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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the case for withdrawing funding for sporting associations if a certain quota of their board positions are not filled by women.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The government does not believe in fixed quotas for board representation. However we have an ambition that all sports’ boards should have at least 25% female representation by 2017. The government’s recently published sport strategy ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ states that UK Sport and Sport England, along with the other Home Nations’ Sports Councils, will agree a new UK Sports Governance Code by September 2016 to strengthen existing commitments, including the ambition on female representation on boards. This new governance code will be mandatory for all sports bodies seeking public funding in the next funding period.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Question 23325, whether she has carried out a review since 2014 of whether local authorities are meeting statutory requirements for the content of Education, Health and Care plans.

    Edward Timpson

    Since September 2014, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans have been regularly monitored and reviewed. This is part of the Department’s ongoing work to support and challenge local authorities’ implementation of the reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The Department also gathers information about EHC plans from parents and young people, through termly surveys of Parent Carer Forums, correspondence, and regular dialogue with parents’ and young people’s groups.

    Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on how to improve them has been provided directly to the local authorities concerned by the Department’s team of SEND advisors. Thus far, our SEND advisors have noted issues around non-compliance for 29 local authorities, all of which were subsequently given advice about improving their EHC plans in order to fulfil statutory requirements

    Our advisors are currently delivering a number of workshops for local authorities on how to write high quality, legally compliant EHC plans, and to share good practice. The training resources from these workshops will be published shortly.

    There are a number of places where local authorities can find guidance about EHC plans. This includes the statutory SEND Code of Practice, which clearly sets out what must be included in a plan, and provides detailed guidance on the process that must be followed to produce one. There are also examples of good quality EHC plans produced by the SEND Pathfinder local authorities.

    The review of EHC plans carried out in 2014 looked specifically at EHC plan templates.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether the Electoral Commission has given any early indication to Ministers of the likely outcomes of its investigations into electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets; and when the Commission expects that investigation to be complete.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission is not currently carrying out any investigations into electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets. Any allegations of electoral fraud offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 can only be investigated by the police, on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Metropolitan Police Service is responsible for investigating any allegations relating to elections in Tower Hamlets, and the Commission will monitor the outcome of any investigations relating to electoral fraud offences.

    In advance of the elections this May, the Commission is working closely with the police and electoral administrators in each of the 18 areas it has identified as being at higher risk of allegations of electoral fraud, including Tower Hamlets, to ensure that robust plans are in place to detect and prevent fraud.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of women who were diagnosed with fibroadenomas in each of the last five years, and the proportion of women with fribroadenomas who went on to develop breast cancer in 2015, is not held.

    In addition, information on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years is not held.

    There are several types of benign breast lump, including fibroadenomas. Although most lumps are not breast cancer, any unusual changes to the breasts should be checked by a general practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. If a GP finds a lump on examination, they will routinely refer the patient to be seen by a hospital specialist.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his policies are of the findings in The Lancet Series on breastfeeding, published in January 2016; and what steps his Department is taking to increase breastfeeding rates.

    Ben Gummer

    Following the discontinuation of the Infant Feeding Survey, the Department has been exploring with Public Health England (PHE) and other key stakeholders alternative methods and sources of information to monitor the impact of its policy on infant feeding.

    In future, the Maternity and Children’s Dataset will regularly capture data on breastfeeding initiation and prevalence from all women using NHS services rather than using a survey sample. This means that local service providers and commissioners can have up-to-date (e.g. quarterly) information about outcomes for their local populations, enabling service provision to be more agile, responsive and targeted.

    The Government is committed to supporting breastfeeding through the Healthy Child Programme. Breastfeeding is also included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so that the improvements can be tracked, and action taken as needed.

    Since 2010, we have recruited more than 2,100 additional midwives who will provide women with the information, advice and support they need with breastfeeding. A further 6,000 midwives are in training. There are also 3,400 more health visitors than in 2010.

    The Department is working with PHE, NHS England and UNICEF to try and encourage women to breastfeed for the first six months, although we recognise that not all mothers choose to or are able to breastfeed.

    Support and information is currently available to health professionals and parents through NHS Choices, the National Breastfeeding Helpline, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, the Start4Life Information Service for Parents and local peer support programmes.

    The Department has not retained a record of how many full-time equivalent staff there were with a specific focus on breastfeeding between 2010 and 2016; breastfeeding policy has always formed part of the larger maternity policy for which the Department has the policy lead. Resources to cover this policy area would have fluctuated according the level of work required at any one time.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-07-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 12 July (HL921), what changes the Red Arrows offered to make to their original programme; and what, if any, safety advice was received by the Red Arrows and from whom.

    Earl Howe

    The Red Arrows did not offer to make any changes to their original, approved routine or display sequence. However, they did liaise with the event organisers, who are responsible for mitigating risks to those on the ground and those in boats in the local estuary, on where best to locate the display. To avoid flying over anyone in the estuary, the Red Arrows were prepared to display over the sea.

    The Red Arrows did not receive any safety advice specifically relating to a display at Fowey Regatta.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is closely monitoring global migration developments, including the number of Mediterranean crossings, working in partnership with the EU and in source and transit countries, to address the mass movements of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This includes tackling criminal gangs who facilitate journeys and exploit migrants.

    We have not made an estimate of the number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017. Determining refugee status is at the discretion of EU Member States and we do not estimate the number of illegal migrants that will be granted refugee status.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he will publish a timetable for the refurbishment of Wolverhampton train station.

    Claire Perry

    The refurbishment of Wolverhampton train station is part of the Wolverhampton Interchange Scheme, which is being driven forward by a partnership of Wolverhampton City Council, Centro, Neptune, Network Rail, Virgin Trains and the Canal and River Trust. The Department is not leading on this project.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 14607 and with reference to the consultation document entitled, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, published in October 2015, what research (a) has been commissioned and (b) will be commissioned better to understand the nature of labour market non-compliance.

    Karen Bradley

    Labour market enforcement bodies routinely collect operational intelligence on the nature of labour market non-compliance. The Government is consulting on the merits of establishing a Director of Labour Market Enforcement, whose proposed role would include making better use of such intelligence and commissioning further research, if needed, to better understand the nature of non-compliance.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to establish the veracity of recent reports that the North Korean government has capacity for a hydrogen bomb making facility.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We assess that the size of the seismic event caused by the 6 January nuclear test conducted by North Korea (DPRK) was not indicative of a successful two-stage thermonuclear test (commonly known as a hydrogen bomb). However, as the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) has said in his Written Ministerial Statement on 13 January, this activity was a clear violation of four UN Security Council Resolutions, and we are working with other UN Security Council members on a further Resolution.