The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.
Brandon Lewis
46.3% of senior civil servants in the Department are women. This is higher than the overall proportion of women in the senior civil service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to prevent the importation to the UK of illegally-mined gold and other mineral products from Brazil.
Anna Soubry
My Department does not have any restrictions in place on the import of alleged illegally-mined gold and mineral products from Brazil.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.30 of her Department’s white paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, what evidence her Department is taking into account to decide which (a) metrics and (b) other factors will be used to decide which providers are awarded multi-year allocations of initial teacher training places.
Nick Gibb
As set out in our recent White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, we plan to introduce ‘Centres of Excellence’ in Initial Teacher Training which will receive multi-year allocations. We are currently engaging the sector and working to establish the criteria for determining which providers will be designated as a ‘Centre of Excellence’. At this stage, no firm decisions have been taken.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2016 to Question 37099, if the Government will support an independent investigation into allegations of attacks on Syrian asylum seekers by Turkish border guards.
Mr David Lidington
Turkey continues to show extraordinary generosity by hosting over 2.7 million Syrian refugees. This has included granting Syrian refugees the right to work, and providing education and committing to increase access to it. Turkey also offers humanitarian support to refugees across its border with Syria. I refer the Honourable Gentleman to my answer of 25 May 2016 in response to his Written Question of 18 May 2016 (37099). It remains our understanding that the Turkish government has made preparations to accept more Syrian refugees should conditions in Syria necessitate so, but that its approach is to enable humanitarian aid to be provided to affected populations in northern Syria. Turkey has confirmed that its border remains open to the most vulnerable Syrian refugees. We take all allegations about Turkish treatment of migrants seriously, and raise them regularly with the Turkish authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many university technical colleges are (a) open and (b) planned in England in the next five years.
Robert Halfon
There are currently 47 open University Technical Colleges (UTCs). A further seven UTCs are in development, which plan to open from September 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Khalid Mahmood on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the role of independent training providers in post-16 years’ education.
Robert Halfon
Independent providers deliver a wide range of post-16 education, including apprenticeship training, and the Government expects that to continue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart McDonald on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees selected for resettlement from UN camps to the UK had previously been selected for resettlement in the US.
Richard Harrington
The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 Syrian refugees brought to the UK by Christmas. We use the established UNHCR process for identifying and resettling refugees and have been working closely with them to achieve a significant uplift in the scheme.
The UK collaborates closely with the major countries involved in resettlement, notably the US, Australia and Canada. In the expansion of the UK Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme we have worked with the US Government to take 500 people from the UNHCR’s pool of registered refugees that might otherwise have been passed to the US for consideration. No refugee actually selected for resettlement in the US has been passed to the UK; and all refugees being resettled in the UK have opted for this route.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, on the estimated number of patients who may have had a vital operation cancelled, how many patients who had such an operation cancelled had it rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation.
Ben Gummer
On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.
Mike Penning
The information requested is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-02-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take to improve customer satisfaction with South Eastern, Southern, and Govia Thameslink train services, and whether they have plans to take over any of those franchises.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
It is for the operators of the relevant franchises to take steps to improve customer satisfaction and deliver the requirements set out in their respective Franchise Agreements.
Gatwick Express and Southern are operated as part of the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise operated by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). The Franchise Agreement includes a Passenger Experience Metric which was developed for this franchise to measure, reward and incentivise good levels of customer satisfaction. GTR failed to meet its benchmark for cancellations set out in its Franchise Agreement. In order to address the poor performance, the Department issued GTR with a Remedial Plan Notice that requires them to set out the measures they will take to improve their performance. GTR submitted its Remedial Plan and discussions are on-going to ensure the plan is robust. Once the measures are agreed they will become contractually binding through a Remedial Agreement.
This year GTR will introduce new trains on the Gatwick Express service, replacing the current 25-year-old trains with a fleet better suited to the needs of airport passengers.
The Southeastern franchise includes a financial penalty regime if the operator does not achieve the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) benchmarks for stations, train services and customer service. We will review performance against these benchmarks in March 2016, and any penalties incurred must be re-invested into raising passenger satisfaction, with plans agreed by the Department.
The Department has no plans to take over either of these franchises.