Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2016-03-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 March (HL6266), what improvements Govia Thameslink Railway have implemented since the commencement of their franchise.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have implemented numerous improvements since the commencement of their franchise. These include, but are not limited to:
- Extension of smart ticketing functionality meaning that ‘the Key’ smartcard is now available at an additional 80 stations, taking the total number of stations to 220;
- Oyster PAYG and CPAY has been extended to Gatwick Airport station;
- An increase in overnight services serving Luton Airport Parkway station;
- An increased number of Rail Enforcement Officers, with an additional 19 officers;
- An increase in customer information screens;
- A single source of customer information across website, app and stations;
- Access to radio microphones for all platform staff to improve information provision at stations;
- First to last staffing at an additional 25 Great Northern and Thameslink stations;
- Ordered new trains comprising 150 vehicles for the Great Northern Moorgate route to replace rolling stock from the 1970s;
- Services on the Moorgate branch in the evenings and at weekends;
- iPads for customer facing staff to improve information provision;
- 24 hour Twitter team;
In addition, the following key improvements are on course to be delivered by Govia Thameslink Railway in the coming months:
- Introduction of a new fleet of trains for the Gatwick Express – the first of which went into passenger service on 29 Feb;
- New state of the art Class 700 trains will start to be introduced across the GTR network from the spring;
- WiFi at 104 stations.
More details on the committed obligations and improvements GTR are contracted to deliver can be found in the Franchise Agreement which is available at the government website.
January 1, 2023
Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2016 to Question 31313, on immigration controls: EU nationals, whether any of the people refused entry have subsequently been permitted to enter the UK.

James Brokenshire

This information is not held centrally.

January 1, 2023
Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the findings of the Government’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015, published on 21 April 2016, on her Department’s country guidance on people from Eritrea seeking asylum in the UK.

James Brokenshire

We are currently updating our September 2015 country information and guidance on handling asylum claims made by Eritrean nationals.

The revised guidance will be based on an assessment of a range of sources including the Foreign Office’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015 as well as recent publications by Amnesty International and the findings of a Home Office fact finding mission to Eritrea undertaken in February 2016.

January 1, 2023
David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that computer coding is taught to children from an early stage in their education.

Nick Gibb

Demand for high-level skills in computing will only grow in the years ahead and will be crucial to supporting a successful economy. It is essential that we have a generation of pupils who have the knowledge and understanding they need to become active creators of digital technology, and not just passive consumers of it. We want them to have a deeper understanding of how digital technologies work and be able to write computer programs.

Since 2014, computing has been part of the National Curriculum at all four key stages. This replaced the outdated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) programme of study. The computing curriculum focuses on teaching children how computers work, the basics of programming, and encourages them to design computer programs to address real world problems. This includes introducing coding to primary pupils. At primary school, pupils are being taught what algorithms are, how to design and write programs to accomplish specific goals using sequencing, selection and repetition and how to apply logical reasoning to detect and correct errors.

January 1, 2023
Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the announcement on page 4 of her Department’s publication entitled Central Government Funding for Flooding and Coastal Erosion, published in September 2016, that decisions on where to allocate the remaining funding set aside for flood defences have yet to be made, (a) which Department or agency will make those decisions and (b) when she expects those decisions to be made.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Decisions on allocating the remaining headroom from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures announced at Budget 2016 will be made on the basis of a rigorous assessment of local needs and value for money. HM Treasury, in consultation with other government departments including Defra and the Environment Agency, will make allocation decisions in due course.

January 1, 2023

Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent consular staff were based in (a) India and (b) Gujarat in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

This information is represented below for each of the consular offices that we have in India for each year. Please note that consular cases in Gujarat are covered by our Deputy High Commission in Mumbai.

	11/12	12/13	13/14	14/15	15/16
New Delhi	6	6	6	7	6
Mumbai	3	3	3	3	3
Kolkata	2	2	2	2	2
Goa	3	3	2	2	2
Chennai	2	2	2	3	3

January 1, 2023

Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the suffragettes and the feminist movement will remain part of the new Politics A-level syllabus.

Lord Nash

A public consultation on reformed content for politics AS and A level closed on 15 December. The proposed new content for politics A level will require all students to study core political theories. This is an improvement on the current system which does not require students to study any political ideologies, including feminism.

We are analysing the responses to the consultation and have started work with the exam boards to develop the content in light of the views expressed. We will listen carefully to the views of the sector and the wider public as part of this full consultation process.

January 1, 2023
Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much G4S was paid for (a) bedding, (b) children’s birthdays, (c) Christmas allowances, (d) children’s sports and PE costs, (e) educational materials, (f) electricity, (g) staff uniforms, (h) staff training materials and (i) stationery at Medway Secure Training Centre for Young People in each year since 2009.

Andrew Selous

The Youth Justice Board does not hold this information.

January 1, 2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action is under way to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and previous resolutions on Syria.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

On 11 February, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), took part in the latest round of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Munich to discuss with his counterparts how to best support the political process and necessary supporting steps, including a ceasefire and confidence building measures, called for in UN Security Council resolution 2254.

The ISSG agreed the need to implement a cessation of hostilities within a week, to delivering humanitarian assistance to named besieged communities by this weekend and to facilitate rapid progress in negotiations aimed at political transition. If implemented fully and properly by every ISSG member this will be an important step towards relieving the killing and suffering in Syria. But it will only succeed if there is a major change of behaviour by the Syrian regime and its supporters. Russia, in particular, claims to be attacking terrorist groups and yet consistently bombs non-extremist groups including civilians. If this agreement is to work, this bombing will have to stop: no cessation of hostilities will last if moderate opposition groups continue to be targeted.

January 1, 2023
Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations were made by the Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise at the Pre Competitiveness Council on 29 February 2016, on the EC Circular Economy package.

Anna Soubry

My noble Friend Baroness Neville-Rolfe represented the UK at the meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 29^th February 2016.

In the discussions on the Circular Economy Package, the UK supported the ambition behind the Circular Economy Action Plan and stressed that action should be prioritised to ensure ambitious use of voluntary approaches and measures to improve the coherence between existing EU legislation and initiatives.

January 1, 2023