Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve the performance of multi-academy trusts in which disadvantaged pupils perform below the national average for attainment and improvement.

    Edward Timpson

    Academies working together in Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are able to share resources and expertise to support disadvantaged pupils. The department’s analysis shows, as does that of the Sutton Trust, that there are MATs that can perform significantly above average despite high percentages of their pupils being disadvantaged.

    We remain committed to achieving educational excellence everywhere and where there is underperformance, the academy system enables us to take swift action to tackle it. In addition, we are targeting £2.5 billion a year of pupil premium funding to support the most disadvantaged pupils.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to amending the Annual Data Requirement to replace the 16+1 ethnicity code based on the 2001 census with the 2011 census ethnicity category 18+1, to include Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The ethnicity categories used for data collections are assessed as part of the Home Office’s process of agreeing the Annual Data Requirement (ADR). This is the list of mandatory data collections required from the police.

    This process includes consultation with a range of stakeholders on the requirements for each data collection, together with consideration of the burdens involved in the collection (e.g. IT costs of implementation for police forces), and the likely quality of the data.

  • Baroness Manzoor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Manzoor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether the proposed new, lower benefit cap has a gendered effect, and (2) whether any such effect would be mitigated by excluding certain child benefits from that cap.

    Lord Freud

    Her Majesty’s Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July, a copy of which is attached.

    Like other welfare benefits, child related benefits are taken into account when applying the cap. Removing them from the cap would effectively mean that there would be no upper limit on the amount of benefit that out of work households could receive.

  • Lord Chidgey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Chidgey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the change in the size of the audience for BBC World Service programmes broadcast via the internet in African countries or regions from 1999 to 2014.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The BBC World Service has advised that:

    The current weekly audience for the BBC on the Internet in sub Saharan Africa has grown from 520,000 in 2006 to 4.3 million (726 per cent increase).

    The current weekly audience for the BBC on the Internet in the Middle East and North Africa grew from 530,000 in 2006 to 2.2 million (315 per cent increase).

    The World Service use Global Audience Measurement (GAM) data to track performance by platform and by market. This data provides clear records from 2005 onwards.

  • Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Armed Forces Covenant extends to former members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps and the Hong Kong Royal Naval Service.

    Earl Howe

    The Government acknowledges the important contribution made by members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps and the Hong Kong Royal Naval Service. As a consequence of their Service, members qualify as veterans and, where appropriate, are subject to the provisions set out in the Armed Forces Covenant.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent on child and adolescent mental health services in (a) England, (b) London, (c) each London boroughs and (d) each London health trust in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. The following table presents the available information which is taken from reference costs – the average unit cost to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services to NHS patients.

    Estimated costs to NHS trusts and foundation trusts1 of providing child and adolescent mental health services2, 2010-11 to 2014-15

    Name

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    England

    371.0

    450.2

    486.7

    539.4

    611.6

    London

    104.9

    118.3

    112.2

    133.5

    135.3

    Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

    4.1

    14.2

    11.0

    12.7

    11.4

    Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

    14.9

    13.2

    14.0

    18.1

    16.6

    East London NHS Foundation Trust

    11.7

    14.7

    12.9

    17.5

    17.2

    Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

    –

    –

    –

    0.6

    0.6

    Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust

    –

    0.3

    –

    –

    –

    Islington Primary Care Trust

    4.1

    –

    –

    –

    –

    North East London NHS Foundation Trust

    14.5

    16.3

    13.1

    17.1

    15.7

    North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

    0.2

    0.3

    0.3

    0.3

    0.3

    Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

    9.3

    7.6

    6.9

    7.0

    7.6

    Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust

    0.2

    –

    –

    –

    –

    Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

    1.0

    1.6

    1.9

    2.3

    0.6

    South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

    22.4

    27.2

    26.8

    30.7

    29.4

    South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

    9.8

    8.5

    8.6

    10.7

    11.9

    Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

    6.2

    5.9

    5.0

    4.9

    10.4

    The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust

    –

    5.9

    2.7

    5.2

    3.6

    West London Mental Health NHS Trust

    6.6

    2.6

    9.0

    6.3

    10.1

    Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

    Notes:

    1. Reference costs were also collected from primary care trusts before 2011-12, after which they transferred their provider functions. Primary care trusts were abolished on 31 March 2013.
    2. The costs of providing child and adolescent mental health services in admitted, day care, outpatient and community settings for children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural wellbeing are included. The costs of providing other specialist services to children and young people, such as drug and alcohol, or eating disorder services, are excluded.
    3. It is not possible to provide the information by London borough.
  • Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times since 2006 government-commissioned reports have recommended that more teacher training is necessary in the field of special educational needs to satisfy the duty to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs.

    Lord Nash

    All initial teacher training (ITT) courses must ensure that trainee teachers can meet the teachers’ standards at the appropriate level. This includes having a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs (SEN). Teachers must also be able to adapt teaching to the needs of all pupils and have an understanding of the factors that can inhibit learning and how to overcome them.

    An independent review of ITT, carried out by Sir Andrew Carter, and published in January 2015, found that there is considerable variability in ITT course content across the system, and cites SEN among areas where there are gaps in a range of courses.

    In response to the Carter Review, the Government has commissioned an independent working group made up of expert representatives from the sector, including an SEN specialist, to develop a framework of core ITT content. The group is expected to report to Ministers in spring 2016.

    Further guidance on teacher’s standards is available on GOV.UK.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that employers accord degree apprenticeships the same esteem as traditional university degrees.

    Nick Boles

    The Government wants young people to have the opportunity to access high quality degree level training, whether through a full-time undergraduate route or a world-class degree apprenticeship.

    Both traditional degrees and new degree apprenticeships meet the high quality criteria expected of a higher education qualification. Degree Apprenticeships are designed by groups of employers working with higher education institutions, and provide a valuable route for people to obtain a degree-level qualification alongside training for a career, with the prospect of a job from day one

    Degree apprenticeships will feature in the new communications campaign being launched in May, promoting the benefits of apprenticeships to employers and young people.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding has been received from the European Social Fund via the National Offender Management Service Co-Financing Organisation to help employer roadshows at HM Prison (a) Sudbury, (b) Drake Hall and (c) Wayland.

    Andrew Selous

    Money received from the European Social Fund (ESF) by the NOMS Co-financing Programme is published in the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts. No ESF funding has been used to finance employer roadshows at Sudbury, Drake Hall and Wayland prisons. Neither has any ESF money been awarded direct to HM Young Offender Institutions Werrington, Feltham or Cookham Wood.

    It is a condition of any award of core ESF funding to the NOMS Co-financing programme that it has to be spent on front line services for offenders (excluding the administration budget. Because of this, a separate application was made under the Technical Assistance grant to fund, among other things, the setting up and running of the Employers’ Forum for Reducing Re-offending (EFRR). The aim of the Technical Assistance grant is to fund services that will support the objectives of the main programme – employability of offenders. The amount spent from the ESF Technical Assistance fund on the EFRR from 2010 to 2015 was £280,403.

  • Paul Farrelly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Farrelly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Farrelly on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Public Health of 17 December 2015, Official Report, column 638WH, when he plans to publish the Public Health Research Consortium report on the effect of e-cigarettes.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department’s Policy Research Programme funds the Public Health Research Consortium (PHRC). The PHRC is undertaking the project ‘E-Cigarettes: Development of Tools to Measure Norms Towards Ordinary Cigarettes and Nicotine Use’. This started in April 2015 and is currently in the write-up stage. It is due to go to peer review and publication plans will be developed subsequently.