Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Katy Clark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Katy Clark on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on increasing the range of services provided by the Post Office network.

    Jenny Willott

    Post Office Ltd, with its network of over 11,500 branches, is well placed to become a provider of front office services for Government, helping citizens interact with Government either face-to-face or online.

    While public services must be competitively tendered, Post Office Ltd has shown that it can very effectively bid for and win new work. It has won every Government contract it has bid for the past three years in highly competitive tendering processes.

    In particular, in 2012 it successfully bid for the competitively-tendered DVLA framework contract for Front Office Counter Services (FOCS). This contract runs to 2020 and is available to other Government departments. For example HM Passport Office recently moved its services with Post Office Ltd onto FOCS and this Department and the Cabinet Office are in close contact about a range of other opportunities.

    Furthermore, Post Office Ltd was recently one of the successful bidders for the Cabinet Office’s online identity assurance contract, ensuring that Post Office Ltd can play a role in the delivery of modern, online Government services.

    Whilst I continue to highlight to my colleagues the opportunities available to Government from using the Post Office network and contracts such as these, individual contracts are a matter for the services in question and their respective public bodies and departments. I have not had recent discussions specifically with the Welsh Government.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 744W, on National Careers Service, what assessment his Department has made of the National Careers Service’s progress in achieving its key strategic aims for marketing.

    Matthew Hancock

    The National Careers Service marketing strategy using targeted on-line activity has been pursued since October 2013.

    Through regular market research we have seen an increase in awareness[1] of the support the National Careers Service offers since the campaign started from 24 per cent to 29 per cent. All of the targeted groups show a greater awareness than the remainder of those sampled:

    · Awareness among individuals looking to advance their career has increased by 28 per cent increase to 39 per cent;

    · Awareness among those who are looking for a better job to support a change in circumstances has increased by 14 per cent to 32 per cent;

    · Awareness among those who have been or are about to be made redundant has remained broadly the same with 37 per cent aware of the Service.

    Over 56 per cent of these three groups are likely to use the Service, compared with only 8 per cent of others surveyed.

    [1] Both spontaneous and prompted.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-04-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he last discussed the possible devolution of corporation tax with the Northern Ireland Executive.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government and Northern Ireland Executive have taken forward a constructive and positive programme of work examining the potential for devolving corporation tax powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

    As agreed in “Building a prosperous and united community” the Government is taking forward further work on corporation tax devolution and will make a final decision on the devolution of these powers no later than the Autumn Statement 2014.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that measures to protect bees and other pollinators are fully reflected in planning practice guidance.

    Nick Boles

    The National Planning Policy Framework sets out our policies for the conservation and enhancement of the natural environment. The biodiversity, ecosystems and green infrastructure section of our new web-based planning guidance explains how these matters should be taken into account in the planning system. Defra is consulting on a National Pollinator Strategy and my officials are working with Defra officials.

  • Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.

    Anna Soubry

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for Defence Equipment, Science, and Technology (Mr Philip Dunne) on 2 April 2014 (Official Report, column 730W) to the hon. Member for Leicester South (Mr Jonathan Ashworth).

  • Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of teachers who have qualified in the last 10 years have left the teaching profession within (a) two, (b) five and (c) 10 years; and what steps he is taking to encourage greater teacher retention.

    Mr David Laws

    The following table provides the proportion of full and part-time teachers that qualified in the stated year, entered service in the publicly funded sector in England the year after and were no longer in such service two, five and ten years later. It is not known whether the teachers who are recorded as out of service have left service permanently or are teaching in another country or sector of education.

    Year qualified1

    Newly qualified entrants entering service2

    Year entered service3

    Out of service 2 years later

    Out of service 5 years later

    Out of service 10 years later4

    2000

    17,400

    2000-01

    15%

    27%

    34%

    2005

    26,000

    2005-06

    15%

    22%

    2008

    25,000

    2008-09

    14%

    Source: Database of Teacher Records (DTR)

    1 Calendar year in which the teachers qualified.

    2 Teachers in part-time service are under-recorded on the DTR by between 10% and 20% and therefore these figures may be underestimated.

    3 Financial year during which the teachers entered service.

    4 The length of service may not have been continuous; for example not all of those shown as teaching 10 years after entering service in 1997-98 may have taught continuously for 10 years, some may have taken periods of time outside of the maintained sector.

    The Government is committed to making teaching a profession which can attract and retain the very best people. We are taking every possible step to reduce the amount of central prescription and bureaucracy placed on teachers, freeing them up to act as autonomous professionals. And we are giving headteachers more flexibility to recruit, train and retain the best teachers, including through new school-based training programmes and greater pay flexibility which will allow heads to ensure that high-performing teachers are rewarded appropriately.

    Teacher vacancy rates continue to remain low and have been around 1% or below (of all teaching posts) since 2000. In November 2013 there were 750 vacancies for full-time permanent teachers in state-funded schools – a rate of 0.2%.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions on IUU fishing took place at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on 24 March 2014.

    George Eustice

    The Council of Ministers on 24 March agreed to list Belize, Guinea and Cambodia as non-cooperating third countries, acting insufficiently in fighting against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Under the EU IUU Regulation, any imports into the EU of any fisheries products caught by these flag state vessels will be banned. In addition, Ministers discussed the proposed review of the IUU Regulation and the Commission confirmed its intention to undertake the review next year.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on whether the government of Burma plans to open a country office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    It has been over 18 months since President Thein Sein committed to opening an in-country Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This would allow for more constructive relations between the international community and the Government on human rights. Most recently, the British Ambassador raised the issue with the Burmese Foreign Minister on 31 March. We continue to call on the Government to publish a timeline for the opening of the Office, with a mandate that includes monitoring and technical assistance.

  • Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed reduction in solar farm support under the Renewables Obligation on planned community-owned or shared ownership schemes.

    Gregory Barker

    The Government published the second part of our UK Solar PV Strategy Part 2 [1] on 4 April 2014. We made clear in that document that we are considering the implications of current trends of deployment in solar PV on the financial incentives available in Great Britain under the Renewables Obligation and small-scale Feed-in-Tariffs. We will issue a public consultation shortly proposing changes to financial support for solar PV.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-solar-pv-strategy-part-1-roadmap-to-a-brighter-future

    “

  • Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Julie Elliott – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many meetings of the Government industry solar strategy group have taken place since it was established in 2012; and on what dates that group met.

    Gregory Barker

    The Solar PV Strategy Group has met three times, on the following dates:

    • 8 March 2013;
    • 7 June 2013;
    • 11 December 2013

    They plan to meet again early this summer.