taskforce report on free school meals.
Nick Gibb
The small schools taskforce was made up of a number of local authority and private sector caterers and manufacturers who were unpaid but could claim expenses. The total value of the contract to deliver action arising from the School Food Plan was £204,000. We are able to directly attribute around £10,000 of this to the work of the Small Schools Taskforce; in addition there would have been small amounts claimed in expenses for the other taskforce members.
The majority of the findings from the Small Schools Taskforce report are already in the public domain following the publication of the toolkit for small schools, which is available at: http://www.thegreatschoollunch.co.uk/media/169570/CFT-SmallSchoolToolkit.pdf
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons the Government did not support proposals by the Netherlands for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent inquiry into civilian deaths in Yemen.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We worked hard with international partners to secure a strong resolution to help the situation on the ground in Yemen. The resolution includes a commitment to increase the number of international human rights experts in the Yemen Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) operation, making clear the independent mandate for OHCHR to conduct their own investigations. The resolution also maintains the technical cooperation programme for OHCHR to strengthen the National Commission in Yemen, which we believe will make a difference on the ground. We look forward to reports from the OHCHR next year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which assets his Department plans to decommission over the next 12 months.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence manages a wide range of assets to support the UK Armed Forces. A list of equipment due to be decommissioned in the next 12 months is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, the following major equipment platforms are planned to be taken out of service in 2016:
Sea King Mk3, 3a, 4 and 5;
RFA Black Rover – Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fleet Support Tanker.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will put mechanisms in place to ensure that the Institute for Apprentices responds to labour market information when setting funding cap levels for apprenticeships.
Nick Boles
The Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA) will have a role in advising Government on which funding cap each apprenticeship standard should be allocated to.
The IFA will take into account the cost of apprenticeship training and assessment as well as the demand for different skills across the economy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Garden of Frognal on 2016-03-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that there is adequate funding for children with special educational needs in early years education.
Lord Nash
We have already announced over £1bn funding for the early years entitlements within the ring-fenced Dedicated Schools Grant by 2019-20, which includes £300m to uplift the funding rate to providers. We are also providing protection for high needs funding that will ensure that the level of funding rises in proportion to the number of children, including those under 5. This will mean that local authorities continue to have the flexibility to target funding where it is most needed to help children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families, including the youngest children. Further consideration will be given to funding for children with special educational needs in early years education as part of our consultation later this year.
Local authorities are required by law to secure free entitlement places for parents that want their child to take them up. The Government is committed to ensuring that all families have access to high quality, flexible and affordable childcare and parents with children with special educational needs should have the same opportunities as other parents through access to high quality childcare. The Children and Families Act requires local authorities to have a ‘local offer’ which includes a statement on how they intend to tailor the childcare on offer for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Early implementation of 30 hours from September 2016 provides a real opportunity to develop innovative approaches to providing flexible childcare for working parents whose children are disabled or have special educational needs.
Through Early Implementation, York, Northumberland, Newham and Wigan are among 8 Local Authorities delivering the 30 hours entitlement from September 2016, a year earlier than planned. This will include delivering targeted places focusing on children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
They will also be supported by Early Implementer Innovator areas including Brighton and Hove, Hampshire and Trafford, who will test the offer and how it works under specific circumstances, including developing approaches to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to encourage greater co-operation between police forces in the constituent parts of the UK to better enable them to address online crime.
Mr John Hayes
Online crime covers a vast range of criminality; what is illegal offline is also illegal online. However, the internet has enabled crime to be committed in a different way, which requires a different type of approach from Law Enforcement. That is why this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.
The 2015 Strategic Policing Requirement states that ‘capabilities will be delivered locally by police forces but may need to be brought together nationally through collaborative arrangements between forces or with other partners when the threat or risk demand joint working’. In some cases they are combined to provide an ongoing regional resource that provides a national network of capabilities to disrupt serious and organised crime, for example, through the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs).
The Government has invested over £90 million in ROCUs, over the last three years. In addition to at least a further £20 million in 2016/17, in order to increase and sustain the specialist capabilities required in law enforcement to respond to Serious and Organised Crime including online crime, and to support local forces to investigate online crime in a collaborative way in England and Wales.
Action Fraud, within the City of London Police also plays an important role in educating and assisting local forces to investigate cyber crime and cyber enabled fraud, with a particular focus on improving the service to victims.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) operates UK wide and works in close collaboration with all UK police forces and other law enforcement partners, including PSNI and Police Scotland (including through two-way tasking and coordination processes). The NCA leads some investigations, whilst supporting and coordinating others.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the role, and (2) the annual cost, of presenting officers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to benefit appeals.
Baroness Altmann
The role of the Presenting Officer is to present the Department’s case effectively thereby helping the tribunal reach the right decisions and to gather feedback from the tribunal for its decision makers.
The year to date costs for existing DWP Presenting Officers (to January 2016) is approx. £1.5m.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-07-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) extent of protection of human rights and (b) operation of the democratic process in Bangladesh.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Government are concerned about protection for human rights in Bangladesh. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has named Bangladesh as one of its 30 Human Rights Priority Countries. Where credible allegations of abuses are made, we regularly raise them with the Government of Bangladesh. In particular we condemn all forms of violence and excessive use of force, including
extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and attacks against secularists and religious minorities. We make clear our opposition to the death penalty.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce financial incentives for physiological services to engage with and achieve IQIPS accreditation.
David Mowat
Comprehensive data on the number of audiology services in England is not collected.
NHS England has no current plans to introduce financial incentives for the achievement of Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) accreditation.
As of 1 September, there are 39 organisations with IQIPS accreditation for audiology, covering 28 adult and 21 paediatric audiology services. If an organisation is accredited for both adult and paediatric audiology, United Kingdom Accreditation Service considers that one accreditation.
In Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A framework for clinical commissioning groups, published in July, NHS England strongly encourages clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to expect providers to have completed the IQIPS self-assessment tool and applied for accreditation with UKAS, and achieve accreditation within the duration of their contract. This is reflected in the model service specification for adults.
In the contract for Genomics Medicines Centres, Annex M requires National Health Service trusts nominated as Lead Organisations and Local Delivery Partners to be working towards diagnostic accreditation across all available schemes, including IQIPS.
NHS England is also working with the Care Quality Commission to agree the use of scientific and diagnostic schemes as an information source for inspection purposes, as set out in their latest strategy.
We currently have no plans to introduce mandatory accreditation of audiology services in England.