Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the findings of the Armed Forces continuous attitude survey 2015 on dissatisfaction of personnel with service life, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on (a) reforming service pay and (b) service conditions of those findings.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The annual Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS) is key to our understanding of how Service personnel feel about the issues which affect their lives. The results are briefed to the Defence Board and are used to shape and improve robust, evidence-based personnel policies across Defence.

    AFCAS 2015 showed that levels of satisfaction have decreased by 10 percentage points since 2011 but have stabilised over the last two years. This decline in satisfaction reflects the tough decisions made by Defence on issues such as headcount reductions and pay restraint. However, we recognise that more remains to be done, and will continue to strive to ensure that our Armed Forces feel valued and their contribution and sacrifice is recognised. This is why we continue to develop the New Employment Model (NEM) which aims to produce a modernised offer that reduces the impact of Service life on individuals and their families.

    The change to the core pay model under NEM was initiated in response to Service personnel’s criticisms of the previous pay model, recognised through AFCAS and in feedback from the Armed Forces Pay Review Body. The new pay model is simpler, more transparent and improves the differentiation and targeting of pay. Many personnel will experience an increase in pay as a result of NEM, and no one will take a cut in core pay on implementation of the new model.

    A number of other programmes were also announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, including making the changes necessary to enable our Armed Forces to work flexibly, reflecting the realities of modern life. AFCAS will be a core source of information in assessing the benefits realised through the NEM programme.

    The Department is also in the early stages of developing a new "Offer" for new joiners into the Armed Forces which will meet the expectations of future recruits. It will ensure that our future expenditure on personnel is sustainable and applied in the most efficient way.

  • 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 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has developed proposals that enable academies to be re-brokered with a new sponsor or multi academy trust on the initiative of parents of children in those academies.

    Edward Timpson

    Our White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere set out the Government’s intention to engage Multi Academy Trusts (MATs), sponsors, academies, dioceses and the wider schools sector to ensure that the academies legal framework for the future can achieve the right balance of intervention, review and stability. This included a commitment to consider how parents at individual schools might be able to petition Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) for their school to move to a different MAT where the school or its MAT is underperforming or in other exceptional circumstances.

    We will be testing and consulting on proposals for the future legal framework with a wide range of stakeholders, including parents, in due course. This engagement will assess the implications of different legal framework models and ensure that any options which are taken forward are fit for purpose.

    RSCs already take action to move academies to new trusts where necessary and parents should continue to escalate any concerns they have about academies to RSCs where the academy trust has not responded sufficiently to their concerns.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many premature babies were born in (a) England and (b) each local authority in 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Information is not available in the format requested. The gestation length is not recorded on an individual birth record, but on the mother’s delivery episode. Therefore we cannot provide the number of births, as a single delivery may involve multiple births.

  • Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bowness on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the projected annual running costs for the next three years, including salaries or fees paid to seconded staff and consultants, for (1) the Department for Exiting the EU, and (2) the Department for International Trade.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The budget for the Department for Exiting the European Union will be voted on by Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate and published in line with standard practice.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2015 to Question 10790, who (a) the chair and (b) other members of the National Infant Feeding Steering Group are.

    Ben Gummer

    There is no fixed chair of the group. It rotates between the Department of Health, UNICEF and Public Health England (PHE).

    The members of the group are:

    Madeleine Percival – Department of Health

    Bridget Halnan – Institute of Health Visitors

    Dr Helen Duncan – PHE

    Kate Thurland – PHE

    Alison Burton – PHE

    Francesca Entwhistle – National Infant Feeding Network

    Sue Ashmore – UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative

    Viv Bennett – PHE

    Sue Hatton – Health Education England (HEE)

    Lisa Bayliss Pratt – HEE

    There is also a representative on the group from the Royal College of Midwives.

  • Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which are the designated dispersal areas for asylum seekers in the UK; how many asylum seekers are currently registered as living in Northern Ireland; how many asylum seekers have been refused leave to stay in Northern Ireland; and what social security benefits asylum seekers are entitled to (1) while awaiting a decision, and (2) after a refusal to remain decision has been made.

    Lord Bates

    The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, introduced the policy of national dispersal and was designed to introduce an equitable distribution across the country such that no one area was overburdened by the obligation of supporting asylum seekers. In accordance with that Act a number of local authorities across the UK, including those within the devolved administrations, have volunteered to participate in accomodating asylum seekers. There are currently 99 areas signed-up to participate.

    The Home Office publish figures on the number of asylum applicants living in dispersed accommodation (under Section 95), by local authority, in the quarterly Immigration Statistics release. The latest release for July-September 2015 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/asylum

    Figures on Section 95 support by local authority (including those in dispersed accommodation) are published in table as_16q, in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables: Asylum vol. 4: tables as 14 to as 19 q. These tables show that Northern Ireland is currently accommodating 497 applicants in dispersed accommodation. All will have claimed asylum in Northern Ireland.

    National figures are also published on decision outcomes at the above link.

    Home Office supports Asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute until their claim is fully determined and they have exhausted their appeal rights. Failed asylum seekers may be able to receive short-term support whilst preparing to return to their home country under section 4 of the 1999 Act.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what strategies are in place to assist universities to monitor companies providing paid essay-writing services.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Government strongly condemns any form of cheating. All publicly funded providers of higher education courses are expected to comply with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, published by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). One of the requirements of the Code is to ensure that students do not obtain awards through any form of unacceptable academic practice relating to assessment, including plagiarism.

    There is no centrally held set of data on the number of recorded plagiarism cases in UK Higher Education – responsibility for tackling plagiarism lies with the HE providers themselves, as autonomous organisations.

    Institutions have a variety of mechanisms to address cheating by both international and EEA/UK students, including strong policies and specialist software. Between 2012 and 2015, the QAA carried out approximately 650 reviews of institutions. Of these, it only had to make recommendations to 30 individual universities and colleges on the need to improve systems and information related to plagiarism.

    The QAA are discussing the legality of essay mills with the Consumer and Markets Authority.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what process her Department ensured the site secured for the proposed Harperbury Free School (a) was large enough and (b) met other requirements to be suitable for a secondary school with the capacity for up to 840 students and 70 staff.

    Edward Timpson

    Approval to build the school on the site is subject to the views of the Local Planning Authority. They first raised concerns, alongside a range of other concerns arising from its location in the Green Belt, to my officials in March 2015.

    Discussions between officials at both Departments did identify that two adjacent properties could be purchased to provide additional car parking. However, the nature of the sale of the remainder of the former hospital site to a residential developer meant that further land could not be released for the school. Even if additional land were made available, there remain substantial risks associated with developing this Green Belt site.

  • John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Glen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NICE on its policy on a European relative effectiveness assessment for new drugs.

    George Freeman

    In October 2015, the Department nominated the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a partner organisation in the planned third Joint Action on Health Technology Assessment (HTA).

    NICE has advised that it has had a number of discussions with European Commission officials, as well as other partner organisations, about NICE’s participation in this planned Joint Action.

    The Department is responsible for the policy framework for the assessment of health technologies and officials remain in close contact with NICE regarding the European Union collaboration in HTA, including the proposals for the production of joint products as part of the third Joint Action.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many allegations of fraudulent benefit claims have been reported by members of the public in each year since 2010; and by what means such allegations were reported.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.