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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of disparities in funding for early-years education across England; and if she will make a statement.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This Government recognises that the current funding system for three- and four-year-olds creates unfair and unjustifiable differences between local areas, and between types of providers.

    This is why we have recently consulted on our proposals for a national funding formula for the early years. Our proposals will ensure that funding for the early years is based on the costs of meeting the needs of local children, not on historic spending patterns.

    It is vital that funding is fairly distributed between different parts of the country and different types of providers, so that providers can deliver both the existing 15-hour entitlement and the extended 30-hour entitlement for working parents, on a sustainable basis.

    We are currently considering all responses to the consultation, and are planning to publish the Government’s response in the autumn.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the Government’s policy is on negotiating legally binding targets at the Paris World Climate Summit 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The UK Government is committed to securing at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in Paris, an ambitious, legally binding global Agreement on climate change with mitigation commitments from all Parties and a set of rules that ensure transparency and accountability of commitments that will allow the world to track progress.

    The Prime Minister at the G7 Summit prioritised an ambitious climate package, and more recently at the G20, all Leaders were clear that an ambitious climate deal remains a global priority. My Ministerial colleagues and I are taking every opportunity to press for an agreement that meets these objectives.

  • 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 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much was allocated to the National Tactical Response Group in (a) 2010, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015; and what he expects that budget to be in 2016.

    Andrew Selous

    The budget allocation for National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) is set out in the table below.

    These figures include pay and non-pay items (including training materials, operational incident consumables and vehicle costs). It is not possible to retrieve the 2010 data information within the time available. The resource allocation for 2016-17 is yet to be confirmed.

    NTRG Budget

    2011-12

    1.6m

    2012-13

    1.6m

    2013-14

    1.7m

    2014-15

    1.8m

    2015-16

    1.8m

    “

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will amend its A&E waiting times target to set a target time for patients to wait from their arrival at hospital to admission.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England’s urgent and emergency care review is supporting the delivery of new ways of delivering urgent and emergency care to provide highly responsive, effective and personalised care as close to patients’ homes as possible and ensure people with more serious or life threatening emergency care needs are treated in centres with the very best expertise and facilities.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward proposals to ban the use of wild animals in circuses.

    George Eustice

    A ban on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses is a manifesto commitment and will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows. In the interim, the welfare of any wild animals still being used by travelling circuses in England is protected by the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012. During the 2015 circus touring season, 18 wild animals were licensed by Defra under the Regulations for use by two circuses.

  • Roger Gale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Gale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Gale on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) prevent the spread of the outbreak of canine babesiosis and (b) deter the impact from mainland Europe of infected animals carrying tick-borne viruses.

    George Eustice

    Experts at the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Public Health England (PHE) are working together to investigate the locally acquired cases of canine babesiosis in Essex. Environmental tick control through vegetation management can be difficult to achieve and the use of acaricides in the environment is prohibited. The most effective control is for owners to treat dogs promptly for ticks.

    Ticks are associated with a range of vertebrate hosts, including livestock, wildlife and wild birds, so we cannot prevent all these routes of entry. In addition, several UK species of tick are capable of transmitting various diseases which like Babesia canis are also not notifiable.

    Livestock and horses imported from mainland Europe are certified to be healthy and should therefore be free of ticks and we recommend that people treat pet dogs with an appropriate treatment that kills ticks as soon as they attach, prior to bringing them from Europe.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to encourage transport operators to provide services that are accessible to disabled people.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport is committed to building transport networks which work for everyone, ensuring that disabled people have the same access to transport services as non-disabled members of society

    Compliance with bus accessibility Regulations was 89% in England in 2015; while 60% of rail vehicles, up from 46% in 2013, were built or fully refurbished to modern access standards.

    By the end of this year Access for All will have completed more than 150 step-free routes at rail stations against a target of 125. More than 1,200 stations have received smaller scale improvements. To build on this success £160m has been allocated to another 68 stations to be delivered by 2019.

    We plan to require that taxi and private hire vehicle drivers provide assistance to wheelchair users and refrain from charging extra by commencing sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act 2010 by the end of the year.

    The Department works closely with its statutory advisors on the needs of disabled people, the Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee, such as on a project to develop best practice guidance on the delivery of disability awareness training for bus and coach drivers.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the higher education sector to the economy.

    Joseph Johnson

    Higher education is an important source of productivity growth. It equips individuals with the skills and abilities they need to succeed in the workforce, and helps drive innovation by strengthening the economy’s knowledge base, as well as enriching our cultural and intellectual life. The BIS research paper The relationship between graduates and economic growth across countries (2013) provides an estimate of the sector’s contribution, and is available online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229492/bis-13-858-relationship-between-graduates-and-economic-growth-across-countries.pdf

    “

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what monitoring her Department undertakes of the incidence of female genital mutilation (a) for each of the four known types of female genital mutilations and (b) in Bristol; and if she will make a statement.

    Sarah Newton

    Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.

    Work to tackle FGM forms an integral part of our cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls strategy published on 8 March. The first annual statistics on the number of cases recorded by the NHS in England were published on 21 July for the period April 2015 to March 2016. They show that there were 5,702 newly recorded cases of FGM reported and of those, where type was known, Types 1 and 2 have the highest incidence (35 and 31 per cent respectively). In Bristol, there were 385 cases newly recorded.

    More information on these figures is available on the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s website.

    A 2015 prevalence study part-funded by the Home Office estimated that approximately 137,000 women and girls in England and Wales are affected by FGM and 60,000 girls were born to women who had undergone FGM.

  • Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to encourage local authorities to implement a voluntary Clean Air Zone; and what estimate she has made of how many will do so within the next 12 months.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    As part of the national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, we are requiring five cities (Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton) to implement Clean Air Zones. Other local authorities can introduce Clean Air Zones should they wish to do so using their powers under the Transport Act 2000.

    On 13 October we launched a consultation on a framework for Clean Air Zones. This will provide a consistent approach to the implementation of Clean Air Zones. Its use by local authorities will give businesses and individuals a clear understanding of what a Clean Air Zone will deliver, and the impacts and benefits for them. Setting out the principles in this way will support both those authorities required by Government to implement a Clean Air Zone and those who, after analysing their own situation, consider a Clean Air Zone to be an appropriate measure to bring in.

    In addition, applications are now open for councils to bid for a share of at least £3 million as part of an Air Quality Grant to help improve air quality in their area. Applications could include activities such as feasibility studies for Clean Air Zones.