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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to assist rough sleepers, and in particular homeless military veterans.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Department of Communities and Local Government has the lead on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Formed in 2010, the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness brings Departments together to ensure that Departments across Government play their part in tackling both the causes and consequences of homelessness. Throughout this Parliament, the group has worked together to coordinate action on the issues facing homeless people.

    The Government have increased spending to prevent and tackle rough sleeping and homelessness making over £500 million available, giving councils the funding and tools needed to take action against rough sleeping locally.

    There are a range of initiatives and projects in place to help rough sleepers, prevent single homelessness and to help those who have been homeless find and sustain accommodation.

    Thousands of vulnerable people, including military veterans, who have slept rough or faced with the prospect of doing so have been given the help they need through No Second Night Out and Streetlink. By using Streetlink the public can help connect rough sleepers to the local services available so they can get the help they need to get them off the streets. Since 2012 Streetlink has made nearly 21,000 rough sleeping referrals to councils with over 9,000 having positive outcomes (such as accessing services) of which nearly 1,800 have had a specific housing outcome.

    We have supported the roll-out of No Second Night Out nationally through the £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund for the voluntary sector ensuring rough sleepers are found quickly and that they do not spend more than one night on the street. In 20 key rough sleeping areas outside London 67% of rough sleepers were helped off the streets after a single night according to homelessness charities.

    We have launched an £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund for local authorities which will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness. 34 projects, working across 168 local authorities, will provide support for up 22,000 single homeless people.

    Finally, the Government is helping single homeless people find and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector through our £13 million funding to Crisis. By 2016 we expect the Crisis scheme to have helped 10,000 single homeless people since it started in 2010.

    We work closely with Homeless Link, who represent homelessness charities across England, and attended the launch of their homelessness manifesto at a recent parliamentary reception.

    It is not for the Government itself to respond to the manifestos produced by Non-Governmental Organisations and pressure groups ahead of the general election, but we welcome the broader contribution to the debate.

  • Lord Greaves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many adopted local plans include the designation of local green spaces; and how many such spaces have been designated.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We do not collect detailed statistics on individual policies within Local Plans.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-01-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to have a number of serious concerns about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, such as the harassment of human rights defenders and activists, and attacks on religious minorities. President Sirisena has pledged to lead a more democratic and accountable government, including restoring the independence of the police and judiciary, ensuring electoral reforms, and protecting the rights and freedoms of all religions in Sri Lanka. We welcome these early commitments.

  • Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to encourage the teaching of computer coding in schools.

    Lord Nash

    The new national curriculum in computing is now being taught in maintained schools. It is a compulsory subject in all key stages and the programmes of study include coding from key stage 1. Primary school pupils will be taught about algorithms and how to design and write programs, while at secondary school pupils will be taught to use at least two programming languages. The Government has made £3.5 million available to provide training and support to existing teachers to ensure they are fully prepared to teach computing and have the skills to engage and enthuse their pupils.

  • Lord Davies of Stamford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Davies of Stamford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Davies of Stamford on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the functionality, reliability and resilience to cyber-attack of the Autonomic Logistics Information System for the F35 aircraft.

    Lord Astor of Hever

    The F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) has been designed to be resilient against cyber-attack and will be the subject of testing throughout the life of the programme. The ALIS capability has been used by the UK since 2012 to support the aircraft operating in the US and has not experienced any reliability issues and nor have the other partners.

    In terms of resilience and business continuity, this is being ensured via the ALIS network architecture being installed at Main Operating Bases and deployed locations, which include the Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emma Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the funding allocated to tackle beds in sheds has been (a) allocated and (b) spent to date.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Beds in Sheds Taskforce was a specific initiative in 2012 to 2013, to hold a set of summits to bring together councils and central government to ascertain best practice and barriers to be removed to help ensure co-ordinated action against illegal outbuildings.

    Summits took place on 27 November 2012, 30 April 2013 and 1 July 2013. It was not an ongoing working group.

    In July 2013, £2.6 million was subsequently allocated to nine local authorities to deal with the mainly London-based problem of beds in sheds, with a further £4.1 million of targeted funding to 23 local authorities in December 2013 to tackle rogue landlord behaviour (including beds in sheds).

    Thanks to the lessons learnt and best practice adopted from these meetings in 2012 to 2013, we estimate there have been:

    • 2,500 streets surveyed
    • 30,000 inspections
    • 1,100 raids
    • 2,800 landlords facing prosecution
    • 530 buildings prohibited, and
    • 145 sheds demolished.

    Following our 2012 publication, we will in due course be publishing refreshed guidance to local authorities on tackling beds in sheds and rogue landlords.

    The Immigration Act 2014 contains a raft of measures which puts the law firmly on the side of those who respect it, not those who break it, by:

    • stopping migrants using public services to which they are not entitled;
    • reducing the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK for the wrong reasons; and,
    • making it easier to remove people who should not be here.
  • Seema Malhotra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Seema Malhotra – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on implementation of the violence against women and girls action plan.

    Lynne Featherstone

    The Government is committed to ending violence against women in all its forms. We published our cross-government strategy, ‘A Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls’ in 2010 and have published supporting action plans with
    updates on progress each year since 2011. We have ring-fenced nearly £40 million of stable funding up to 2015 for specialist local support services and national helplines.

    We have criminalised forced marriage, introduced two new stalking offences, piloted new ways of protecting the victims of domestic violence and sex workers and we have launched prevention campaigns to tackle rape and relationship abuse
    amongst teenagers. We recently announced a new offence of domestic abuse to tackle coercive and controlling behaviour.

    The 2014-2015 Action Plan details recent progress and on 8 March this year, we will publish a full progress report on the implementation of the strategy.

  • Stephen Barclay – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Barclay – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Barclay on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 5.1.2 of the report of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism, published in December 2013, how many people have been barred from managing or teaching at independent schools because of involvement with or links to extremism under the new regulations.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    New regulations enabling the Secretary of State to bar individuals from taking part in the management of independent schools came into force in September 2014. A number of cases are under consideration.

    These regulations cover individuals involved in the management of independent schools rather than teachers. The Teachers’ Standards were amended in September 2012 to require that teachers uphold public trust in the profession by not undermining fundamental British values. The National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) takes decisions on whether to bar individuals from teaching and guidance to teacher misconduct panels issued in July 2014 makes clear behaviour that promotes extremism is likely to be considered incompatible with being a teacher. Four individuals are currently subject to Interim Prohibition Orders by NCTL preventing them from teaching for reasons relating to extremism.

    We will investigate and take action wherever we find evidence of extremism.

  • Frank Dobson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Frank Dobson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Dobson on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any employers have indicated an intention to transfer activities from London to Birmingham after the opening of Phase 1 of High Speed 2.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport are not aware of any businesses that have indicated that they plan to relocate from London to Birmingham. However, as the HS2 scheme is not expected to receive Royal Assent until 2016 and will not be operational until 2026, the Department would not expect businesses to make relocation plans at this early stage.

    In the interim period however, Greater Birmingham and Solihull’s Local Enterprise Partnership are undertaking work as part of both their Strategic Economic Plans to attract more jobs and businesses to their area. They are also developing HS2 Growth Strategies to maximise the wider benefits the railway will bring.

  • Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2015-01-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many enforcement actions in respect of IR35 legislation there have been in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) England, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland in each year since 2010.

    Mr David Gauke

    Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) carries out IR35 status enquiries by way of compliance interventions. The table below shows the number of interventions up to 2013/14. Regional data is not produced by HMRC.

    Year

    Compliance interventions

    2009/10

    12

    2010/11

    23

    2011/12

    59

    2012/13

    256

    2013/14

    192