The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many civil servants in his Department are paid through limited companies.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department does not have any civil servants that are paid through limited companies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disability employment advisers are employed by Jobcentre Plus.
Damian Hinds
The number of Disability Employment Advisers employed by the Department for Work and Pensions is 263 at July 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Ofsted on sex and relationships education.
Edward Timpson
We want schools to provide all young people with a curriculum that equips them for success in adult life. High-quality sex and relationship education (SRE) and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education have a vital role to play in this.
SRE is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Academies and free schools do not have to teach SRE, but many choose to do so as part of their statutory duty to provide a broad and balanced curriculum.
When teaching SRE, all schools, including academies through their funding agreement, must have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education guidance. The existing SRE guidance was last updated in 2000. We have received requests about updating the guidance which we will consider carefully.
Schools and teachers have the freedom to design lessons that meet their pupils’ needs, taking account of pupil and parent views. Teachers are encouraged to develop their practice with the support of specialist organisations and expert professionals. Many of these specialist organisations have produced resources that can be used and adapted by schools.
We hold regular meetings with Ofsted about a range of matters. As the Secretary of State said at the Education Select Committee hearing in September 2016, we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality PSHE, including SRE. We are considering all the options, including the need for any statutory powers, and will come to a view soon.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers who have registered disabilities in East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow have been sanctioned in each of the last five years.
Priti Patel
The available information on JSA sanctions, including those with a disability (which refers to the disability status of the claimant undergoing a sanction and is self-recorded by the claimant) is published at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support in (a) monetary terms and (b) skills his Department provides for research into motor neurone disease.
George Freeman
The usual practice of the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including motor neurone disease (MND). These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Current NIHR awards include a £0.3 million doctoral research fellowship looking at the use of telehealth in MND.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting patients to 21 trials and studies in MND.
The NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure is a unique resource for the global life sciences industry, simplifying access to the United Kingdom’s world-leading clinical research infrastructure in all disease areas including MND.
The NIHR Research Design Service supports researchers to develop and design high-quality proposals for submission to NIHR itself and also to other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research in all disease and topic areas including MND. The service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing funding applications in these fields, including advice on research methodology, clinical trials, patient involvement, and ethics and governance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps have been taken to speed up completion of the impact assessment for the Trade Union Bill.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government has published detailed Impact Assessments for the Bill – on the Trade Union Bill, on the Reporting of Facility Time in the Public Sector, and on the Prohibition on Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector. At a meeting with Peers in December, Ministers committed to publishing prior to the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, and they were published in good time on 21 January.
The Trade Union Bill’s impact assessment has been subject to scrutiny by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee, and its opinion has been published alongside the impact assessment.
They were reviewed and approved by the relevant Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. The Permanent Secretary has been kept informed of progress on all stages of the Bill.
Policy officials and analysts in both Departments have worked together to produce the impact assessments as quickly as possible while ensuring that the analysis was thorough.
We have not asked civil servants working on the Bill in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office to fill out time sheets.
We do not record which particular documents each special adviser reads. Special advisers have access to departmental papers in line with the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct and provide advice to Ministers.
I am placing copies of the relevant documentation in the Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what representations she has received on the effect on Northern Ireland of proposals for new runway capacity in the London area.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
I have discussed the importance of air connectivity between Northern Ireland and London and the work of the Airports Commission with Ministers in the Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and airport operators.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether provisions in the Buses Bill will seek to require bus operators to publish data on fares.
Andrew Jones
The Bill will include powers to require the release of open data on routes, timetables, punctuality and fares, in a specified format.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of payments made under the Financial Assistance Scheme to former members of Allied Steel and Wire pension scheme in each of the last six years.
Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philippa Whitford on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reason self-employed adoptive parents are excluded from the financial support offered to other workers to allow them to take full leave and settle an adopted child from the care system into their family.
Nick Boles
Society benefits from parents being able to take time off work to care for their children whilst remaining in employment. Employed adopters have a statutory entitlement to Adoption Leave and Pay (subject to eligibility requirements) on the basis that individual employers would otherwise not offer socially optimal levels of leave and pay.
However, self-employed adopters can decide how much time off to take. Since affordability may limit the time away from work that some self-employed adopters can take, statutory adoption guidance says that Local Authorities should consider making a payment equivalent to Maternity Allowance in cases where adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment because of self-employment. This payment is discretionary and means-tested to ensure that resources are targeted at those adopters who need it most, as part of a package of post-adoption support.