The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on the range of free services offered by community pharmacies of the planned changes in funding for such pharmacies.
Alistair Burt
We have made no assessment. Information on the range of services individual community pharmacies choose to provide free to their customers beyond those commissioned by the National Health Service is not collected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to undertake a formal evaluation of the new Cancer Drugs Fund.
Nicola Blackwood
NHS England’s standard operating procedures for the appraisal and funding of cancer drugs from July 2016 (including the new Cancer Drugs Fund) state that NHS England will keep the operational mechanisms of the new arrangements under continuous review. In addition, NHS England will look to undertake a more formal evaluation of the overall operation of the scheme, no later than autumn 2017.
The standard operating procedures are available 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 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to embed the family test into its policy making.
Brandon Lewis
Officials in my Department have liaised with the Department for Work and Pensions as the lead Department for the Family Test to embed it into the policy process. This has included training officials on applying the Test and disseminating relevant evidence, learning materials and best practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to embed the Family Test into its policy making.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 16 November 2015 (PQ 15345).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of teaching vacancies at the start of September 2016.
Nick Gibb
The department collects the number of teacher vacancies in November each year. The November 2015 collection is still underway as schools, Local Authorities and Academy Trusts have until the end of January 2016 to provide their workforce data.
The latest available data on the number of vacancies in schools is from the November 2014 School Workforce Census which was published in July 2015 and is available from table 14 at the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014
The published data shows that 0.3% of teaching posts in state funded schools in England were vacant in November 2014.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) trustees and (b) directors of academies and academy chains are paid salaries in excess of £142,500.
Edward Timpson
The information is available about each academy trust in the notes to their financial statements which are published online by the Department for Education and at Companies House.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on marketing for the Future Teaching Scholars programme to date.
Nick Gibb
The management of the Future Teaching Scholars programme is contracted to the delivery organisation, Education Development Trust. Any money spent on marketing is determined by the Education Development Trust.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2016 to Question 29811, on further education, how many meetings have been held for area reviews in (a) Birmingham and Solihull, (b) Greater Manchester, (c) Sheffield City Region, (d) Tees Valley, (e) Sussex, (f) Solent and (g) West Yorkshire in each of the last nine months.
Nick Boles
A wide range of meetings are held within each area review, which is a locally owned process designed to meet the needs of each local area. Bilateral meetings will often take place, for instance, between individual colleges which might be exploring restructuring options. Local stakeholders will often meet in smaller groupings to discuss particular issues or themes, for example local enterprise partnerships and local authorities may have set up separate meetings. Additionally, some local stakeholders will seek meetings to ensure their involvement at particular points, for example local MPs once recommendations emerge.
The number and type of meetings are likely to vary with each review, depending on local provision, circumstances and issues as well as local interest in engaging with the review work. The following focuses on the formal meetings which are a core part of the area review process and would therefore be consistent across the country.
A number of formal area review steering group meetings have taken place in each area since September 2015. No steering group meetings were held prior to September 2015. Meetings held between September 2015 and March 2016 are as follows:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that the number of qualified teachers does not decrease proportionately or in real terms by 2022.
Nick Gibb
As announced in our White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, our proposals to replace Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with a new, stronger accreditation will raise the bar for new teachers. While we expect the vast majority of new teachers to continue to complete initial teacher training (ITT), these proposals will also mean that schools can put teachers who have not completed a period of ITT onto a pathway to formal accreditation.
We will set out further details of how and when we intend to implement the new accreditation process shortly. Until then, the Department has no plans to change the regulations which permit academies and maintained schools to employ teachers who do not hold QTS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support the Government plans to provide for the removal of asbestos in maintained schools that are to be converted into academies.
Edward Timpson
The Government takes the issue of asbestos in schools very seriously and is supporting those in schools and responsible bodies who have the legal responsibility for safely managing asbestos in their schools.
The Department provides funding to schools to help them keep their school buildings in a good state of repair. Between 2015 and 2018 this investment will total £4.2 billion and schools and responsible bodies are able to use this funding to remove asbestos where that is appropriate.
For maintained schools, the local authority as responsible body receives an annual allocation of capital funding to repair and upgrade existing buildings. Local authorities are expected to treat fairly those schools considering conversion to an academy and to honour any commitments of capital funding that they have made, in respect of building projects at those schools.
Following conversion, a school can be part of a larger multi-academy trust, a smaller multi-academy trust or a standalone academy. Larger multi-academy trusts (MATs) have access to annual formulaic school condition allocations (SCA), which they can pass on to their constituent schools to address any serious asbestos concerns. For stand-alone academies and academies in smaller multi academy trusts, funding is available through the condition improvement fund (CIF) where they bid for capital funding. As set out in the guidance for prospective bidders, the highest priority is given to health and safety issues due to the poor condition of buildings, including emergency asbestos removal.