The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-20.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the rate of VAT on the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles once the UK has left the EU.
Jane Ellison
While all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to reduce the rate of VAT applied to sales of electric and hybrid vehicles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list all the free school projects that have been withdrawn or cancelled to date; and what the cost to the public purse was of the withdrawal or cancellation of each such project.
Edward Timpson
The Department for Education does not have a full breakdown of revenue spent on staff salaries for proposed free school projects.
The total pre-opening expenditure for free school projects is published on GOV.UK:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-expenditure-for-free-schools
We will shortly update this information to include projects that opened or were withdrawn or cancelled up to September 2015.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to tackle bullying initiated by religious intolerance in schools.
Edward Timpson
All bullying is unacceptable and every school is required to have a behaviour policy including measures to tackle all forms of bullying. They are held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour, including racist, disability, use of derogatory language and racist incidents.
The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England published in November 2015 found that 30,000 fewer young people said they had been bullied in the last twelve months – a drop from 41 per cent in 2004 to 36 per cent in 2014.
All schools are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faith and beliefs. Our guidance published in November 2014 says that British values include accepting that others of different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour.
All publicly funded schools are required also to promote community cohesion and teach a broad and balanced curriculum. The curriculum provides many opportunities to foster tolerance and understanding. For example, as part of the history curriculum, pupils could learn about different cultures, and about how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. The citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about ‘the diverse national, regional, religious, and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding’. PSHE can teach young people about the rights and responsibilities of living in a diverse community and how to respect others.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Berry on 2016-01-13.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to widen access to financial advice.
Harriett Baldwin
Last year the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) jointly launched the Financial Advice Market Review. The Review is exploring how the UK’s financial advice market is operating for consumers, and what more can be done to ensure they have the access they need to high-quality, affordable advice so they can make informed decisions with their hard earned money. The Review will report ahead of Budget 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Krebs on 2016-02-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether there is a widespread risk of lead poisoning in migratory waterbirds resulting from the use of lead ammunition, for the purpose of interpreting the Guidelines to Resolution 11.15, Preventing Poisoning of Migratory Birds, agreed at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Through the Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999, the use of lead shot ammunition is restricted to protect waterfowl from lead poisoning. Its use is banned on all foreshores, certain Sites of Special Scientific Interest and for the shooting of all ducks and geese, coot and moorhen. The supply of lead weights for fishing is also prohibited. One recent piece of research suggests compliance with the Regulations is relatively low with around 70% of wild duck carcasses bought from game dealers in England having been shot with lead ammunition. We will continue to look at how the Lead Shot Regulations can be better implemented.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve public awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.
Mike Penning
A range of communication activities are being conducted by the Home Office in order to increase awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.
Plans include written, digital, broadcast and social media activity. Material such as posters and a short film are also being provided to Police Area Returning Officers and police and crime commissioner’s offices to use as part of their local communication plans.
All activity will signpost the Cabinet Office candidate information website, ChooseMyPCC, and booklet ordering facility.
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.
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.
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% |
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.