Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many freedom of information requests were (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

Departmental Freedom of Information performance statistics have been published by the Ministry of Justice since 2010. These include the number of requests that were granted in full, partially withheld and fully withheld. They are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on the exemption of academy school staff from the one per cent public sector pay rise limit.

Edward Timpson

The reformed national pay and terms and conditions arrangements allow all schools considerable flexibility over the pay of their teachers.

Staff at academies are employees of academy trusts, companies limited by guarantee with charitable status. Whilst academy trusts are classified as public sector bodies, their staff are not employees of the Crown. Academies have more control over their budgets so that they can meet their school’s needs more effectively and have the flexibility to reward the best teachers and excellent performance. These are the reasons they are not included within the statutory national pay and terms and conditions arrangements, which includes the current one per cent cap on pay increases.

Many academies have pay systems that mirror the provisions of the statutory national arrangements and many converter academy staff have ‘Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations’ rights that preserve their entitlement to the national pay and terms and conditions arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people aged under 18 have been referred to the Channel programme in each year since 2011.

Mr John Hayes

Channel has been operational nationally since April 2012. The Home Office does not currently publish data on the Channel Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many offices were operated by the (a) Skills Funding Agency and (b) Education Funding Agency in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles

In response to your question:-

* In addition a small number of EFA staff are based at a satellite office in Bristol

EFA is co-located on all sites with other parts of the Department for Education and the reduction in the number of sites since 2012 was part of a DfE wide change programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received from (a) schools and (b) colleges on the reduction of knives and other weapons at such institutions; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

We have received no formal representations from schools and colleges on this matter. However reducing violence and tackling knife crime is a priority for this Government and we are delivering a range of measures to strengthen our response to this issue including strengthening the criminal justice and policing response; strengthening controls on knife sales; building resilience in young people, families and communities; and improving prevention and early intervention.

Last month we supported the Metropolitan Police Service and twelve other police forces who undertook coordinated action against knife crime. This involved targeting habitual knife carriers, weapon sweeps, test purchases of knives from identified retailers, and use of surrender bins.

We also jointly hosted a meeting with the Metropolitan Police and National Policing Lead aimed at retailers selling knives on 24 February. We want to work with retailers to ensure they are doing all they can to ensure the responsible sale of knives, in particular to under-18s.

But we recognise there is more to do. Last year we introduced the new measure that those convicted of carrying a knife more than once are automatically sent to prison and our new Modern Crime Prevention Strategy will shortly set out measures we are taking to prevent knives from being used on our streets in the first place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many full-time equivalent officials in his Department have worked on devolution deals in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

James Wharton

The first devolution deal was agreed with Greater Manchester in November 2014. Since then, the agenda has expanded and accelerated and the Government has resourced accordingly. Devolution is cross-governmental and supported by officials in all relevant departments. The Cities and Local Growth Unit is a joint BIS-DCLG team that supports areas in developing and agreeing devolution deals with the Government. It has over 150 full-time equivalent staff—over 70 of whom are based in DCLG—working on a range of local growth agendas and has six local teams based across the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 April 2016 to Question 32366, what assessment he has made of trends in the proportion of the NHS budget spent on general practice over the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

Overall National Health Service investment increased from £97.47 billion in 2010/11 to £110.56 billion in 2014/15, the last five years for which data is available. Over the same period, spending on general practice increased by £651 million in cash terms. The percentage of total NHS spend on general practice decreased from 8.6% to 8.1%.

NHS England has committed to increasing the funding it invests in primary medical care by an average of 4.5% each year until 2020/21.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what forecast his Department has made of the cost of legal fees for the High Speed 2 project over the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department has appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to provide support in relation to the HS2 Phase One hybrid Bill. The value of the contract as agreed with Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group is £10.5m. The contract duration is from March 2012 until six months after Royal Assent.

The Department has also appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to support the preparation of the HS2 Phase 2a hybrid bill, which is expected to be deposited in 2017. The value of the contract as agreed with Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group is £4.2m over three years, with the opportunity to extend the contract for an additional one or two years, subject to approval.

The Department also continues to instruct a number of barristers to support the HS2 project. However, the use of barristers is demand led and so the total cost of fees over the next five years is not possible to forecast.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of hotel bookings made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois

Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives. The total Departmental cost for hotels in the last five years was £994,848.01, or on average just under £200,000 per annum. We do not hold figures for the estimated costs for hotel bookings, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provision academy trusts have to charge teachers for car parking services on school grounds; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

Academy trusts have the freedom to make decisions which reflect the local circumstances of their school. We expect these decisions to be made in a fair and transparent way.