Tag: David Simpson

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.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the effective implementation of regulations (a) relating to storage of slurry and (b) in general for safety in farm yards.

George Eustice

Implementing safety regulations in farm yards is the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE recognises agriculture as a priority industry and has a programme for measurable and sustainable changes to the industry’s health and safety performance.

The regulation of slurry storage is a devolved matter. In England it is controlled by the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) Regulations 2010 (the SSAFO regulations), with the Environment Agency as the main regulator. From this year the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is including slurry storage in its cross compliance inspections. Both the RPA and Environment Agency work closely with the HSE on farm safety.

Slurry storage and management in England has been reviewed recently by a Joint Industry and Government Working Group and this included a review of the SSAFO regulations. The Group’s report was published on 21 November 2013 and is available online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/slurry-management-and-storage-joint-government-and-industry-report.The report recognised the risks involved in managing slurry and included a recommendation about developing regular assessment of the condition of slurry stores to provide assurance that stores both prevent environmental pollution and meet health and safety requirements.The Government and industry continue to work in partnership to implement the recommendations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what direct steps the Government has taken to ensure the safety of Christians in countries where they are being persecuted for their faith.

Mr David Lidington

Freedom of religion or belief is a priority for this Government internationally. On 15 November 2014, the Senior Minister of State, my noble Friend, the right hon. Baroness Warsi gave a speech in Washington stressing the need for an international response to the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. The full text of her speech is available on our website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/an-international-response-to-a-global-crisis. We are concerned about the rising tide of persecution of individuals on the basis of their religion and belief. We regularly raise individual cases and discriminatory legislation with other governments and we support overseas programmes designed to overcome prejudice, discrimination and sectarianism. We also work in multilateral fora to ensure that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief is afforded the international legal protection that it deserves. Furthermore the Senior Minister of State has convened meetings of international leaders to generate practical steps to promote freedom of religion or belief and to fight religious intolerance within our societies.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in China.

Mr Hugo Swire

We do have concerns about restrictions to civil and political freedoms in China, particularly around ethnic minority rights; the death penalty; and freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The climate for human rights defenders and civil society is very difficult, and security in areas with ethnic minorities remains tight.

Ministers regularly raise human rights issues with Chinese counterparts, and we highlight our concerns in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that convictions are brought for possession of large quantities of illegal drugs.

Norman Baker

Action to restrict drug supply, including the investigation of drug offences and enabling the prosecution of those responsible, is a priority for law enforcement and other regulatory agencies. It is important that the courts are able to consider all the circumstances of any offence and offender which is why law enforcement agencies work closely with their prosecutors to provide the courts with the best evidence of an offence, presented in the most effective way.

In addition to prosecution, law enforcement agencies and the Criminal Justice System in the UK have at their discretion a number of disposals available to deal with drug-related offenders, including referral for drug treatment. This ensures that a robust and proportionate enforcement approach can be taken, which gives due regard to the public interest.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Justine Greening

The humanitarian crisis in Syria has reached catastrophic proportions. The UN estimates that 9.3 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid within Syria. At least 6.5 million people in Syria have been forced to flee their homes to other areas of the country and there are now over 2.8 million refugees in the region.