Tag: Parliamentary Question

Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32522, who the 22 Tibetans referred to in that Answer are; and what the response was of the Chinese authorities in the case of each such Tibetan.

Mr Hugo Swire

We included the cases of nine Tibetans detained by the Chinese authorities on a list of cases submitted to the Chinese delegation ahead of the 2015 UK-China Human Rights Dialogue. These included Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Dhondup Wangchen. In 2014, we included the names of 16 Tibetan individuals on our case list. Three cases, including Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, appeared on both case lists. The UK-China Human Rights Dialogue is a platform for detailed, expert exchanges on human rights issues. We do not make our full case lists public as in some cases the individuals concerned do not want us to. We do not publish Chinese responses to cases raised as we assess this will be counter-productive. We continue to make our concerns about the human rights situation in China, including Tibet, known publicly via other means, such as in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average conviction rate has been in England and Wales in each of the last three years; and what that rate has been where the offender is someone brought back to the UK under a European Arrest Warrant.

James Brokenshire

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on conviction ratios, and these were last published on the 19th May 2016 (Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly Update to December 2015 (annual edition) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015).

The statistics on conviction ratios can be found at Table Q3.3 (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524269/overview-tables.xlsx) and percentages for all offences were 81.8% in 2013, 83.0% in 2014 and 83.7% in 2015.

In relation to the European Arrest Warrant, this information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The National Crime Agency publishes statistics on the operation of the European Arrest Warrant and these can be found here:

http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/european-arrest-warrant-statistics

01/01/2023

Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many deaths of cyclists on roads there were in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) the UK in each of the last five years.

Andrew Jones

The table below provides the number of cyclists killed in road traffic accidents on public roads in a) St Helens North, b) Merseyside, c) the North West of England and d) Great Britain.

St Helens North	Merseyside	North West	Great Britain
2011	0	0	13	107
2012	0	4	10	118
2013	0	1	9	109
2014	0	2	13	113
2015	0	3	7	100

The Department does not hold data for Northern Ireland, therefore the table includes statistics for Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom.

These statistics come from police reported data on personal injury accidents on the public highway. The Department does not collect information about accidents that were on private roads, car parks or off-road.

01/01/2023

Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2016-10-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are in place to improve and roll out (1) training of specialist physical educational teachers, and (2) physical literacy in primary schools.

Lord Nash

We are determined to ensure all children receive high quality physical education (PE) in order to keep fit, active and healthy, whilst also developing a lifelong participation in physical activity and sport.

PE is a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the national curriculum. The programme of study sets the expectation that schools should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way that supports their health and fitness. Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have already received over £450million of ring-fenced funding to provide additional and sustainable improvements to their PE and sport provision. In an independent evaluation, 84% of schools reported an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities.

Since the introduction of the primary PE and sport premium there has been an increase in the number of schools with a specialist PE teacher from 30% before the premium to 46% in 2014/15. Eighty-one per cent of schools also reported that the funding was used to up-skill and train existing staff in 2014/15. From September 2017, the funding will be doubled to £320million per year and schools will continue to have the freedom to spend the funding based on the needs of their pupils.

The Government does not prescribe specific subject content for initial teacher training (ITT). All ITT courses must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate by the end of their training that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes demonstrating good subject and curriculum knowledge by having a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas.

To improve the quality and consistency of initial teacher training, in July 2016, the Government published a new framework of core content for ITT. The new framework emphasise the need for all ITT providers to audit trainees’ subject knowledge early in their training and make provision to ensure that trainees have sufficient subject knowledge to satisfy the standard by the end of their training.

In the new Sport Strategy, the government has committed to support children and young people to develop the confidence and skills to take part and to be positive about sport and activity. As part of this work, we will be exploring how to increase physical literacy standards in primary schools.

01/01/2023
Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to encourage more teachers with qualifications in English and mathematics to take up posts in further education colleges.

Nick Boles

Our Further Education Workforce Strategy[1] published in 2014 sets out the steps government has already taken to encourage more teachers with qualifications in English and Mathematics to take up posts in further education colleges.

Since 2013, bursaries of up to £25,000 have been available to attract new graduates with relevant degrees to teach English and Mathematics, and to specialise in teaching students with SEN within the FE sector. To date, over 950 bursaries have been provided to graduates. The government is committed to supporting the development of the teaching workforce in FE and has invested over £30m since 2013 to fund a range of programmes and incentives to improve the quality of leadership, teaching and support staff in the sector – with a priority on English and Maths.

Furthermore, 3,800 existing FE teachers have benefited from enhancement programmes designed to improve teacher confidence and knowledge of new GCSE English and Maths qualifications.

Further information on Further Education teacher training can be found in the ‘Get into Teaching’ website[2] and FE advice websites[3].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-workforce-strategy

[2]https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

[3] https://www.feadvice.org.uk/

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01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of prisoners seen by healthcare services on reception were referred to addiction services to help address problem gambling in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer

This information is not held centrally.

01/01/2023
Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people in England accessing HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis through private provision.

Jane Ellison

NHS England is working with local authorities, clinicians, patient representatives and Public Health England to consider the clinical and cost effectiveness of providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to at-risk groups to prevent them acquiring HIV. The PrEP clinical policy proposition is one of many going through NHS England’s 2016/17 prioritisation round.

In July 2015 NHS England approved a significant new investment in a ‘Treatment as Prevention’ programme to help reduce transmissions from persons known to be HIV positive.

We have made no estimates of the number of people accessing PrEP through private provision.

01/01/2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what risk assessment his Department has made of the effect of issues with the power system of the Type 45 Destroyer on its crew (a) when in combat and (b) otherwise; and what steps he has taken to minimise any risk before work remediating those issues takes place.

Mr Philip Dunne

As part of the extensive training programmes undertaken by the Royal Navy, risk assessments and mitigating actions are developed against a wide range of scenarios. Such training ranges from those required under the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea through to combat effectiveness.

In the interests of National Security I am not prepared to release information related to specific risk assessments of our operational Units as to do so would allow deductions to be made as to their operational capability and effectiveness.

01/01/2023

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in England with severe mental illness are registered with a GP; and how many such people had an annual physical health check in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

This information is not available in the format requested.

The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is published annually, and includes mental health indicators, which capture information on patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses and other patients on lithium therapy. The information captured does not relate specifically to whether patients have received an ‘annual physical health check’, but does include counts of those patients who have a record of blood pressure, alcohol consumption, or body mass index (BMI).

The relevant indicators are available from the year 2011/12. The data in the table below are snapshots as at 31 March of the reporting year.

Number of patients included in the QOF mental health register with records of blood pressure, BMI and alcohol consumption – England 2011/12 – 2014/15

Year	Register¹	BP record²	Alcohol consumption record²	BMI record²
2014/15	500,451	350,751	345,730	..
2013/14	483,933	354,146	337,603	336,373
2012/13	470,971	369,223	356,519	352,501
2011/12	452,608	355,834	335,922	335,652

Notes:

1. For the years 2013/14 and 2014/15, ‘register’ includes all patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses and other patients on lithium therapy. For the years 2011/12 and 2012/13, ‘register’ includes all patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses.

2. Blood pressure record, alcohol consumption record and BMI record include all those patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses who have a record of blood pressure, alcohol consumption and BMI respectively in the preceding 12 months for the years 2013/14 and 2014/15, and in the preceding 15 months for the years 2011/12 and 2012/13.

Due to the changes in the definitions of the register and indicators, the data from 2013/14 onwards are not comparable with data prior to this time.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre do not recommend using the figures provided to calculate percentages, for the following reasons:

― The register for 2013/14 to 2014/15 includes ‘other patients on lithium therapy’, while the blood pressure, alcohol consumption and BMI records do not consider these patients.

― The indicators are published as achievement scores in QOF; the calculation of these proportions includes consideration of exclusions and exceptions as defined in the framework, which are not reflected in the numbers presented here.

01/01/2023

Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of introducing an import tax on coal and gas imported from outside the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

The UK is part of the EU Single market which has a common EU tariff policy which applies to all imports. Import tariffs are set by the EU. The UK has no legal ability to set its own import tariffs.

EU tariffs rates form part of our World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments and apply to all WTO member countries. Under WTO rules increases to EU tariffs above the level committed to, or ‘bound’ rate, require us to give compensation to affected countries (in the form of lower tariffs on other products). Any potential benefit of an import tariff increase may therefore harm another UK sector.

The latest version of the EU tariff was published in Official Journal to the EU L285 on 30 October 2015 (Council implementing Regulation EU No 1101/2014 amending Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC|) No 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff). Chapter 27 covers the import of fuel including coal and gas. The import of coal has a 0% import duty and the import of gas ranges from 0% to 8% depending on the type and usage.

WTO rules, do however allow countries to impose import tariffs when goods are being “dumped” e.g. sold on our market at below manufacturing cost price. If there is evidence that imports of coal and gas are being dumped the European Commission could propose imposing anti-dumping duties.

01/01/2023