Tag: Andrew Rosindell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Questions 28144 and 28086, if her Department will take into account, when making a decision on granting right to abode, the fact that the British-Hong Kong servicemen swore an oath of allegiance to the Monarchy.

James Brokenshire

The assessment of the request by former members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps that they be granted right of abode in the UK is under consideration. This will take into account all available information.

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 tackle the causes of political and social instability in North Africa and the Middle East.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is central to the commitments of the National Security Council, Strategic Defence and Security Review, and the UK Aid Strategy. DFID works towards stability and security in the region through a joined up approach across HMG, prioritising efforts on what we can affect, exerting international influence and building resilience to prevent further failure. Our mission is to assist progress towards stability, preventing extremism and managing migration. The majority of our resources are targeted at a protracted humanitarian response and support stability through a focus on economic reform, education, jobs and local good governance. Since February 2012 and up to the end of financial year 2015/2016 we have spent nearly £1 billion. We will spend £510m in the region this year through the UK Syria crisis response, which will support humanitarian and non-humanitarian projects in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, benefiting people affected by the conflict.

An important aspect of the cross HMG response to build stability in the region is the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) under the direction of the National Security Council. CSSF brings together HMG effort on conflict, stability, security and peacekeeping and responds to emerging crises in states where the United Kingdom has key interests. In 2016/17 the CSSF will commit £189m in MENA. The CSSF provides funding to a range of programmes that target the underlying drivers of conflict and instability, from security and justice to peacebuilding (political settlements and transition, community-level dispute resolution and conflict management), human rights protection and governance reform.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to advance the development of a cure for HIV; what assessment he has made of the development by the US government of HIV antibodies which bind to the target site and stop the virus from infecting the cell; and what international research partnerships his Department currently has for developing a cure for HIV.

Jane Ellison

The United Kingdom Government provides funding to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). IAVI has been instrumental in working with partners, including the United States National Institutes of Health who have undertaken the work to identify broadly neutralising antibodies from asymptomatic people infected with HIV. IAVI and its partners are still at an early stage of working with these broadly neutralising antibodies, to investigate how they might be used to prevent and treat HIV infection.

Funding from the UK Government has allowed IAVI to bring together expertise from academia and the pharmaceutical sector, and from across regions, including the UK and Eastern and Southern Africa, to collaboratively design and evaluate novel vaccine candidates, to demonstrate, in the longer-term, that at least one can be fully developed into an effective vaccine to help prevent HIV infection or AIDS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department spent in the last five years on the provision of English language teachers for students recently arrived in the UK with little knowledge of that language.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The department distributes school funding to local authorities through the dedicated schools grant. Each local authority then devises a formula through which it allocates funding to schools in its locality. No funding is allocated on the basis of pupils who have recently arrived from overseas, either from central government to local authorities or from local authorities to individual schools.

Local authorities can include an ‘English as an additional language’ (EAL) factor in their funding formulae. EAL funding is determined on the basis of census data which records whether or not a pupil’s first language is English. Funding allocated through this factor forms part of the school’s core budget and it is for school leaders to determine how best to use their whole budget so that all pupils can reach their full potential.

We will introduce a national funding formula from 2017-18 so that funding is fair and matched to need. Our first consultation proposed that the formula should include an EAL factor. We will set out the precise detail of the formula in our second consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the implications of the outcome of the EU referendum for existing bilateral defence agreements.

Michael Fallon

Immediately after the referendum I contacted a number of my European counterparts to reassure them that Britain remains committed to existing bilateral Defence agreements and to NATO. The then Prime Minister and I reiterated this at the NATO Warsaw Summit. We will continue to engage closely with our Allies and partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost of unfreezing UK-issued pensions in those British Overseas Territories where they are frozen.

Richard Harrington

The Government has a clear position, which has remained a consistent policy of successive Governments for around 70 years. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and are uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so; for example in the European Economic Area, or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating, and so annual increases are paid to UK State Pension recipients in Gibraltar and in Bermuda. We have no plans to change this policy.

Were this to occur, liabilities for pensioners who live in other countries and territories would also have to be met. The estimated cost of increasing pensions in those countries where they are not currently uprated would be over £0.5 billion a year. This would be financially unaffordable.

The annual additional cost of up-rating the State Pensions of those recipients who are resident in the British Overseas Territories was estimated at approximately £1million in 2015/16.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the construction of a new Royal Navy facility in Bahrain will further assist UK forces operating in the Middle East to resolve the conflicts there in which they are currently engaged.

Penny Mordaunt

The new National Support Facility at Mina Salman Port in Bahrain will provide a permanent expansion of the Ministry of Defence’s presence in the Gulf. The enhanced facilities will provide better support for ships on operations, training, equipment storage and multi-purpose accommodation for Service personnel. The agreement with Bahrain reflects the UK’s and Bahrain’s joint determination to maintain regional security and stability in the face of enduring and emerging regional challenges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the activities of organisations and bodies fully funded by local authorities are subject to the conditions of the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

Mr Marcus Jones

The code applies in relation to all decisions by local authorities relating to paid advertising and leaflet campaigns, publication of free newspapers and newssheets and maintenance of websites – including the hosting of material which is created by third parties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of disruption to travel as a result of snowfall in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The Department has not made any such estimate as a result of snowfall in the last 12 months, however, the Department commissioned a review of the resilience of the UK transport networks in the face of extreme snow conditions in 2010.

‘The Resilience of England’s Transport Systems in Winter’ estimated the welfare cost of domestic transport disruption from severe winter weather was around £280 million per day in England. The direct economic costs alone amount to £130 million per day.

The transport sectors have taken steps to implement the lessons from those severe winters and to implement the recommendations from the review. For example, on the rail network additional specialised snow and ice clearing trains have been procured, and on the third rail network south of the Thames heating elements have been installed at critical locations to prevent the third rail from icing up. In terms of aviation readiness, since 2009/2010 Heathrow has invested £36m, and Gatwick £15m, in winter operational readiness.

In a survey conducted by the Department in mid-November 2015, total salt stocks being held for use on the roads, including emergency salt reserve (salt of last resort) is approximately 2.2 million tonnes. The findings of this survey highlight that local highway authorities are holding robust salt stocks, have been replenishing their stocks and have entered this winter season in a resilient position.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the history curriculum in state schools is comprised of British history.

Nick Gibb

All young people should, as part of a broad and balanced education, acquire a firm grasp of the history of the country in which they live, and learn how different events and periods relate to each other. That is why the history curriculum, taught in maintained schools for key stages 1 to 3 from September 2014, sets out, within a clear chronological framework, the core knowledge that will enable pupils to know and understand the history of Britain from its first settlers to the development of the institutions that help to define our national life today.

The new GCSE content criteria require a minimum of 40 per cent British history, an increase from the 25 per cent required under the previous GCSE. The A level content criteria require a minimum of 20 per cent British history. The new GCSE will be taught from 2016, with first examination in 2018. The new A level has been taught since September 2015, with first examination in 2017.

Alongside geography, history is one of the two subjects in the humanities pillar of the EBacc. The EBacc consists of the core group of subjects that provide a rigorous academic education and the government’s goal is that, in time, 90 per cent of pupils will enter GCSEs in the EBacc subjects. The numbers studying GCSE history had been stagnant for a decade before the introduction of the EBacc. With the introduction of the EBac performance measures the proportion of the cohort entered for history in state fundedschools has risen from 30 per cent of pupils in 2010 to a provisional figure of 40 per cent in 2015.