Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding is available for illiterate prisoners to learn to read and write and to receive education while in prison.

    Nick Boles

    The Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) budget for adults in custody in England is £128.9m for the 2015-16 financial year. This figure includes funding for the National Careers Service in custody.

    The OLASS budget is not sub-divided for particular subjects or types of learning. The Skills Funding Agency’s funding rules require providers to deliver a core curriculum, commissioned by the prison Governor or the lead Governor for a cluster of prisons in conjunction with the Skills Funding Agency, which must include mandatory initial assessment of English (and maths) for all prisoners on reception to custody, as well as English, maths and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), vocational qualifications, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and employability skills (which may include a wide range of team-working, personal, social and other skills).

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is legally required to consult all councillors in the 10 metropolitan district councils on the sites identified in the draft Greater Manchester Spatial Framework Development Plan.

    James Wharton

    The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities is currently involved in the preparation of a Greater Manchester Spatial Framework Development Plan working with the 10 metropolitan councils in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s area. We understand that this is intended to become a joint development plan document.

    A local authority may arrange for the discharge of any of its functions by a committee, sub-committee, an officer or by any other local authority. The ten local authorities have delegated responsibility for the “coordination” of the Greater Manchester Strategic Framework to Association of Greater Manchester Authorities Executive Board, a committee of the Combined Authority. Under these current arrangements, it is for each individual authority to decide how to engage its members in the production of the document.

    Each local planning authority must also comply with section 18 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, which requires them to prepare a Statement of Community Involvement which should explain how they will engage local communities and other interested parties in producing development plan documents and determining planning applications. This should be published on the local planning authority’s website and it is the authority’s responsibility to ensure that any Development Plan Document is prepared in accordance with it.

    It would not be appropriate for me to meet to discuss the detail of a plan in preparation.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the supply of newly-qualified mathematics teachers in Stoke-on-Trent.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education uses the Teacher Supply Model (TSM) to estimate the national requirements for the number of postgraduate Initial Teacher Training places to meet demand, including mathematics.

    The 2016/17 version of the TSM, which was used to inform the 2016/17 ITT recruitment process, along with a user guide explaining the methodology in detail, is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model

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  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-03-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the staff who manage the gardens in Dorneywood country residence are employed as civil servants; whether such staff are enrolled under the civil service pension scheme; and under what terms and conditions such staff are employed with what pension entitlement.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Dorneywood is a charitable trust and its staff are employed by the charity. Therefore, Government keep no details of its staff’s pensions affairs.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 12 April (HL7328), whether they are on track to fulfil their pledge to accept 20,000 refugees to the UK before the end of the present Parliament.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We are continuing to work productively with local authorities and International Partners to deliver the Government’s target to settle 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament.

    The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The last set of statistics, published on 25 February 2016 showed that in 2015, 1,194 Syrians were relocated to the UK under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme, including 1,085 who arrived in the last quarter of 2015.

    These numbers will be updated each quarter. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 26 May 2016 and will cover the period January – March 2016.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of agency costs as a proportion of the total nursing costs in each NHS (a) trust and (b) foundation trust in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not currently available centrally. It could only be obtained from NHS Improvement at a disproportionate cost.

    In November 2015, the Government introduced a series of tough financial controls to help the National Health Service tackle overspending on agency staff, including an hourly price cap.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to work with the Mayor of London to improve air quality in London.

    Rory Stewart

    The National Air Quality Plan for nitrogen dioxide, published in December last year, sets out a comprehensive approach for meeting the air quality challenges by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones, along with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in London. The Plan combines targeted local and national measures, forming part of a wider approach that exploits new and clean technologies, such as electric and ultra-low emission vehicles.

    The Government has committed over £2 billion since 2011 to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles, support green transport initiatives and support local authorities to take action.

    The Mayor is responsible for air quality standards in London. The Mayor provides the framework and guidance which London boroughs use to review and improve air quality within their areas. The new Mayor recently set out his plans to improve air quality in London.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the Government’s policy is on maintaining the provisions of European Commission Directive 2008/94/EC on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer; and what assessment the Government has made of the effect the UK leaving the EU will have on the operation of the Pension Protection Fund.

    Mr Robin Walker

    The Government has clearly stated that the UK does not need to be part of the EU to have strong protections for workers’ rights. At every step of these negotiations we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people, seizing opportunities to make Britain a country that truly works not just for a privileged few, but for everybody.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason people with indefinite leave to remain have been granted certificates of travel with validity of less than five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Certificates of travel (COT) are normally issued for 5 years to individuals with indefinite leave to remain. COTs may be issued for a shorter duration where

    • There are Security or criminality reasons to do so

    • The applicant has lost or abused previous documents

    • The COT is being issued solely to facilitate the applicant travelling to their country of nationality to obtain a national passport.

    • There is an urgent short term need to travel, and the applicant’s embassy cannot process a passport application fast enough.

    The table below shows the number of COT valid for 12 months or less where the applicant has ILR for each year since 2010.

    This data only counts people who have submitted applications for ILR in country. It excludes people who have ILR on Asylum grounds. The data also excludes any people with an ILR grant which pre dates the Case Information Database.

    Year Number of Cases

    2010 50

    2011 50

    2012 15

    2013 15

    2014 35

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made on completing the coastal path in England.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The coastal access programme has so far opened up 101 miles of our beautiful coastline for everyone to enjoy, boosting local tourism and growing the rural economy.

    The Government is working closely with Natural England to build on the progress already made, with the aim of completing the coastal path around England by 2020. We have approved Natural England’s coastal access proposals for a further 176 miles. By the end of this financial year we expect Natural England to have submitted proposals for another 349 miles and to be working on proposals for an additional 986 miles.

    The Government has announced Defra’s capital allocation for the next five years, and funding to complete the coastal path around England by 2020 will be protected. When complete, the path will be one of longest coastal walking routes in the world at around 2,700 miles in length.

    The Government will publish the detailed allocation of funding in the Department’s Main Estimate early next year.