Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount of financial support provided to young carers in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 166,000 young carers in 2011.

The Government has changed the law so that all young carers have been entitled to an assessment of their needs for support since April 2015, regardless of who they care for, what type of care they provide, or how much time they spend caring. Around 60%, of young carers are thought to be eligible for free school meals, and those who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years will attract pupil premium funding to the schools that they attend.

We do not specifically estimate the amount of financial support provided to young carers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of how many full-time equivalent civil servants will support the West Midlands Combined Authority in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois

A range of officials from across Government will work to support the West Midlands Combined Authority in the delivery of their policy outcomes. Civil Servants from my Department, including those based in Birmingham, and from the Homes and Communities Agency, will support the authorities of the West Midlands on a number of key local delivery priorities, including on planning, housing, and programmes to drive local economic growth, such as Enterprise Zones and European funding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many representations he has made to his (a) Yemeni and (b) Saudi Arabian counterpart in each of the last twelve months on the conflict in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) is in regular contact with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Al Jubeir regarding the situation in Yemen. During his recent tour of the Gulf, the Foreign Secretary held constructive discussions with all six GCC countries, underlining the UK’s commitment to finding a peaceful resolution and working in partnership with key regional actors to achieve this. I also regularly engage with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and President Hadi to encourage commitment to the political process and the UK Special Envoy to Yemen, Sir Alan Duncan, visited the region in April and May to deliver messages to key Yemeni and regional interlocutors. Yemen remains a top priority for the UK Government and we are committed to working towards a durable peace.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many full-time equivalent officials of his Department are working on the invitation to tender for the West Midlands rail franchise; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

There are 15.5 full time equivalent officials of the Department working on the invitation to tender for the West Midlands rail franchise. This count includes two full time secondments within the team but does not include advisers contracted to work on the invitation to tender.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department plans to recruit more trade specialists as a result of the outcome of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Mr Hugo Swire

As The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), told the House on 27 June, the Cabinet has agreed the creation of a new EU Unit in Whitehall, which will bring together officials and policy expertise from across the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

It will report to the whole of the Cabinet on delivering the outcome of the referendum, advising on transitional issues and exploring options for our future relationship with Europe and the rest of the world from outside the EU.

The Prime Minister has also said that it is important for us to secure the best and brightest from the private sector, whether they are lawyers, financial experts or trade experts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the possible long-term exchange rate fluctuations resulting from the outcome of the EU referendum on the viability of the North Sea Link project; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman

The North Sea Link interconnector is being developed by National Grid and Statnett as a commercial business. National Grid has confirmed to us that the outcome of the referendum does not affect the delivery of the project and that construction is continuing as planned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the financial contributions to be made by her Department to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in each of the next five years.

James Wharton

The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Between 2011 and 2015, the UK contributed £1.32 billion to Gavi. No additional administrative support was provided during this time.

The UK investment over the five year period between 2011 and 2015 immunised over 60 million children against vaccine preventable diseases which is estimated to have saved over 1 million lives.

Between 2016 and 2020, the UK is investing £1.44 billion in Gavi. This investment will deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to immunise 76 million children against vaccine preventable diseases and save 1.4 million lives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people to be resettled through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation programme in each of the next 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

We intend to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from UNHCR in the field and the availability of suitable accommodation and care packages in the UK. We continue to work closely with local authorities to manage the arrival of the Syrian refugees in to the resettlement places they have pledged. We will manage the flows based on need and in support of the wellbeing of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets. However, we are clear that we want to help as many people as we can as quickly as possible.

The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 25 August confirmed that a total of a total of 2,898 Syrians have been resettled under the scheme since it began, 2,646 of these arriving since 1 October 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much his Department has spent on overnight accommodation since it was created.

Greg Hands

Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). The DIT aggregates UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), UK Export and Finance (UKEF), Trade Policy Units from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes the Secretary of State as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes.

As DIT is currently being formed, accurate data for overnight accommodation spend is unavailable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England is taking to encourage local communities to input into individual sustainability and transformation plans; and if he will publish contact details for lead officers co-ordinating proposals on the way maternity services are delivered in each NHS area.

David Mowat

NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website. Local proposals for health and care transformation are not expected to have gone through formal local National Health Service or other organisations’ board approval and/or formal public engagement or consultation at this early stage. We expect that areas will publish a version of their Sustainability and Transformation Plans between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will undertake public engagement during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. Every area will be working to a different timeframe, based on its own circumstances and how well-progressed its plan is.

As with the current arrangements for planning and delivery, there are layers of plans which can sit below STPs, with shared links and dependencies. STPs act as an umbrella, holding underneath them a number of different specific plans to address key local issues. Clinical commissioning groups remain accountable for securing high-quality healthcare services for their local populations.