Tag: Chi Onwurah

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the future role of open source software in industrial strategy (a) for the digital economy and (b) as an enabling platform; and what steps he is taking to support that software in relation to public sector procurement.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Government’s Open Standards Principles are helping to level the playing field for open source and proprietary software, and disaggregating government IT into smaller, more manageable components.

The Government IT Strategy states ‘Where appropriate, government will procure open source solutions. When used in conjunction with compulsory open standards, open source presents significant opportunities for the design and delivery of interoperable solutions.’

To support interoperability in the public sector, we have a preference for royalty-free software generated in an open and transparent manner, which is often open source.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2016 to Question 48717, how many customers were interviewed in the small-scale qualitative evaluation of the Warm Home Discount scheme.

Jesse Norman

A total of 41 customers were interviewed as part of the evaluation of the Energy Rebate scheme.

These customers were drawn from four representative sample groups of interest.

The findings of the research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220145/energy-rebate-scheme-evaluation.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11489, if he will make available the minutes of the Data Steering Group.

Matthew Hancock

The Data Steering Group has been established, chaired by the National Statistician, John Pullinger, which brings together leading experts to advise government on the strategic direction of the new Government Data Programme. Notes of these meetings will be made available on the Government Data Programme blog page on GOV.UK in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps are taken by (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom to investigate objections to the content of a UK-licenced radio station made by a foreign government.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Any complaint made by a foreign government about a television or radio station that is licensed in the UK is a matter for Ofcom to deal with.

Ofcom will apply the same procedures that they use for evaluating any other complaint. Those procedures are available from Ofcom’s website at:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/guidance/complaints-sanctions/standards/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the educational needs of young people in mental health facilities are assessed; and what system is in place to ensure that the needs of those patients are monitored and provided for as they change.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Local authorities have a duty to ensure suitable education is in place for children of compulsory school age who would not otherwise receive it. This includes pupils with medical conditions that prevent them from attending a mainstream school. Where pupils are in-patients in medical facilities, this education would in many cases be provided by the facility itself via an on-site hospital school.

In all cases, decisions on the education required should be based on an assessment of the pupil’s needs and in consultation with the pupil, parents, medical practitioners and other relevant professionals. Providers and the local authority must ensure that the education a pupil receives is of good quality, allows them to take appropriate qualifications, prevents them from slipping behind their peers in school and allows them to reintegrate successfully back into school as soon as possible. Monitoring and assurance processes should be established to ensure this quality education is in place and in all cases, effective collaboration between all relevant services is essential to delivering effective education for children with additional health needs.

The Department for Education’s guidance ‘Ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs’ sets out the legal duties and responsibilities of the local authority with regards education for such pupils. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269469/health_needs_guidance__-_revised_may_2013_final.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will publish National Lottery income statistics for each region in England.

Tracey Crouch

Information on the derivation of National Lottery Good Cause income by region is not currently collected by Government.

National Lottery good cause money is allocated by expert bodies at arm’s length from Government and information can be found on the National Lottery Grants Database at the following link (http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk); and from Lottery Distributors’ own websites.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what additional funding allocations have been provided to each local authority as a result of declared claw back from BT under the National Broadband Scheme.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Thanks to the way we have constructed the contracts, BT has announced £129 million of clawback funding. This is available to the local authorities to support further broadband deployment without any additional funding being added to it by either the government or by the local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) homes and (b) businesses have (i) received and (ii) redeemed rural satellite broadband vouchers.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Since the launch of the scheme 2 months ago, 1265 eligible applications have been received and are being processed, and 126 households and businesses have placed orders for installations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding the Government plans to allocate to Tech North in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18; and who decides on what that funding is spent.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Tech North has received funding of £2m in 2015-16. In addition the 2015 Spending Review allocated funding for Tech North of £2m in 2016-17 and £2m in 2017-18. This funding is provided via Tech City UK. An annual delivery plan for Tech North, to be agreed with DCMS, will determine how its funds are spent for each year it has funding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent officials are (a) budgeted for and (b) actually employed in each African country in which the UK has an Embassy or High Commission.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The attached spreadsheet (PQ 28132 – FTE Africa v0.3) details the number of UK based FCO staff budgeted for and employed in each African country which the UK has an Embassy or High Commission.