The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy that the House be given an opportunity to debate in advance any decision to deploy UK Reaper aircraft outside Syria and Iraq.
Michael Fallon
No.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of bus routes that have been (a) added and (b) removed since 2010.
Andrew Jones
My Department does not hold this data, as decisions about the provision of bus services, including the frequency, the level of fares or agreed local concessions are mainly a matter for the operator concerned.
Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, all local authorities have powers to subsidise bus services, Provision of subsidised services is a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities.
We are very aware however of the importance of bus services to local communities, and in recognition of this we were able to protect Bus Service Operators Grant funding as part of the 2015 Spending Review. We have also protected the national concessionary travel in England for the whole of this Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-03-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, how much extra money was made available for (1) the Royal Navy, (2) the army, and (3) the Royal Airforce, in 2016–17 and 2017–18.
Earl Howe
The Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force operate as fully integrated joint organisations where elements work closely together sharing land, buildings and facilities, and sometimes equipment. The enhancements made in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) reflect their consequent integrated budgetary structure.
The Spending Review 2015 set out plans to fund the SDSR, and confirms the Ministry of Defence (MOD) budget settlement from 2016-17 to 2020-21. The Government has committed to increasing the MOD budget by 0.5 per cent above inflation over the course of this Parliament, and has ensured access to £2.1 billion from the new Joint Security Fund.
We will spend £178 billion on equipment and equipment support over the next decade, £12 billion more than previously planned. This money will be spent on priorities identified by the SDSR, including:
The precise costs of delivering these priorities will depend upon the associated contractual arrangements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of travel overseas by the Government’s Anti-Corruption Champion during the course of his duties.
Matthew Hancock
Overseas travel costs for the Anti-Corruption Champion will be included in the next Cabinet Office annual report and accounts, which will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
There were no costs incurred by the Cabinet Office for the Anti-Corruption Champion in the latest annual report and accounts published. Any costs covered by the Cabinet Office for the Anti-Corruption Champion will be included in the next report which will be published on GOV.UK in due course.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Green of Deddington on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK is still bound by the provisions of Directive 2004/83/EC on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted, despite having not opted in to the recast Directive 2011/95/EU on standards for the qualification of third country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK remains bound by the provisions of the Procedures Directive 2005/85/EC and the Qualification Directive 2004/83/EC and not the recast Directives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to include a dedicated place for a student representative on the Board of the Office for Students, and if so what arrangements they plan to make to ensure that that member has a democratic mandate from the students they represent.
Earl of Courtown
Schedule 1 of the Higher Education and Research Bill requires the Office for Students (OfS) to consider the desirability of including members with experience of representing or promoting the interests of individual students, or students generally in higher education.
The appointment of OfS members will be made by the Secretary of State in accordance with the standard guidelines on public appointments, ensuring fair and open competition.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department plans to spend on supporting low-income communities to access renewable energy in developing countries in each of the next five years.
James Wharton
The UK Government has committed to invest £5.8billion between April 2016 and March 2021 through its International Climate Finance (ICF) to support sustainable economic growth and build resilience to the impacts of climate change. The UK aims to spend 50% of this climate finance on adaptation and 50% on mitigation activities, including a range of measures to support access to renewable energy in developing countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the numbers of 16 to 24 year olds who have turned down training or further education for transport reasons in the last 12 months.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The statutory responsibility for transport to education or training for 16- to 18-year-olds rests with local authorities who are expected to make appropriate decisions bearing in mind local circumstances. However, most young people have access to a discount or concession on local travel, from their local transport providers, their local authority, or from their education or training provider.
Young people are participating at their highest rate since consistent records began with 90.8% of 16- and 17-year-olds being in education and work based learning (apprenticeships) at the end of 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times participants in the work programme were sanctioned between (a) June 2011 and November 2015 and (b) August 2015 and November 2015.
Priti Patel
The information requested is not available.
The Department publishes Official Statistics on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), sanctions, including those who have been sanctioned for failure to participate in the Work Programme and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) sanction decisions, for those who have been sanctioned for failure to participate in a work related activity, which will include the Work Programme, and these statistics are published via the following link:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
The latest set of Official Statistics was released on 11 November 2015 and covers all decisions made to 30 June 2015.
Guidance on how to extract the information required from Stat-Xplore can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to determine whether the Children and Families Act 2014 has successfully improved outcomes for children who have a disability but not a special educational need.
Edward Timpson
Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.
All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.
In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.
Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.
The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.
Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.
The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.
The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.
A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen
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