Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on small and medium-sized businesses of the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice on time spent travelling to work.

    Nick Boles

    This Government wants to ensure that the Working Time Directive promotes long-term, sustainable growth and labour market flexibility, and does not impose significant burdens on business. The recent ruling of the European Court of Justice means that journeys made by workers without a fixed or habitual place of work between their homes and the first and last customer of the day constitute working time under the Working Time Directive.

    All employers, regardless of size, of workers without a fixed or habitual place of work need to ensure that this time is taken into account for the calculation of working hours. The ruling has no general consequences for pay.

  • Lord Wills – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Wills – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possible advantages and disadvantages of licensing bicyclists.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We consider that the costs of a formal testing and licensing system for cyclists would significantly outweigh the benefits cycling has to the country’s economy, health and environment. Evidence suggests that increased cycling could create significant savings for the NHS, less pollution and congestion, and a happier and healthier population. It is likely that a licensing system will discourage many existing and potential cyclists, leading to a dramatic fall in the numbers of people cycling.

    Around 80% of adult cyclists also hold driving licenses, meaning that the majority of cyclists on the road have already been tested on operating safely in different road and traffic conditions. Furthermore, the safety case for a testing/licensing system is not as strong as that for drivers since, by contrast with motorised vehicles, bicycles involved in collisions on the highway are highly unlikely to cause serious injury to other road users.

    Cyclists as well as all road users must obey the Highway Code, and the Government has provided funding for training schemes such as Bikeability which provides practical training and teaches the Highway Code to the next generation of cyclists. The Bikeability programme currently trains approximately 50% of primary schoolchildren in England and more than 1.5million children have received training since the programme’s inception.

    The recent Spending Review committed £300m to cycling investment between 2015-16 and 2020-21, this includes delivering in full the £114 million Cycle Ambition City scheme, with construction of segregated cycle lanes including 115 kilometres in Birmingham and 56 kilometres in Manchester.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether her Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether her Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain, to ensure we get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.

  • Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is taking part in cross-departmental work to promote stability and good governance in fragile and conflict affected states.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Yes. DFID plays a key role in delivering the UK’s national security objective to build stability overseas, including in fragile states and regions. Our approach is set out in the Government’s National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review, which is publicly available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-security-strategy-and-strategic-defence-and-security-review-2015

    “

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will increase Government funding for emergency food aid to Ethiopia.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    We are very concerned about the impact of the current drought on the food security situation for 18 million people across Ethiopia. Britain is working closely with the Government of Ethiopia and the international community to ensure adequate funding for drought response activities.

    We acted quickly and decisively at the onset of the drought by providing emergency food aid for 2.1 million people in 2015. This year, we have committed £40 million to provide food aid to a further 3.8 million people in April.

    In collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, DFID is also ensuring that 120,000 severely malnourished children receive treatment in order to recover quickly.

    Our overall funding for the drought to date is £113 million. We are continuing to work with the Government of Ethiopia and other donors to make sure needs are being met. We are monitoring the situation closely.

    UK Aid resilience work with the Government of Ethiopia has helped prepare 10 million people to cope with this drought.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many permanent secretaries are from a lower socio-economic background.

    Matthew Hancock

    Data on the socio-economic background of Permanent Secretaries is not available. We are introducing a metric of social mobility as part of our 2016 Talent Action Plan and this is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/talent-action-plan-2016-removing-the-barriers-to-success.

    “

  • The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many individuals took Art and Design GCSE in each year since 2011 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined, and what percentage of the total number of GCSEs this constitutes.

    Lord Nash

    The Department for Education produces statistics on England only.

    The table below shows the total number of pupils attempting Art and Design and the percentage this represents of all pupils attempting GCSEs at the end of key stage 4 for the years requested. This information is published in the “Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015” Statistical First Release available on GOV.UK.

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Number of pupils attempting Art and Design

    155,724

    151,601

    156,482

    164,648

    170,783

    Pupils[1] attempting GCSE[2] Art and Design as a percentage of all pupils attempting GCSEs

    25.4

    25.0

    25.3

    27.1

    28.5

    [1] Pupils at the end of key stage 4.

    [2] GCSE only.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many members of staff in (a) his Department and (b) the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have been seconded from the private sector to work on the implementation of the recommendations of the (i) Maritime Growth Study and (ii) UK Ship Register Advisory Panel.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    No members of staff have been seconded from the private sector to work on the implementation of these recommendations at this stage. Both the Department and the MCA engage closely and regularly with industry partners.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18873, what proportion of his Department’s staff were agency workers covering (a) operational uniformed staff and (b) clerical agency staff in each year since 2010.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We only use temporary staff to fill business-critical posts and essential frontline services, where they can offer a fast, flexible and efficient way of providing skills not currently available in-house.

    The proportion of the department’s staff agency workers either covering operational uniformed staff of clerical agency staff is displayed in the following table. Data prior to 2011/12 is not available.

    Year-end date

    Proportion of Operational Uniformed Staff

    Proportion of Clerical agency staff

    31/03/2012

    1.92%

    0.58%

    31/03/2013

    2.03%

    0.76%

    31/03/2014

    3.17%

    1.14%

    31/03/2015

    4.61%

    1.61%
  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many youth centres have been closed since 2010 and what assessment they have made of the impact of those closures on young people.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services, according to local need. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any changes there have been to the number of youth centres in their local area.