The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the accessibility of defibrillators for sports clubs.
Tracey Crouch
We take player safety in all sportsseriously, and it was one of the main themes of the recent sports strategy consultation.DCMS is considering the responses and the new strategy document will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with social media providers on steps to combat cyber bullying.
Edward Timpson
The Government continues to work closely with social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use social media platforms. Ministers from the Department for Education, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Home Office meet quarterly with social media providers and other key stakeholders at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board meetings, to discuss important issues relating to child safety online, including cyberbullying.
Recently, Ofcom led a social media working group on behalf of UKCCIS, with representation from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, and MindCandy. The group developed best practice guidance aimed at encouraging responsible practice from industry to ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way. The guidance was issued by UKCISS in December 2015 and can be found on their website.
To help schools prevent and tackle bullying, we are providing £1.3m this year (2015-16) to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying including cyberbullying, on top of the £4m provided in 2013-15. We are also providing £2m this year (2015-16) to organisations to specifically tackle homophobic bullying, which includes cyberbullying.
We do not want to make any form of bullying a criminal offence as to do so would risk criminalising young people. In some circumstances that may be justified, but probably only in a limited number of very serious cases, for which there are already laws in place to protect people. Internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
The Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice for schools on how to keep children safe online. This is scheduled for publication this spring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to introduce new care models across the UK similar to those introduced in England to date.
David Mowat
New care models have been proposed by NHS England as an approach to address the three major challenges facing the health and care system highlighted in the Five Year Forward View: the health and wellbeing gap, the care and quality gap, and the funding and efficiency gap.
NHS England has no jurisdiction over any of the other health services within the United Kingdom and therefore not within our remit to impose plans upon them.
Decision making is devolved and therefore it is for each of the separate health services to determine individually.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many emergency travel documents were issued by HM Passport Office in each of the last five years.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issues Emergency Travel Documents to British nationals overseas who need to travel urgently and do not have access to a Full Validity Passport. An emergency travel document is valid for a specific journey made at a specified time. In the past five years, the FCO have issued the following number of documents:
2012 – 28,737
2013 – 29,945
2014 – 39,167
2015 – 30,844
2016 – 23,907
Please note that 2016 figures cover up until the end of September.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to tackle racism in secondary schools.
Nick Gibb
All forms of bullying and discrimination are unacceptable and all schools are required to have in place a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying, which includes racist bullying. They are held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour, either directly or indirectly. This includes racist, disability and homophobic bullying, use of derogatory language and racist incidents.
In addition, all schools are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faith and beliefs. Our guidance published in November 2014 says that British values include accepting that others of different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour.
All publicly funded schools are required to promote community cohesion and teach a broad and balanced curriculum. The curriculum provides many opportunities to foster tolerance and understanding. As part of the history curriculum, pupils can learn about different cultures, and about how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. The citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about ‘the diverse national, regional, religious, and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding’. PSHE can teach young people about the rights and responsibilities of living in a diverse community and how to respect others.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on steps to tackle cyber bullying in each of the last three years.
Edward Timpson
The Government continues to work closely with social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use social media platforms. Ministers from the Department for Education, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Home Office meet quarterly with social media providers and other key stakeholders at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board meetings, to discuss important issues relating to child safety online, including cyberbullying.
Recently, Ofcom led a social media working group on behalf of UKCCIS, with representation from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, and MindCandy. The group developed best practice guidance aimed at encouraging responsible practice from industry to ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way. The guidance was issued by UKCISS in December 2015 and can be found on their website.
To help schools prevent and tackle bullying, we are providing £1.3m this year (2015-16) to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying including cyberbullying, on top of the £4m provided in 2013-15. We are also providing £2m this year (2015-16) to organisations to specifically tackle homophobic bullying, which includes cyberbullying.
We do not want to make any form of bullying a criminal offence as to do so would risk criminalising young people. In some circumstances that may be justified, but probably only in a limited number of very serious cases, for which there are already laws in place to protect people. Internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
The Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice for schools on how to keep children safe online. This is scheduled for publication this spring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding has been provided to prevent and tackle Group B Strep infection among pregnant women in the last five years.
Mr Philip Dunne
Information on how much funding has been provided to prevent and tackle Group B Strep infection among pregnant women over the last five years is not collected centrally.
The Government has made clear that maternity care is a priority and on 13 November 2015 announced an ambition to reduce by 50% stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and neonatal brain injuries by 2030. This includes harm and death caused by Group B Streptococcus (GBS).
A range of work addressing GBS is being taken forward by the Department of Health and Public Health England with a range of partner organisations. This includes:
― Monitoring developments on GBS vaccines and undertaking a grant-funded study to assess the potential impact of a maternal immunisation programme.
― An audit in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and supported by the Royal College of Midwives, recently carried out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). This examined current practice in preventing early onset neonatal GBS disease by investigating the implementation of the RCOG Green-top guideline on preventing the disease. The last of two reports was published on 29 January 2016 and has made recommendations for improvements in care in the prevention of early-onset GBS disease.
― The National Institute of Health Research has approved funding for a study on accuracy of a rapid intrapartum test for maternal group B streptococcal colonisation and its potential to reduce antibiotic usage in mothers with risk factors (GBS2). The study commenced in May 2016.
The Department is also convening two half day workshops with leading experts from a wide range of organisations, including the RCPG and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the charity Group B Strep Support to discuss research evidence gaps in relation to GBS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much road grit is available in the UK for the 2016-17 winter; and how much the (a) mining, (b) storage and (c) distribution of road grit costs per year.
Andrew Jones
Highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. Winter service and maintenance is therefore the sole responsibility of the respective highway authority. This includes ensuring they have adequate road grit supplies.
The Department for Transport continues to take action to ensure the country enters the 2016/17 winter season well prepared. This includes monitoring road grit being held around the country throughout the winter season, working closely with the UK domestic road grit producers, continuing to maintain a substantial national emergency road grit reserve and having a robust distribution process in place, if for any reason this road grit is needed to be allocated.
The Department for Transport is also currently undertaking a survey of highway authorities to determine how much road grit is available in the UK for the forthcoming 2016-17 winter. However from previous surveys, we anticipate the country has over one million tonnes of road grit at its disposal, which is in addition to the 383,000 tonnes held as part of the national emergency grit reserve.
It is for each highway authority to ensure that they have adequate road grit procured to treat the roads for which they are responsible, as required. The costs fall to each highway authority. These costs may vary depending on the road grit supplier and the distance the grit has to be hauled to the depots. The typical cost of road grit, including mining, storage and distribution lies within the range of £30 to £38 per tonne.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to encourage Chinese investors to invest in the UK dairy industry.
George Eustice
China is one of the UK’s priority markets for investment. The Government is providing increased funding to UKTI across its China network and in the UK. The state visit last month demonstrated China’s recognition that the UK is one of the most open markets in the world for foreign investment and there is significant appetite from Chinese companies to invest here.
UKTI has a dedicated Food and Drink sector team and proactively works with potential Chinese investors. The UK offers Chinese investors strong proposals for milk powder, cheese (Cheddar) and butter production due to the vibrant dairy research sector, temperate climate and increasing milk production volumes.
Last week the Secretary of State was in China supporting the Food is GREAT campaign there; dairy is a key focus area allowing participating British companies to meet potential Chinese investors and buyers looking to invest in the UK and source UK dairy products.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of criminalising cyber bullying.
Edward Timpson
The Government continues to work closely with social media companies to make sure they are committed to protecting children who use social media platforms. Ministers from the Department for Education, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Home Office meet quarterly with social media providers and other key stakeholders at the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) executive board meetings, to discuss important issues relating to child safety online, including cyberbullying.
Recently, Ofcom led a social media working group on behalf of UKCCIS, with representation from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask.FM, and MindCandy. The group developed best practice guidance aimed at encouraging responsible practice from industry to ensure children using their services are able to do so in a safe and protected way. The guidance was issued by UKCISS in December 2015 and can be found on their website.
To help schools prevent and tackle bullying, we are providing £1.3m this year (2015-16) to anti-bullying charities to tackle all forms of bullying including cyberbullying, on top of the £4m provided in 2013-15. We are also providing £2m this year (2015-16) to organisations to specifically tackle homophobic bullying, which includes cyberbullying.
We do not want to make any form of bullying a criminal offence as to do so would risk criminalising young people. In some circumstances that may be justified, but probably only in a limited number of very serious cases, for which there are already laws in place to protect people. Internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
The Government Equalities Office is funding the UK Safer Internet Centre to produce advice for schools on how to keep children safe online. This is scheduled for publication this spring.