Tag: Barry Sheerman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the volume of (a) office equipment and (b) printer cartridges sent to landfill sites in the UK in each of the last three years.

Rory Stewart

Neither Defra nor the Environment Agency hold any specific data on waste office equipment. The data on waste tonnages accepted in disposal and recovery facilities is based on standard European Waste Classification (EWC) codes. These codes do not map directly to waste office equipment. Therefore, the data provided is based on the most relevant codes. These relate to ‘wastes from electrical and electronic equipment’, ‘separately collected fractions from municipal wastes’ for discarded electrical equipment and ‘wastes from the manufacture, formulation, supply and use of printing inks’. Figures for discarded equipment will not include office equipment only.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment and waste printer cartridges accepted at landfill sites in England (tonnes):

	2012	2013	2014
Discarded waste electrical & electronic equipment*	101.03	99.64	134.92
Waste printer cartridges**	134.15	159.30	136.57

* based on EWC code 160213.160214, 200135, 200136.

** based on EWC code 080317, 08318.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding his Department allocated in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2015-16 to reduce the number of people who were classified as not in education, employment or training.

Nick Boles

Further education funding is demand led. We do not allocate funding to specific groups but our entitlements are aimed at supporting disadvantaged groups, including the unemployed.

168,900 benefit claimants aged 19-24 started further education training in 2013/14, compared to 132,000 in 2011/12.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the capacity of existing multi-academy trusts to absorb the remaining community schools in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire.

Edward Timpson

Existing schools are choosing to join or form a multi-academy trust (MAT); in 2014/15 over 90% joined or formed a multi-academy trust with one or more other schools. They are doing this because forming these MAT partnerships creates capacity in the system allowing schools to pool resources, share best practice, and benefit from strong leadership.

We are committing over £500M to build capacity and convert schools over the next four years – including recruiting excellent sponsors and encouraging the development of strong multi-academy trusts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff in his Department have received autism awareness training.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not collect information on how many of its staff have received autism awareness training. However following the success of its own pilot sessions, the Department will be offering further autism awareness sessions to staff over the summer.

Through the Cross Government Autism Strategy, most recently updated as Think Autism, we have worked alongside people with autism, their families and carers to improve their lives and mortality through better access to healthcare by making adjustments for their conditions. This includes supporting the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGPs) Autism Initiative to improve understanding of autism amongst GPs.

Information on how many people with autism were admitted to hospital as an emergency in 2015 is not collected by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to measure and improve the rate of premature mortality of people with autism who have no co-occurring learning disability.

Alistair Burt

The National Health Service is taking action to reduce premature death by increasing annual health checks for people with learning disabilities, including for those who also have autism. The NHS is working to reduce variation and improve care for physical health conditions that disproportionately impact on people with learning disabilities who also may have autism, including epilepsy and cancer. NHS England has commissioned the world’s first Learning Disability Mortality Review Programme to support local areas to review deaths of people with learning disabilities and to use the information to improve service provision. This review programme for people with learning disabilities includes those who also have autism.

Think Autism set out a clear, cross Government programme of action, developed alongside people with autism, their families and carers to improve their lives and reduce premature mortality through better access to healthcare by making adjustments to services. This includes supporting the Royal College of General Practitioners Autism Initiative to improve understanding of autism amongst general practitioners (GPs).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has received representations from professionals working in criminal justice on the appropriate punishment for young people who have committed cyber crimes.

Mr John Hayes

The Home Office have not received any representations from professionals working in criminal justice on the appropriate punishment for young people who have committed cyber crimes.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 provides the legislative framework for cyber offences and sets out the sentencing for each of the five offences. Determination of sentencing guidelines is a matter for the Ministry of Justice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from charities and health experts on the allocation of funding for second stem cell transplants.

David Mowat

The Department has received representations from a range of individuals and organisations including the charity Anthony Nolan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase the number of talking buses in the UK.

Andrew Jones

Clear, accessible information can be very useful to a range of passengers when travelling by bus. Tourists, people new to a given route and those who are disabled may all feel more confident in the knowledge that they will know when to alight when the time comes.

The Bus Services Bill will specifically allow enhanced partnership schemes to require all buses within a local area to provide such information. Authorities using the new franchising powers will be able to place similar requirements on affected operators. The Government has also agreed to consider amendments on this issue which were tabled during the Bill’s committee stage in the House of Lords.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to put in place measures to ensure that funding for atypical GP practices is ring-fenced.

David Mowat

NHS England is developing national guidance for commissioners illustrating the workload challenges faced by practices with atypical patient populations, to assist them in making decisions regarding sustainable support.

There is no formal ring-fencing of primary care allocations within commissioners’ plans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to include remanufactured paint as a material in Green Public Procurement.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

The Government has been engaging constructively with the British Coatings Federation on making better use of leftover paint, including identifying potential regulatory barriers to its recycling and remanufacture and how these might be overcome.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) encourages consumers to recycle and re-use household paint by providing information through the Recycle Now website. This includes a postcode locator which helps pinpoint local Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) that accept leftover paint. The Government’s Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund has also supported a pilot paint re-use project in Cheshire involving local charities, working with HWRCs and housing associations to increase paint donation and minimise disposal. WRAP will publish a summary of the project, lessons learned and a video case study later in the year.

In terms of public procurement, it is for each Government department to consider sustainability and put this into practice in its own procurement activity. Government Buying Standards do not currently include remanufactured paint. WRAP has recently published a guide on ‘How to Include Re-use in Local Authority HWRC Procurement’.