Tag: Danny Kinahan

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the planned move to a numeric GCSE grading system in England on the comparability and portability of GCSE results in Northern Ireland.

Nick Gibb

It is a matter for the regulator Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, to set grade standards. Ofqual ran a consultation and carried out impact assessments on a move to a numeric GCSE grading system in England.

I have asked Ofqual’s Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many women affected by state pension age equalisation live in Northern Ireland.

Justin Tomlinson

The issue raised is a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of his Department’s £13.9 million First World War commemoration funding will be provided to projects in Northern Ireland; and to which such projects that funding will be provided.

David Evennett

The Heritage Lottery fund have allocated £13.9m to 58 projects in Northern Ireland to commemorate the First World War. The projects are spread across Northern Ireland and two are in South Antrim. I have asked the HLF to write to you with details of all the projects.

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.