Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.122 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of reducing the income rise disregard on the household income of a tax credit claimant family with one earner and two children whose income rose from £20,000 to £25,000 during the year.

    Damian Hinds

    Reducing the income rise disregard to £2,500 brings forward some of the benefits of Universal Credit, so that tax credit entitlement reflects claimant’s recent earnings. It makes the system fairer so claimants on similar incomes will receive similar awards. The effect of reducing the income rise disregard on a family claiming tax credits will depend on the household’s income level before it increased.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Government plans to publish its shipbuilding strategy.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 January 2016 to Question 20545 to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon).

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons changes to Crown branches take place outside the scope of formal Crown transformation programmes.

    George Freeman

    The provision of its Crown branches is the commercial responsibility of Post Office Limited.

    Like any commercial organisation, Post Office Limited continually reviews all elements of its business to ensure they are effective and efficient. Changes are essential to ensure the long term viability and competitiveness of any company, whether these are as part of a dedicated transformation programme or in the normal course of operations.

  • Baroness Garden of Frognal – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Garden of Frognal – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Garden of Frognal on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the value of strategic local approaches to play, and the case for local authorities to submit regional play strategies to them for review.

    Lord Nash

    I refer my Noble Lady to the answer given on 8 March to PQ 29737, which I have also set out below:

    The Department for Education recognises that play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning.

    Play is covered in the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage framework which states: “Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity.”

    The staff working in early years settings as Early Years Educators (level 3) and Early Years Teachers (graduates) are required to have an understanding different pedagogical approaches, including the role of play in supporting early learning and development. The criteria for the Early Years Educator and standards for Early Years Teacher Status qualifications are set by the department.

    Ofsted registers childcare provision on the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register and conducts a regular cycle of inspection to ensure that provision meets the required quality and safety standards.

    In judging the quality and standards of early years provision, Ofsted inspectors must assess the extent to which the learning and care provided by the setting meets the needs of the range of children who attend, including the needs of any children who have special educational needs or disabilities. At August 2015, 85 per cent of providers on the Early Years Register were rated good or outstanding for overall effectiveness. This is an increase of 11 percentage points since 2012.

    Local Authorities provide and offer Continuous Professional Development and training to early years settings; some of which may include training on play. However, it is not a requirement for local authorities to deliver regional play training as it is already a requirement in the Early Years Foundation Stage to cover play in a setting.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they plan to take to redress the gender balance in engineering, construction and transport apprenticeships.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Inspiration starts at school. Schools are legally required to secure the independent advice and guidance that all young people need when making career choices. Through the Careers and Enterprise Company, Enterprise Advisers work directly with schools to develop effective links with other local businesses to equip young people with the skills they need.

    We are encouraging more young women to enter science and engineering careers, including apprenticeships. The annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (TEWeek) encourages them, to consider a career in engineering. The Your Life campaign inspires young people to study maths and physics as a gateway to STEM careers. The STEM Ambassadors programme is a network of over 28,000 volunteers working with schools across the UK, 40% of whom are women.

    The construction sector is working with the Construction Leadership Council to highlight the opportunities the sector offers. Women into Construction, an independent not-for-profit organization, provides bespoke support to women wishing to work in the construction industry and assists contractors in recruiting motivated and trained women.

    We are launching a new communications campaign in May aimed at promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Our promotional campaigns include role models of successful female apprentices in sectors where they are under-represented.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to provide (a) refuges and (b) other support to family members in rural areas experiencing domestic abuse and other relationship problems; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime and we are determined to ensure that no one is turned away from the support they need irrespective of where they live. Government has committed £80 million of extra funding up to 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls. In the strategy to end violence against women and girls published on 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse committing to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas. To support this, we are launching a new two year fund, which will be open to local authorities across the country including those from rural areas, to bid for funding for refuges and other forms of accommodation based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the National Statement.

    This builds on the £3.5 million funding in 2015/16 and is on top of the £10 million funding to strengthen the provision of safe accommodation in the last spending review period. The Government does recognise the distinct challenges faced by victims of domestic abuse in rural areas and has supported bids for funding from rural areas for example Suffolk, Shropshire and Somerset.

    Our Troubled Families Programme is about transforming the way local services support families with multiple problems. It incentivises services to come together, working with and understanding the needs of the whole family instead of constantly reacting to their individual problems. 29% of families in entry to the programme between 2012 and 2015 were experiencing domestic violence or abuse.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recourse there is for individuals who have been prevented from earning a wage due to the time taken for the processing of Disclosure and Barring Service certificate applications.

    Sarah Newton

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has a target to issue 95% of certificates within 8 weeks, which it is close to achieving. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner.

    DBS will liaise with the police on behalf of a customer who is experiencing delays when their enhanced level DBS application is with the police to undertake statutory checks. In these cases DBS will aim to resolve the customer’s issues as quickly as possible, and keep the customer informed until resolution. However, the DBS cannot provide financial remedy for any complaint about police actions including the timescales taken by the police to complete a check. It would be up to individual police forces to comment on any local redress policies.

    If the delay is due to maladministration on behalf of DBS, the DBS redress policy is designed to ensure that the person who is the subject of that maladministration is not disadvantaged. Further information can be found on the DBS website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service/about/complaints-procedure

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the trends in the level of uptake of (a) creative, (b) artistic and (c) technical subjects at GCSE since June 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not define GCSE subjects as ‘technical’ or ‘creative’.

    Provisional information on the proportion of pupils entered for at least one arts GCSE between 2009/10 and 2015/16 is published as part of the ‘Provisional GCSE and equivalent results in England’ statistical first release (SFR)[1].

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2015-to-2016-provisional (Table 1c)

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent review his Department has conducted into the adequacy of suicide prevention support for (a) men and (b) women; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    There has not been a formal review of the adequacy of suicide prevention support for men and women. However, we published a national strategy, Preventing Suicide in England: a cross-Government strategy to save lives in 2012. I announced in a Westminster Hall Debate on 19 November 2015 that this strategy was a dynamic one, being reviewed and refreshed regularly. We continue to monitor and track trends in suicide and work with organisations across Government and industry and with a range of stakeholder organisations to implement the national strategy. We publish an annual report on our progress. The next annual report will be published early next year.

    The Department provides financial support to the National Suicide Prevention Alliance consisting of a range of organisations concerned with suicide prevention which provides expert advice on implementing the national strategy.

  • Julian Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Julian Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will ensure that affordable rent to buy housing is exempt from the Government’s pay to stay proposals for higher income social tenants.

    Brandon Lewis

    Higher income social tenants in a Rent to Buy scheme will not face increased rent under proposals for pay to stay. This is because the rent they pay is an intermediate rent which is excluded from social rent policy.