The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Campbell on 2016-10-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many properties affected by subsidence have been compulsorily purchased by the Coal Authority in each of the last five years.
Jesse Norman
The Coal Authority has no compulsory purchase powers in relation to subsidence and as such has not purchased any properties on that basis in the last five years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s policies of providing bursaries and mathematics enhancement programmes to teaching staff in the further education sector on the total number of mathematics teachers in that sector; and on what evidential basis he made the decision to offer bursaries and mathematics enhancement programmes to teaching staff in the further education sector.
Nick Boles
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) began offering bursaries to graduates to train to teach maths in the academic year 2013/14. 61 and 136 people took up such bursaries in 2013/14 and 2014/15, respectively. It is estimated that 167 maths bursaries will be taken up in 2015/16.
The maths enhancement is a joint BIS/Department for Education supported programme and commenced in the academic year 2013/14. During 2013/14 and 2014/15 over 2,450 existing further education teachers participated in the maths programmes. During 2015/16 we are continuing to support access to a pipeline programme to enhance the maths skills of existing teachers. This is being delivered by the Education and Training Foundation. We have not made an estimate of the number of programmes that will be taken up in 2015/16.
Emerging findings from the evaluation of the further education (FE) workforce programmes have shown a positive impact on the confidence and effectiveness of FE teachers delivering maths either as a core subject or in vocational context. The evidential basis for intervention in maths teaching was based on the clear need to raise the Maths attainment rates of students in further education; and improve the quality of Maths teaching as identified by Ofsted inspection reports.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2015-12-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 10 June (HL56), whether they will provide updated statistics for the tables entitled Growth in the UK Muslim Population, to show the most recent figures available.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to Question 21228, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Letter of Request sent to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
Mr Philip Dunne
It would be inappropriate for the Department to place a copy of the Letter of Request in the Library of the House, as it contains commercially sensitive information. Making the information publicly available would undermine the US and UK Governments’ commercial position and hence jeopardise the Department’s ability to ensure value for money.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from the Kurdish Region in Iraq (a) applied for and (b) were refused entry clearance to the UK in the last six months for which figures are available.
Karen Bradley
For the purposes of this answer, ‘people from the Kurdish region of Iraq’ has been interpreted to mean people making visa applications at the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, UKVI’s application point in the Kurdish region. It is possible for people not ordinarily resident in the region to apply in Erbil, and for people from the region to apply at other locations, but worldwide data specific only to people from the Kurdish region could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The most recent figures available are from April 2015 to September 2015 and show A) the number of Entry Clearance applications made via the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, Iraq, to be 1790 and B) the number of refusals 1165. * The figures quoted are not provided under National statistics protocols but have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 27077, on arms trade: Saudi Arabia, what representations he has received on that legal advice.
Anna Soubry
No representations have been received on the legal advice commissioned by Amnesty International and Saferworld.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ring-fence special educational needs funding as part of her Department’s new national funding formula.
Mr Sam Gyimah
We are currently consulting on arrangements for new national formulae for schools and high needs funding (funding for pupils with high cost Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)). Both funding streams, along with early years funding, make up the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which is ring-fenced so that local authorities can only spend it on specified elements of education. The DSG will continue to be ring-fenced when the national funding formulae are in place. We have also protected the high needs budget in this Parliament and the previous one. We recently added £92.5 million to the 2016-17 allocations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will conduct research on the potential link between levels of productivity and the provision of high-speed data services and broadband connectivity.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport commissioned research by SQW Consulting who produced the UK Broadband Impact Study in November 2013. The study demonstrates a clear link between improved productivity and high quality broadband connectivity. For example, the study estimated that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assistance his Department is providing to the Iraqi armed forces to help reclaim the city of Fallujah from Daesh.
Penny Mordaunt
As part of Coalition forces, the RAF is conducting airstrikes against Daesh targets providing Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in support of Iraqi Security Forces operations in Fallujah.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to incentivise energy companies to assist people in (a) fuel poverty and (b) fuel debt.
Jesse Norman
The Government recently consulted on proposals to increase the amount that energy companies pay to fund household energy efficiency improvements for low income and vulnerable households to £450m by 2017 and up to £640m by 2018.
Energy companies are also required to provide over 2 million low income and vulnerable households with a £140 rebate off their energy bill each winter, under the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
These proposals combined will see up to £1bn of support for low income and vulnerable households each year from 2018.
If suppliers believe a domestic customer is having difficulty paying all or part of their energy bills, they must offer facilities to make payments by: deductions direct from benefits, known as Fuel Direct; regular instalments paid through a means other than a prepayment meter; or, using a prepayment meter, where it is safe and reasonably practicable for the customer to do so.
It is important that customers who are experiencing difficulties in paying their gas or electricity bills contact their supplier as soon as possible to arrange a repayment plan that suits their needs.