Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33136, whether her Department provides guidance to academies on the consultation of local people on admission policies.

    Nick Gibb

    All state funded schools, including academies, are required to comply with the Statutory School Admissions Code. The Code provides clear guidance on how admission authorities are required to consult on their admission arrangements, including the requirement to consult locally, for a minimum of six weeks, before making any changes to admission arrangements, and where no changes are proposed, the requirement to consult at least once every seven years, to ensure that the admission arrangements continue to meet local need.

  • Sammy Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Sammy Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sammy Wilson on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspectors are employed by her Department to monitor the health of bee colonies across the UK.

    George Eustice

    The National Bee Unit (NBU), part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), currently employs 1 National Bee Inspector, 7 Regional Bee Inspectors and 45 part-time, seasonal Bee Inspectors to monitor honey bee health in England. All Seasonal Bee Inspectors are employed throughout the beekeeping season (April to September) to look for bee pests and diseases and provide training to beekeepers on good husbandry practices. The NBU’s inspectorate carries out a total of over 5,000 apiary inspections each year.

    Bee Health is a devolved matter. However, there are currently 10 bee inspectors who are contracted by APHA to carry out bee inspections and training in Wales. They are funded by the Welsh Government.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received from (a) employees of and (b) agencies connected with ARM Holdings plc on the takeover of that business; and if he will make a statement.

    Margot James

    I have not received any such representations.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve Rotheram – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what level of funding his Department has provided for mental health services in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) England in the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England does not split the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) programme allocation across service categories. CCGs receive an annual allocation calculated by reference to the size of population they commission for, and it is up to the CCG to decide how to spend it, taking into account national policy considerations and a local assessment of need.

    CCGs are required to submit their spending plans and their annual accounts to NHS England. NHS England reviews spending, including for mental health (MH), through the CCG assurance process.

    NHS England has made a requirement of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the planning guidance for 2015/16, The Forward View Into Action: Planning Guidance for 2015/16, that each CCG’s spending on MH services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s overall funding allocation increase.

    CCG actual and planned spend (not funding) can be split between MH and other categories of expenditure. The table below shows CCG MH spend for Liverpool CCG, for Merseyside CCGs and nationally for all CCGs. These figures are actual spend for 2013/14 and 2014/15 and planned spend for 2015/16:

    2013/14
    Outturn
    £k

    		 2014/15
    Outturn
    £k    		 2015/16
    Outturn
    £k

    Liverpool CCG Total

    76,335

    85,500

    89,609

    Merseyside CCGTotal

    181,521

    209,004

    217,948
    EnglandCCGsTotal

    7,818,924

    8,289,153

    8,602,990

    Specialised health services, primary care and other directly commissioned services includes some spend on MH services. This direct commissioning spend on MH services is not routinely split into the different categories of expenditure and is not included in the figures in the table above.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the waiting time for spouses seeking visas to undertake English language tests.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office is not aware of any issues with regards to waiting times for Secure English Language Testing (SELT).

    In the UK, customers should be able to book a test within 28 days, often within a few days. In countries where there are permanent test centres customers should again be able to book tests within 28 days. In busy periods, the centres will test more frequently.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of whether G4S is currently in breach of its contract for services at Medway Secure Training College.

    Andrew Selous

    An investigation into the allegations reported at Medway Secure Training College is underway by Kent Police and Local Authority.

    We are currently considering how to proceed including looking at whether the contract was breached. Decisions will be announced in the normal way.

  • 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 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to monitor implementation of the duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 on local authorities to (a) identify, (b) assess the needs of and (c) provide whole family support for young carers from April 2016.

    Edward Timpson

    Section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014, which came into force in April 2015, imposes a duty on local authorities to to “…take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are young carers within their area who have needs for support.” Once a young carer has been assessed, the local authority must consider whether the child has needs that could be met by services provided under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, that is, whether they should be supported as a child in need.

    The Department currently supports the Carers Trust to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners to embed good practice, including good practice surrounding whole family support. This approach is intended to ensure effective, joined up, support with the potential to offer a single point of professional contact for young carers and their families. We will draw on the learning from that work when considering further action.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many removals of former, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to Vietnam in the last three years were for offences relating to (a) drugs, (b) prostitution and (c) people trafficking.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not disclose country specific information regarding deportation of foreign national offenders as its disclosure could prejudice relations between the UK and foreign governments.

  • Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 8 February (HL5631), what measures they are taking to address the shortfall of personnel in (1) the regular, and (2) the reserve, battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

    Earl Howe

    The Army continues to offer exciting opportunities to young people. Over 7,800 new recruits joined the regular Army in financial year 2014-15 with intake increasing during financial year 2015-16, up to 29 February 2016 7,260 have joined the army of which, 175 Regulars and 140 Reserves have joined the Battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

    There are two national recruitment campaigns currently running. The Army’s ‘A Better You’ for soldiers continues throughout 2016. After a principal focus on Regulars between June and March there will be a special emphasis on reserve-specific recruiting in April to June, September to October and January to February 2017. ‘A Better You’ will continue through the year with the reserve message forming an important aspect of the overarching campaign.

    The Army’s current officer recruiting campaign, ‘With Heart. With Mind’, is aimed at attracting potential officer candidates into regular and reserve service. ‘With Heart. With Mind’ will have a specific emphasis on reserve officers during the period of March to July 2016, and again in November.

    The national campaigns continue to be supported by regional level efforts. During financial year 2015-16 there were over 2,000 community engagement events in Scotland and nearly 300 targeted recruitment events.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will join the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The UK has joined the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition as a government partner.

    The UK supports carbon pricing and carbon markets as a means of driving cost effective decarbonisation to help reach the long-term goal agreed in Paris: to keep global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees and make efforts to deliver 1.5 degrees.