Tag: Ian Austin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what organisations her Department is working with to deliver humanitarian aid in Nepal.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID is working with a range of partners to deliver humanitarian aid in Nepal. These include: a set of Prequalified NGO partners working with local partners that helped facilitate a rapid response in the aftermath of Earthquake; International Organizations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); and the multilateral system which includes the United Nations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding has been allocated to the Illegal Money Lending Units over the next three years.

Nick Boles

A decision on funding allocations for the Illegal Money Lending teams will be taken shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of short school inspections carried out last term were converted into a full section 5 inspection; and if she will list those inspections.

Nick Gibb

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the financial effect of the provision of the Childcare Bill on primary schools with nursery provision.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Childcare Bill delivers the government’s election manifesto commitment to give families where parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three- and four-year olds. Alongside other providers, primary schools, including free schools and academies, will play an important role in the delivery of this new entitlement from September 2017.

Getting the funding right is essential for successful delivery. Together with the funding announced at Summer Budget, we will be investing over £1 billion per year by 2019-20 to fund this manifesto pledge. The funding includes £300 million for a significant uplift to the rate paid for the two-, three- and four-year old entitlements. We are also investing at least £50 million of capital funding to create additional places in nurseries and estimate a further 4,000 places will be created through new Free Schools.

The government acknowledges that not all schools will be able to offer the full 30 hours entitlement themselves. Where that is the case, partnerships between schools and other providers, such as childminders, will allow parents to access their entitlement through their school. Partnerships like this already exist, and we will be drawing out lessons learned and good practice from them in order to help others to establish their own partnerships for the delivery of the 30 hours entitlement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases of repeat domestic abuse were dealt with by courts in each of the last six years.

Caroline Dinenage

This information is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy alternative provision converter schools have been graded (a) outstanding, (b) good, (c) requires improvement and (d) inadequate in each year since 2012.

Nick Gibb

These are matters for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Rural Payments Agency has made in payments related to the European School Milk Scheme in each region and constituent part of the UK in each year since 2005.

George Eustice

The attached table shows the total UK amounts taken from the annual European accounts for each year from 2005 to 2016. The amounts in the table are the payments made to the organisations that supply milk to schools, which have been claimed back in full from the European Commission by the RPA.

In years 2005 and 2006 the Rural Payments Agency were required to produce the accounts in GBP currency and in years 2007 and later, were required to produce accounts in euro currency to comply with Regulation 883-2006.

Year	Amount
2005	6,695,400.64
2006	6,552,414.56
Total£	£13,247,815.20
2007	8,204,965.56
2008	7,893,693.21
2009	7,553,825.13
2010	7,292,814.68
2011	1,900,066.83
2012	4,753,174.39
2013	4,525,499.84
2014	4,382,584.46
2015	4,325,618.91
Total €	€ 50,832,243.01

The figure for 2011 is a result of a repayment made by the Department of Health, where a decision was taken to fund the cost of the nursery milk provision entirely from their own budget. This resulted in the RPA claiming less from the European Commission that year only.

A breakdown by region and constituent part of the UK could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the contribution of Scottish Gaelic language to British culture and the creative industries.

Matt Hancock

We recognises the important contribution Gaelic language makes to British culture and the creative industries. The Heritage Lottery Fund recently provided £4 million funding to reopen Lews Castle where over 20 community heritage societies have come together to shape the way the story of the Outer Herbrides is celebrated and shared. Interpretation is in Gaelic first with English subtitles throughout the museum.

UK Government and its agencies are committed to working with the Scottish Government to help the creative industries continue to grow in Scotland, through the provision of broadband and mobile infrastructure, fiscal incentives, export promotion, advocacy and facilitation and the provision of official statistics.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with regard to the amendment letter to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Palestinian Government for Financial Assistance, signed on 19 March 2015, whether her Department has a list of the eligible beneficiaries of the PEGASE support programme; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart

The list of vetted civil servants is held by the European Union. DFID has access to this list on request. The list of eligible beneficiaries is subject to a vetting process that includes screening against international and ad hoc sanctions lists, covering a large number of different risk categories including terrorism financing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of people who have paid more than 25 per cent of their financial claims compensation to the claims management company handling their claim in each of the last three years; and what steps her Department is taking to prevent those companies from taking commission of more than 24 per cent.

Sir Oliver Heald

Information on the number of people who have lost more than 25 per cent of their financial claims compensation to the claims management company (CMC) handling their claim is not held centrally.

Our priority is to protect consumers who choose to use CMCs. We have consulted on proposals to cap the level of fees that CMCs providing financial claims services can charge consumers. These proposals aim to help consumers get more of the compensation due to them. We are carefully considering the consultation responses and the Government will publish its response in due course.