Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the change was in the level of government reimbursement to local authorities for the cost of the English National Concessionary Transport Scheme between 2010 and 2015.

    Andrew Jones

    This data is not held by the Department for Transport.

    In 2010-11, £223m was paid to local authorities as a specific grant to deliver the National Concessionary Transport Scheme. In 2011-12, this funding was transferred to the Local Government Finance Settlement, from where it has been delivered since. As the settlement distributes un-ringfenced funding to cover a number of services delivered by local authorities, it is not possible to identify the level of funding within the settlement specifically for national concessionary transport from the point the funding was transferred.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps the Government has taken to promote human rights in the UK and abroad.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Government has a strong record on human rights here and abroad. As examples, it brought forward the Modern Slavery Act seeking to protect some of the most vulnerable and exploited people in our society. It is one of the leading members of the UN Human Rights Council, tackling in particular sexual violence in conflict and we will support £10.6 million worth of human rights projects globally this financial year.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to answer of 25 February 2016 to Question HL6120, which political parties have been invited to attend the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The summit is a Government, not a party political matter.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what involvement UK armed forces have had with EU battle groups in the last three years; and how many UK armed forces personnel the Government has pledged to commit to those groups.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The EU Battlegroup concept has Lead Nations on standby for six month periods. The UK was an EU Battlegroup Lead Nation from July to December 2013, and will be again from July to December 2016. The total number of UK personnel involved is 2,330. They remain under national control and direction at all times.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage BT to increase its commercial investments.

    Matt Hancock

    Nine out of ten homes and businesses now have access to superfast broadband, but our goal is to make sure the UK builds the right infrastructure to maintain our position as a world-leading digital nation. BT has a big part to play in this.

    The government supports Ofcom in the changes that it wants to see in relation to Openreach. A more independent Openreach is needed to benefit consumers and boost investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure.

    We are encouraging BT to invest in high-quality broadband infrastructure and have brokered a deal between Openreach and the Home Builders Federation that will see fibre-based broadband offered to all new developments either for free or as part of a co-funded initiative. Additionally, Virgin and GTC have recently signed new deals in this area.

    We are creating a favourable regulatory environment to incentivise commercial investment for BT and all Communications Providers. For example: we will reform the Electronic Communications Code, to support faster and more efficient infrastructure rollout and to encourage investment and growth in the UK digital industry; and we are making permanent a relaxation of the rules for deploying fixed broadband infrastructure originally introduced in 2013.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring a local authority to keep publicly accessible lists of banned letting agents to prevent such agents from being able to operate in other local authority areas.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Housing & Planning Act 2016 contains a package of measures to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords who exploit their tenants by renting out unsafe and substandard accommodation. The measures include a database of rogue landlords and property agents who have been convicted of certain offences or received at least two civil penalties for a breach of housing legislation.

    The database will enable local authorities to keep track of those landlords and property agents and target their enforcement action. Only DCLG and local housing authorities will be able to access the database, although the data will be made available publically in an anonymised format.

    Access to the database is being restricted in this way for data protection reasons and because making the database publicly available would effectively blacklist all those individuals and companies on the database and prevent them from continuing to be involved in renting out or managing property, which is not the purpose of the database.

    Where a local authority believes that a landlord or property agent should no longer be involved in the renting out or management of property, they will be able to seek a banning order from the First Tier Tribunal.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what procedure his Department follows in investigating cases of discrepancies between statements in disability benefit claimant questionnaires and assessor reports.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Following the gathering of evidence, including the assessor’s report which would reflect the claimants own evidence from the consultation and the questionnaire, a DWP decision maker will decide the facts of the case and then make a decision, applying those facts to the conditions for benefit. Any contradictions within the evidence will be decided on the balance of probabilities. The claimant can raise any such issues again at the Mandatory Reconsideration stage.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to paragraph 19 of the Prime Minister’s written response to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s report on British military operations in Syria published on 26 November 2015, what the evidential basis is for the statement that within Syria local councils and emerging local governance structures (a) have become stronger and (b) deliver basic services to a population of over 1.1 million people.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK, through the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, is supporting local councils and emerging local governance structures in 28 communities across Syria. These communities contain a population of 1.1 million people. Our support means that local councils have the assistance they need to deliver essential services, including health, education and utilities, in a way that they were not able to previously. This also includes specific support for building good governance practices. This is confirmed by our project partners who operate in Syria.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the £70 million funding towards careers in this Parliament, announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016, will be spent in each of the next four years.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    On 11 January 2016, my Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we are committing £70 million to our careers strategy over this Parliament to continue the transformation of the quality of the careers education, advice and guidance offered to young people. This is on top of the £20 million in 2015-16 announced for careers in the 2014 Autumn Statement.

    This £70 million will be spent over the next four years to 2020. We have not yet finalised how much will be spent each year or how it will be allocated but can confirm that there will be continued funding for the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) to continue its excellent work. We anticipate that this will include funding to support the Enterprise Adviser Network, the Careers and Enterprise Fund, the Enterprise Passport, the CEC’s research programme and its wider activity to bring schools, colleges, business, and careers and enterprise organisations closer together, and to deliver the new mentoring campaign announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016. We will make further announcements in due course.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received representations on requests by schools to parents and carers that children with autism spectrum disorder not attend school during Ofsted inspections in the last five years.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department is aware of a small number of cases in the last few years where parents and carers have complained about a school either asking a child with autism to stay at home on Ofsted inspection days, or diverting the child to other non-academic activities on those days.

    Whenever such complaints have been received, we have been absolutely clear that any request for a child to stay at home during an Ofsted inspection would be an unlawful exclusion and that parents and carers should make a formal complaint to the school’s board of governors. Taking a child out of normal timetabled lessons during an inspection is unacceptable and should be drawn to the attention of the school’s board of governors.

    Parents can also ask the Secretary of State to make a determination under Sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996, which give her the power to direct a governing body where it has failed to discharge a statutory duty or has done so unreasonably. Any such direction would have to be expedient, in that there must be something the Secretary of State could direct the school to do which would put matters right.

    Depending on the circumstances, parents and carers could also bring a claim of disability discrimination to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

    Ofsted’s school inspection framework requires inspectors to take account of schools’ use of exclusion. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that falls within the inspectorate’s remit. If, during the course of an Ofsted inspection, inspectors become aware that a school has unlawfully excluded pupils for the period of the inspection, this will be taken into account in judging the effectiveness of the school and its leadership. If the evidence emerges after the inspection, the matter will be investigated by Ofsted and could lead to the school receiving an unannounced inspection visit.