The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the UK’s liaison officer to Eurocorps was withdrawn.
Mr Julian Brazier
We have no digital record of there being a UK liaison officer to the Eurocorps.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the NHS is of using agency nurses from overseas.
Mr Philip Dunne
The information requested is not held by the Department.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-10-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why, in the last year, there has been a reduction in the number of UK and EU statements on human rights violations in Sudan.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Sudan remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as outlined in the FCO’s last annual Human Rights and Democracy Report published in July 2016. We regularly raise our human rights concerns directly with the government of Sudan in London, Khartoum and New York as part of our ongoing dialogue. Most recently, human rights issues were a key theme of the Strategic Dialogue that took place in London in on 10/11 October.
We consider our response to all reports of human rights violations carefully, in consultation with our EU and troika partners and with human rights organisations on the ground, and respond in the way we judge to be the most effective in conveying our concerns to the government of Sudan. We also support the established UN mechanisms in their efforts to improve the situation in Sudan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor on 2015-11-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 17 September (HL2164), whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the letter from the UK Commissioner to the International Whaling Commission to the governments of Denmark and the Faroe Islands about concerns over the welfare and sustainability of their hunts.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2015-12-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many refugees have penetrated security at the sovereign base of Akrotiri in the past two months; how many of those refugees remain on that base; and where those refugees who are no longer on that base have gone.
Earl Howe
115 migrants arrived by boat at RAF Akrotiri on 21 October 2015. None penetrated the robust and established security measures we have in place to protect the base. The migrants came under the control of the Sovereign Base Area Administration as soon as they set foot on shore and at no point were they near any secure facilities within the base. Operational activity was not affected.
All of the migrants were transferred from RAF Akrotiri on 27 October 2015 to a specially prepared transit facility in the Eastern Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia outside of the military garrison.
As at 4 December 2015, 54 migrants are accommodated in the transit facility, one is held within HMP Dhekelia and 60 have transferred to reception centres in the Republic of Cyprus.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to prevent students using paid-for commercial essay-writing services advertised on the internet.
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government strongly condemns any form of cheating. All publicly funded providers of higher education courses are expected to comply with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, published by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). One of the requirements of the Code is to ensure that students do not obtain awards through any form of unacceptable academic practice relating to assessment, including plagiarism. There is no centrally held set of data on the number of recorded plagiarism cases in UK Higher Education – responsibility for tackling plagiarism lies with the HE providers themselves, as autonomous organisations. Institutions have a variety of mechanisms to address cheating by both international and EEA/UK students, including strong policies and specialist software. Between 2012 and 2015, the QAA carried out approximately 650 reviews of institutions. Of these, it only had to make recommendations to 30 individual universities and colleges on the need to improve systems and information related to plagiarism. The QAA are discussing the legality of essay mills with the Consumer and Markets Authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the performance of the Education Funding Agency on the case of Harperbury Free School; and what the cost to the public purse of that school has been to date.
Edward Timpson
I have every confidence in the performance of the Education Funding Agency on this project.
The combined capital and revenue cost of the project to date is £1,919,000.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the minimum number of hours off-duty is that his Department uses to define a day off for a junior doctor.
Ben Gummer
Neither the current contract nor the new contract define a day off. Both define a minimum rest period between shifts of 11 hours and a minimum break between defined periods of prolonged work of 48 hours. Further minimum rest periods, as set out in the existing Working Time Regulations, will also apply. The new contract will reduce the number of consecutive night shifts after which a 48 hour break must be taken from seven to four, the number of consecutive long day shifts from seven to five, the number of consecutive late evening shifts from 12 to four and the number of consecutive shorter shifts from 12 to eight. The improvements are part of the around 90% of the new contract that was agreed with the British Medical Association and that make the new contract much safer than the current one.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days it took his Department to answer hon. Members’ correspondence on average in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.
Justin Tomlinson
The Cabinet Office publishes information on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers annually by way of a written statement.
The information for the years that is available, 2013 and 2014, are in the Official Record (13 May 2014: Column 17WS and 3 Jun 2015: Column 15WS, respectively).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools have been re-brokered to other academy sponsors in each year since 2010.
Edward Timpson
There have been 130 academies and free schools (2% of academies) moved from a trust that had not been able to secure necessary improvements, to a strong sponsor. Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) are looking at the appropriate action to take with those that currently have no formal action, working with trusts to improve school performance or looking at sponsor solutions where they feel that the trust is not meeting the required standards.
The table below shows the numbers of academies which have been re-brokered to other academy sponsors, split by academic year.
|
Academic Year |
Number of academies re-brokered to other academy sponsors |
|
2011/12 |
2 |
|
2012/13 |
2 |
|
2013/14 |
13 |
|
2014/15 |
64 |
|
2015/16 |
49 |
|
Total |
130 |
There are 38 academies in the process of moving from a trust that has not been able to secure necessary improvements, to a strong sponsor.
The Department does not hold information on the number of academies which are awaiting re-brokerage. RSCs will work with schools in a number of ways before considering moving them to a new sponsor.