Tag: Justin Tomlinson

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.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the benefits of localised general practice federations.

David Mowat

The majority of general practitioner (GP) practices are now working in practice groups or federations. This provides opportunities to expand services, stabilise practice income and work at scale which has benefits for patients, practices and the wider system. These include: economies of scale; quality improvement; workforce development; enhanced care and new services; resilience; and system partnerships.

The GP Access Fund specifically has enabled groups of GP practices, often collaborating with others such as community pharmacies or ambulance services, to provide new and expanded services together. Operating under a single contract in a local area and sharing work and resources has enabled the 2,500 practices in the programme to significantly develop their networks.

Most of the GP Access Fund schemes have, through the programme, strengthened their arrangements for collaboration, developed a more prominent identity with patients, and grown their leadership and management capabilities. This has been facilitated by the support programme put in place by NHS England, helping the networks to make faster progress on issues such as IT, governance and care redesign. It has also built a legacy of more cohesive and capable teams for the future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that best practice in planning is shared between local authorities.

Gavin Barwell

My department continues to fund the work of the Planning Advisory Service, which exists to help local planning authorities share best practice, improve procedures and understand changes in national legislation and policy. Its current work concentrates in particular on places that need to prepare up-to-date plans and improve their development management services.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the efficacy of grammar stream programmes in comprehensive schools.

Nick Gibb

The Government is committed to enabling all children to fulfil their potential by delivering a school system that works for everyone.

The Department has not commissioned any recent research to look at the specific benefits or effects of streaming by ability in comprehensive schools. However, we do know that the vast majority of schools choose to stream by ability over the core subjects.

There are indications that this approach benefits higher-ability pupils. For example, the Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF) evidence review[1] found that on average studies showed that higher attaining pupils make one to two additional months’ progress when set or streamed compared to when taught in mixed ability groups. The EEF found that high attaining pupils benefit from different kinds of grouping, including pull-out classes, accelerated classes and moving up a year.

[1] https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/setting-or-streaming/

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of automated ticket machines in ensuring that rail commuters are always offered the lowest fare.

Paul Maynard

Rail passengers should always be able to get the best deal and the industry must work harder to make this a reality. Train operators have made some improvements and passengers are benefiting from better on-screen information at some stations but there has got to be improvement right across the network. I have raised this with the Rail Delivery Group that represents all train operating companies as there is clearly more to be done.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have plans to undertake customer focused research and analysis of ticket vending machines with findings and next steps to be published in Spring 2017. This follows their recent Annual Rail Consumer Report (June 2016), which identified issues with existing ticket vending machines. We support this work by the ORR in its role as consumer regulator and will continue to challenge the industry to address the issues and make improvements as soon as possible.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the extent to which sport and group activities are prescribed by clinicians as a form of treatment.

Nicola Blackwood

This information is not held centrally by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effect of the success of the London 2012 Olympic Games on the success of the competitors at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Tracey Crouch

The London 2012 Olympic Games were a huge success with sold-out venues and the best British performance for over 100 years in winning 65 medals. The Games left a legacy of increased participation and world-class sporting venues which are now being used by our elite athletes as well as local communities.

The commitment from the Government immediately following the London 2012 Olympic Games to confirm and sustain Exchequer support for the UK Sport World Class Programme was a significant moment in underpinning the success of Rio, providing UK Sport, and the National Governing Bodies of sport, with the necessary financial support to invest in medal success across the Olympic and Paralympic sports.

I am confident that this success will continue at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, and through to Tokyo in 2020 and beyond. Since 2012, UK Sport funded athletes have given back over 18,000 days visiting schools and local projects as part of our commitment to inspire the next generation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much pupil premium funding has been received by schools in (a) North Swindon constituency, (b) Swindon and (c) England in each of the years since its inception.

Edward Timpson

Information on the amount of pupil premium funding is available in the final pupil premium allocations, which are published on the department’s website. Links to the data for each year since the pupil premium was introduced are provided below. The information is available by parliamentary constituency, local authority and nationally.

2016 to 2017: www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2016-to-2017 – click on ‘Pupil premium final allocations 2016 to 2017 by local authority area and region in England’

2015 to 2016: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations#history

2014 to 2015: www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2014-to-2015-final-allocations

2013 to 2014: www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2013-to-2014-final-allocation-tables

2012 to 2013: www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-funding-tables-2012-to-2013

2011 to 2012: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130123124929/http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/settlement2012pupilpremium/a0070267/dsg-and-pupil-premium-allocations-for-2011-12

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when her Department plans to publish its green paper on reform of the law supporting victims.

Dr Phillip Lee

We have committed to introduce measures to further increase the rights of victims. It is important that we take the time to get this right and we will announce our plans in due course.