Tag: David Mackintosh

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what work the Ministerial Working Group for Homelessness has conducted since its last meeting.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness re-convened on 13 January, bringing together key Departments to coordinate policy across Government to prevent more households becoming homeless. The group will meet again shortly to agree its priorities and future work programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what improvements will be introduced on the West Coast Main Line after High Speed 2 comes into operation.

Claire Perry

Network Rail leads the industry long term planning process, and works with the Department for Transport, local transport authorities and operators to identify and consider future options for capacity improvement across the rail network as a whole.

Work is currently underway to consider how to manage and make best use of capacity on the West Coast Main Line once services on the first phase of HS2 are scheduled to start operating in 2026/27. This will include consideration of how any released capacity on the West Coast Main Line might be best used to serve places on the “classic” network.

In due course, the government will consider the options that are identified by this work. These options will feed into the government’s decisions on rail investment for the periods 2019-2024 and beyond, taking into account the recommendations of the Hendy, Bowe and Shaw reports.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in encouraging diversity in leadership positions in the culture sector.

Mr Edward Vaizey

In the recently published Culture White Paper we made it clear that more needs to be done to encourage diversity in leadership positions. From this year, Arts Council England will publish data on leadership looking at the diversity profile of Chief Executives, Artistic Directors and Chairs of the organisations that they fund. In December 2015, the Arts Council announced four new strategic funds for diversity, totalling £8.6 million. This included £2.1 million for the Elevate fund which has been created to develop the strength, management and governance of diverse-led organisations outside the Arts Council’s National Portfolio. A new £2.6 million Change Makers fund will fund long-term relationships between National Portfolio Organisations and aspiring arts leaders from the BME and deaf and disabled communities, providing valuable experience to individuals. Both of these funds are now open for applications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding priorities her Department has in Bangladesh.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Our priorities in Bangladesh reflect those of the wider UKAid Strategy:

• Strengthening peace, security and governance
• Building Bangladesh’s resilience to climate change and strengthening disaster preparedness
• Tackling extreme poverty, in both rural and urban areas and improving the quality of education and health services
• Promoting economic prosperity and inclusive growth, ensuring that no one in Bangladesh is left behind.

Running through all of these priorities is a commitment across all of our work to support women’s empowerment and addressing early marriage, promoting voice and choice for all girls

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to raise awareness of World AIDS Day before 1 December 2016.

Jane Ellison

In preparation for World AIDS Day 2016 Public Health England (PHE) will publish the annual HIV in the UK situation report and associated data tables in mid-November 2016. This report will include the latest HIV epidemiology for the United Kingdom, providing national and local systems essential information to inform their World AIDS Day 2016 awareness campaigns. Alongside this HIV Prevention England, co-ordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust and commissioned by PHE will provide a national HIV testing campaign ‘HIV Testing week’. This will commence prior to World AIDS Day and run for one week from the 19 November 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to ensure that the forthcoming review of fair funding for early years education will include measures to help close the attainment gap at age five.

Caroline Dinenage

This Government is committed to narrowing the gap in attainment between the most disadvantaged children and their peers, including in the early years. We will be investing over £1 billion more per year by 2019-20 to fund our commitments on the early years entitlements – this includes £300 million per year from 2017-18 for a significant increase to the hourly rate paid for the two, three and four year old entitlements.

The 2014-15 Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results tell us that the proportion of children achieving a good level of development continues to increase – 66% in 2015, compared to 60% in 2014 and 52% in 2013. Furthermore, a higher proportion of children eligible for free school meals are achieving a good level of development – 51% in 2015 compared to 45% in 2014.

We need to continue this improvement. This is why we propose an additional needs factor in our new early years national funding formula, in order to channel funding towards local authorities with a higher relative proportion of children with additional needs. Our consultation on early years funding reform is currently open, and I would encourage my Honourable Friend and his constituents to submit their views.

The Government already provides additional funding for the most disadvantaged three- and four-year olds through the Early Years Pupil Premium. This will continue as a separate funding stream, additional to the early years national funding formula.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of the powers available to the devolved administrations and local authorities in England to tackle homelessness.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government has committed to work with local authorities, homelessness organisations and across government departments to consider options, including legislation, to prevent more households becoming homeless. We will look to learn from other countries who have innovated in the way they deal with homelessness.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to limit the effect that engineering works on rail lines have on travel over long bank holidays.

Claire Perry

An independent review of how the rail industry plans and schedules major improvement work was carried out last year. The review concluded that Christmas, Easter and bank holidays were the best times to carry out upgrades requiring major line closures, particularly in and around London where the network is busiest and access for engineers is most difficult.

Network Rail always looks to minimise the overall impact of these vital projects on passengers. As such, Network Rail and train operators are conscious that many people want to use the railway over holiday periods to reunite with their friends and families, so where possible they try to ensure the vast majority of services are kept running, as well as delivering passenger improvements on time. Network Rail will ensure around 96% of the network will be available during the next May bank holiday.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that funding from the public purse for her Department’s work (a) does not reach unintended destinations and (b) is tracked from its source to its intended project.

Mr Nick Hurd

At every stage in the programme cycle DFID assesses and mitigates the risk that aid could be diverted from its intended purpose or project. DFID provided a comprehensive written answer on 29 March 2016 [Hansard ref 31732] which set out in more detail the steps DFID take to ensure that funding from the public purse for her Department’s work (a) does not end up in unintended destinations and (b) is tracked from its source to its intended project. In addition, DFID’s Counter Fraud and Whistleblowing Unit will take all necessary steps to investigate swiftly all allegations of corruption and fraud and pursue sanctions available in each case, including dismissal, prosecution, suspension and cancellation of aid.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that prisoners with mental health problems can access appropriate treatment.

Andrew Selous

We are developing pathways into mental health treatment, which will be offered to offenders at all stages of the criminal justice system. All prisons have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves, and we have increased resources to undertake this work.