The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.
Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, visited Scotland in December 2015 for a number of engagements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff were employed by the (a) Defence Growth Partnership and (b) UK Defence Solutions Centre on 1 April 2016.
Jesse Norman
The Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) is an industry led group, established jointly by industry and government to deliver export-led growth within the Defence sector. It does not receive any public funding. Since 2014, it has enabled joint industry and government resource equivalent to £50 million over three years to achieve its agenda: £30 million for strengthening the UK Defence & Security Organisation and establishing the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC). The remaining £20 million is currently delivered through a number of initiatives supporting the DGP’s growth agenda: establishment of the Centre of Maritime Intelligent Systems (CMIS); Dual Use Technology Exploitation (DUTE) cluster and the MOD Innovation Challenge fund.
Government and industry have committed through a mix of cash and resource equivalent to £3.8m in 2015-16 to the UKDSC and a similar figure is predicted for 2016-17. As of 1 April 2016, there were 4 staff directly employed by the UKDSC and 28 secondees from across the 16 DGP Partner Companies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2016-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the amount and proportion of funding for the free childcare entitlement which is currently retained by local authorities to support wider early years work.
Caroline Dinenage
Data from local authority planned spend for 2016-17 shows that nationally local authorities plan to centrally retain 7% (£149 million) of their delegated budget for three and four year olds and 7% (£36m) for the two year old entitlement. The total local authority delegated budget for three and four year olds is £2.3 billion and £523 million for two year olds. This excludes the planned budget for the early years pupil premium.
This data is as reported by the local authorities.
Our recent consultation on changes to funding for three- and four-year-olds proposed that all local authorities must pass 93% in 2017-18 then 95% in 2018-19 of early years funding to providers. This would maximise funding to the frontline.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make representations to his Danish counterpart on reopening the inquest into the death of commercial diver Stephen O’Malley in 2012.
Caroline Dinenage
Under powers in the Coroners Act 1988 (as amended) a new coroner investigation may be ordered by the High Court, with the authority of the Attorney General, where it is in the interests of justice to do so because of fraud, rejection of evidence, irregularity of proceedings or insufficiency of inquiry in the original inquest or new facts or evidence have come to light. It therefore falls outside the responsibility of the Secretary of State.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials in the Department for Transport were working as part of the team dealing with rail franchising in 2014–15 and 2015–16.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The information is not held in the format requested. Staff working in franchising sit in Passenger Services, with other staff carrying out much wider roles.
The number of people (permanent and temporary) working in Passenger Services as at 31st March 2015 was 221.
The number as of 1st December 2015 is 235.
Our forecast requirements for future years are as follows:
2016/17 246.25 Full-Time Equivalents
2017/18 246.25 Full-Time Equivalents
2018/19 234.25 Full-Time Equivalents
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what costs Commissioning Support Units have incurred in spending, or have committed to spend, on external management consultancies in 2015–16, for (1) internal business support, and (2) providing support to Clinical Commissioning Groups, the NHS Commissioning Board and others.
Lord Prior of Brampton
As of December 2015, Commissioning Support Units spend on external consultancy for 2015/16 was £8.4 million with a further £1.4 million identified as future known commitments, by the end of the financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the proportion of students who left school with work experience in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey and (c) the South East in each year since 2010.
Nick Boles
The Department does not collect data on the proportion of students that have left secondary education having undertaken a work experience placement.
Most students aged 16-19 benefit from work experience to inform career choices, develop the relevant occupational skills and help instil the attitudes and behaviours expected at work. Work experience can take many forms including work tasters, participation in social action projects, or a work placement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-02-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to acquire Zephyr high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles, and if so, for what purpose.
Earl Howe
As part of our commitment to providing next-generation battlefield intelligence capabilities to the UK Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence has contracted for the demonstration of two Zephyr Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. This contract will allow the UK to understand whether Zephyr can fulfil the requirement for high-altitude persistent surveillance capability as announced in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.256 of Budget 2016, what meetings (a) he and (b) his officials have had with the Department for Education on his support for the UK’s bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
Greg Hands
As stated in Spending Review 15 the government supports the ambition to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup in the Northern Powerhouse.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many consignments of dogs were exported from the UK to Hong Kong in 2015; and how many dogs were in each such consignment.
George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency issued export health certificates for 235 consignments of dogs to be exported to Hong Kong during 2015, relating to 267 dogs in total.