Tag: Parliamentary Question

Baroness Morgan of Huyton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Morgan of Huyton on 2016-03-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to promote higher apprenticeships to inform pupils currently in key stage 3 of their future options.

Lord Nash

Higher apprenticeships are widening access to the professions, providing the higher level technical skills employers need to improve productivity and giving young people who do not go to university an equally valid career route.

The government is taking a number of steps to ensure that apprenticeship opportunities at all levels are widely understood by young people from a young age so that they can make better informed decisions at key transition points. Schools have a legal duty to secure independent careers guidance for all pupils from year 8 onwards. This must include information on apprenticeships. Statutory guidance which underpins the duty is clear that schools should cooperate with other providers to ensure that young people are aware of the full range of education and training options available to them. The government will be launching a new apprenticeships campaign in May aimed at young people, their influencers and employers – it builds on the previous successful Get In Go Far campaign.

The government is funding The Careers & Enterprise Company to roll out and manage its Enterprise Adviser Network, which was launched in September 2015. This is a network of employer volunteers coordinated by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) who are working in schools and colleges to support their careers and enterprise strategies and increase the number and effectiveness of employer-school interactions.

Apprenticeships take-up is one of the criteria that LEPs are using to prioritise this support and advisers will be helping schools with their activity to provide well-informed information on apprenticeships. However, the range of information that young people receive remains too narrow and we want to go further. The government intends to bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity that will require schools to allow other education and training providers the opportunity to talk to pupils about their offer on school premises. Schools will be required by law to collaborate with colleges, university technical colleges and other training providers, including apprenticeship providers, in putting those arrangements in place. This will ensure that young people hear much more consistently about the merits of alternatives to academic and school-based routes and are aware of all the routes to higher skills and into the workplace.

January 1, 2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many interventions by the Forced Marriages Unit led to criminal prosecutions of people perpetrating forced marriages.

Karen Bradley

The jointly led Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) leads on the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. Figures on the number of cases reported to the FMU via its public helpline and email inbox are published annually and are available on GOV.uk. The figures include a breakdown of cases by age range. The FMU acts in an advisory capacity, and information on the number of cases which resulted in prosecutions is therefore not collated centrally.

We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to send a clear message that this brutal practice will not be tolerated in the UK. We are encouraged by the first conviction in June 2015, and the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) most recent report shows that the volume of referrals from the police to the CPS has risen from 67 in 2013-14 to 82 in 2014-15. But there is still work to be done, and we will continue to work with partners to lead efforts to tackle this abhorrent crime.

January 1, 2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy on the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord Faulks

The Government’s position on the European Convention of Human Rights remains clear. We cannot rule out withdrawing forever, but our forthcoming proposals do not include it. We are confident that we can replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights and reform our relationship with the Strasbourg Court.

January 1, 2023

Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s planned expenditure is on UK defence attachés in each year to 2020.

Mike Penning

The following information shows Ministry of Defence funding for the Defence Attaché and Advisor Network to financial year (FY) 2019-20 including costs associated with the British Defence Section in Washington.

	FY2016-17	FY2017-18	FY2018-19	FY2019-20
Attaché Costs	£39,616,021	£39,372,162	£38,899,766	£40,433,147
FCO Platform Charges	£13,136,434	£15,470,882	£15,689,819	£15,970,923
Total	£52,752,455	£54,843,044	£55,589,585	£56,404,070

January 1, 2023

Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of whether retrospective planning permission is more likely to be granted if the development in question is occupied.

Gavin Barwell

The Department has not made such an assessment.

January 1, 2023
Paul Monaghan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what regulations apply to the size and colours of printed information on benefits published by his Department to ensure access to that information for people with visual impairments.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department has the following documented standards for printed information:
• Minimum type size of 10pt FS Me or 12pt Arial, based on recommended best practice from RNIB

• The majority of publications are printed in black and white.

• Where colour is used, we apply international standards for suitable contrast between text and background.

• The Department provides staff guidance explaining how to commission large print, Braille or audio versions of publications in response to individual requests.

• Publications can also be made available in electronic formats suitable for most computers equipped with screen reader software; or as Portable Document Format (PDF) files which have been optimised for the free-of-charge Adobe Reader built-in ‘Read out loud’ function.

January 1, 2023
Liam Fox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Fox on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage zero carbon housing.

James Wharton

I refer my rt. Hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 23 October 2015, PQ 12627.

January 1, 2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average change in entitlement for existing universal credit claimants who are in work as a result of changes to benefits taking effect in April 2016.

Priti Patel

The vast majority of existing Universal Credit claimants will see no change in entitlement. Those who are in work and who are affected will receive additional support from their work coach and, where appropriate, from the locally administered flexible support fund.

January 1, 2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to prevent the spread of the Zika virus to the UK.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) have been carefully monitoring the Zika virus outbreak in the Americas since it was first reported in Brazil during May 2015. PHE has reviewed evidence on the transmission of Zika virus and PHE mosquito experts have provided advice to Government and the public that neither the main vector of Zika virus Aedes aegypti, nor other species of Aedes mosquitoes, including Aedes albopictus, that may have the potential to transmit this virus, are established in the United Kingdom.

The risk to the UK population is related to travel to countries where Zika virus outbreaks are currently ongoing, and NaTHNaC and PHE have published updated advice for travellers to South and Central America and the Caribbean, including specific advice for pregnant women. The risk of onward spread within the UK is very low and PHE has again provided this advice to government, and the public.

PHE has also been working with appropriate professional groups to develop information and guidance on Zika for clinicians. This advice can be accessed through the PHE website and has been cascaded by organisations such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Together with the Royal College of General Practitioners PHE has developed guidance specifically targeted at primary care which will be available shortly. PHE has also produced regular briefing notes for local health protection teams who have been asked to share this with the local National Health Service.

January 1, 2023
Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24278, how much has been set aside in his Department’s budget for potential costs associated with the decommissioning and disposal of HMS Ocean.

Mr Philip Dunne

Much of the work to decommission Royal Navy ships is undertaken using contracts that provide support services for all ships conducting Fleet activities at HM Naval Base, Portsmouth. Costs are not attributed to individual vessels.

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) will be responsible for the removal of classified equipment and known hazardous materials from HMS OCEAN after the ship has been decommissioned. The DE&S financial plan will include a provision for this work but a figure has yet to be approved.

The Disposal Services Authority (DSA), part of DE&S, disposes of defence equipment that is surplus to requirement. DSA costs are not attributed to individual platforms and information is not held in the format requested.

January 1, 2023