Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to become a founding donor to the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May.　 The UK has committed to provide £30million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support regional school commissioners are expected to provide to organisations in their area wishing to become an academy sponsor.

    Edward Timpson

    Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) have an important role to play in encouraging and supporting high performing schools to extend their influence by growing Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and recruiting new sponsors to their region. The RSCs support schools and other organisations to become sponsors and grow effectively by offering practical one-to-one advice and facilitating supportive networks between MATs. They are also able to commission additional support for trusts where that is required, for example, from local Teaching School Alliances.

    As set out in our White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere, in the future MAT support will be system-led, and there will be a role for larger and more experienced trusts in supporting growing trusts as they develop. The Department is taking a number of steps to support MATs with leadership and governance, including:

    • a MAT CEO development programme;

    • redesigning a National Professional Qualification in leadership; and

    • funding the academy ambassadors programme that has resulted in over 240 experienced business leaders providing support to MATs by joining trust boards as non-executives.

    We are committing funding for 5 years to provide long term stability to help many more volunteers find a school or MAT that is looking for someone with their skills.

    The Government has allocated £300 million that will be available to support schools to convert and, in particular, support sponsors to turn around failing schools. A further £300 million will be available to support strong and effective multi-academy trusts to grow and improve.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 19 September (HL1473), who are the members of HS2 Ltd.’s Conflict of Interest Panel; which cases of potential conflict of interest they have considered in the last year; what was their decision in each case; and whether they intend to publish this information every six months in the future.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    It is not possible to provide the names of HS2 Ltd’s Conflict of Interest Panel Members, nor details of specific cases which have been heard as we do not consider doing so would be consistent with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). Unfair disclosure of personal data is a breach of the First Data Protection Principles under the DPA.

  • Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Christina Rees – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons the matters within his Department’s responsibility in Schedule 1 of the draft Wales Bill have been designated as reserved.

    Dominic Raab

    The reservations listed in Schedule 1 to the draft Wales Bill reflects the Government’s view of where the Welsh devolution boundary lies following the devolution of further powers to the Assembly provided for in the draft Bill.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether support for energy-intensive industries is part of the Northern Powerhouse agenda; and what assessment the Government has made of the importance of carbon capture and storage for the future of those industries.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The provision of ring-fenced capital support for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. Government has not taken the Spending Review decision lightly. The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors. Neither CCS Competition project proposed to capture CO2 from energy intensive industries.

    The detailed design and implementation of CCS policy changes have yet to be determined. The Industrial 2050 Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency Roadmaps reports published in March 2015 identified a potential role for industrial CCS technologies in decarbonising the steel, oil refining, chemicals and cement sectors. DECC and BIS continue to engage with the energy intensive industries and academics to develop decarbonisation Action Plans by the end of 2016 as the second phase of this process.

    The Government remains committed to working with energy intensive industries including those in the Northern Powerhouse area. DECC provided £1million funding to Tees Valley Unlimited as part of the 2013 City Deal agreement to undertake an Industrial CCS feasibility study based on the chemicals and steel industry in the Teesside cluster and we continue to support that work. The devolution deal for Tees Valley, published in October this year, also included a commitment to explore how it can continue to develop its industrial CCS proposals.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of his Department’s right to buy pilots.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the rt. hon. member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 January, HCWS476, which sets out the Department’s intention to fund administration costs.

    The Statement can be viewed at:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-01-19/HCWS476/

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK armed forces personnel in (a) the Army, (b) the RAF and (c) the Royal Navy are classed as level 3 or higher linguists in (i) Arabic, (ii) Polish, (iii) Russian, (iv) Ukrainian, (v) Estonian, (vi) German, (vii) French, (viii) Pashto, (ix) Dari, (x) Farsi and (xi) Spanish.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The numbers of personnel in the UK Armed Forces in the Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy classed as level 3 or higher linguists in Arabic, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian, German, French, Pashto, Dari, Farsi and Spanish is as follows:

    Army

    RAF

    Navy

    Total

    Arabic

    31

    16

    4

    51

    Polish

    1

    2

    0

    3

    Russian

    6

    4

    5

    15

    Ukrainian

    0

    0

    0

    0

    Estonian

    0

    0

    0

    0

    German

    16

    4

    3

    23

    French

    96

    28

    22

    146

    Pashto

    48

    42

    8

    98

    Dari

    30

    4

    8

    42

    Farsi

    21

    12

    6

    39

    Spanish

    21

    11

    15

    47

    Total

    270

    123

    71

    464

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to offer apprenticeships.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My Department is working closely across Government and with the Local Government Association to encourage local authorities to start planning now so they can take advantage of the opportunities both the apprenticeship levy and targets offer to meet skills shortages and increase apprenticeship numbers. The Department has already jointly hosted, with BIS and the Local Government Association, two successful round table events with local authorities to support them in meeting the challenge of significantly increasing the numbers of apprenticeships in the wider public sector.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the annual cost is of rent, rates and maintenance for his Department’s office at (a) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) 1 Victoria Street, London.

    Joseph Johnson

    The annual cost of rent, rates and maintenance at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield is £891,694 and at 1 Victoria Street, London is £21,363,694.

  • 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding has been received from the European Social Fund via the National Offender Management Service Co-Financing Organisation to help set up and finance The Employers’ Forum for Reducing Re-offending.

    Andrew Selous

    Money received from the European Social Fund (ESF) by the NOMS Co-financing Programme is published in the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts. No ESF funding has been used to finance employer roadshows at Sudbury, Drake Hall and Wayland prisons. Neither has any ESF money been awarded direct to HM Young Offender Institutions Werrington, Feltham or Cookham Wood.

    It is a condition of any award of core ESF funding to the NOMS Co-financing programme that it has to be spent on front line services for offenders (excluding the administration budget. Because of this, a separate application was made under the Technical Assistance grant to fund, among other things, the setting up and running of the Employers’ Forum for Reducing Re-offending (EFRR). The aim of the Technical Assistance grant is to fund services that will support the objectives of the main programme – employability of offenders. The amount spent from the ESF Technical Assistance fund on the EFRR from 2010 to 2015 was £280,403.