Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Judith Cummins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Judith Cummins on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of children in (a) Bradford South constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber who do not meet the expected levels of speech and communication skills in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessment.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Government wants all children, regardless of their background, to have access to high quality early education and childcare, as we know this is what makes the difference to outcomes. To help close the gap between disadvantaged children and their better off peers, we introduced the two-year-old entitlement of 15 hours of free early education in September 2013. Already 70% of two-year-olds are benefitting from the free early education entitlement. We have also invested over £50 million in the Early Years Pupil Premium, to further help disadvantaged children in the early years.

    While the Department does not carry out analysis at constituency level on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Profile results, information at Bradford local authority level shows a significant increase in the proportion of children reaching the expected level in communication and language. The most recent EYFS Profile results show that the gap has narrowed:

    • For Bradford local authority: 78.3% in 2015, compared to 71.2% in 2014 and 66.6% in 2013; and
    • For the Yorkshire and Humberside region: 79.5% in 2015, compared to 75.7% in 2014 and 69.9% in 2013.

    The national picture shows a similar trend with the gap narrowing to 80.3% in 2015 from 77.1% in 2014 and 72.2% in 2013.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect on the self-esteem of female pupils of having to wear a uniform.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The department has published advisory guidance on school uniform policy. The guidance makes clear that it is for the governing body of a school to decide whether there should be a school uniform policy and if so what that should be. It also makes clear that, when deciding on uniform policy, a school will have to consider its obligations not to discriminate unlawfully, including on the basis of gender.

    The guidance can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform.

    “

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools applied to the Education Funding Agency for funding for asbestos removal between 2010 and 2016; and what the (a) name, (b) type and (c) local authority is of each such school.

    Nick Gibb

    The Education Funding Agency (EFA) does not hold a breakdown of funding information, in the format requested, in relation to the removal of asbestos or renovation of school buildings.

    Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the primary responsibility for managing asbestos lies with the person or persons responsible for the maintenance or repair of a building. For schools, this will be the local authority, school governors or academy trust.

    The table below summarises the capital budgets from 2011-12 to 2016-17 that were provided for school maintenance, refurbishment and rebuilding, including where appropriate the removal and/or safe containment of asbestos-containing materials. As these works are covered by the capital funding programmes listed below, the Department does not allocate a separate budget for this purpose; and there are no plans to do so in future years.

    The Department does not hold directly comparable allocation or expenditure data on prior years.

    (All values £m)

    2011-12 Budget

    2012-13 Budget

    2013-14 Budget

    2014-15 Budget

    2015-16 Budget

    2016-17 Budget

    School Condition Allocations (funding provided to local authorities and voluntary-aided schools)

    1,054

    861

    749

    699

    690

    661

    Devolved Formula Capital (funding provided direct to schools)

    185

    162

    149

    138

    134

    130

    Funding for academies, multi-academy trusts, state-funded special schools and other specialist providers for state-funded pupils (including DFC).

    161

    376

    504

    562

    576

    617

    Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP) (delivered by central government)

    0

    0

    90

    603

    999

    1,050

    Total

    1,400

    1,399

    1,492

    2,002

    2,399

    2,458
  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that job vacancy statistics do not double-count jobs advertised through multiple agencies on the job vacancy portal.

    Priti Patel

    The official vacancy statistics are national statistics, produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and not DWP. ONS is the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and is the recognised national statistical institute for the UK.

    The ONS is overseen by the UK Statistics Authority, which is an independent body operating at arm’s length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. The UK Statistics authority provides independent scrutiny (monitoring and assessment) of all official statistics produced in the UK.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kilclooney – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the EU guidelines for labelling products made in Israeli settlements will apply in the UK, and if so, what are the implications for future meetings between the Ambassador of the UK to Israel and representatives of the government of Israel.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The principal feature of the Interpretative Notice issued by the European Commission on 11 November on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 is a recommendation that goods imported into the EU which originate from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories should bear an indication which makes that provenance clear. That recommendation was included in technical advice to UK retailers and importers concerning labelling agricultural produce from the West Bank that was issued by Defra in 2009. We are currently in discussion with other Departments to consider whether revisions need to be made to the 2009 advice in the light of the Interpretative Notice. I do not anticipate that the UK’s bilateral relations with Israel will be affected by the EU’s decision to adopt this Notice, given that we have already had guidance in place for several years.

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to allow local authorities to charge for membership of public libraries.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 restricts local authorities in England and Wales from charging for library facilities made available by the authority unless permitted by the Library Charges (England and Wales) Regulations 1991. These regulations empower local authorities in England and Wales to make certain charges for the provision of library facilities but this does not include charging for ordinary library membership.

    The Government has no plans to amend the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to allow local authorities to specifically charge for ordinary membership of public libraries..

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fabian Hamilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the treatment of Sikhs campaigning for human rights in that country; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) discussed religious tolerance in India with Prime Minister Modi on 12 November 2015. Mr Modi reassured the British Government that he remained committed to diversity and fundamental freedoms. Mr Modi was clear in his commitment to and respect for India’s core values of tolerance and fundamental rights, as well as reaffirming the importance of social harmony and inclusive development. Mr Modi met a delegation of Sikh leaders during his visit to the UK in November 2015 and discussed a range of issues effecting the Sikh community in India. His visit, including his address at Wembley, highlighted the contribution that Sikh and other religious minority communities make to India, and to UK-India relations. I also discussed religious tolerance with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on 5 November.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many summer school programmes there were for disadvantaged students transitioning from primary to secondary school in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    In 2014, approximately 2,121 secondary schools received summer school grant funding. This figure rose to 2,259 in 2015.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of deaths in England caused by malnutrition in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Alan Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Campbell on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households are in receipt of (a) feed-in tariff payments from solar PV installations, (b) domestic renewal heat incentive payments and (c) both such payments.

    Andrea Leadsom

    By the end of March 2016, there were

    • 722,559 households with solar PV benefitting from feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments.

    • 45,789 households with installations benefitting from renewable heat incentive (RHI) payments

    The number of households in receipt of both FIT and RHI payments is not available.

    Source data:

    FIT: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/sub-regional-feed-in-tariffs-confirmed-on-the-cfr-statistics

    RHI: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rhi-deployment-data-march-2016-q1-2016 (table 2.10)

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