The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his timetable is for introducing proposals to amend the legal standing on which the armed forces undertake operations, as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.
Penny Mordaunt
Work is under way to examine the options. We will announce further details in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many training places have been made available for the UK’s international partners in his Department’s military training facilities in each year since 2010.
Mr Julian Brazier
The number of International Defence Training places provided to partners at UK training establishments over the last five Financial Years (FY) is as follows:
2010-11 – 3,418
2011-12 – 3,087
2012-13 – 3,048
2013-14 – 2,674
2014-15 – 3,078
We provide International Defence Training places on a wide variety of military training courses. The allocation and take-up of places is a flexible process, driven partly by demand, and managed through arrangements particular to each course. Allocations are generally not programmed more than a year in advance. We cannot quantify in advance the total number of training places which will be offered in each year but intend to increase the training we offer to international partners. We have identified additional places on a number of specific courses including, for example, at the Defence Academy and the Royal College of Defence Studies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from planned reductions in travel expenditure in each of the next five years.
Mark Lancaster
As a result of Spending Review 2015 the Ministry of Defence will reduce its annual transport expenditure over the Spending Review period. The estimated savings from this measure are around £25 million per year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of his Department’s planned £8.4 million expenditure on armed forces veterans’ mental health services will be spent in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20; and in what areas of mental health services that funding will be spent in each of those years.
Alistair Burt
NHS England has £1.8 million per annum baseline (recurrent to 2019/20) funding for veterans mental health services. This funding is used to provide 10 veterans mental health teams across England to meet locally identified needs of veterans and manage the network of providers of National Health Service commissioned veterans mental health services.
The funding also provides access for veterans to on-line mental health counselling services provided by the Big White Wall.
In addition, NHS England provides £3.2 million a year to commission the Armed Forces service charity Combat Stress to provide specialised inpatient services for the treatment of complex post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In 2014/15 additional funding of £1.68 million was used to fund three pilots to develop and test enhanced models of care for veterans.
The pilots will:
NHS England will soon commence a consultation to explore the future service needs for veterans mental health services. Future procurement will depend upon the outcome of this consultation as services will be commissioned to take account of revised needs assessments.
Veterans are also able to access the full range of NHS mental health services in the same way as the wider public.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of (a) armed forces personnel, (b) civilian staff, (c) equipment and (d) other military assets have been withdrawn from Germany since 2014.
Mark Lancaster
We remain on track to meet the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 commitment to withdraw our forces from Germany by 2020. The proportion of Armed Forces Regular personnel and civilian staff who have been withdrawn from Germany between the period 1 January 2014 and 1 December 2015 is 40% and 43% respectively. So far 74% of Service personnel based in Germany have relocated to the UK, which exceeds our 2010 SDSR target to relocate 50% of Service personnel by 2015.
Units are responsible for returning their equipment and other assets to the UK as required. Some equipment, for example left-hand drive vehicles and Main Battle Tanks, has remained in Germany and is managed on a fleet basis. Other equipments have been moved from the UK to Germany to be held in existing UK climate controlled facilities as part of our high readiness posture. As a result the overall proportions withdrawn from Germany are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the income that Arts Council of England will receive from National Lottery funding in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.
Mr Edward Vaizey
As Good Cause income is dependent on sales, we can not provide precise figures for future forecasts; figures are a guide to likely overall income if sales remain at levels at the time of the review. However, Arts Council England’s annual share of income to the National Lottery Distribution Fund is estimated to be £255 million for each year from 2016/17 to 2019/20.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what meetings Ministers and officials in his Department have had with the Premier League on investment in grassroots sport since 2010.
David Evennett
Details of Ministers’ and Senior Civil Servants’ meetings with external organisations, including senior media figures, are published routinely and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications on Gov.uk. Through our most recent discussions we are pleased to have secured a commitment from the League to at least double what they currently invest in grassroots football over the next three years. That equates to over £100million per annum.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 65 of the Budget 2016, how much he has allocated to establish the new Broadband Investment Fund in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.
Greg Hands
At Budget 2016 the Government announced an intention to establish a Broadband Investment Fund. No decision has yet been made on the amount that will be invested. The next stage of the process will see the Government procure a fund manager to raise and manage the fund.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s expenditure was on Wi-Fi provision for public libraries in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15 and (f) 2015-16 to date.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities. However, the Government provided funding in 2015-16 which means that by March 2016, free WiFi will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. In total, 70 local authorities will have received funding of around £2.7 million to upgrade or install WiFi in 1017 public libraries. In addition, through the Government’s super connected cities programme, WiFi was previously installed in 288 libraries across 14 cities, UK-wide by the end of March 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that there is high-quality sixth form provision within the Knowsley Borough Council area.
Nick Boles
There are a range of institutions which provide high quality 16-19 provision, including Sixth Form Colleges and Further Education Colleges as well as school sixth forms.
The Department for Education does not prescribe the exact balance of providers across a local area. Instead, it is crucial that we ensure that together the local provider base meets the needs of all young people in a local area with reasonable travel to learn distances. We are currently taking forward a series of area reviews which provide the opportunity to review post-16 provision with the aim of ensuring the provider base is strong and resilient.
The decision about which schools should have sixth forms rests with schools themselves in partnership with key local stakeholders, including Regional Schools Commissioners and local authorities. A maintained school can apply to its local authority if it wishes to extend the age range of its school to add a sixth-form. We would expect this decision to take account of a range of factors including breadth of provision and local demand.