The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the role of University Technical Colleges in the Skills Plan which is proposed for inclusion in the forthcoming Bill on education for all.
Nick Boles
The Government is taking forward reforms to the skills system to ensure we have the technical skills that the economy needs. We will publish details of our plans in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to recommendation 22 of the Environmental Audit Committee in its First Report of Session 2015-16, on the Airports Commission Report: carbon emissions, air quality and noise, HC 389, what his policy is on implementing that recommendation as it applies to requiring Heathrow Airport to set out proposals for mitigation.
Mr John Hayes
The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015, and has since been undertaking a programme of further work, including on mitigation, to support a decision on a preferred scheme. We are carefully considering the evidence in relation to all three schemes, including the Airports Commission’s comprehensive work and the recommendations in the Environmental Audit Committee’s interim report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government plans to remain a signatory of the Bologna Declaration after the UK leaves the EU.
Joseph Johnson
The Bologna Process, which created the European Higher Education Area in 2010, is an intergovernmental agreement among 28 countries in the European region. It is not an EU body and therefore UK membership will not be affected by the UK’s departure from the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-10-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what work his Department has commissioned to identify the distribution across the nations and regions of the UK of exchange-only lines on the telecom network that are incompatible with fibre to the cabinet broadband technology.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The vast majority of phone lines across the UK connect to the nearest telephone exchange via a street cabinet, which can be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband. Estimates are not available of the number of premises served by exchange only lines which connect directly to the local exchange rather than via one of BT’s street cabinets. There are a variety of reasons why exchange only lines are created. For example, for rural exchanges serving few premises where there was no need for cabinets, or for urban exchanges where it may have been a more cost-effective. Exchange only lines present a greater engineering challenge to deliver fibre broadband than those connected via street cabinets but technical solutions are available. One solution is to rearrange the existing network, lay new cables to reroute lines to new cabinets. This technique was developed as part of the BDUK Superfast Broadband Programme, and the number of exchange only lines is reducing all the time as roll out under the programme continues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are making representations to the Kurdistan Regional Government about the case of Niaz Aziz Saleh.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have not made representations to the Kurdistan Regional Government on this particular case. However, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and officials at our Consulate General in Erbil regularly raise human rights concerns with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on delivery of the Future Reserves 2020 programme; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Julian Brazier
Our programme to grow the Reserve forces remains on track. We have made a number of improvements to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer reservists by 31 March 2019. Central to this is an improved offer, which includes better training, better equipment, improved remuneration and an improved experience for reservists.
We have also widened the opportunity for reservists to contribute on operations and established a new relationship with employers as well as improving the support available to employers when a reservist employee is mobilised. These actions are in addition to improving capacity and flow in the recruiting process and our marketing campaigns.
As a result, more reservists are joining either as new entrants to the military or with prior experience either in the Regulars or in the Reserves. 8,660 joined the FR20 Volunteer Reserve in the 12 months to 1 November 2015, a 56% rise on the equivalent period a year earlier, and the trained strength has risen to 26,290, ahead of target.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of aid disposed in Syria in protecting people from disease and starvation.
Mr Desmond Swayne
UK support has reached hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, enabling vulnerable Syrians to survive. By the end of June 2015, UK support inside Syria had provided over 15.1 million food rations, access to clean water for over 1.6 million people, 2 million medical consultations and resulted in over 6.9 million instances when people benefited from sanitation and hygiene activities.
We are concerned that the 2015 UN appeals for the Syria crisis were severely underfunded, meaning Syrian people did not receive the food, shelter and medical treatment they needed so desperately. The UK is playing its part. The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016)" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.
Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a daily basis. It is outrageous, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war.
The UN, the Red Cross Movement and NGO partners are best placed to deliver aid to people who are starving. They have the mandate, expertise and capacity to assess needs and deliver an appropriate, timely response. We continue to press for them to be granted full access to all areas in need. We also lobbied hard for UN Security Council resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258, enabling the UN to deliver aid across borders without the consent of the regime. As a result, 240 shipments of cross-border aid have been delivered by road to Syrians in need.
The most effective way to get food and medical assistance to vulnerable Syrians is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is why the UK Government is calling on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2015 to Question 3343, if she will commission an independent review of the reasons for the refusal of visa applications by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq over the last three years.
James Brokenshire
There are no plans to commission an independent review into visa refusals of applications made by people from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
UKVI places great importance of the quality of all entry clearance decisions. All applications are assessed against the Immigration Rules. Decision quality is assured both by local managers and as part of the overall Home Office audit and assurance framework to make sure that the correct decision is reached on all visa applications.
Further assurance is provided by regular third party inspections and audits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost was of producing single departmental plans for each central government department.
Mr Oliver Letwin
All departments undertake business planning and performance management as part of business-as-usual to ensure the effective delivery of government. Single departmental plans have been introduced in this Parliament to be a common framework by which departments manage this business and the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury tracks progress against its commitments to the public.
The production of plans is part of this routine business planning, rather than an additional activity at additional cost. By rationalising reporting, we expect the process to become more efficient as it embeds.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many (a) full-time equivalent civil servants work in his Department and (b) civil servants work full-time on the Northern Powerhouse agenda.
Anna Soubry
There are 2439 core full time equivalent civil servants working in BIS, including Sheffield and other locations. The Northern Powerhouse is a key ambition of this Government which requires input from officials across BIS and other Government Departments, across a wide range of policy areas. This supports places across the North to work collaboratively to direct and benefit from the Northern Powerhouse agenda.