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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    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.”

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the contribution of the Minister for Skills of 10 March 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential take-up of the apprenticeship levy by employers.

    Nick Boles

    Apprenticeships are paid jobs and their availability is employer demand-led, so we do not publish future forecasts. The levy will put apprenticeship funding in the hands of employers and will encourage an increase in the quality and quantity of apprenticeships in England.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish an independent analysis of the economic forecasting record of the Office for Budget Responsibility, including an assessment of the accuracy of forecasting against free consensus expectations.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) already publish an assessment of the accuracy of their forecasts in their annual Forecast Evaluation Report (FER). This compares the latest outturn data for the economy and public finances with the OBR’s earlier forecasts, and aims to explain the differences. This assessment is required by the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act (BRNAA); this provides self-discipline for the OBR, and maintains transparency and accountability around their forecasting.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will direct the Rural Payments Agency not to make any bonus payments to its Chief Executive until payments to eligible farmers have been completed.

    George Eustice

    Senior Civil Servants (SCS) who are moderated as top performers at the end of the performance management year are eligible to receive a bonus payment.

    The performance management year for the SCS runs from 1 April to 31 March. Performance markings for 2015/16 will be determined by the end of May 2016. Only then will the eligibility of SCS for bonus payments be known.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Report of the HS2 Residents’ Commissioner, published in May 2016, what steps his Department and HS2 Ltd have taken to introduce a newsletter for affected residents.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    In Euston, HS2 Ltd have committed to producing a quarterly newsletter, the first newsletter was circulated in May 2016 to over 21,000 homes in the Camden area. The newsletter includes information about HS2, project updates, highlights key milestones and publicises upcoming engagement activities.

    More widely HS2 Ltd plan to publish community newsletters across the Phase One route. The first series of these newsletters is scheduled for autumn 2016.

    Phase Two is at a much earlier stage of development and HS2 Ltd are working closely with existing community engagement forums to ensure people are kept update with the latest information. HS2 Ltd anticipate publishing a community newsletter following a route announcement.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-09-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the four points for urgent action in the International Rescue Committee situational brief of 5 September.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The IRC report outlines four areas for action. The Government response to each is as follows.

    On point one in the report, the Government has been clear that the UK will not be part of the European Union relocation scheme. We remain of the view that relocation schemes within Europe risk creating perverse incentives for people to put their lives into the hands of traffickers. The Government is supporting efforts at hotspots through the deployment of resources to Italy and Greece through the European Asylum Support Office. We are fully committed to the efficient and timely operation of the Dublin Regulation and we are working closely with the Greek authorities, to identify, assess and transfer those with family connections to the UK under the Dublin family reunion process.

    On point two, through our £70 million contribution to the Mediterranean Migration Crisis response, we are funding the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration, and other agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations, and have strongly encouraged them to ensure close coordination with the authorities, to together achieve improved accommodation for refugees and migrants. Our funds are also helping to provide alternative shelter options for vulnerable migrants.

    On point three, DFID is delivering a £10 million Refugee Children’s Fund for Europe which prioritises unaccompanied and separated children. The fund provides safe places for at risk children, data management to trace children to their families, and services such as counselling and legal advice. A new Women and Girls’ Fund for Europe will provide specialised protection services, responding to the risk of exploitation, violence and trafficking, including for children.

    On point four, the Government believes that resettlement programmes are best operated at the national level. Under the Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme, we have committed to resettle 20,000 Syrians by the end of this Parliament. In addition to this through the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement scheme we will resettle 3,000 individuals from the Middle East and North Africa region over the same period, focusing on children at risk.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what variations his Department allows between security measures applied at airports.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    All airports in the UK are, as a minimum, required to meet the statutory security requirements set out in the UK National Aviation Security Programme (NASP). This comprises of EU requirements and some UK specific more stringent measures. The airports are responsible for the implementation of the requirements. Security at the airports is multi-layered and may include a number of different screening procedures and equipment in order to deliver the required security standards. It is also open to airports to have in place security measures additional to those required by regulation.

    For obvious reasons it would not be appropriate to provide details on the specific security measures being applied. We do however keep aviation security measures under constant review.

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will instruct HM Ambassador to Ethiopia to investigate allegations that paramilitary and security forces have killed more than 60 people in the Oromia region of that country following protests about enforced evictions of indigenous people; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The UK Government takes these allegations extremely seriously. We have raised concerns with the Ethiopian government about the use of force and urged the authorities to exercise restraint. The Department for International Development Parliamentary Under Secretary of State raised this issue with the Ethiopian Deputy Prime minister on 11 December, as did our Chargé d’Affaires with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs on 15 December. Our Embassy in Ethiopia is monitoring closely the situation. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of Ethiopia, including on the use of force.

  • Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 21823, how many of her Department’s approved Intervention Providers for the Channel programme are (a) men and (b) women.

    Mr John Hayes

    There are currently 39 male and 13 female intervention providers listed in our register. We keep the list under constant review. The breakdown listed below shows where the intervention provider is based, however, most intervention providers are available to work across England and Wales, and are not limited to working in the region they are based in.

    Region

    Total number of providers

    North East

    1

    North West

    10

    Yorkshire and the Humber

    1

    East Midlands

    7

    West Midlands

    6

    East of England

    3

    London

    20

    South East

    1

    South West

    2

    Wales

    1
  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost has been of provision of free school meals by region in each of the last three years.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Schools in England fund free school meals out of the overall resources available to them. Since September 2014, all infant pupils in maintained schools in England have been entitled to free school meals, regardless of parental income. The government does provide specific funding to schools to pay for meals for infant pupils who are not eligible for benefits-related FSM. The breakdown of this funding is available at school level for financial year 2014-15 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-provisional-funding-allocations-2014-to-2015; and for financial year 2015-16 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-funding-allocations-2015-to-2016.

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