Tag: Nic Dakin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on delivery of initial teacher training of all schools becoming academies.

Nick Gibb

Academies have the same opportunities as maintained schools to become involved in teacher training, either through the School Direct programme, becoming a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider (SCITT), or partnering with a university teacher training provider.

Academies also benefit from additional freedoms to recruit subject experts who do not have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), but can add real value to the classroom. Schools that are part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) can also benefit from the ability to use their greater resources to attract the teachers they need.

Our proposals to replace QTS with a new, stronger accreditation will mean schools will be able to put those subject experts who have not been through ITT on a pathway to formal accreditation. We expect the vast majority of teachers will continue to train through ITT, particularly as more schools become directly involved in the selection and training of new teachers. 94 per cent of teachers in academies hold QTS, demonstrating that head teachers value high-quality ITT.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that non-medical scientists and technicians working in the health sector are registered with the Science Council or other relevant professional bodies.

Ben Gummer

Voluntary registration schemes, such as those overseen by the Science Council, provide an important mechanism for assuring the standards of professional staff. It is a matter for individual staff and their employing organisation as to how they make use of the assurance provided by voluntary registration schemes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the recommendations of the Report of the Independent Teacher Workload Review Group entitled Eliminating unnecessary workload associated with Data Management published in March 2016; and from whom those representations were received.

Nick Gibb

We established three independent review groups to tackle workload related to data management, marking and lesson planning. Members of the review groups included serving teachers and head teachers, teaching unions and Ofsted.

No formal representations have been received on the recommendations in the data management report although all three reports have been well received by the profession and ongoing discussions are taking place with teachers and their representatives to help embed their principles and implement the recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department had with UK steelmakers before the decision was made to use French steel in the construction of Trident successor submarines.

Harriett Baldwin

The management of the steel procurement process for the Successor Programme is the responsibility of the Prime Contractor, BAE Systems. The Ministry of Defence’s involvement with suppliers was limited to conducting a technical assessment during the tendering process to ensure bids met specifications.

The tendering process was progressed and concluded by the Prime Contractor, no viable UK bid was received for this part of the Successor submarine manufacture. Other stages of construction will include grades of steel manufactured by British suppliers and I encourage them to take the opportunity to bid.

Overall, 85% of BAE System’s supply chain for the new submarines is based in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s recent findings that almost half of the people with multiple sclerosis surveyed who had had a work capability assessment declared that it had caused their condition to deteriorate or relapse.

Priti Patel

We are always striving to improve the Work Capability Assessment and especially the claimant experience. To this end we have implemented, or are implementing, over 100 recommendations identified following five independent reviews. All assessments are carried out by health professionals trained in Disability Assessment Medicine and receive guidance for medical conditions which include fluctuating conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the current status is of the draft NHS Research and Development Strategy which was consulted on last year; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The consultation for the NHS England Research and Development Strategy closed in December 2013. The findings have been used to inform development of the NHS England Research Plan for 2015/16 which has been agreed with the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers or trainee teachers received each of the scholarship and bursaries for teacher training courses in each subject in each of the last four years.

Nick Gibb

Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries of varying amounts are available to eligible trainees, depending on the academic year in which they undertake their ITT, the subject in which they are training to teach and their highest relevant academic award. The amounts and eligible subjects change each year based on assessment of need informed by the targets and past performance.

Scholarships are awarded to those trainees who have gone through an additional selection procedure over and above that of their chosen ITT provider. These were available in 2012/13 in physics, and from 2013/14 in chemistry, computing, maths and physics.

The table below shows a breakdown of the total number of trainees who have received training bursaries and scholarships (where relevant) over the last full four academic years, 2011/12, 2012/13, 20/13/14 and 2014/15.

Table 1: Summary of the number of trainees that received training bursaries or scholarships in academic years 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15

Academic year	Bursary	Scholarship	Total
2011/12	6348	0	6,348
2012/13	16759	87	16,846
2013/14	17434	201	17,635
2014/15	16359	422	16,781

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers have been recruited through the Troops to Teachers scheme.

Nick Gibb

One cohort has completed their training to date with a further two cohorts currently in training. In total, 144 teachers have been recruited through the scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the specialist contractors hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners are required to declare any interests relevant to their employment by her Department.

Edward Timpson

Contractors procured to support the academies and free schools programme are required to declare conflicts of interest.

The contract states, “The Contractor is required to declare to the Contract Manager any interests and/or links, including other contracts or positions held whether they be paid or unpaid or relationships with, but not limited to, schools, education providers or other external organisations involved in the provision of education or education services so the Contract Manager may assess whether any conflicts of interest, whether potential, actual or perceived, and as reasonably judged by the Contract Manager, may have the potential to present reputational, operational or legal or risks to the Contractor and to the Department in allocating any particular project.

"If such a conflict of interest does arise, or may arise, the Contractor will declare it to the Department immediately and accept that the Department may ask the Contractor to immediately cease any involvement with the task giving rise to the conflict.”

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with the Department of Health on implementation of the Ross Fund.

Mr Nick Hurd

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 7 March to question number 28791