Tag: Justin Tomlinson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to upgrade the (a) rail and (b) underground connectivity to (i) Heathrow and (ii) Gatwick Airport.

Mr John Hayes

Current investment plans include a number of improvements to rail and underground services to Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.

The Elizabeth line will significantly improve links between Heathrow and a number of central London destinations. From May 2018, four trains an hour will run between Paddington and Heathrow Airport replacing the existing 2 train per hour Heathrow Connect service. From December 2019, Elizabeth line trains will run from the airport directly to central London destinations including Bond Street, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf.

London Underground is planning new trains and signalling for the Piccadilly line, which serves Heathrow. Work on signalling will begin as early as 2019 and the first new trains will be in service from the early 2020s. The new trains will provide 60% more capacity (the equivalent of up to 21,000 customers per hour).

Network Rail is developing a rail link from the Great Western Main Line to London Heathrow Terminal 5. This proposed Western Rail Link to Heathrow will allow passengers to travel directly to the airport from Reading and Slough. Network Rail is expected to seek planning powers for this scheme in 2017.

Gatwick airport is benefiting from the investment that is underway through the Thameslink programme which is delivering more frequent services and state of the art new trains on the line between Brighton, Gatwick Airport and London, the first of which entered service earlier this year. By 2018, these trains will start operating on two new direct services connecting Gatwick to Peterborough and Cambridge.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the recruitment of more male teachers.

Nick Gibb

We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom, regardless of their gender; evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve.

Recent figures show that between 2011 and 2015 the number of male teachers (FTE) has increased from 115,000 to over 119,000. In 2015, 26 per cent of teachers in publicly funded schools in England were male; this proportion has remained broadly stable over time.

The proportion of entrants to primary postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) in 2015/16 that are male is 22 per cent, an increase of 1 percentage point since 2010/11. The proportion of entrants to secondary postgraduate ITT courses in 2015/16 that are male is 40 per cent, an increase of 2 percentage points since 2010/11. 34 per cent of entrants to the School Direct (salaried) scheme in 2015/16 are male.

It is the responsibility of schools and employers to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Guidance for schools on the Act is available online.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that produce labelling does not suggest that produce not from British farms is from such farms.

George Eustice

The Food Information to Consumers Regulation (No 1169/2011) requires labelling to adhere to the principle that the consumer should not be misled. Article 26(2) of the Regulation imposes an obligation on food business operators to include an indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of a food if the failure to give that information might mislead an average consumer taking into account the label as a whole.

The food business operator is responsible for ensuring that a brand name it uses does not mislead the consumer. It is for the relevant enforcement authorities to assess whether they consider that the use of a brand name is ambiguous or confusing for the consumer on an individual case basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve data-sharing (a) across government departments and (b) between government departments and local authorities.

Ben Gummer

The Cabinet Office has consulted public authorities, academics, civil society organisations and privacy groups to explore how data-sharing can be used to improve public services to better support citizens in need, tackle fraud and debt and inform better policy making through world class research and statistics.

The government has included a number of provisions within the Digital Economy Bill to enable government to share data more effectively, whilst also including a set of principles to strengthen the safeguards around the use of data.

The government has also worked to establish a Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing, supporting public sector organisations and government departments in identifying and overcoming the organisational and cultural issues that limit effective sharing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many airside incursions by protestors there have been since 2015; at which airports those incursions occurred; and what the average delay to flights in minutes was in each such instances.

Mr John Hayes

There have been two airside incursions by protesters since 2015. One at Heathrow and one at London City. The Department does not hold any information on the delay to flights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to standardise nutritional information in food and drink labelling.

Nicola Blackwood

The legislation on food labelling sets out the content, format and expression of nutrition information on food labels. It is implemented in England by the Food Information Regulations 2014. Nutrition labelling for most pre-packed food and drink will be mandatory from 13 December 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to ban the use of microbeads and microplastics in all personal care products, washing powders, household cleaners and industrial blast media.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

On 3 September the Government announced plans to ban the sale and manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products containing microbeads where these are capable of harming the marine environment. Our plans will be informed by a formal consultation later this year. At the same time, evidence will be gathered on the extent of the environmental impacts of microbeads found in other products before considering what more can be done in future to tackle other plastics, for example microfibres, which enter the marine environment.

Given the trans-boundary nature of marine litter, we will also continue to work with other countries in the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) to address marine litter, including microplastics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision of support for post-traumatic stress disorder provided to (a) serving regular armed forces personnel, (b) serving reserve personnel and (c) veterans.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence is committed to looking after the mental health of our Armed Forces, and our medical services are configured to provide community-based healthcare in line with national best practice. In the UK, we have 14 military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs), which are located to be convenient for major centres of military population, and which support the provision of healthcare that is available through Service primary care facilities. The DCMH mental health teams comprise psychiatrists and mental health nurses, with access to clinical psychologists and mental health social workers. A wide range of psychiatric and psychological treatments are available, including medication, psychological therapies, and environmental adjustment where appropriate. In-patient care, when necessary, is provided in dedicated psychiatric units through a central contract with an in-patient psychiatric care provider.

Mobilised Reservists are entitled to the same mental healthcare from the Defence Medical Services as their Regular colleagues. Both current and former Reservists can access the Veterans and Reserves Mental Health Programme (VRMHP) for a full mental health assessment, followed by a course of treatment at a military Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) if their condition is assessed as attributable to operational experience. We have been actively engaged with the Department of Health to ensure that NHS GPs are aware of this service, and of the referral process.

Veterans in England, Scotland and Wales are entitled to priority treatment at NHS hospitals for Service-related conditions (subject to the clinical need of all patients) and a Veterans’ Transition Protocol ensures any Service person discharged with a diagnosed mental health disorder is handed over appropriately to the NHS in England and the Devolved Administrations. A number of enhancements have been made to the care available for them, including more NHS veterans mental health nurses, follow-up of Service leavers twelve months after discharge, and a 24-hour mental health helpline sponsored by Combat Stress.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to set multi-annual budgets.

Mr Marcus Jones

The annual balanced budget requirement is a key element of the local authority financial control framework. It means that the council is content that underlying income will cover ongoing costs and future commitments in a sustainable and manageable way.

In addition to preparing annual balanced budgets local authorities should prepare multi-year Medium Term Financial Plans. In order to support effective multi-year financial planning the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government published an historic four year local government finance settlement on 8 February 2016. Councils across England applied for the four year offer on the 14 October and the government will respond as soon as practicable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the existing regulatory regime relating to the will writing industry.

Sir Oliver Heald

In 2013 the Legal Services Board (LSB) recommended that will writing be made a reserved legal activity, so that only authorised persons under the Legal Services Act 2007 could provide this service. The Government at that time considered that the evidence provided in the LSB report did not adequately demonstrate that reservation was the best solution to the identified problems in the will writing market, or that other measures had been sufficiently exhausted in seeking to address these problems.

We will consider any recommendations from the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) when they publish their Legal Services Market Study. The CMA’s interim report published on 8 July made reference to a need to consider possible changes to the current regulatory framework.