Tag: Karl McCartney

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

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Robert Buckland

The number of sentences considered by my office has increased by over 108% since 2010 from 342 to 713 requests in 2015.

Of those, 136 were referred by my office to the Court of Appeal as potentially unduly lenient, with the Court agreeing to increase the original sentence for 102 offenders.

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, what steps she plans to take to ensure that local authorities which find a dog dead or injured scan the dog’s microchip and contact its 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 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government made of the effect on (a) high streets, (b) small businesses and (c) post offices of the temporary changes to Sunday trading laws during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Anna Soubry

The Office for National Statistics analysed the impact of the short term Olympic relaxation of the Sunday trading rules and found that it was not possible to make any inference from the data. They found no definite pattern amongst the growth rates of retail sales and noted that other factors, such as the weather and time of year, will have impacted sales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with motor vehicle insurance companies on reducing the number of uninsured drivers.

Andrew Jones

Officials in my Department have regular contact with the insurance industry to discuss measures to reduce uninsured driving.

I last met with representatives from the insurance industry in January to discuss a range of issues related to motor insurance including measures which can reduce the cost of insurance and thereby reduce the incentive to drive without insurance.

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.