The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of senior civil servants in her Department attended (a) non-selective state schools, (b) state selective schools, (c) independent schools, fee assisted and (d) independent schools, not fee assisted.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not collect or hold this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what average time his Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.
Dominic Raab
The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has held with the government of Nigeria on the situation in Biafra.
James Duddridge
The UK fully supports the territorial integrity of Nigeria and President Buhari’s commitment to work for a secure and prosperous Nigeria for all Nigerians. President Buhari has recently concluded the appointment of a new Government. We will continue to underline the importance of freedom of expression and acting in accordance with the rule of law with all parties, including the new Nigerian government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to extend the remit of the Care Quality Commission to include the regulation of all day centres; and if he will make a statement.
Ben Gummer
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 all providers of regulated activities, have to register with CQC and meet a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.
The Department is responsible for setting in legislation both the scope of registration and the fundamental standards that registered providers must meet. These are set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
The scope of registration is proportionate to risk and based on the activity being carried out rather than the setting. Day centres that carry on a regulated activity are required to register with CQC and to meet the fundamental standards. In most instances they will be registered to provide the regulated activity of personal care.
The Department keeps the regulated activities under review to ensure that regulation by CQC is focused on those areas where the risks to service users are greatest. The Department has no current plans to require all providers of day centres to register with CQC.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has to bring forward new regulations or guidance on divestment or boycott policies pursued by local authorities.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office will shortly issue guidance that reminds public authorities of their international obligations when letting public contracts. It will make clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate and may be illegal, outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the Government.
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is currently working to give effect to the recent announcement on Local Government Pension Scheme funds’ investment allocations, specifically the extent to which administering authorities should have regard to non-financial factors. Guidance will be issued to local authorities in the new year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants in his Department are in the redeployment pool.
Mr Julian Brazier
As at 31 October 2015 the number of Ministry of Defence civil servants in the redeployment pool was 240 (rounded to the nearest 10).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of farmers who received payments under the Environment Stewardship Scheme in October rather than August 2015 as a result of the withdrawal of online applications for such payments.
George Eustice
Environmental Stewardship (ES) claims are administered by Natural England. Historically, about 60% of advance payments have previously been paid in August.
All ES and Basic Payment Scheme claims have to be cross-checked before payment can be made in line with European regulatory requirements. This year, due mainly to the extension of the claims deadline, it was necessary to delay ES advance payments until they could be cross-checked. From 2018, new European rules will prevent any payments from being made before 16 October each year.
Natural England had paid 28,523 (60.24%) of advance payments by the end of October. Ninety-two percent of ES advance payments have now been made, and Natural England aims to pay the remainder of advance claims by the end of December.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence of Lieutenant General Gordon Messenger to the Defence Select Committee on 1 December 2015, Q31, HC657, how many opposition fighters on the spectrum of extremism are included in the 70,000 estimate.
Michael Fallon
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Julian Lewis) on 1 December 2015 to Question 18014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment has been made of the humanitarian situation in (a) Madaya and (b) other Syrian cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.
Mr Desmond Swayne
We are seriously concerned about the acute humanitarian situation in Madaya, Rural Damascus. Madaya has been surrounded by regime and allied forces since July 2015, leading to sharply deteriorating conditions for an estimated 40,000 people, most of whom are women and children. Around 20,000 residents currently face life-threatening deprivation of the basics for survival. Prior to 11 January 2016, humanitarian assistance was last delivered on 18 October, as part of a joint UN/ Syrian Arab Red Crescent/ICRC convoy, that provided assistance to Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kefraya under the terms of a ceasefire agreement.
The UK is deeply concerned that nearly 400,000 people live in besieged areas and roughly 4.5 million in hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Due to constrained humanitarian access, we are unable to provide a systematic and updated picture of humanitarian needs across besieged and hard-to-reach areas. The appalling numbers of people living in besieged areas is indicative of the continued flouting of International Humanitarian Law and disregard for civilian lives by the regime, Daesh and armed groups inside Syria.
The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We have provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.
In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the extent and effectiveness of wifi and telephone signal coverage on the Midland Mainline route.
Claire Perry
On all Department for Transport-controlled rail franchises, in England and Wales, free Wi-Fi is being introduced. All train operators bidding for new franchises and direct award agreements will have to present a phased implementation plan for free Wi-Fi. Currently c30% of train carriages operating within the DfT controlled franchises and serving c50% of rail passenger journeys have Wi-Fi available. We have committed that 90% of passenger journeys will benefit from free Wi-Fi by the end of 2018.
East Midlands Trains is upgrading its Wi-Fi services, on approximately 70% of their trains, to deliver at least 15 minutes free wi-fi to passengers travelling in standard class by Autumn 2016.
Reliability and availability of mobile broadband and telephone services on trains can be an issue, partly due to physical barriers to radio signals reaching the railway track, include railway cuttings and tunnels and due to signal weakening, called attenuation, caused by train carriage walls and windows.
On-train Wi-Fi addresses some of the reliability issues as will the ongoing roll-out of the 4G networks by mobile network operators. However we recognise that there is more to do that will require enhancements to trackside infrastructure. That’s why we are working with the rail and telecommunications industries to reach a shared understanding of the technical and commercial challenges, and seek out potential solutions.
Our current assessment forecasts that between 68% and 85% of the UK rail network will have 4G mobile network coverage by the end of 2017. There is no separate assessment of the Midlands Mainline route.