The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps her Department has taken to improve education in prisons.
Mr Sam Gyimah
I refer the Hon member to my answer to PQ 46278.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the representations from the GMC and other health regulators that the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive does not provide sufficient safeguards to ensure that doctors who provide temporary and occasional services in the UK have the right knowledge, skills and behaviours to practise safely.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department supports the principle of free movement for healthcare professionals that the Directive helps provide for and the benefits this can bring. Temporary and occasional provision of services in particular provides important benefits in terms of movement of professionals around the European Union and is not a new concept in the Directive.
The Department has worked with the General Medical Council and other health regulators extensively over a number of years, including during the negotiations with other Member States, as part of the revision of the Directive. The United Kingdom secured positive changes to the requirements placed on individuals seeking to provide work on a temporary and occasional basis. The changes include the requirement for professionals to provide the regulatory body with a declaration of their knowledge of language and an attestation confirming the absence of temporary or final suspensions and criminal convictions; these supplement the existing requirements, such as providing proof of legal establishment in their home Member State, proof of nationality and evidence of professional qualifications.
In addition, individual employers ensure that the people they employ or contract with have the required knowledge and skills for the posts for which they are applying.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of the SEND code of practice on educational provision for children with cerebral palsy.
Edward Timpson
The reforms introduced in September 2014 will ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25, including those with cerebral palsy, have improved access to the support they need.
Local authorities are responsible for meeting the educational needs of all children with SEND within their local area. They must co-ordinate education, health and care provision for individual children and ensure that young people and parents are involved in discussions about their individual support and about local provision more generally. Statutory Local Offers published by each local authority must set out what support is available for all children and young people with SEND in their area, including those with more complex needs.
The reforms detailed in the SEND Code of Practice were drawn up in consultation with a wide range of interested parties, many of whom represented the interests of children and young people with specific impairments. They are intended to improve outcomes for every child or young person with SEND by placing them at the heart of a system designed to respond to their individual needs and aspirations.
The Department has not assessed the impact of the SEND Code of Practice, or regional variations in provision, on the basis of any specific impairment but is monitoring implementation closely.
This monitoring includes inputs from annual data collection; termly surveys of local authorities and Parent Carer Forums; and feedback from specialist SEND Advisers and funded voluntary sector organisations. From May 2016, this monitoring will be enhanced by a new joint Ofsted/CQC inspection framework for SEND, which is currently the subject of a national consultation.
Schools are required by the Children and Families Act 2014 to identify the SEN of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need. Teachers are expected to be able to adapt their teaching to the needs of all pupils, and to have an understanding of the factors that can inhibit learning and how to overcome them.
To support the school workforce, the Department has funded almost 11,000 SEN Coordinators to attain Masters-level national awards between 2009 and 2014, at a cost of almost £33 million; is funding SEND conferences for school leaders and supporting the development of a ‘SEND gateway’ for education professionals, which offers a wide range of online training and information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of what the primary sources of finance for Daesh are; and what steps the Government is taking to disrupt those sources.
Mr Philip Hammond
Daesh has two main sources of funding. About 40% comes from extorting communities living in territory it controls; and around 40% from selling oil. It also gets a small amount of funding from selling looted antiquities and donations from individuals in the region and around the world.
Tackling Daesh financing is a key element of our comprehensive strategy. This involves military action, enforcement of sanctions and engagement with international partners.
The RAF carried out 15% of the airstrikes in the Global Coalition’s recent offensive targeting Daesh oil facilities. Since this offensive began, the Coalition has destroyed 25% of the Daesh daily oil production capability, which equates to approximately 10% of their total income.
The UK has led efforts to create and enforce an international legal regime to cut off support for Daesh, including UN and EU sanctions against Daesh. This regime is underpinned by UN Security Council Resolutions 2178, 2199, 1267 and 2253. We are expanding existing work with regional partners to ensure implementation of these sanctions and hamper Daesh’s ability to trade outside the formal financial system, and to stop smuggling.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-02-05.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions government departments have paid bills to small and medium-sized businesses more than 60 days after the date the invoice was received since 2010-11.
Matthew Hancock
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 5 February 2016 to UIN: 25347.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government has contributed to the World Health Organisation in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
The Department contributes financially, on a calendar year basis, to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the form of the United Kingdom’s assessed contribution, and voluntary contributions to support areas of work such as dementia, tobacco control and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including a contribution in 2015 to support the WHO Global Action Plan on AMR. The Department’s contributions for the last three years are set out in the table below.
|
year |
Assessed contribution (£) |
Voluntary contribution (£) |
|
2013 |
19,482,012.20 |
153,957.75 |
|
2014 |
15,343,925.23 |
719,233.11 |
|
2015 |
15,129,522.23 |
3,778,937.56 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the outcome has been of its programme to improve the effect of public expenditure on the quality of service delivery and poverty reduction in Uganda.
Mr Nick Hurd
Supporting public financial management is essential in promoting accountability and ensuring the efficient use of public resources to drive poverty reduction, as well as being fundamental in the fight against corruption.
The Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP) works across the public financial management system. The programme has registered a number of achievements. The Public Finance Act was passed by Parliament in November 2014 thanks to technical support provided by FINMAP. A new Government of Uganda Public Financial Management reform strategy for 2014–2018 was launched in August 2014. The programme has also strengthened the Office of the Auditor General.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was allocated to schools for supporting children with learning difficulties in (a) Mid Sussex constituency and (b) West Sussex in each of the last three years.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Funding for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) is allocated to local authorities through the dedicated schools grant, which includes both funding to be delegated to mainstream schools, and funding for the additional costs associated with educating children and young people with high needs.
Schools are funded through a formula set by their local authority, and local authorities are required to delegate funds to a level that enables schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with SEN up to £6,000 per annum. It is for individual schools to decide how they allocate their overall budget to ensure they meet the specific needs of children with learning difficulties.
For those pupils whose additional support costs more than £6,000 the local authority pays top-up funding to the schools from their high needs budget. Top-up funding rates are for local authorities to agree with their schools.
West Sussex County Council’s high needs allocation, within the dedicated schools grant, in each of the last three years was as follows:
2013-14 – £67.69m
2014-15 – £70.53m
2015-16 – £71.64m
We do not hold information on the total funding allocated by West Sussex County Council for supporting children with learning difficulties to schools in the Mid Sussex constituency or in the West Sussex county area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to encourage Kurdish Iraqis, Sunnis and Shia Muslims to live together after defeating ISIS in Iraq.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are supporting the Iraqi government in its efforts to unite Iraq’s communities against Daesh and extremism, rebuild public trust in the Iraqi state and deliver the services and opportunities which all Iraqis want and deserve. We welcome the commitments that the Government of Iraq has made to inclusivity, to protecting Iraqi citizens, to addressing human rights abuses and holding those responsible to account.
There are now more than 3 million internally displaced people in Iraq. We have committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian effort in Iraq to help those who have fled Daesh’s brutality, and are the largest donor to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-managed Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund.
We are contributing £6 million to the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation, to help the Iraqi government stabilise areas recently liberated from Daesh and re-establish security, basic services and inclusive local governance. We will provide funding for a number of projects designed to support community cohesion and encourage reconciliation, acceptance and tolerance between communities at a grass roots level.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the BBC Panorama programme broadcast on 5 September concerning safety and its management at Sellafield; whether they plan to take any remedial action in the light of that programme; and if so, what.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government disagrees with Panorama’s presentation of safety at Sellafield. The site is a legacy of the UK’s early nuclear programmes. The independent Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has confirmed that it remains safe. The Government’s objective is to decommission its facilities safely, cost-effectively and as quickly as possible. This is an enormously complex task, but we are making significant progress and we expect that to continue.
Our nuclear industry is one of the most highly regulated in the world and the ONR inspects all civil nuclear sites on a regular basis to ensure high levels of safety. The ONR have stated that hazard and risk reduction at Sellafield remains their number one priority, with over 50 highly qualified and experienced inspectors working to ensure the site operates as safely and securely as possible.