Tag: Danny Kinahan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2015 to Question 3343, if she will commission an independent review of the reasons for the refusal of visa applications by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq over the last three years.

James Brokenshire

There are no plans to commission an independent review into visa refusals of applications made by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

UKVI places great importance of the quality of all entry clearance decisions. All applications are assessed against the Immigration Rules. Decision quality is assured both by local managers and as part of the overall Home Office audit and assurance framework to make sure that the correct decision is reached on all visa applications.

Further assurance is provided by regular third party inspections and audits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on the increase in the rate of incidence of American foulbrood in bee hives.

George Eustice

Defra maintains regular contact with all UK devolved governments on incidence of bee pests and diseases. Coordinating our efforts across the UK ensures outbreaks are managed and appropriate controls are put in place, benefiting all UK bee populations.

In January Defra agreed to use molecular sequencing to identify the strain of American Foulbrood within colonies from Northern Ireland. The results offered an additional inspection tool for Northern Ireland’s Bee Inspectors in their efforts to understand and control the disease.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to progress reforms to Disabled Student Allowances.

Joseph Johnson

The Government set out, in a Written Ministerial Statement dated 2 December 2015, a number of reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs). These changes apply to students making an application for DSAs for the first time from the 2016/17 academic year.

The aim of these reforms is to ensure that HE Institutions are properly adhering to their Equality Act 2010 duties to make reasonable adjustments to ensure higher education is accessible for disabled students, while re-balancing support between HE providers and DSAs and improving value for money.

The changes are as follows:

• Institutions are expected to take primary responsibility for less specialist non-medical support roles, with the exception of sighted guides for which DSAs will retain primary responsibility.

• DSAs funding will remain primary for the most specialist non-medical help support, with the exception of specialist transcription services for which HE institutions are expected to take primary responsibility.

• DSAs funding is not available where specialist accommodation is provided by the institution or their agent, other than by exception. HE institutions should no longer pass any additional costs for accommodation on to the student.

• Devices for printing and scanning will continue to be funded through DSAs, but institutions are expected to reduce the need for their purchase through improved library services and access to printing and scanning services.

• Standard computer peripherals and other accessories are now funded by exception only. Laptop carry cases continue to be provided as standard to help students protect their equipment.

Students who are in dispute with their HE provider over the making of reasonable adjustments are able to invoke a new Exceptional Case Process to consider DSA support in the interim.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the value was of his Department’s naval maintenance contracts by shipyards in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales in the last 10 years.

Harriett Baldwin

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the extension of feed-in tariffs to Northern Ireland.

Andrea Leadsom

The focus of the current Feed-in Tariff review is to ensure generators are incentivised appropriately and to seek views on how to control future costs.We do not consider it appropriate at this moment to extend the scope of the scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has discussed the planned move to a numeric grading system for GCSEs in England with her Northern Ireland counterpart.

Nick Gibb

The Secretary of State has not had any meetings with Northern Ireland’s Minister for Education to discuss the grading system for GCSEs in England. Her predecessor discussed reforms to GCSEs in England with John O’Dowd (Minister for Education, Northern Ireland) and Leighton Andrews (Minister for Education and Skills, Wales) in May 2013.

Department for Education officials have regular meetings with officials from the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as the regulators Ofqual and Qualifications Wales, to discuss the qualification reforms taking place in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what funding has been received by organisations in Northern Ireland from the Community Covenant Grant Scheme.

Mark Lancaster

All of the applications from Northern Ireland under the first round of the 2015-16 Small Grant Covenant Grant Scheme were successful, amounting to just over £35,000. This is in addition to the £80,000 already awarded under the now closed Community Covenant Grant Scheme.

This funding is in addition to the £35 million of Libor money which the Chancellor agreed to transfer to support the Armed Forces community. The fund has supported 96 charities and good causes in a variety of ways across the UK. We anticipate that the Armed Forces community in Northern Ireland will benefit from a number of UK-wide projects which have received funding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of (a) special needs students and (b) higher skills learners in horticultural training.

Edward Timpson

We want all young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), whatever their chosen career path, to be well prepared for adult life. As we have made clear in the SEND Code of Practice, the vast majority of young people with SEND are capable of sustained employment with the right preparation and support. Study programmes for individual young people with SEND should be tailored to their individual aspirations and abilities.

Our reforms to technical and vocational education incentivise schools and colleges to teach only those qualifications that meet rigorous quality criteria, develop the skills and knowledge that employers need, and enable young people to progress into employment. For 16-18 year olds this includes eight qualifications in horticulture that will equip them to apply for a range of jobs in the sector.

However, we want to go further to reform technical and professional education to develop a world-leading system. In November 2015, the Government announced reforms to technical and professional education that will simplify the skills system and ensure it is owned, understood and valued by employers. This Government will simplify and streamline the number of qualifications so that individuals have a clear set of routes which allow for progression to higher level skills. This will make it clearer to young people how they can gain the skills necessary to access different occupations, including horticulture related occupations. An independent panel, chaired by Lord Sainsbury, is developing proposals for these reforms and will report to Government in the spring‎ of 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims against prison staff were made by prisoners in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

NOMS defend robustly all claims brought and successfully defend two thirds of claims brought by prisoners. It is not possible accurately to separate prisoner compensation claims against prison staff from other similar claims (e.g. assaults by other prisoners).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-06-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the £15 million tampon tax fund has been allocated in the UK.

Mr David Gauke

The Tampon Tax Fund supports women’s charities that are making a significant impact in the lives of women and girls in the UK, including health, wellbeing and education initiatives, and services for vulnerable women. The bids selected represent a range of different initiatives to benefit women across the whole of the UK.

In total, 25 charities have been allocated funding so far. This includes £5.2 million of funding allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa, to disburse funding over the coming year to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, in recognition of the high number of applications received.