Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that aid and humanitarian help is able to gain access to Sa’ada and Hajjah.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has more than doubled its support over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16 to respond to the humanitarian crisis. UK aid is focused on the most urgent life-saving needs, and has so far helped more than 1.3 million Yemenis who have been affected by the conflict with food assistance, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter. Through our support to UN agencies and NGOs working in Sa’ada and Hajjah, people in need in these Governates are being provided with water, sanitation and hygiene support, health and nutrition assistance, shelter kits and cash to help address emergency food needs.

    We work with partners such as UN agencies and NGOs who have good access and a strong track record of delivering and monitoring assistance in difficult and dangerous places. The security situation across Yemen is, however, impacting the ability of humanitarian organisations to access populations to deliver assistance, and to make assessments of their needs. The UK continues to urge all parties to the conflict to take all reasonable steps to facilitate rapid and safe access for humanitarian agencies to all people in need in Yemen.

    UK aid is also supporting the UN to co-ordinate the international humanitarian response and to facilitate the delivery of aid across Yemen according to where needs are greatest including to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Humanitarian Air Service and the Verification and Inspection Mechanism.

  • 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 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the low level of representation of ethnic minorities among people starting an apprenticeship.

    Robert Halfon

    We are committed to increasing the proportion of apprenticeship starts taken up by people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds by 20%.

    We have begun detailed analysis of the apprenticeship data to gain a full picture of the representation of ethnic minorities in apprenticeships, any barriers to participation, and areas of potential for growth.

    In 2014/15, 10.6% of those starting an apprenticeship had a BAME background.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Leader of the House, how many (a) Peers and (b) civil servants have offices within the Palace of Westminster.

    Mr David Lidington

    As of 13 October, there is a total of three hundred and sixty eight (368) Peers with desks provided within one hundred and twelve (112) offices in the Palace of Westminster.

    There is a total of twenty eight (28) desks provided within eight (8) offices to Civil Servants in the House of Commons foot print of the Palace of Westminster for the following: Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Leader of the House and Government Chief Whip.

    There is a total of twenty one (21) desks provided within six (6) offices to Civil Servants in the House of Lords foot print of the Palace of Westminster for the following: Cabinet Office (16 desks, 4 offices) and Crown Office (5 desks, 2 Offices). In addition there is a Bill Team Room in the House of Lords. This is a single office with two desks which is for the use of civil servants from whichever department is having legislation debated in the Chamber to use as a ‘hotdesking’ facility.

  • Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of women completing PhDs in STEM subjects.

    Joseph Johnson

    The number of female doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects increased from 5,485 in 2009/10 to 6,300 in 2013/14, an increase of 15%. The total number of doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects also increased over this period, from 12,830 in 2009/10 to 14,020 in 2013/14, and the proportion of female doctorate qualifiers in STEM subjects who are female increased from 43% to 45%.[i]

    The Government is committed to developing a strong, diverse research community. The Research Councils and National Academies share this commitment. We are taking steps to encourage greater representation of women in STEM subjects at university and in the academic community through the establishment of a Diversity Steering Group and support for such initiatives as the Athena SWAN charter which promotes gender equality in academia.

    [i] Higher Education Statistics Agency: Number of Doctorate Qualifiers in STEM subjects by Gender. (Academic Years 2009/10 to 2013/14). Excel spreadsheet is attached to this PQ.

  • Baroness Prosser – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Prosser – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Prosser on 2015-12-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) what is the cost per call of the Equality Advisory Support Service, including the wrap-up time after each call; (2) how this cost compares to benchmarked comparators; and (3) how many calls the service handled each year since 1 October 2012.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS) costs are calculated on a per case basis, covering everything from an initial inquiry through to final action on behalf of the customer, but the EASS estimate of the call element of a case is under £10.

    The costs per call or per contact of similar services to EASS are treated as commercially confidential information by the providers concerned.

    The numbers of calls handled by the service each year since 1 October 2012 are provided in the table below.

    Year

    Contacts via telephone

    Oct 2012 to Sept 2013

    37,379

    Oct 2013 to Sept 2014

    39,095

    Oct 2014 to Sept 2015

    41,032

    Oct 2015 to Nov 2015

    7,630

    Total

    125,136
  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether persons coming to live in the UK on spousal visas are entitled to make use of existing schemes of English language tuition provided through public funds; and on what terms.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Funding for english for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision in England is normally restricted to people who have been resident in the UK or another EEA country for at least the previous 3 years on the first day of learning. For the 3-year residency rule not to apply to a person coming to live in the UK on a spousal visa, the spouse in the UK whom they are joining would have to have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years.

    Full-funding is prioritised for people who are in receipt of certain work-related benefits and are mandated to undertake skills training to improve their English in order to find work. This is funded through a provider’s Adult Skills Budget. People on other state benefits who are unemployed and where poor English skills are a barrier to finding work, may still be eligible for full funding at the discretion of the training provider. All others can be co-funded but are expected to make a contribution towards the costs of training.

    Other opportunities to learn English on publicly-funded programmes include BIS supported community-ESOL programmes and DCLG community-based English language projects.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Carolyn Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police call-outs to betting shops there were due to violence related to fixed odds betting terminals.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office does not collect information centrally on the reasons why police officers are called out to specific locations. The Home Office has no plans for a formal assessment of the impact of fixed odds betting terminals on levels of crime.

    It is for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to decide crime priorities at a local level, and the most appropriate response in their areas.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many nationals of other EU member states are awaiting deportation from the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The removal of foreign national offenders (FNOs) has been increasing year on year since 2010. In 2015, 5,602 FNOs were removed, the highest number in a year since records began in 2009.

    As of December 2015, there were 4,217 EEA foreign national offenders awaiting deportation.

    (1) The figures quoted have been derived from management information from the Home Office databases and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

    (2) A Foreign National Offender (FNO) is defined as an individual with a criminal case on the Home Office’s Case Information Database (CID) and may include individuals with asylum cases.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the legal status of NHS Improvement is; how and to whom that body is accountable; and what functions he has in relation to that body.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement has brought together two distinct legal entities: Monitor, a non-departmental public body and the NHS Trust Development Authority, a special health authority, under a single leadership and operating model. It is a combination of the continuing statutory functions and legal powers vested in these organisations.

    They will continue to maintain their current legal underpinnings as two separate bodies, although they will function as a single organisation to manage NHS trusts and foundation trusts more effectively in the interests of patients and taxpayers.

    NHS Improvement will be accountable directly to Parliament, the Secretary of State and the Department’s Principal Accounting Officer for discharge of Monitor’s statutory and regulatory functions and to the Secretary of State and Principal Accounting Officer for the specific functions of the Trust Development Authority.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department’s White Paper, Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice, published on 16 May 2016, what the minimum number of (a) students and (b) higher education students is which any new provider would have to have registered at their institution in order to be granted university teaching powers.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government’s intention is that – as now – in order to be eligible for taught degree awarding powers a provider must have the majority of its higher education students enrolled on study programmes which are recognised as being at level 6 or above of the Framework of Higher Education Qualifications for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This requirement will be set out in detailed criteria and guidance on degree awarding powers on which there will be a consultation in due course.