Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to recommendation 8 of the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, The UK’s role in the war against ISIL following the cessation of hostilities in Syria in February 2016, published on 24 March 2016, what representations he has made to his Turkish counterpart on seeking a negotiated, peaceful and democratic solution to the conflict in predominantly Kurdish areas of Turkey.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The ongoing violence in the predominantly Kurdish areas of south-east Turkey is extremely concerning. We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians who have been caught up in the violence. As in any conflict, civilian casualties should be avoided and human rights need to be fully protected. PKK violence must end and the peace process be resumed. We stand ready to help in any way we can. The Foreign Secretary and Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised to the Turkish government the need to respect human rights, avoid civilian casualties and return to the peace process.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is the Government’s policy that the airport that is awarded an extra runway must meet the costs of any surface access works required by that expansion.

    Mr John Hayes

    The government has been clear that we expect the promoter of any airport expansion scheme to meet the full cost of any surface access schemes that are required as a direct result of airport expansion and from which they will directly benefit.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) financial and (b) childcare support is offered to young women who work as apprentices in the (i) engineering, (ii) manufacturing, (iii) hospitality, (iv) IT, (v) transport and (vi) science sectors.

    Robert Halfon

    An apprenticeship is a paid job. As an apprentice, an individual can acquire skills much-valued in the labour market without having to contribute to the costs of their learning. The benefits system treats an apprentice in the same way as any other employee regardless of the sector they are working in. As an employee aged 18 or over, an apprentice may be entitled to the usual in-work benefits, such as Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credits.

    If an apprentice has children, or is aged 16 or over and does paid work of at least 16 hours a week, they could qualify for tax credits, unless they are already earning £25,000 or more per year. Further information can be found on the tax credit section of the HMRC website.

    The Apprentice National Minimum Wage applies equally to all apprentices regardless of gender. Most apprentices receive more than the apprentice minimum rate of £3.40 per hour. The latest Apprenticeship Pay Survey (2014) estimates that the median hourly pay for Level 2 and Level 3 female apprentices across Great Britain is £6.36. For males it was £6.19. Differences in pay may be related to the proportion of males and females in higher and lower paid apprenticeship occupations.

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

    Lord Berkeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 October (HL2659) stating that there was no intention to seek a derogation from the technical specifications for interoperability in respect of dimensions of the GC structure gauge for new high-speed lines for station platforms, whether HS2 have withdrawn their letter to the European Commission dated 21 July that seeks such a derogation.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Department for Transport with HS2 Ltd are discussing with the Commission compliance requirements with the technical specification for infrastructure dealing with platform heights. These discussions are ongoing. The intention is, irrespective of the outcome of discussions on platform height, to meet the GC gauge requirements.

  • John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the attainment gap is between pupils receiving free school meals achieving five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics and their peers (a) nationally and (b) in the South West region.

    Nick Gibb

    Information on the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals, and all other pupils, who achieve five or more GCSEs including English and mathematics is published at national and regional level as part of the “GCSE and equivalent attainment by pupil characteristics: 2014” statistical first release. [1]

    [1] 2013/14 revised regions level tables can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/402634/SFR06_2015_National_and_LA.xls. (Table 1 and Table 5 for national and regional figures respectively)

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  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the Department for International Development’s bilateral expenditure directly targeting HIV and AIDS in (1) 2013–14, and (2) 2014–15.

    Earl of Courtown

    Details of DFID expenditure can be found in Statistics on International Development GPEX tables, which I have attached. The latest published report contains 2013/14 data. Data for 2014/15 will be published in late January 2016.

    DFID supports HIV prevention, treatment and care through a variety of bilateral channels including: projects and programmes at the country level; strengthening health systems in our partner countries to respond to the HIV epidemic; and funding research. We also provide support through multilateral channels and global partnerships such as the Global Fund and UNITAID. In 2013/14, bilateral spend on HIV was £48.4 million.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, at which offices the 4,000 staff of HM Revenue and Customs who are expected to live outside the reasonable travel to work area after the Building Our Future reorganisation work.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

    HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff live within Reasonable Daily Travel of a regional centre. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26614, on children in care: housing, how many young people he expects to be on the Positive Pathway Framework in 2016.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Positive Pathway is a framework to support local authorities and their partners to design their services to prevent homelessness and meet the housing and support needs of vulnerable young people rather than a service to individual young people.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what weighting her Department gives to deprivation as a factor affecting educational outcomes.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The department recognises that deprivation is a strong predictor of pupils’ future attainment and acts as a proxy for a range of barriers to educational success, including low aspiration for the future, low levels of parental education and special educational needs.

    Overcoming these barriers can create additional costs for schools as they seek to provide additional support. This is why we have committed to continuing the pupil premium at current rates for the duration of this Parliament. Worth £2.5bn this year, the pupil premium provides schools with significant extra funding to help disadvantaged pupils achieve their full potential. Since its introduction in 2011 the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed at age 11 and age 16, offering disadvantaged pupils a more prosperous future as adults.

    We are committed to introducing a national funding formula so that schools’ funding is matched fairly and consistently to need. In our recent consultation on the principles and building blocks of a national funding formula we proposed to include a deprivation factor. We will set out the detail of the formula in a second consultation, to be published later this year.

  • Wendy Morton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Wendy Morton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wendy Morton on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of (a) special care neonatal and level three cots and (b) transfers between neonatal units and between neonatal intensive care units.

    Ben Gummer

    The NHS Toolkit for High Quality Neonatal Services (2009) and NHS England’s service specification for Neonatal Intensive Care Transport (2013) sets out standards that neonatal services in England should be meeting to make sure babies born premature or sick get the care they need and deserve. For those babies who are born sick or premature, NHS England commissions Neonatal Care from 165 neonatal units. These units are organised and supported by 13 Operational Delivery Networks with well-defined service standards for all levels of neonatal care within the NHS England Maternity, Children and Young People Managed Clinical Networks. These are intended to provide appropriate levels of care for all babies identified with problems both before and following delivery. Neonatal transport services are a vital part of care for premature and sick babies, to ensure that babies can be moved quickly for the right care in the right place for their needs.

    We know that that there is still more to do to ensure neonatal services are consistent across the country and that is why the Neonatal Clinical Reference Group at NHS England has committed to review the findings of the ‘Bliss Baby report 2015’, (http://www.bliss.org.uk/babyreport) and consider plans for improvement in neonatal services.

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