The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Campbell on 2016-10-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to amend the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 to allow the Coal Authority to take into account blight when making compensation payments.
Jesse Norman
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no plans to review the powers under the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 13325, how many bursaries his Department offered people to become mathematics teachers in the further education sector in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15; and how many such bursaries he estimates his Department will offer in 2015-16.
Nick Boles
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) began offering bursaries to graduates to train to teach maths in the academic year 2013/14. 61 and 136 people took up such bursaries in 2013/14 and 2014/15, respectively. It is estimated that 167 maths bursaries will be taken up in 2015/16.
The maths enhancement is a joint BIS/Department for Education supported programme and commenced in the academic year 2013/14. During 2013/14 and 2014/15 over 2,450 existing further education teachers participated in the maths programmes. During 2015/16 we are continuing to support access to a pipeline programme to enhance the maths skills of existing teachers. This is being delivered by the Education and Training Foundation. We have not made an estimate of the number of programmes that will be taken up in 2015/16.
Emerging findings from the evaluation of the further education (FE) workforce programmes have shown a positive impact on the confidence and effectiveness of FE teachers delivering maths either as a core subject or in vocational context. The evidential basis for intervention in maths teaching was based on the clear need to raise the Maths attainment rates of students in further education; and improve the quality of Maths teaching as identified by Ofsted inspection reports.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rowlands on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Chairman of Committees how many apprentices are employed in the House of Lords.
Lord Laming
The House of Lords Administration does not currently employ any apprentices. The Administration supports training related to employees’ work in the House of Lords, and has a graduate trainee post in the Parliamentary Archives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the Army Reserve in made up by Northern Irish soldiers.
Mr Julian Brazier
The information is not held in the format requested as an individual’s nationality is recorded as British rather than Northern Irish.
There are around 1,870 Army Reserve personnel stationed in Northern Ireland, and this makes up 6.7% of the 28,050 total trained and untrained personnel in the Army Reserve population.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the smallest geographical unit is for which data on the performance of the Disclosure and Barring Service is gathered for enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks.
Karen Bradley
The performance data that the Disclosure and Barring Service gathers routinely is at national level and is published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-1-disclosure-progress-information-disclosed-and-update-service-subscriptions
Also published on the website is the performance of individual police forces in processing applications referred to them by the DBS:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-5-police-disclosure-unit-performance
The DBS works continually to improve its response to data requests. I will write separately to the Honourable Member about recent work on constituency data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will produce a strategy on how the UK’s steel requirements will be met over the next (a) 12 months and (b) five years.
Anna Soubry
The Government’s believes that the best way to meet the UK’s steel needs over the next twelve months and five years is to ensure a viable future for the steel industry in Britain, as well as to work for fair and open global steel markets. To this end we have taken action on the five short-term asks of the steel industry, for example on unfairly-traded imports, energy costs, procurement, and emissions regulations.
A new Steel Council will provide a forum for industry, unions and government to consider how to improve the competitive position of the UK steel sector in the longer term. We will continue to work actively with partners in this sector, local taskforces and the EU and International Community to support our steel industry.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to fit airborne collision avoidance systems to Lynx helicopters.
Mr Philip Dunne
I can confirm that Traffic Advisory Systems are currently being installed in all Lynx Mk 9A aircraft. This is due to be completed across the entire fleet by the end of September 2016. Royal Navy Lynx Mk 8 aircraft are not being modified as they are due to leave service by 31 March 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department plans to respond formally to (a) the recommendations relating to corporate dishonesty and regulatory failure and (b) other recommendations in the report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Scottish Power Cashback Mis-selling, published on 20 April 2016.
Anna Soubry
The Government notes the APPG’s report on Scottish Power and the PowerPlan Cashback Promise.
Two investigations have already been undertaken into the ‘cashback companies’ and Scottish Power. The first in 2002 was by the Office of Fair Trading, which made recommendations concerning the rules for customers to claim cashback and which the companies implemented. The second, in 2004, was by the Department of Trade and Industry under s447 of the Companies Act 1985. This investigation is confidential, and the findings are prevented by law from publication.
However it was concluded that there were no grounds for taking further action either against the companies, Scottish Power or the directors involved. This was reviewed again in 2014 when reports were received from the liquidators of the companies, but the position did not change. I can confirm that no new s447 investigation will be taking place.
The Government has no power to determine liability in this case and has no legal standing to intervene in what is a commercial claim by the liquidator of a limited company against Scottish Power. The liquidation of the companies involved in the scheme is still under way, and the creditors of those companies will receive reports from the liquidators if they are to be paid further dividends.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent report he has received on seizing Saudi weapons from Syrian rebel forces.
Michael Fallon
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the Government’s welfare reforms on deprivation in (a) Glasgow East constituency, (b) the city of Glasgow and (c) Scotland.
Damian Hinds
The Government set out our assessment of the impact of the welfare policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Act on 20 July 2015, with similar assessments for previous changes.