Tag: John Pugh

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the attainment gap is between pupils receiving free school meals achieving five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics and their peers (a) nationally and (b) in the South West region.

Nick Gibb

Information on the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals, and all other pupils, who achieve five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics is published at national and regional level as part of the “GCSE and equivalent attainment by pupil characteristics: 2014” statistical first release. [1]

[1] 2013/14 revised regions level tables can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/402634/SFR06_2015_National_and_LA.xls. (Table 1 and Table 5 for national and regional figures respectively)

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what actions she will take to improve the quality of education provision by free schools in the South West.

Edward Timpson

The Government is committed to achieving educational excellence everywhere so that children in every part of the country, regardless of their background and circumstances, have access to an outstanding education.

Free schools benefit from the ability to act quickly to improve standards. The Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) for the South West is responsible for taking action to improve underperforming free schools in the region. Where a free school is identified by Ofsted as under-performing the RSC takes swift action, working with the school to develop robust plans for improvement including, for example, appointing strong new sponsors to run the school.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school leavers in each of the local authorities of the Liverpool City Region who were (a) entitled and (b) not entitled to free school meals went to university in the last five years for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson

Information is given on the number and percentage of students completing key stage 5 study (A level and other level 3 qualifications) in mainstream state-funded schools and colleges, and progressing to study at a UK Higher Education Institution for at least two terms the following year; in each of the last four years for which information is available. Free school meal eligibility is as recorded when students were in year 11.

The tables attached show figures for the six local authorities in the Liverpool City Region: a) Halton, b) Knowsley, c) Sefton, d) St Helen’s, e) Wirral, and f) Liverpool. Comparable figures for g) the North West and h) England are given for context. Numbers of pupils are shown rounded to the nearest ten, as published. Percentages are calculated on unrounded figures.

Information on pupil destinations at local authority, regional and national level is published annually on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of her Department.

Sarah Newton

The Home Office does not employ cleaning staff. The cleaning of the Home Office estate is outsourced. The contract requires that all contracted staff have undergone the necessary pre-employment checks and have the right to work in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what proportion of staff on the payroll of the Government Equalities Office who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Caroline Dinenage

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. However, there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the effect on the public purse of replacing maintenance loans with maintenance grants.

Joseph Johnson

Replacing maintenance grants with loans will reduce grant expenditure by around £2.5bn per year by 2020-21 and therefore make a substantial contribution to reducing the deficit. From that new baseline position, entirely replacing the new, larger maintenance loans with grants would increase grant expenditure – and the deficit – by around £8bn per year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many unregistered schools there are in England and Wales.

Edward Timpson

We are currently investigating 21 institutions that may be operating as unregistered independent schools in England and have not applied for registration. However, this number often changes as new settings are established and existing ones close, or are confirmed not to be operating as schools. We have taken robust steps to tackle unregistered schools and improve safeguarding which includes being clear it is a criminal offence to operate an unregistered independent school. All these institutions have been warned that it is a criminal offence to operate as an unregistered school. We are asking Ofsted to visit and to prepare cases for prosecution as necessary.

We do not hold data on the numbers in Wales as the Department is not the regulatory body for independent schools in Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

Joseph Johnson

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what proportion of people given security clearance and passes in 2015 to work for construction, maintenance and refurbishment purposes in the Palace of Westminster were not UK nationals.

Tom Brake

In 2015 responsibility for construction, maintenance and refurbishment was held by the Parliamentary Estates Department. The Pass Office database shows that 2,529 CTC (Counter Terrorist Check) clearances were conducted on those working in PED in 2015. Of these, 366 were non-UK nationals. This equates to 14.47% of all those given security clearance for work in the department in 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Attorney General, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of the Law Officers’ Departments.

Robert Buckland

The Law Officer’s Departments do not directly employ any staff to clean its estate. All cleaning services are provided via a national facilities management contract or via managed service agreements.