The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle domestic violence.
Karen Bradley
Tackling domestic violence is a key priority for this Government.
We have created a new offence of domestic abuse, we are making improvements to the police response and this year provided over £20m to fund specialist domestic and sexual violence services, national helplines and refuges.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes and projects her Department funds which aim to eradicate polio globally; and how much funding in each category of expenditure her Department provides to each of those programmes and projects.
Mr Nick Hurd
The UK is fully committed to polio eradication and has pledged £300 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for 2013 to 2019. This funding is categorised as aid to international organisations. Of the £300 million, £270 million is directed to the World Health Organisation which hosts the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. £30 million is allocated to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to support its role in the global introduction of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine, a key step in the path to eradication.
Polio eradication is poised to be one of the greatest public health success stories of all time and UK support has been critical in bringing us one step closer to the finish line, something people across the country can be immensely proud of.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is taking part in cross-departmental work to promote stability and good governance in fragile and conflict affected states.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Yes. DFID plays a key role in delivering the UK’s national security objective to build stability overseas, including in fragile states and regions. Our approach is set out in the Government’s National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, which is publicly available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-security-strategy-and-strategic-defence-and-security-review-2015
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appellants in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England are waiting for the Tribunals Service to list their first-tier tribunal social security and child support appeal in respect of employment and support allowance.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, hears appeals against Department for Work and Pensions’ decisions on a range of benefits including employment and support allowance (ESA).
There are always a number of ‘live’ appeals at the various stages of processing before being listed for a tribunal hearing, and not just those waiting for a listing date to be allocated. The data also includes appeals which may not require a final hearing; have had an initial hearing but have not had a final decision; or are stayed, pending the outcome of other proceedings.
As at 30 September 2015 there were a total of 106 ESA appeals waiting to be heard in the Coventry venues; for the West Midlands[1] 783; and for England[2] 11,976.
Data are drawn from a live administrative database. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system and are the best data available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure cyber defence capabilities and preparedness match developing threats.
Penny Mordaunt
The 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review identifies cyber security as a priority. We are actively monitoring cyber threats, and continually reviewing and adjusting our security measures. Defence and its people are prominent targets for criminals, foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors seeking to exploit personnel, disrupt business and operations, corrupt systems and steal information. This is not unique to the Ministry of Defence; other Government Departments, industry and business are also affected. The threats constantly changes in scope and complexity, and cyber security depends on a broad range of factors including human, technological and systematic. Our approach therefore spans technical, organisational, policy, procedural and physical measures, and also entails close collaboration with partner organisations across Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of primary school places in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.
Edward Timpson
Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places in their area is one of the Department’s top priorities. That is why we have committed to investing £23 billion in school buildings between 2016 and 2021 to create 600,000 new school places, open 500 free schools and address essential maintenance needs.
We allocate basic need funding to local authorities to create the new places required, based on data supplied by authorities themselves. Coventry received £41 million in basic need funding between 2011 and 2015. Local authorities across the West Midlands received a combined total of £305 million over the same period. This support helped to add more than 3,500 primary school places in Coventry between 2010 and 2014, with many more delivered since then and in the pipeline. Nearly 25,000 primary places were added across the West Midlands during this period, and over 300,000 nationally.
The free schools programme is also helping create school places where they are needed; the Sidney Stringer Primary Academy opened in Coventry in September 2015, and will provide 420 primary places once at full capacity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what representations he has received from charities on the Government’s proposal to prevent charities using government grants to lobby Parliament.
Matthew Hancock
Taxpayers money should not be diverted away from its intended purpose and wasted on political campaigning and political lobbying. The clause does not stop grant recipients, including charities, from using other sources of funding for this or from making their views known.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2016 to Question 30411, on grants, to which 45 bodies his Department has provided grant funding under the Charities Act 2011 during the financial year 2015-16.
Brandon Lewis
The Information requested is given in the table below>
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Beneficiary list for s70 Grants |
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ACRE |
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Acta |
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Angelou Centre |
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Apasenth |
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Board of Deputies of British Jews |
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Centre for Ageing Better |
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Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence |
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City of London Corporation |
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission |
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Cumbria Community Foundation Charity |
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Ebbsfleet Development Corporation |
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Faith Action |
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Faith Matters |
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Groundwork UK |
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GROW |
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Hamara HLC |
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Healthy Living solution |
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Her Centre |
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Holocaust Memorial Day Trust |
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Inter Faith Network for the UK |
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Karma Nirvana |
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LifeLine Community Projects |
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Local Government Association |
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Mencap |
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Mitzvah Day UK |
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National Association of Local Councils |
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National Communities Resorce Centre |
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NESTA |
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Power to Change Trust |
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Promoting African Refugee Community Association |
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Pub is the Hub |
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Reading Community Learning Centre |
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Shantona Women’s Centre |
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Superact |
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Tender Education & Arts |
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The Church Urban Fund |
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The Precious Trust |
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The Women’s Organisation |
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TimeBank (One20) |
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Tinder Foundation |
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TPAS Ltd |
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Ummah Help |
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Victoria Cross Trust |
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Wiener Library |
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Womanzone |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the potential effect of changes to employer national insurance and pension contributions on (a) primary and (b) secondary school budgets.
Nick Gibb
The most recent change to the employer contribution rate for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) took place in September 2015. At that time the rate was increased from 14.1% to 16.4% of the total pay bill from September 2015. The current employer contribution rate will not change until after the next scheme valuation is complete, which is expected to be in April 2018.
On 1 April this year, the single tier state pension was introduced. Members of previously contracted out schemes will no longer receive a National Insurance rebate. The National Insurance rate for employers has increased therefore by 3.4% for all salary payments between £8,112.01 and £40,040. Based on data from the last scheme valuation this change is expected to add on average 2% to schools’ pay bill, in relation to the TPS, from 1 April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficiency of existing diagnostic tests and (b) effectiveness of current treatments for Lyme disease.
Jane Ellison
Lyme disease is a complex infection where challenges in understanding of disease progression, and consequently diagnosis and treatment, remain.
The National Health Service and Public Health England (PHE) use well established validated diagnostic tests for Lyme disease that are highly reproducible between laboratories. International External Quality Assurance schemes are in place to ensure consistency between different test centres. Commercial manufacturers and international academic groups have research programmes into improved tests and PHE continuously reviews new Lyme serology tests and will validate and implement new tests if appropriate.
All treatment for Lyme disease within the NHS should be evidence based, and targeted at the disease mechanisms underlying those symptoms. Most cases are diagnosed in primary care and PHE has published a referral pathway for general practitioners to follow to ensure problem cases are seen by an appropriate NHS specialist.
To further strengthen the evidence base we have commissioned the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop a new clinical guideline on Lyme disease, for both primary and secondary care, for publication in 2018. The Department is also commissioning three Systematic Reviews by independent academic groups to cover
― diagnosis and diagnostic tests;
― treatment; and
― epidemiology/transmission routes.