Tag: Ian Austin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26338, on EU grants and loans, what assessment she has made of the effect of the £71 million European Social Fund monies on the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training or who were at risk of being so in the UK.

Mr Sam Gyimah

For the period December 2013 to July 2015 (2007-2013 European Social Fund programme extended to 2015), European Social Fund monies provided support for young people aged 14-19 who were not in education, employment or training or, who were at risk of being so.

The Skills Funding Agency which administered the funds on behalf of the Education Funding Agency is currently undertaking an evaluation of the above European Social Fund programme. The evaluation will be published later this year and will provide greater detail on the impact of the provision for young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on how many of the 35 individuals named under the US Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 currently hold assets in the UK.

Harriett Baldwin

The information requested is not held by HM Treasury.

The Treasury does not routinely hold information regarding ownership of UK assets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the Skills Funding Agency proposals to reduce 16-18 apprenticeship funding on the number of 16-18 apprenticeships delivered.

Robert Halfon

The introduction of the levy will mean that many more employers will offer many more apprenticeships opportunities to people of all ages and backgrounds than they would have otherwise done. Our funding proposals will introduce a simpler pricing system with a maximum cost for each type of apprenticeship, regardless of age or location.

Our proposals for how apprenticeships will be paid for in England in the future include incentives for taking on 16-18 year old apprentices – funding 100 per cent of apprenticeship training costs for small employers (with fewer than 50 staff) that don’t pay the levy when they employ 16-18 year old apprentices; and providing a £1,000 cash payment to both the employer and training provider to help with the extra costs of supporting apprentices in this age group.

As a result of the levy we will be investing £2.5 billion in apprenticeships; that’s double what was spent on apprenticeships in 2010-11.

Employers will have an incentive to employ apprentices to maximise the use of their levy funds and they will have control over funding for apprenticeships training. The generous co-investment rate will help them if they want to take on more apprentices than covered by their levy funds.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on providing heroin to heroin addicts in line with his Department’s policy set out on page 31 of the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published by his predecessor in March 2016.

Nicola Blackwood

As outlined in the Government’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, the use of injectable diamorphine as part of treatment for a small cohort of entrenched, long-term opiate users can be effective.

On behalf of the Department, Public Health England managed a pilot programme of supervised injectable diamorphine prescribing at a cost of £2 million per annum. The pilot ran from 2012 to 2015 at: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in Southwark, London; Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Brighton; and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust in Easington, County Durham.

Information about expenditure on diamorphine prescribing for the treatment of dependence, sites where it is available outside this pilot, and how much diamorphine has been prescribed to heroin addicts is not collected centrally. The decision to commission and fund the local provision of diamorphine prescribing is for local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of Dame Louise Casey’s review; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton

Dame Louise Casey’s independent review on boosting opportunity and integration in isolated and vulnerable communities will report to the Prime Minister and be published in due course.

The Government’s response will be a decision for the Prime Minister.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the costs to schools of administering the reception baseline assessment will be funded by her Department in each year of the current Parliament.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education is currently considering all spending, as part of the ongoing spending review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the estimated cost to the public purse is of her Department’s comparative studies on reception baseline assessments.

Nick Gibb

Costs are not yet finalised and we cannot provide the information until the study is complete.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the estimated cost to the public purse of developing the reception baseline assessment policy implemented in September 2015 (a) was in 2014-15 and (b) is expected to be in 2015-16.

Nick Gibb

The expenditure in 2014/15 was£82,507.81.

Costs for 2015/16 cannot be released until finalised.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools which signed up to the reception baseline providers that were subsequently not approved by her Department will have their costs reimbursed by her Department.

Nick Gibb

On 3 July 2015, the Department for Education contacted schools which had selected suppliers that were not approved by the department. This communication confirmed that, should the school continue to use that supplier, no costs would be reimbursed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what advice his Department issues to local authorities on advising private rented sector tenants subject to court orders for possession on the steps they should take to find accommodation.

Brandon Lewis

The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities includes advice and guidance to authorities on the actions they can take to prevent homelessness where a person is at risk of eviction from a property. This includes negotiation with landlords or with help to address rent arrears for example. It also explains how authorities should carry out their homelessness duties where eviction takes place.

We have also introduced protections for tenants against “retaliatory eviction”. Where a tenant makes a genuine complaint about the condition of their property that has not been addressed by their landlord, their complaint has been verified by a local authority inspection, and the local authority has served either an improvement notice or a notice of emergency remedial action, a landlord cannot evict that tenant for 6 months using the ‘no-fault’ eviction procedure (a section 21 eviction). A ‘no fault’ eviction is one where the tenant does not have to have done anything wrong, for example not paying the rent, to be asked to leave. The landlord is also required to ensure that the repairs are completed. These rules, set out in the Deregulation Act 2015, apply to all new assured shorthold tenancies that start on or after 1 October 2015. A guidance note is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465275/Retaliatory_Eviction_Guidance_Note.pdf

“