Tag: David Simpson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage primary school children to become active and involved in local sports organisations.

Mrs Helen Grant

Over 17,500 schools are voluntarily taking part in the Sainsbury’s School Games—over 70% of all schools in England—including approximately 13,000 primary schools. Participating schools can choose from sports formats developed by 31 National Governing bodies for sport. Schools are supported by 450 School Games organisers across the country, who are connecting School Games to community sports clubs to help ensure activity is sustained beyond school.

In addition, through the primary PE and sport premium, we are investing over £450 million across government (up to and including the academic year 2015/16) to improve physical education and sport in primary schools. Heads are free to choose how they use the funding to secure the greatest impact, which may include working with local sports organisations and/or increasing pupils’ participation in the School Games.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent modern slavery.

Karen Bradley

The Government is determined to lead the global fight against modern slavery,
and have introduced the Modern Slavery Bill to help us do so. The Bill aims to
give law enforcement the tools to stamp out modern slavery and to enhance protection for
victims. The Bill was published on 10th June 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that costs of public transport do not increase.

Stephen Hammond

I recognise concerns passengers have about impacts of fares on household budgets, which is why for the first time in a decade average regulated rail fares have been capped at inflation for 2014.

Outside London, bus services are deregulated and fares are mainly a matter for the commercial judgement of bus operators. However, the Government has made a commitment to retain the current Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) rate for the remainder of this parliament and has frozen the fuel duty rate until May 2015.

Public transport costs in Northern Ireland are a matter for the NI Assembly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the Giro D’Italia in Northern Ireland; and what plans she has to ensure a positive legacy from the event.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) estimates that the Giro d’Italia “Grande Partenza” was viewed by 775 million people in 165 countries across the world giving this huge audience the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful scenery of Northern Ireland. NITB has estimated that the event should generate 140,000 tourist visits to Northern Ireland.

Building on the legacy of the Giro d’Italia is, of course, for the Northern Ireland Executive to take forward and I understand that the Assembly has discussed the issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure a high standard of teaching in numeracy and literacy.

Elizabeth Truss

We have published a more rigorous curriculum for English and mathematics. The new national curriculum sets expectations that match those in the highest-performing education jurisdictions in the world, challenging pupils to realise their potential in an increasingly competitive global market. It increases the level of demand from an early age, with greater emphasis on arithmetic, including learning times tables to 12 x 12 by age 9 and removing calculators from key stage 2 tests in mathematics, and on phonics, grammar and vocabulary development in English. GCSEs in English language and mathematics are also being reformed to be more challenging and give stronger guarantees of literacy and numeracy, with the mathematics GCSE in particular covering more than the current GCSE.

We are confident that our reform to the national curriculum will give teachers greater flexibility and freedom, which will help to raise standards and expectations for all pupils. It has been significantly slimmed down and will free-up teachers to use their professional judgement to provide support that best meets the needs of their pupils.

We have invested in and reformed initial teacher training (ITT) to focus on attracting the very best graduates with the right qualities for teaching into the profession through making more scholarships available; using bursaries to attract more of the most talented graduates in key subjects such as maths and physics and supporting the expansion of the highly-successful Teach First programme. Teach First is now the largest graduate recruiter in any sector in the United Kingdom.

In 2013/14, we recruited 96% of the overall number of trainees we set out to recruit and the proportion with first-class or 2:1 degrees has risen 3 percentage points (74%) – a record compared to last year (71%). We have raised the bar for entry into ITT by making skills tests tougher, limiting candidates to two re-sits and making passing the tests in literacy and numeracy a requirement before entering, rather than exiting, ITT.

Sir Andrew Carter has been appointed to lead an independent review about the effectiveness of ITT. As part of this, the review will look at ITT courses for both primary and secondary teaching to consider how well trainees are equipped to become outstanding teachers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children at primary and secondary schools have access to a healthy and balanced dinner each day.

Mr David Laws

The independent School Food Plan, published in July 2013, is designed to increase the quality and take-up of school meals in England and ensure that the food available conforms to healthy standards. As part of the School Food Plan, we are introducing new statutory food-based standards for schools in England from January 2015 and funding three organisations to increase take-up in junior and secondary schools.

From September 2014 we are introducing free school meals for every child in reception, year 1 and year 2 in state-funded schools in England, to ensure that every child in those year groups has access to a nutritious lunch. We are targeting infants in order to help establish good eating patterns early. Our intention is that by providing a meal when children start at school, they and their parents will see the benefits of school meals and continue to choose them throughout their education.