Tag: Parliamentary Question

Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals work at administrator grade staff level in the European Parliament; and what proportion of the total number of that parliament’s employees they represent.

Mr Philip Hammond

The European Parliament does not publish statistics on numbers of permanent staff by nationality. As of April 2015, our records show there were 144 British citizens working in the European Parliament at administrator grade level, including UK secondees. This represents 2.4% of approximately 6000 total staff employed by the European Parliament in 2015.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 28925, if his Department will begin collecting information on the proportion of foreign graduates who take up employment in the NHS; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that the public purse receives value for money when subsidising medicine degrees for foreign nationals.

Ben Gummer

The Department has no current plans to collect information on the numbers of foreign medical graduates who take up employment in the National Health Service.

Non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals pay full tuition fees when studying medicine in the United Kingdom and make a contribution to the UK economy. The Government has no current plans to introduce legislation to secure better value for money from non-EEA nationals studying medicine in the UK.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps will be taken to ensure the safety of driverless cars.

Andrew Jones

We have developed ‘Pathway to Driverless Cars: a Code of Practice for testing’ to promote the safe and responsible testing of automated vehicle technology on UK roads. It clearly and simply sets out that testers must obey all relevant road traffic laws and that test vehicles must be roadworthy; a suitably trained driver or operator must be ready, able, and willing to take control if necessary; and appropriate insurance must be in place. Alongside this we are funding research and demonstration projects and working with international regulatory bodies to develop an appropriate framework for the safe sale and use of automated vehicle technology.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report of Ofsted on its inspection of Audenshaw School Academy Trust which took place on 23 and 24 February 2016, if she will make an assessment of the effect on the students for whom pupil premium funding was intended of that funding being saved for a capital project.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The conditions of grant for the pupil premium make clear that its purpose is to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. School leaders are best placed to decide how to spend the pupil premium in line with this policy and the needs of their pupils. Schools are not prevented from using the pupil premium to fund capital projects or from carrying over funding between years.

The Department for Education supports schools to make evidence-based decisions through the work of the Education Endowment Foundation, established to identify and promote effective practice in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Department does not monitor how Academies and maintained schools spend the pupil premium but instead holds them to account for the outcomes of eligible pupils through the publication of data in performance tables and Ofsted inspection.

Where concerns are raised about the performance of an academy then they are addressed by the Regional School Commissioner with responsibility for that area. The Department also takes seriously any concerns about the financial management of a school. We are aware of the findings of the Ofsted report on Audenshaw School relating to its use of the pupil premium, following an inspection in February 2016. We are also aware that the Hon. Member, Andrew Gwynne, has met the Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Vicky Beer, on a number of occasions to discuss his concerns about Audenshaw School Academy Trust. The Department has carefully reviewed all the information provided on this matter and has identified no grounds to take further action.

01/01/2023
Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children and young people who are either educated at home or not in employment, education or training are recorded within the statistics and analysis on statements of special educational needs and education, health and care plans in England published on 26 May 2016; and under which categories such children and young people are recorded.

Edward Timpson

The number of children and young people with a statement or education, health and care (EHC) plan who are educated at home is not specifically collected in the ‘Statements and EHC plans England: 2016’ publication[1]. However, as these children and young people will be included in the total number of children and young people with statements and EHC plans, local authorities are likely to have included these children and young people in the ‘other arrangements made by the local authority’ or ‘other arrangements made by the parent’ category.

The number of children and young people with statements or EHC plans who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is not specifically collected in this statistical first release. Where young people have a statement or EHC plan and are NEET, they will be included in one of the other categories, e.g. ‘other arrangements made by local authority’ or ‘awaiting provision’.

There is not an exhaustive list of arrangements included in the category of ‘Other – arrangements made by the local authority in accordance with Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 or Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014’. The published SEN 2016 guide for local authorities[2] completing this part of the collection is as follows:

‘Section 319 of the Education Act 1996 empowers an authority to provide education for children with special educational needs “other than in school”. This may include education in centres run by social services or at home. Children would not normally be on another school register.

‘Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 empowers an authority to provide education for children and young people with special educational needs “other than in school, post-16 institutions, etc”. This may include education in centres run by social services or where the local authority has named home education on an EHC plan.’

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2016

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-educational-needs-survey-2016-guide

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01/01/2023
Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2016 to Question 44365, what assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made on the effect of long shift patterns on the incidence of (a) errors, (b) accidents and (c) injuries in (i) all sectors of the workforce and (ii) the mining industry.

Penny Mordaunt

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not hold this information. However, HSE recognises that poorly designed shift-working arrangements and long working hours can result in fatigue, accidents, injuries and ill health and has produced guidance for employers on designing and implementing shift-working arrangements:

(http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/fatigue.htm).

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01/01/2023

Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people serving (1) life sentences, and (2) imprisonment for public protection sentences, were authorised by the Parole Board for transfer to open prison conditions in each month since January 2013.

Lord Faulks

The table below gives a breakdown of the number of indeterminate sentence prisoners who were recommended by the Parole Board for transfer to open conditions.

The data covers the period from 1 January 2013 to 31 October 2015, broken down by month, and distinguish between those serving a life sentence and those serving an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection.

These figures have been drawn from a live administrative IT system which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

		Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Totals
2013
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	57	62	66	73	69	78	61	68	67	60	64	54	779
	Lifer	59	48	40	48	51	51	46	43	37	47	41	27	538
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	52	58	59	60	70	65	77	76	63	74	47	80	781
	Lifer	38	63	44	40	53	38	58	48	38	50	33	47	550

2014
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	62	68	41	74	54	49	69	48	35	44	50	48	642
	Lifer	44	31	31	28	36	33	40	28	17	24	38	24	374
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	65	46	74	45	38	26	54	43	41	64	48	46	590
	Lifer	30	34	39	21	15	20	23	23	28	31	20	29	313

2015
Open Recommendations made by PB:	IPP	61	47	49	48	46	56	38	32	33	32	N/A	N/A	442
	Lifer	39	28	28	25	25	38	22	23	24	33	N/A	N/A	285
Approved for Transfer:	IPP	57	41	54	40	42	63	55	34	35	35	N/A	N/A	456
	Lifer	31	16	36	26	16	33	35	24	22	22	N/A	N/A	261

01/01/2023

Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the Government will require the parts and equipment used in the construction of the Hinckley Point C nuclear power station to be manufactured in the UK.

Andrea Leadsom

As my rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out to the Energy and Climate Change Committee, EDF predict over 60% of the HPC project’s construction value will go to UK companies. The Government is working with EDF and other developers to maximise the opportunities for UK businesses linked to Hinkley and proposed future new nuclear projects. We have put in place a number of initiatives to help UK suppliers’ bid for new nuclear contracts.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2016 to Question 20871, who the (a) applicants and (b) successful bidders were for the £5.5 million Human Rights and Democracy Programme; and how much funding each such successful bidder was allocated.

Mr David Lidington

For the Financial Year 2015-16, the Human Rights and Democracy Programme (HRDP) received 27 bids for democracy projects from the following applicants:

Ba Futuru
British Council Libya
Carter Centre
DanChurchAid
Democracy Reporting International
Global Partners Governance
Guatemalan Archbishopric´s Human Rights Office
International Media Support
International Republican Institute
Investigative Journalists NGO (HETQ)
Jamii Media Company Limited
John Smith Trust
Law Association of Zambia
Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice
National School of Government International (NSGI)
Northern Ireland-Cooperation Oversees (NI-CO) in partnership with Politics Plus
Safer World Bangladesh and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI)
Saferworld
Stakeholder Democracy Network
The Asia Foundation
UN Development Programme
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
Young African Leaders Initiative
Youth Association for Human Rights Promotion and Development (AJPRODHO)
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum,
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

These bids were then considered on a case-by-case basis by the Programme Team, and evaluated against criteria including: value for money, project design, evidence of need, viability, sustainability, risk and local influence. Seven applicants were successful, and were allocated the amounts listed below:

DanChurchAid: £80,000
Global Partners Governance: £99,727
NI-CO in partnership with Politics Plus: £35,000
NSGI: £37,220
Safer World Bangladesh and BEI: £103,422
The Asia Foundation: £99,168
Young African Leaders Initiative: £51,397

The £100,000 Magna Carta Partnerships Fund, to assist democracies in crisis or transition, is also channelled through the HRDP. In the financial year 2015/16, we have so far agreed funding for the following implementers:

Bingham Centre: £9,993
British Embassy Mexico City: £8,000
Chatham House: £10,000
Citizen’s Watch International: £10,000
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Branch: £20,000
King Prajadhipok Institute: £2,752
Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas: £2,000
Slynn Foundation: £9,020
Westminster Foundation for Democracy: £5,150

01/01/2023
Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department has provided to the European Commission on whether criteria for triggering the proposed emergency brake on EEA welfare payments have been met.

Mr David Lidington

The Government has had detailed technical talks with the European Institutions, during which information was shared across a range of issues including the nature of the United Kingdom’s welfare system.

01/01/2023