Tag: Nic Dakin

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 progress his Department has made in extending reassessment periods for claimants in the employment and support allowance support group (a) generally and (b) who have degenerative brain conditions.

Priti Patel

Despite routine re-assessments are currently suspended to focus on new claims, we have made an exception for deteriorating conditions where a repeat assessment can be requested. As a consequence no changes have been made to the re-referral periods for people in the Support Group.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2015 to Question 10091, what the implications for his policies are of the decision by NHS England to remove (a) the pancreatic cancer drug Abraxane and (b) 22 other drugs and indications from the Cancer Drugs Fund List.

George Freeman

We remain committed to continuing to invest in the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Fund. Following appeals and further discussions with pharmaceutical companies, 18 drug and indication combinations, including Abraxane for pancreatic cancer, were removed from the national CDF list on 4 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on the academic performance of sixth form students of the use of unconditional offers of places by universities.

Nick Boles

It is for individual higher education institutions to determine their own admission arrangements. No assessment has been made of the effect on the academic performance of sixth form students of the use of unconditional offers of places by universities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of her Department’s budget has been spent on the Troops to Teachers scheme to date; and on what that budget was spent.

Nick Gibb

To date, £4.3m has been spent on the programme, the majority of which has been initial, one-off start-up costs. The funding has been allocated to trainee salaries in addition to programme costs to deliver the degree qualification and teacher training requirements.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which specialist contractors her Department has hired to advise regional school commissioners.

Edward Timpson

The Department will publish an award notice on GOV.UK that names suppliers that have been awarded contracts, business addresses and contract values over £20,000. The Department will also be publishing related supplier contracts that support the academy and free school programme on Contract Finder on GOV.UK by 31 March 2016.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many spaces have been set aside on initial teacher training courses for the 2016-17 cohort of the future teaching scholars programme.

Nick Gibb

There will be places available for all Scholars after they successfully complete their undergraduate degree and commence their initial teacher training from the 2019-20 academic year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds on the relationship between the A-level grades achieved by prospective teachers and their later performance in the classroom.

Nick Gibb

Evidence, including a seminal McKinsey study from 2007 (How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top), shows that teacher quality and impact cannot be predicted by a single factor such as A-Level grades, but result from a complex combination of factors including academic achievement combined with characteristics and attributes such as communication skills, willingness to learn and motivation to teach.

The Teachers’ Standards, developed by a group of leading teachers and heads, clearly define the core elements of effective teaching – including strong subject knowledge and the promotion of scholarship, as well as skills such as classroom management. All new teachers must demonstrate that they are meeting the standards at the end of their initial training.

It is important that providers of initial teacher training are able to select and recruit candidates on the basis of their potential and their academic achievement to date; this is why we are giving schools much greater say in recruiting and training candidates who can be successful in the classroom. This year, over half of all postgraduate trainees are coming through school-led routes.