Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of Eritreans who challenged an initial asylum refusal won their appeal in (1) 2013, (2) 2014, and (3) 2015.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    In answer to Questions HL329 and HL331, I refer the noble Lady to my answer on 04/05/2016 for Question HL8090.

    In answer to Question HL330, I refer the noble Lady to my answer on 04/05/2016 for Question HL8089.

    In answer to Question HL332 and HL333, I refer the noble Lady to my answer on 11/05/2016 for Questions HL8091 and HL9092.

  • Paul Scully – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Paul Scully – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Scully on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to wait until the EU Commission has confirmed acceptance of the UK Air Quality Plan before making a decision on airport expansion.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government submitted a revised air quality plan to the European Commission on 17 December last year. There is no formal timetable under the Air Quality Directive for the Commission to assess the plan. We are working with the Commission to ensure compliance with the nitrogen dioxide limits in the Directive in the shortest possible time.

    The Government is fully committed to delivering the infrastructure this country needs, including delivering runway capacity to the timetable set out by the Airports Commission.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by her Department are non-UK nationals.

    Matt Hancock

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

    Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the extent to which emissions type approval requirements are met during normal on road usage of each category of road vehicle.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government takes the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen (VW) Group extremely seriously. As we investigate what went wrong and what we can do to stop it happening again, the priority of course remains to protect the public. We expect VW to take every step necessary to protect its UK customers, but it is right that the Government carry out their own thorough and independent investigation.

    A written statement was made today (10 November) informing the House of the latest developments on the Department for Transport’s vehicle emissions testing programme, following the revelations that VW had fitted defeat devices to some of its vehicles.

    The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) is working to confirm that this issue is not industry wide. They have tested two VW group vehicles known to contain a defeat device and will rerun laboratory tests on popular cars sold in the UK to compare real world driving emissions against laboratory performance. This will include measuring CO2 .

    The Secretary of State spoke to Dr Herbert Deiss of VW on 4 November to discuss CO2 emissions, seeking information on those vehicles affected in the UK and the extent of the discrepancy. VW have stated that they are working hard to clarify the situation and are liaising with relevant approval authorities.

    The Secretary of State has written jointly with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to VW seeking clarification on several issues. Separately, officials from the Department for Transport, and its Agencies have held a number of discussions with VW regarding the recall of affected vehicles.

    The Department for Transport has not made a specific assessment of on road emissions in relation to type approval requirements, but officials are aware of the findings in published reports suggesting significant differences.

  • Maria Caulfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Maria Caulfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds that pupil premium funding improves the life chances of pupils at schools which receive that funding.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Raising the educational achievement of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds is key to improving their life chances. The government is determined to deliver educational excellence everywhere so that every child, regardless of background, reaches their potential.

    Over the last Parliament, £6.25 billion was invested in the pupil premium to give schools additional resource for raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Public Accounts Committee’s recent report on funding for disadvantaged pupils recognises the government’s success in narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers since the introduction of the pupil premium.

    Key stage 2 reading, writing and maths results for disadvantaged pupils rose by almost 6 percentage points from 2012 to 2014, narrowing the gap with other pupils by over 2 percentage points. This information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-2-2014-revised.

    The Department’s key stage 4 gap index measure also shows year-on-year improvement between 2012 and 2014 (from 3.89 to 3.74). This measure was introduced to allow for more reliable comparisons during a period of exam reform.This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-disadvantaged-pupils-attainment-gaps-over-time.

    Recent data also show that an increasing number of disadvantaged pupils go on to a sustained education destination after secondary school (rising from 80% to 83% between 2013 and 2014). This information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/provisional-destinations-key-stage-4-and-5-pupils-2013-to-2014.

    “

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to publish a response to the consultation carried out by her Department between July and September 2014 into energy issues affecting park homes including energy supply and use of the application of energy efficiency measures.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department issued a call for evidence, rather than a formal consultation, in 2014 and there was no plan to publish a formal response. We welcomed the evidence submitted which confirmed information already available.

  • 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 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the average period of time which (a) male and (b) female midwives who enter training at the age of (i) 19, (ii) 25, (iii) 30 and (iv) 40 in 2017-18 will take to pay off their student loans taking into account changes to the student support system from 2016-17.

    Joseph Johnson

    The changes announced at the Spending Review will enable us to lift the cap on the number of students on nursing courses and will provide nursing students with access to around 25% additional financial support. We expect this reform will enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this Parliament.

    The average repayment term on student loans is calculated for the total full time student population, rather than separately for students taking certain courses or their age on starting their course. On this basis, we estimate that the average repayment term for a full time student entering Higher Education in 2017-18 is around 20 to 25 years.

    This estimate includes both borrowers who fully repay their loans and those who have loans written off due to death, disability leading to permanent inability to work, or reaching the end of the repayment term. The estimate takes into account the changes to student finance announced at Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.47 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, which of the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers will be enhanced to support amphibious capability.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The two new Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers, currently under construction in Rosyth have a planned service life of 50 years each. They will be capable of a spectrum of roles including battlefield helicopter support to littoral operations. The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 made provision to enhance this capability in the QEC aircraft carriers.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medical assessors and people considering appeals have sufficient knowledge of muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The assessment for Personal Independence Payment is carried out by registered health professionals who have specialist training in assessing the impact of disability and health conditions on an individual’s functional ability, including conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

    All health professionals receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions, and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions, affect their ability to perform day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment they routinely refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar.

    The Department’s Decision Makers and Appeal Writers receive training in health conditions to assess each case individually using the evidence provided by the claimant and the Health Professional, and can call on additional support from a Health Professional as necessary.

    In all Personal Independence Payment assessments consideration is given to whether claimants can complete activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period.

    We have also worked closely with medical experts and charities to make significant improvements to the Work Capability Assessment, including strengthening the training programme to put more emphasis on making sure that assessors do not just focus on how someone manages on a ‘good day’ but also consider their ‘bad days’ if they have a health issue that fluctuates.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) male and (b) female employees (i) his Department, (ii) Network Rail, (iii) Highways England, (iv) HS2 Ltd, (v) the Office of Rail and Road, (vi) the DVLA, (vii) the Drive Vehicle Standards Agency and (viii) the VCA has.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The numbers of male and female employees as at 31st March 2016 are as follows:

    (a)

    (b)

    Organisation

    Male

    Female

    I. DfT(c)

    1,267

    798

    II. Network Rail

    31,658

    5,696

    III. Highways England

    2,574

    1,297

    IV. HS2 Ltd

    446

    307

    V. Office of Rail and Road

    192

    120

    VI. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)

    2,403

    3,803

    VII. Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)

    3,199

    1,305

    VIII. Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)

    114

    42