Tag: Chi Onwurah

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the Digital Accessibility Alliance has met in each quarter since it was formed.

Mr Edward Vaizey

This Government recognises the importance of Digital Inclusion, and remains committed to seeing an improvement in the provision of digital information services for disabled people. Annual correspondence with the FTSE 100 companies has indicated that from 2013 to present there has been a steady increase in the number of companies that provide video relay. We welcome this positive progress, and public facing Government departments will continue to work with interested parties to ensure this continues.

We have also been monitoring progress of the provision of access services for Video on Demand (VoD) content since 2013 through engagement with the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), platform operators content providers and broadcasters.

The Alliance for Digital Accessibility (formerly the Digital Accessibility Alliance), which has met twice since its formation, has created the environment for members to engage and discuss Accessibility issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the extent of regional disparities in publicly-funded opportunities outside schools for children to learn musical instruments without charge; and if he will make an assessment of the effect of such disparities on the music industry.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government invested £171m between 2012-15 in 123 Music Education Hubs to ensure that children aged 5-18 have the opportunity to sing or learn a musical instrument. A further £75m of funding was made available for 2015/16. We have subsequently introduced a new, fairer funding system which reflects both the total number of pupils and the number of pupils who are eligible for free school meals. This means hubs can target money towards pupils who need it most and local areas are now much more accountable for how they deliver music. Alongside Hubs, the Government has also introduced the In Harmony programme which inspires and transforms the lives of children through community-based orchestral music-making in areas of exceptional deprivation. Both of these programmes offer opportunities for children and young people in the local area to attend after school sessions to learn music.

In addition, originally set up by DCMS and UK Music and now overseen by UK Music, we have helped to create 14 pilot music rehearsal spaces for young people in a range of urban and rural areas of England experiencing multiple deprivation. The funds were used to provide instruments and equipment, and contributed towards the cost of necessary capital works, such as sound proofing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department funds for the support and treatment of African former child soldiers.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Government is committed to ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers and protecting children affected by armed conflict. Minister Shapps met with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN General Assembly in 2015 to demonstrate the UK’s engagement on this critical issue. We also support international efforts, for example through the Common Humanitarian Funds and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in conflict-affected and fragile countries in Africa, to assist children, including those who have been members of armed groups, and to reduce the risks of violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. In the long-term children are best protected by peaceful, accountable states capable of providing security and justice for all, access to basic services, and meeting the needs of vulnerable groups. Building peaceful states and societies is the overarching framework of our work in countries affected by conflict and fragility.

We also recognise that education is important in order to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers and reintegrate former child soldiers back into their communities. DFID is one of the biggest bilateral donors to basic education in low income countries, especially in Africa. Between 2010 and 2015 the UK Government supported 11 million children in school across 21 countries; 7.5 million of them in countries considered to be fragile. We have again pledged to support 11 million children with a decent education between 2015 and 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on peace and stability in Europe and around the world of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Philip Hammond

As a leading member of the EU, the UK is a major influence on EU external policy and is able to shape the use of the EU’s available policy tools to enhance our security: for example, sanctions policy in respect of Russia and Iran and capacity building support to the states of the Western Balkans. I am in no doubt that Britain’s leading role in this process greatly contributes to the effectiveness of EU policy initiatives and thus maintaining peace and stability in Europe and beyond. All of that would be lost if Britain were to leave the European Union. I am clear that Britain is stronger, safer more prosperous inside the EU than it would be outside.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up was for superfast fixed broadband in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

Mr Edward Vaizey

BDUK do not hold take-up data at constituency level, but do have take-up data on local projects with BDUK funding. BDUK publish these statistics for local projects on the programme’s webpage, which is publically accessible at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=0

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s distributed ledger technology benefits payments trial, what blockchain technology is being used for that trial; whether he plans to dismantle that blockchain technology once that trial has ended; and which organisations outside the Government will have access to (a) that blockchain technology and (b) the data stored as part of that trial.

Damian Hinds

The DWP works continuously with industry partners to identify and test new innovations that could save taxpayer money, safeguard information and better protect payments to customers.

The DWP is undertaking some small scale research involving blockchain technology which is expected to last 3-6 months with the results available in the last quarter of 2016. It uses a private permissioned distributed ledger to allow participants to store their transactions, including payments from DWP. Those transactions can then be viewed securely on a mobile application so that they can, if they wish, monitor and allocate their spending into categories, check their available balance and plan future spending. There are currently about 12 people in the trial which we expect to increase to around 24 people by the close.

The participants in the trial have complete control over their data and how it is used; the government does not receive or see any of that data. The DWP takes privacy and security extremely seriously and this will form part of the learning from the trial.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-09-05.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 4.3.2 of the Open Banking Standard report published in February 2016, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) cyber security, (b) data protection and (c) fraud risks an open banking environment introduces.

Simon Kirby

The Open Banking Working Group was created at the request of the government to explore options for allowing customers to use their bank data in a safe, secure and efficient manner. The Group published its report in February 2016. The conclusions reached represent the views of the Working Group and are not government policy.

Subsequently, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued the final report of its investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this, the CMA requires nine leading UK banks to create an open API (Application Programming Interface) to allow access to customer account information as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII), which will come into force in January 2018. Informed consent, data protection and cyber security are key considerations in the PSDII, and the government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by Cancer Research UK on the barriers to people making GP appointments, published in the Public Health Journal in October 2016.

David Mowat

Analysis of the cancer awareness measure found that the most commonly perceived barriers to seeing a general practitioner (GP) were finding it difficult to get an appointment with a particular doctor, or at a convenient time, and disliking having to talk to GP receptionists about symptoms.

Catching more cancers early is a priority and this year NHS England is investing an extra £15 million in improving early diagnosis and setting up Cancer Alliances to bring together leadership across local areas to drive improvements.

The Government is committed to improving access to GP services as part of our plan for a seven day National Health Service, and has invested £175 million in the GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. The 2015-16 (July 2016) GP Patient Survey found that 92.1% of patients who got an appointment found it was convenient, and 91% of patients who had a GP they preferred to see saw them at least some of the time.

The General Practice Forward View, published in April, announced £45 million of extra funding nationally over five years so that every practice in the country can help their reception and clerical staff play a greater role in care navigation, signposting patients and handling clinical paperwork to free up GP time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will ask Ofcom to review communications markets definitions to reflect the role of advertising as a proxy for payment, particularly in regard to the standard SSNIP test.

Matt Hancock

As the independent communications regulator it is for Ofcom to determine how it should approach the issue of defining communications markets and how it applies the standard SSNIP test. Ofcom does already take into account developments such as the role of advertising and the role of data as proxy for payments in the course of carrying out its duties and will continue to do so in its assessments of market power and its analysis of competition.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the efficiency of the work visa system in enabling UK businesses to have speedy access to the language skills they need for new markets.

James Brokenshire

Our visa system is set up to welcome skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors. In the year ending June 2015, the number of work visas we issued increased by six percent, with skilled work visas up nine percent.

UKVI continually assesses the efficiency of its customer offer. The average combined processing time for Tier 1 & Tier 2 category visas globally was 7 days in the year ending June 2015. In the same period, 97% of visas were issued within the standard 15 working days processing time.

UKVI operates a number of services that make the visa process more accessible for businesses. These include priority and super-priority visa services, prime time opening hours and a business network with dedicated UK visa staff to assist businesses with their visa requirements.