The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether all European funding for schemes to improve the employability of prisoners has been protected for the duration of their funding period.
Mr Sam Gyimah
As the Chancellor set out on 13 August, all structural and investment fund projects signed before the Autumn Statement will be fully funded, even when these projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he was made aware of the project undertaken by South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust in winter 2014-15 relating to prioritisation of NHS 111 calls.
Jane Ellison
Departmental officials were first notified of a project which was run between December 2014 and February 2015 in the south of England on 23 October 2015 by Monitor, the independent health sector regulator.
We are advised that Monitor is taking action with South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust regarding concerns about the project and the regulator is working with the Trust now to identify the negative impact this project could have had on patients. It is Monitor’s function to undertaken such investigations independently of the Department where there are no immediate patient safety issues. Monitor and Departmental officials regularly discuss such issues on a routine basis.
As part of regulatory action, Monitor advises it has asked the trust to carry out a detailed independent review of the impact the project had on patients. Monitor has asked the Trust to do this with the help of an external expert, who the regulator will select. The full details of what the review will look at and how long it will take are being worked on by the trust and Monitor, including consideration of publication of the review finding.
In March, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by South East Coast Ambulance Service of their unofficial call-handling project. It was agreed that NHS England would undertake an external investigation. The report of the investigation was published by NHS England today and is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the phasing out of Revenue Support Grant to local authorities includes, or otherwise affects, the New Homes Bonus.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Government is considering the detailed impacts of the changes to local government funding announced as part of the recent Spending Review. A full consultation exercise on reforms to the New Homes Bonus, reflecting the changes that have been announced and including reforms to improve its impact in incentivising housing growth, will be issued later this month.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support the recruitment of examiners for Gujarati GCSE and A level examinations; and if she will make a statement.
Nick Gibb
This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and I have asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write to you. A copy of the letter will be placed in the House Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) range and (b) maximum flying time of the Boeing P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft is.
Mr Philip Dunne
Range and endurance will vary significantly depending upon the profile of the mission being flown, however the P-8A Poseidon’s range and endurance may be characterised as 4,000 plus nautical miles and over eight hours of endurance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many disabled people will move into work as a result of changes to the employment and allowance work-related activity group; and what research he has conducted into the effects of those changes.
Priti Patel
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the welfare policies in the Bill on 20th July last year.
Whilst the policy is intended to provide the right incentives to help individuals back into work, it is not possible to quantify based on behavioral changes which are difficult to assess.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of reductions in international student numbers on employment.
Mike Penning
Such an assessment has not been made because the Government is delivering a strong labour market which has seen the employment rate for UK nationals grow to 74.6% in Q4 2015 – an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the previous year and the highest since records began.
The student migration system we inherited was too weak, and open to widespread abuse, damaging the UK’s reputation as a provider of world-class education. The National Audit Office reported that in 2009/10 up to 50,000 students may have come to work, not study.
We have clamped down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions selling immigration rather than education, and since 2010 we have struck off more than 920 bogus colleges. Visa applications for the further education sector, where abuse has been most prevalent over recent years, are down 75 per cent compared with 2010.
At the same time, we have maintained a highly competitive offer for international students who would like to study at our world-class institutions. This is borne out by the figures: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 16 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our world-leading Russell Group institutions are up by 39 per cent since 2010. There remains no limit on the number of genuine international students who can study in the UK.
We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the total cost was of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in each of the last five years.
Mr David Lidington
We cannot provide a figure for the total cost of maintaining the UK Permanent Representation to the EU (UKRep) in each of the last five years, except at disproportionate cost.
The budgets involved are aggregated in different ways, normally across HMG’s Brussels platform as a whole, which consists of UKRep, the British Embassy in Belgium, including UKTI and Consular operations, the UK Joint Delegation to NATO and Corporate Services Benelux.
Administrative resource spend, which includes, but is not limited to, Locally Engaged staff salaries, travel costs, telecoms, catering and entertainment and IT, is shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. Facilities management costs (eg security, reception, cleaning) are also shared across the Brussels platform and difficult to disaggregate. The rent spent on the offices which house UKRep and the British Embassy is aggregated. Salaries and allowances paid to UK-based staff working at UKRep are captured in further separate budgets, and would involve significant resource to disaggregate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are providing support to the central bank of Yemen to avert financial collapse.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) is a key Yemeni institution. We have made sure that the economy and the state of the CBY are not ignored during the peace talks in Kuwait. We continue to lobby the Government of Yemen and the Houthis and Pro-Saleh General People’s Congress at the highest levels to emphasise the seriousness of the economic situation, including pressing for all Yemeni parties to cooperate, take ownership of the issues, and ensure key institutions such as the CBY are protected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the results of the post-occupancy data on schools built under wave 1 of the Priority Schools Building Programme will be published before wave 2 begins.
Edward Timpson
The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is rebuilding and/or refurbishing those school buildings in the worst condition across the country. We expect to deliver the vast majority of the new school buildings in Phase 1 by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned. Work on schools in Phase 2 of the programme has recently begun and good progress is being made.
The Department is collecting a range of post-occupancy data on schools under Phase 1. For post-occupancy evaluation to be truly representative, schools need to be operational for a full year to experience all the seasons. The results of the post-occupancy exercise will be published once it is complete. Lessons learnt on Phase 1 are being transferred to Phase 2 of the PSBP.