The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of young people who are cared for in (a) local authority-run and (b) private or voluntary sector children’s homes in each local authority area.
Edward Timpson
The information requested is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle and prevent organised dog fighting.
George Eustice
The Government considers that the necessary laws to tackle dog fighting are already in place. The police have specific powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to tackle dog fighting and work closely with the Special Operations Unit of the RSPCA to gather intelligence against gangs involved in organised dog fights.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been handed a life sentence in each of the last 10 years.
Mr Sam Gyimah
A life sentence is mandatory for murder. A life sentence must also be imposed for a second, very serious, specified violent or sexual offence – for example, manslaughter, GBH with intent, rape, and sexual assault on a child under 13 – unless the court finds that there are particular circumstances relating to the offence or the offender which would make it unjust to do so.
Under a life sentence, the offender must serve the full minimum term imposed by the court before being considered for release on life licence by the Parole Board, which will only release an offender if and when it considers it safe to do so. Where a whole life order is imposed the offender is not eligible for parole.
The number of life sentences imposed in each of the last ten years can be found on gov.uk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-24.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of public appointments filled by women.
Matthew Hancock
The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and has aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women. We are making good progress, with 44% of new appointments made to women in 2014-2015 and a higher proportion of all public appointments (new appointments and reappointments) went to women last year than at any other point since records began.
The Centre for Public Appointments in the Cabinet Office supports departments on all issues relating to the diversity of public appointments. Steps we are taking to increase diversity include streamlining the application process, placing an emphasis on ability over previous experience, and increasing awareness of opportunities by using a central website, social media and engaging with different diversity networks and groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Greek and Turkish governments on the unification of Cyprus.
Mr David Lidington
The UK remains a strong supporter of a Cyprus settlement. We engage regularly with Greece and Turkey, at a range of levels, as part of our efforts to build support for the UN-led settlement talks. We look forward to continuing to work with Greece and Turkey to help the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to reunite their island through a just and lasting settlement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing to universities to increase collaboration with research institutions in developing economies.
Joseph Johnson
The Government is supporting collaboration with research institutions in developing countries through a number of programmes, including the Newton fund, which now operates in 15 countries. We recently announced the extension of the Newton fund to 2021, with total investment rising to three quarters of a billion pounds between 2014/15 – 2020/21. In addition, at the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced a new Global Challenges Research fund worth £1.5 billion over the next five years (2016/17 – 2020/21).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students are taught in schools rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in (a) Calder Valley constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.
Nick Gibb
As at 31 August 2015, 78% of pupils attended maintained schools and academies that were rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in Calder Valley parliamentary constituency. This percentage has increased from 2010 when it was 74%, representing an increase of 1,531 more pupils attending good or outstanding schools.
In West Yorkshire[1], 76% of pupils attended maintained schools and academies that were rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding as at 31 August 2015. This percentage has increased from 2010 when it was 60%, representing an increase of 69,359 more pupils attending good or outstanding schools.
The percentages above include children attending all open primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, nurseries and pupil referral units as at 31 August 2015.
[1] West Yorkshire consists of five local authority areas: Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department has allocated to arts groups in Calder Valley in each of the last three years.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Calder Valley has received the following Arts Council funding over the last three years – £378,238 in 2013/14; £355,900 in 2014/15; and £300,298 in 2015/16 (year to date 8 March).
This investment from Arts Council England has supported a number of projects, including the Lamplighter Festival, Mytholmroyd Arts Festival and the Routes into Theatre project.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) take action against unregistered schools.
Edward Timpson
We have been working closely with Ofsted and local authorities to identify unregistered schools, and the Chief Inspector has powers to make unannounced visits to any institution that he suspects is operating unlawfully as an independent school. We have also given Ofsted additional resources so that they can go out to locate and investigate unregistered schools and draw up a programme for inspecting them to collect evidence to support prosecutions.
Institutions that are suspected of operating as unregistered schools receive a very clear warning from the Department that it is a criminal offence and that they must cease operating immediately.
To raise awareness, we have published two statements setting how we regulate and intervene in independent schools and details of when we will take legal action against unregistered schools.
The statements were announced by the Secretary of State on 19 January 2016, as part of a package to protect children from extremism. The announcement, the press release and the statements are available on GOV.UK at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/nicky-morgan-speaks-about-tackling-extremism;
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-drive-to-protect-children-from-spell-of-twisted-ideologies; and
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulating-independent-schools
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has allocated to schools in (a) Calderdale and (b) West Yorkshire to tackle bullying in the last (i) 12 months and (ii) five years.
Edward Timpson
The Government continues to make tackling all forms of bullying a top priority. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying among pupils. While they are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies they are held clearly to account for their effectiveness through Ofsted.
School funding to prevent and tackle bullying is part of their overall funding allocation, and is not separately identified at school or local authority level. In addition, the Department has directly funded a number of national anti-bullying organisations, supporting their work within schools across England to combat bullying.
In 2015/16 we provided around £1.3 million to various anti-bullying charities including the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau (hosted by the Anti-bullying Alliance). These organisations train teachers and pupils in schools to prevent bullying and deal with its impact when it occurs so that bullied children do not suffer continuing distress. Additionally in the past 12 months we have supported the Government Equalities Office (GEO) to deliver a £2 million grant programme aimed at combatting homophobic bullying in schools.
Between 2011 and 2016 we provided over £6.6 million to these and other charities to help them to support schools to support pupils who are bullied and to develop strategies to prevent bullying from happening.
The Department and GEO will both be funding further projects this year.