Tag: Karl McCartney

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what modelling her Department has undertaken on the demand for school places in each year from 2016 to 2030.

Edward Timpson

Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections, which include migration, have been published up to 2024.

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area. We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities based on their own projections of local pupil numbers. These projections reflect all drivers of increased pupil numbers: rising birth rates, housing development and migration from within the UK and overseas. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation – there is no shortfall between the number of places we fund and the number of places local authorities say they will need to create.

We have already committed to invest £7 billion on school places, which along with our investment in 500 new free schools we expect to deliver 600,000 new places by 2021. We have also protected the schools budget so that as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools. Revenue allocations to local authorities are calculated by reference to pupil numbers and do not differentiate on the basis of immigration from other EEA member states or countries from outside the EEA.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government spent on prescriptions for people over the age of 60 in full-time employment in each of the last five years that figures are available.

Alistair Burt

The information is not available as the employment status of patients is not collected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will estimate the amount of structural funding that the EU Commission will allocate to Northern Ireland in the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The UK’s 2014-20 allocation for Structural Funds was 5 per cent less than for the 2007-13 period. The Government therefore allocated the UK’s nations an equivalent 5 per cent less for 2014-20 than in the previous period. Northern Ireland’s allocation for 2014-20 is €513.4m.

The post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has not been proposed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what formal role the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments will have in the UK Government’s negotiations in respect of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Mr David Jones

The Government has made no decisions yet about the format of the direct negotiations with the European Union. In her first two weeks the Prime Minister visited Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland promising the UK Government would fully engage the devolved administrations to ensure we achieve a shared understanding of their interests and objectives. We will work with the devolved administrations throughout the process of preparing the UK position to ensure the interests of all parts of the UK are properly taken into account.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of male teachers.

Caroline Dinenage

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

Recent figures show that from 2011/12 to 2015/16, the number of full-time equivalent male teachers increased from 115,000 to nearly 120,000. Last year, 26 per cent of teachers in state schools were male.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ensure that pet rescue centres scan the microchip of dogs in their care and contact their owners.

George Eustice

Following a debate in the Westminster Hall on 2 March 2015, the then Minister of State, for the Department of Transport undertook to instruct the Highways Agency to make it their policy to ensure that it collects and identifies every animal that is killed on the strategic road network and to contact the owners by whatever practicable means. The Minister also wrote to all local highway authorities and Transport for London to draw attention to the Government’s policy and reflect on their own policy. It is established good practice for all authorities, including local authorities and dog rescue centres that come into contact with a stray, injured or deceased dog to scan it for a microchip so that the dog’s keeper can be traced. To assist this process, the Kennel Club has donated microchip scanners to every local authority in England and Wales. The compulsory microchipping of all dogs in Great Britain comes into force on 6 April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 24423, what recent reports he has received on the disappearance of Mr Lee Po in Hong Kong; and whether he has had further discussions with (a) the Chinese authorities and (b) the booksellers or their families since that Answer.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), made clear in his six monthly report to the House published on 11 February (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/six-monthly-report-on-hong-kong-july-to-december-2015) that ‘our current information indicates that Mr Lee was involuntarily removed to the mainland without any due process under Hong Kong SAR law. This constitutes a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong.’ The Foreign Secretary raised the case with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in London on 4 February. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Secretary of State, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) also raised the case with the Chinese Chairman of the Politics and Law Commission, Meng Jianzhu, on 25 February. The Government continues to call on the Chinese Government for Mr Lee’s immediate return to Hong Kong. Despite formal requests which we continue to make, we have not been granted consular access to Mr Lee. We also stand ready to provide consular assistance to Lee Po’s family.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what financial impact analysis his Department has conducted on the proposed new model of community pharmacy.

Alistair Burt

Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and others, including patient and public representatives, on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.

The proposals were considered against the Public Sector Equality Duty and other duties. The consultation responses will inform the final impact assessment, which will be published in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of immigration from (a) EEA member states and (b) states from outside the EEA on the level of demand for children’s services in each year from 2016 to 2030.

Edward Timpson

The Department uses population projections published by the Office for National Statistics, which include migration, to plan for future demand on children’s services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of recent trends in (a) the level of and (b) regional variations in the level of domestic tourism.

David Evennett

The number of overnight trips in England in 2015 was up 11% on 2014, with associated spend reaching a new record of £19.6bn. In 2015, five English regions (East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber and London) saw double digit growth in domestic overnight trips on the previous year.