Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 13 April 2016 to Question 32900, what materials have been distributed to (a) students and (b) higher and further education institutions in respect of (i) voter registration and (ii) the EU referendum; what the cost to the public purse of that material was; and if he will place copies of all such material in the Library.

    John Penrose

    Ministers wrote to universities, Further Education and sixth form colleges to encourage them to promote registration among their students ahead of the Referendum. The Government used social media to support initiatives such as Universities UK’s ‘student action week’ and shared the Electoral Commission’s publicly available materials at no additional cost to the public purse. No additional activity has taken place with these audiences since the start of the Purdah period.

  • Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hannah Bardell on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Ministers of the Scottish Government on the application of the Universal Service Obligation for broadband in Scotland.

    Matt Hancock

    Telecoms, including the Broadband Univeral Service Obligation (USO) is a reserved matter and applies throughout the UK. We have regular discussions with the Scottish Government on a wide range of issues, and I am grateful for their responses to the Government’s USO consultation and more recently to Ofcom’s Call for Inputs on the design of the USO.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will ensure better provision of public legal education to ensure people understand and can effectively claim their rights, and to provide parallel education to practitioners.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    As one of their regulatory objectives the legal services regulators have a duty to promote public understanding of citizens’ legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the Legal Choices website, which provides information to help with decisions on whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services the public might choose. There is also easy to understand information to help the public to be aware of their rights and the law on the ‘crime, justice and the law’ section of the GOV.UK website. Finally, independent advice is also provided at the Advicenow website, established by Law for Life, which provides information on rights and the law.

  • Jess Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list all the free school projects that have been withdrawn or cancelled to date; and what the cost to the public purse was of the withdrawal or cancellation of each such project.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education does not have a full breakdown of revenue spent on staff salaries for proposed free school projects.

    The total pre-opening expenditure for free school projects is published on GOV.UK:

    www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-expenditure-for-free-schools

    We will shortly update this information to include projects that opened or were withdrawn or cancelled up to September 2015.

    “

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Michael Tomlinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to tackle bullying initiated by religious intolerance in schools.

    Edward Timpson

    All bullying is unacceptable and every school is required to have a behaviour policy including measures to tackle all forms of bullying. They are held to account by Ofsted and inspectors will look at records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour, including racist, disability, use of derogatory language and racist incidents.

    The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England published in November 2015 found that 30,000 fewer young people said they had been bullied in the last twelve months – a drop from 41 per cent in 2004 to 36 per cent in 2014.

    All schools are required to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faith and beliefs. Our guidance published in November 2014 says that British values include accepting that others of different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour.

    All publicly funded schools are required also to promote community cohesion and teach a broad and balanced curriculum. The curriculum provides many opportunities to foster tolerance and understanding. For example, as part of the history curriculum, pupils could learn about different cultures, and about how different groups have contributed to the development of Britain. The citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about ‘the diverse national, regional, religious, and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding’. PSHE can teach young people about the rights and responsibilities of living in a diverse community and how to respect others.

  • James Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    James Berry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Berry on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to widen access to financial advice.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Last year the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) jointly launched the Financial Advice Market Review. The Review is exploring how the UK’s financial advice market is operating for consumers, and what more can be done to ensure they have the access they need to high-quality, affordable advice so they can make informed decisions with their hard earned money. The Review will report ahead of Budget 2016.

  • Lord Krebs – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Krebs – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Krebs on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether there is a widespread risk of lead poisoning in migratory waterbirds resulting from the use of lead ammunition, for the purpose of interpreting the Guidelines to Resolution 11.15, Preventing Poisoning of Migratory Birds, agreed at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Through the Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999, the use of lead shot ammunition is restricted to protect waterfowl from lead poisoning. Its use is banned on all foreshores, certain Sites of Special Scientific Interest and for the shooting of all ducks and geese, coot and moorhen. The supply of lead weights for fishing is also prohibited. One recent piece of research suggests compliance with the Regulations is relatively low with around 70% of wild duck carcasses bought from game dealers in England having been shot with lead ammunition. We will continue to look at how the Lead Shot Regulations can be better implemented.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve public awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.

    Mike Penning

    A range of communication activities are being conducted by the Home Office in order to increase awareness and understanding of the roles of police and crime commissioners.

    Plans include written, digital, broadcast and social media activity. Material such as posters and a short film are also being provided to Police Area Returning Officers and police and crime commissioner’s offices to use as part of their local communication plans.

    All activity will signpost the Cabinet Office candidate information website, ChooseMyPCC, and booklet ordering facility.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure the protective award is made to employees made redundant who worked across several establishments within one business.

    Nick Boles

    My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has no power to make a protective award to employees; the decision to make a protective award lies with the Employment Tribunal. The Employment Tribunal considers the facts of each case and decides whether to make a protective award, and if so, which employees are eligible, based on the circumstances of each case presented to it.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-06-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department provides for (a) litter awareness campaigns, (b) implementation of the National Litter Strategy and (c) litter clearance at sites of national and cultural significance.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra supported the Clean for the Queen campaign, run earlier this year on behalf of Country Life by Keep Britain Tidy, with a grant of £9,500 towards providing resource packs to help support and encourage schools to participate in the campaign and to support monitoring and evaluation of the impacts and effectiveness of the campaign. The Department for Communities and Local Government also spent £5,000 on promoting the initiative through Facebook.

    Defra also provides £5,000 per year to the Marine Conservation Society to carry out beach cleaning at priority beaches.

    It is up to local councils to determine their own spending priorities, including for litter clearance at local sites of national or cultural significance, and central Government does not provide any specific funding to them for this purpose. Where such sites are on private land, it is for the landowner to make arrangements for litter clearance.

    Where possible, we aim to ensure that the costs of dealing with litter issues are passed to those responsible for causing the problem. We will look to implement measures in the forthcoming Litter Strategy for England through working in partnership with business and campaigning organisations.