Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20062, what estimate his Department has made of the total value of student loans likely to be written off in each year between 2025 and 2036; and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson

More people than ever before are now able to benefit from higher education, and the student loan system ensures that access to finance should not be a barrier to participation.

For students starting their Higher Education course prior to the 2020-21 academic year the nominal value of student loans that are expected to be written off in each of the financial years 2025-26 to 2036-37 are as follows:

Financial year	2025-26	2026-27	2027-28	2028-29	2029-30	2030-31	2031-32	2032-33	2033-34	2034-35	2035-36	2036-37
Write-off amount (nominal; £m)	480	460	480	530	570	610	670	640	710	1,160	1,550	1,660

Source: BIS Student Loan Repayment Model. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10m.

This table includes loans written-off owing to any of the following circumstances: a) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course prior to 2006-07 academic year and has reached the age of 65; b) the borrower has died; c) the borrower becomes disabled and is permanently unable to work; or d) if the loan borrower started their Higher Education course between 2006-07 and 2011-12 academic years and 25 years have passed since the borrower became eligible to repay.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase retention levels of science teachers in funded secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

Teacher retention rates have remained stable for over a decade. The Department does not hold data at subject level on retention rates, but approximately 90 per cent of all teachers are still in service in the year after they qualify, and 72 per cent of those who qualified in 2009 were still in teaching five years later. Over the longer term, over 60 per cent of teachers remain in service 10 years after qualifying.

It is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers. That is why we have made significant policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most, such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload. We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in dealing with disruptive children and to consider all of the challenges of managing behaviour in schools.

We have established three groups to address the biggest concerns that teachers raised in the workload challenge: marking, planning and data management. The groups will create principles for practice and make specific recommendations for action. All three groups are due to report to Ministers in 2016 and we are commissioning a biennial survey to track teacher workload, starting in the spring of 2016.

In 2015, the Prime Minister announced a £67m package that will help us to recruit an additional 2,500 mathematics and physics teachers and to improve the knowledge and skills of 15,000 existing teachers in those subjects.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received from the Living Wage Foundation in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

The Government receives representations from a wide range of stakeholders on the minimum wage. A list of ministers’ meetings is published on the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the total beneficiaries from the Thalidomide Health Grants in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

The Thalidomide Health Grants are currently for 10 years from 2012 to 2022.They total £80 million in England, £14.2 million in Scotland, £7.5 million in Wales and £4.6 million in Northern Ireland. The Thalidomide Trust administer the Health Grants and the number of beneficiaries receiving the Grants since their inception is set out in the following table.My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (George Freeman) MP, had an introductory meeting with representatives from the Thalidomide Trust and its National Advisory Councilon 22 October last year.

Country	2012	2013	2014	2015
England	325	325	325	325
Scotland	58	55	54	55
Wales	30	31	31	31
Northern Ireland	19	19	19	19
Total	432	430	429	430

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s press release on its Spending Review 2015 settlement, published on 25 November 2015, what proportion of the £23 billion for capital investment will be spent on (a) opening new academies, (b) creating additional school places, (c) opening new free schools and (d) rebuilding schools and addressing maintenance needs.

Edward Timpson

The £23 billion will allow us to open a further 500 free schools, support the provision of over 600,000 additional school places, rebuild and refurbish over 500 schools and address essential school maintenance needs.

We have already allocated £7 billion for the creation of new school places this parliament. We are currently in the process of determining allocations for future years.

Between 2015 and 2018 we will also invest £4.2bn of allocations across schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided partnerships to improve the condition of those schools. We will announce details of condition allocations beyond 2018 in due course.

We are delivering £2.4 billion of investment across 260 schools through the first phase of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), which began in 2012 and is now into the delivery phase.

A further £2 billion across 277 schools will be invested through the second phase of the PSBP by 2021.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 22089, what plans her Department has to collect subject level retention rates for teachers in funded secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education produces statistics on the number of teachers joining, remaining in, and leaving the profession each year using the annual School Workforce Census.

This census also collects information on teachers’ qualifications and, for a large sample of secondary school teachers, the subjects they teach. We are investigating how best to combine the qualifications and sampled curriculum data with the teacher flow data to produce, for example, entry and leavers rates by subject.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received from local councils on the application of (a) mandatory and (b) additional licensing for houses in multiple occupation; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Department published a technical discussion paper on licensing of houses in multiple occupation on 6 November 2015. We received representations from 170 local authorities which we are currently analysing. We plan to publish our response in the coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26305; what estimate his Department has made of the total number of licenses granted for houses of multiple occupation which are in use in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

I have nothing to add to my earlier reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the expenditure of his Department which specifically related to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

Prior to 1 April 2014 the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership was handled alongside a number of other trade negotiations. On 1 April 2014 my Department established a Unit whose primary purpose is to assist with the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership but which also handles certain other international matters. In April 2014 this Unit comprised 8 staff primarily working on TTIP and 4 working on other international matters. It currently comprises 10 staff working primarily of TTIP and 6 working on other international matters. Staff expenditure for this Unit in 14/15 was £793313, and in 15/16 is projected to be £916007. Total expenditure for this Unit in 14/15 was £886813 and in 15/16 is projected to be £926774.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26579, what estimate he has made of the total cost of the Troubled Families Programme in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark

£448 million was made available for the original Troubled Families Programme, which ran from 2012-2015 and successfully helped over 116,000 families.

The programme was expanded and rolled out nationally in April 2015, to support a further 400,000 families by 2020. The programme secured £200 million for 2015/16, the first year of its expansion; it secured a further £720 million at the Spending Review 2015 to run it until 2020.