Tag: Nic Dakin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have to report on the outcome of the process to consider the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Nicola Blackwood

A new approach to the appraisal and funding of cancer drugs in England, including a revised operating model for the Cancer Drugs Fund, came into force on 29 July 2016.

This was subject to full public consultation and all of the documentation, together with a summary of the consultation responses, can be found at:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/cdf-consultation

Further information is available on NHS England’s website at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cdf-sop.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what type of assessment his Department has made of whether the use of French steel for successor Trident submarines meets the Government’s procurement guidelines.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Government wants UK companies to be successful in public procurement, and has published guidelines for departments to apply on major projects when sourcing and buying steel. These requirements, which were introduced after the procurement for the Successor Programme had started, ensure social and economic factors can be taken into account when Government procures steel.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has provided to the Baker Dearing Trust in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Boles

The Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s annual accounts are published each year. They show that the Baker Dearing Educational Trust has received grant funding to provide pre-approval support to groups that wish to apply to the Department to open a University Technical College as set out in the table below:

Calendar Year	Funding Received
2011	£151,923
2012	£150,095
2013	£153,458
2014	£213,191

Between 1 January 2015 and 30 September 2015, the department paid the Baker Dearing Educational Trust grant funding of £116,912. The Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s accounts for 2015 will be published in due course.

The first grant to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust in April 2011 was awarded directly to the trust. Subsequent grants have been awarded after a competitive tender process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to embed the Family Test into its policy making.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Officials in my Department have liaised with the Department for Work and Pensions as the lead Department for the Family Test on cross government activity to embed the Test into the policy process. This has included training officials on applying the Test, disseminating relevant learning materials and best practice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2015 to Question 18680, for what reasons her Department does not hold information on (a) the number of academies in England that were in deficit and (b) the total deficit of those academies in each year since 2009-10.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education does not hold this information in the form requested and it could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.

Academy trust accounts have only been consolidated into those of the department from 2012-13 (academic year 2011/12). Analysis of academy trusts in deficit before then would require reviewing individually each trust’s accounts.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the objectives for NHS England’s National Clinical Directors post April 2016 will be agreed.

George Freeman

From 1 April 2016, objectives for the National Clinical Directors will be set according to the priority areas and major programmes, as set out in the Mandate and planning guidance. They will relate, where appropriate, to established programmes of service improvement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications her Department received to the first application round for the Future Teaching Scholars programme.

Nick Gibb

The Future Teaching Scholars programme received 50 applications in the first recruitment round. We remain confident that we will secure 110 scholars by the end of summer 2016.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Transport on steps to meet the Government’s objective to increase the proportion of children walking to school from 46 per cent to 55 per cent.

Nick Gibb

The Department supports the Department for Transport’s target to increase the numbers of pupils walking to school. Local authorities have a duty to promote sustainable school travel and transport, and our statutory guidance on home to school transport states that strategies for encouraging walking should form part of that duty. Departmental officials have recently met the Living Streets Charity to discuss how we can further help local authorities in promoting walking to school and we continue to support and promote initiatives such as Living Streets, Modeshift and Sustrans both by engaging with consultations and through our guidance.

The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445407/Home_to_School_Travel_and_Transport_Guidance.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.30 of Educational excellence everywhere, Cm 9230, when she plans to amend the academy articles of association models to remove the requirement for new academy trusts and school governing boards to elect parent governors; and if she will take steps to enable existing academies to make that change.

Edward Timpson

The model articles of association give multi-academy trust (MAT) boards the freedom to appoint a local governing body. The board is also free to decide on what, if any, governance functions they delegate to subsidiary governance structures at the level of either individual schools or clusters of schools. Whatever arrangements MATs use, they must set out and publish on their website their chosen arrangements in a clear scheme of delegation.

The White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere outlines our intention to place a new expectation on all academies to put in place specific arrangements to engage with all parents in a meaningful way to listen to their views and feedback. To enable a move to fully skills-based governance, the White Paper also announces an end to our requirement on new and existing trusts to reserve places on the board for elected parents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of 16 and 17 year olds participated in full-time education in England in (a) 2005 and (b) 2015.

Nick Gibb

The proportion of 16 and 17 year olds in full-time education in England was 70.3% at the end of 2005 and 82.2% at the end of 2014 (provisional figures). These figures are published in Table A7 of the ‘Additional tables – rates’ in the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘Participation in education, training and employment’ and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-neet

Figures for end 2015 are not yet available but will be published on 30^th June 2016 as part of the above series.

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