Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • David Winnick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    David Winnick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what consultations the House authorities held with English Heritage prior to implementing the recent changes to St Stephen’s Entrance; whether those changes will be permanent or temporary; and what steps the Commission plans to take to ensure that better protection from inclement weather and other improved facilities are provided for visitors to the House.

    John Thurso

    The changes at St Stephen’s Entrance are intended to be temporary to reduce the queuing time at our public entrances. Work is progressing to improve the permanent public search facility at Cromwell Green. The redesign will deliver a more efficient search process and increase capacity. These changes are temporary and do not affect the building directly, so there was no prior consultation with English Heritage. However, work is also underway to explore, with English Heritage and Westminster City Council, installing a permanent canopy to the pedestrian walkway leading to the Cromwell Green Search Point, which would provide protection in bad weather.

  • Lindsay Roy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Lindsay Roy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lindsay Roy on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many women in Scotland were self-employed in the most recent period for which information is available.

    David Mundell

    In the latest Annual Population Survey, accessed by NOMIS on 29 April 2014, the figures for the period January 2013 to December 2013 show the number of women (aged 16 +) who were self-employed in Scotland was 94,000.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseeker’s allowance claimants have been made subject to a benefit sanction since 26 June 2013 because they have not been prepared to learn English.

    Esther McVey

    The information requested is not available.

  • Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Liam Byrne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the potential financial effect on UK higher education institutions of the reduction in non-EU students in 2012-13.

    Mr David Willetts

    The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes data on the sources of income for all higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK on an annual basis. This data shows that, despite a slight fall in student numbers, tuition fee income from non-EU students in 2012-13 was £3.5bn, an increase of 9.1% on 2011-12.

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) produces an annual report on the financial health of the publicly funded higher education sector in England. Their most recent report, published in March 2014, also states that income from non-EU students rose in 2012-13 and shows that HEIs are expecting tuition fee income from non-EU students to rise by 9.7% in real terms in 2013-14.

    The most recent HEFCE report can be found at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/hefce/content/pubs/2014/201402/HEFCE2014_02.pdf

    “

  • Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Graeme Morrice – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

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

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings his Department has had for which the check off system of paying trade union fees was on the agenda.

    Mr Francis Maude

    As was the case under the previous administration, details of internal meetings are not normally published.

    Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications.

    “

  • 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, what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to tackle cases of employees in Northern Ireland being paid below the minimum wage.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the NMW legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.

    HMRC has an NMW enforcement team based in Belfast, and that team investigates all complaints received by the Pay & Work Rights Helpline relating to Northern Ireland based employers alongside employers who are based and trading in the wider UK. The NMW Belfast team works closely with other Northern Ireland enforcement agencies including the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, Home Office Immigration & Enforcement and Department of Employment and Learning.

  • Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Helen Goodman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many paintings, artefacts and other objects were lent from the collections of grant-in-aid funded national museums and galleries to other grant-in-aid funded national museums and galleries in each year since 2010-11.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has collected and published the following data about the number of venues in the United Kingdom to which the sponsored national museums have lent objects from their collections.

    Number of UK loan venues

    Institution

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    British Museum

    178

    162

    169

    Imperial War Museum

    90

    376

    104

    National Gallery

    17

    35

    35

    National Maritime Museum

    71

    74

    81

    National Museums Liverpool

    193

    228

    239

    Science Museum Group 1

    164

    185

    240

    National Portrait Gallery

    133

    118

    118

    Natural History Museum

    182

    131

    32

    Royal Armouries

    107

    106

    120

    Sir John Soane’s Museum

    7

    3

    4

    Tate Gallery

    153

    147

    128

    Victoria and Albert Museum

    241

    262

    242

    Wallace Collection 2

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    1 From 2011-12, the total includes figures for the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, following its merger with the Science Museum Group.

    2 The Wallace Collection cannot lend items under terms of its bequest.

  • Graham Stuart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Graham Stuart – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Stuart on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2014, Official Report, column 86W, on schools: governing bodies, how many governors (a) have completed and (b) are expected to have completed National College for Teaching and Leadership training on dealing with performance related pay awards for teachers by 1 September 2014.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    From January to April 2014, 3,205 school governors completed the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) training on dealing with performance related pay awards for teachers; 7,200 are expected to complete the training by 1 September 2014.

    Governors have held school leadership to account for school performance, including the assessment of overall teacher performance, for some time. With the introduction of performance-related pay, governing bodies will have already approved revised pay policies that set out precisely how their schools will make performance and pay decisions.

    To support governors in exercising their responsibilities, the Department for Education issued advice on implementing the new pay arrangements. The NCTL is also providing these free training workshops for governors on performance-related pay and financial efficiencies. In addition, the National Governors Association (NGA) has published guidance on how governors should prepare to deal with pay appeals. We believe that, with this support, most governing bodies will have the knowledge and awareness of the key issues they need to address to ensure that robust evidence-based pay decisions are made this September.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Heidi Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department collects on children missing education; what information schools are expected to record in the Lost Pupil Database, part of his Department’s school2school site; and how many pupils’ records were held in the Lost Pupil Database on 1 February (a) 2014, (b) 2013, (c) 2012, (d) 2011 and (e) 2010.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Department for Education does not collect data on children missing education. Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 places a duty on local authorities to have arrangements that enable them to establish the identities of children in their area who are not registered pupils at a school, and are not receiving suitable education through a means other than at a school. Local authorities may decide as part of this duty to collect information on children who may be missing education or at risk of doing so. The Department’s statutory guidance to local authorities advises that they must have robust procedures in place to fulfil their legal duty.

    The ‘lost pupils database’ (LPD) records the transfer records of pupils whose correct destination is not known. Files are retained whenever a child leaves a school for a destination outside the maintained school sector. Examples of these destinations include ‘gone to an independent school’, ‘gone sick’, ‘moved abroad with parents’ or ‘moved on without reason’.

    The LPD is not used by Children Missing Education (CME) officers to record CME data. The primary function of the Department’s School to School (S2S) secure data transfer website is to provide schools and Local Authorities (LAs) with a mechanism for the secure and ongoing transfer of thousands of statutory child-level data files per week to new schools/LAs when children move school.

    The details required for the Lost Pupil Database are:

    File Name
    Source school
    Source LA
    UPN
    Surname
    Forename
    DOB
    Gender
    Former UPN
    Former Surname
    Middle Names
    Ethnicity
    FSM eligibility
    In Care
    Care Authority
    SEN status
    Start Date
    Postcode
    Sessions Possible
    Sessions Attended
    Sessions Unauthorised
    First Language

    LPD records are stored for a minimum of 12 months. The last ‘clear down’ took place in October 2013 which means monthly additions are only held back to October 2012. At 1 February 2014, 15,128 records were held on the system. Records are not removed from the system until the general ‘clear down’, so the figure does not represent pupils missing from education at any given time.

  • Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2014, Official Report, column 211W, on waste disposal: fire, how many of the incidents of fire reported at local authority operated waste management sites in 2012 and 2013 were repeated incidents at the same site.

    Dan Rogerson

    None of the five incidents of fire at local authority-operated waste management sites were repeated incidents at the same site.