Tag: Danny Kinahan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to tackle the lower expected offer rate to Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups higher education applicants.

Joseph Johnson

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has set a goal of increasing by 20% the number of BME students in higher education by 2020. Entry rates for 18 year olds in each ethnic group increased in 2015, reaching the highest recorded values for each group. Between 2009 and 2015, the entry rate for young people in the Black ethnic group increased by over 40 percent proportionally. The Government has introduced a number of policies, including those set out below, to achieve my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s goal.

We recently announced that universities would be required to publish admissions and retention rate by gender, ethnic background and disadvantage. Greater transparency will expose where offer rates for students from the poorest and black and minority backgrounds are particularly low and help to encourage universities to take further action.

In addition, UCAS are consulting on making applications to university name-blind from 2017 to make sure that everyone, no matter what their background, is treated equally.

I have asked Universities UK to establish an expert advisory group on social mobility to provide further advice in this area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in reducing GP waiting times.

Alistair Burt

There is no national standard for waiting to see a general practitioner (GP) and data on waiting times is not collected centrally. To implement the Government’s commitment to transform GP access however, £175 million has been invested in the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. Across the two waves of the Access Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and 18 million patients – a third of the population – have benefited from improved access and transformational change at local level. This includes more appointments being made available, especially at times more convenient for patients, such as weekday evenings and weekends. It also includes different approaches like telephone consultations and better use of the wider primary care workforce (such as Advanced Nurse Practitioners, pharmacists, the voluntary sector, physiotherapists and paramedics) to deliver improved access to patients. These approaches have helped release local GP capacity and more appropriately matched the needs of patients with the most appropriate professional to care for them. In addition to Access Fund sites, other clinical commissioning groups may offer local initiatives for improving access to GPs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent changes in business rates on corporate demand for rooftop solar power.

Mr Marcus Jones

Draft 2017 rateable values prepared independently by the Valuation Office Agency will be published for the first time on 30 September 2016. Once rateable values are available we will look closely at the impacts of the forthcoming revaluation and consult on how to make sure the right support is in place for businesses to adjust to any changes.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with devolved administrations on the operation of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Robert Halfon

Department for Education officials hold regular discussions with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to consider the implications of the apprenticeship levy on their own apprenticeship programmes and for cross-border employers.

We want to ensure that apprenticeship funding works for employers and learners, wherever they are in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on the need for that Executive to help increase shared and integrated education.

Nick Gibb

At this time, no such discussions have taken place.

The International Education Division leads the relationship with the devolved administrations and is currently developing a Devolution Plan that will outline the steps that we as a Department will take to improve our collaboration with the devolved administrations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues on the six calculation errors made in the home energy efficiency calculation software known as SAP referred to in the letter to the Prime Minister from BDP Limited, dated 12 November 2015.

Andrea Leadsom

I regularly discuss building standards with other Ministerial colleagues but have not had discussions on the specific six issues raised in the letter cited.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with her Northern Ireland counterpart about the provision of England-based teaching jobs for unemployed teachers in Northern Ireland.

Nick Gibb

Officials at the Department for Education have regular discussions with their Northern Ireland counterparts. The National College of Teaching and Leadership has worked with a range of partners in Northern Ireland to ensure that teaching opportunities in England are widely promoted. These partners include:

• Irish National Teachers’ Organisation

• Department for Employment and Learning Employment Service

• Department of Education Northern Ireland

• General Teaching Council Northern Ireland

Together with these partners, the Department has helped prospective teachers in Northern Ireland find vacancies in England through the Get Into Teaching website. The Teaching School Council and Regional School Commissioners also promoted teaching opportunities in England. Schools in the West Midlands, North West and East of England engaged with and benefited from these initiatives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the built environment on learning progress in schools.

Nick Gibb

The Department’s approach to the built environment is informed by a range of expert research.

The James Review of Education Capital, published in 2011 recommended the implementation of standardised designs for schools that could be continually improved upon and deliver buildings that ‘act as manageable tools for those delivering outstanding education to our children.’ In response to this the Education Funding Agency (EFA) developed ‘Baseline Designs’, which help to ensure that the Department’s funding goes further and that as many pupils as possible benefit from improved school buildings.

Alongside this, the Department recognises the importance of factors such as daylight, temperature and air-quality and offers guidance to schools, contractors and designers through EFA Building Bulletins and the requirements in EFA’s Facilities Output Specification, used in procuring new school buildings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of e-cigarette users who have (a) resumed smoking and (b) purchased vaping supplies from black market sources.

Jane Ellison

The best thing a smoker can do to improve their health is to quit smoking for good.

The Department recognises that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can help smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes.

This Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in England. The development of this plan is underway and will be published later this year. The new strategy will consider the role of e-cigarettes in further reducing the prevalence of smoking in England. To help inform this element of the strategy the Department has been engaging with e-cigarette experts to ensure that local authorities and Stop Smoking Services are provided with up to date, evidenced based advice on e-cigarettes.

Whilst the Department has not made a formal assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have resumed smoking, the evidence suggests that in the short-term, relapse rates are lower in those using e-cigarettes to quit.

The Department has not made an assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have purchased vaping supplies from black market sources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the time taken to process counter-terrorism checks for job applications in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) other constituent parts of the UK.

Karen Bradley

Counter-terrorism checks conducted by the Home Office form part of the national security vetting process required for employment in the Home Office.

We continue to reduce the processing time for all national security vetting checks. Processing times will vary from case to case and are not broken down by constituent parts of the UK.