Tag: Paul Blomfield

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to support efforts to achieve goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on water and sanitation.

Mr Nick Hurd

In the manifesto in April 2015 and in the UK Aid Strategy published in November 2015, we committed to help 60 million people get access to clean water and sanitation in support of goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

We will achieve this target through projects managed by our Country Offices, through projects managed from the UK and through our contributions to multilateral organisations such as the World Bank. We will continue to invest in country and regional programmes to improve water resources management, water efficiency and improve water quality, as well as drive value for money.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of her Department’s reform of AS and A-level qualifications on the number of hours of study students are undertaking in post-16 education.

Nick Gibb

The number of guided learning hours for AS and A levels have not changed as a result of our reforms. However, with the move to linear qualifications, there will no longer be the routine and automatic external assessment of students at the end of year 12 which places unnecessary burdens on students’ and teachers’ time.

Study programmes are funded per student rather than per qualification. Funding rates are based on an average of 600 hours per year of planned activities per student.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how the final decision on proposals to centralise all policy functions to one headquarters in London and close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place will be made once the consultation on those proposals has finished.

Joseph Johnson

The final decisions on whether to centralise all policy functions a single headquarters, and to close the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place, will be made by the department’s Executive Board following the end of consultation with staff and Trade Unions in May.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise on 9 May 2016, Official Report, column 442, what the addresses are of the 14 locations across which his Department’s policy teams are spread.

Joseph Johnson

The addresses of the 14 locations where the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills policy teams are based are:

Birmingham
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham B2 4BU

Bristol
2 Rivergate
Bristol BS1 6EH

Cambridge
Eastbrook House
Shaftsbury Road
Cambridge CB2 8DU

Cardiff
Companies House
Crown Way
Cardiff CF14 3UZ

Coventry
Cheylesmore House
Quinton Road
Coventry CV1 2WT

Darlington
Queensway House
West Precinct
Darlington TS23 2NF

Gateshead
St George’s House
Kingsway
Gateshead NE11 0NA

Leeds
Alexandra House
Redvers Close
Leeds LS16 6QY

London
1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET

Manchester
3 Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester M1 2WD

Newport
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport NP10 8QQ

Nottingham
Apex Court
City Link
Nottingham NG2 4LA

Sheffield
2 St Paul’s Place
125 Norfolk Street
Sheffield S1 2FJ

Warrington/Daresbury
Daresbury Laboratory
Keckwick Lane
Warrington WA4 4AD

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36974, on Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many policy staff are based at each of those 14 locations.

Anna Soubry

The number of employees of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) headquarters, working in policy roles as at 31 May 2016, are shown in the table below. Some details have changed since the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36974 because of staff movements and people leaving under Voluntary Exit schemes.

Policy staff includes all people working in policy directorates as well as those directly involved in the policy making process including, for example, Private Office, analysis, external communications, and legal services (other than those that operate on a local basis such as prosecutors and investigation offices). It excludes corporate functions such as Finance, HR, Digital and Commercial, and regionally based staff such as BIS Local.

Location	Number of employees
Billingham Queensway House, West Precinct, Billingham TS23 2NF	1
Birmingham Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham B2 4BU	1
Bristol 2 Rivergate, Bristol BS1 6EH	5
Cambridge Eastbrook House, Shaftsbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8DU	1
Cardiff Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff CF14 3UZ	31
Coventry Cheylesmore House, Quinton Road, Coventry CV1 2WT	1
Darlington Queensway House, West Precinct, Darlington TS23 2NF	5
Gateshead St George’s House, Kingsway, Gateshead NE11 0NA	2
Leeds 1 City Walk, Leeds LS11 9DA	1
London 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET	1363
Manchester 3 Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester M1 2WD	2
Nottingham Apex Court, City Link, Nottingham NG2 4LA	4
Sheffield 2 St Paul’s Place, 125 Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2FJ	222
Warrington/Daresbury Daresbury Laboratory, Keckwick Lane, Warrington WA4 4AD	10

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016, on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what assessment his Department has made of the relative level of difficulty in redeploying (a) London-based and (b) non-London-based staff to address urgent priorities.

Joseph Johnson

I refer the hon Member to my response to question UIN 39342.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, (a) who holds responsibility for training magistrates and (b) how many magistrates have received training on the use of (i) slavery and trafficking risk orders and (ii) slavery and trafficking prevention orders.

Mr Shailesh Vara

Judicial training is the responsibility of the Lord Chief Justice and is exercised through the Judicial College.

To fulfil their judicial decision making responsibilities magistrates, their legal advisers and District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) receive comprehensive induction and continuation training in across the jurisdictions, which includes new legislation.

It is not however possible to identify where magistrates have received standalone or direct training on the use of slavery and trafficking risk orders or slavery and trafficking prevention orders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation her Department has held on the draft Adults at Risk policy for vulnerable people detained under immigration powers.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Stephen Shaw carried out a comprehensive consultation in preparing his report of his review of the welfare of vulnerable people in immigration detention, and the draft adults at risk policy forms part of the Government’s response to Mr Shaw’s review. The Government saw no reason to duplicate this in developing the adults at risk policy. However, when the draft policy was published on 26 May, the Government wrote to a wide range of relevant non-Governmental organisations and offered them the opportunity to discuss it. Subsequently, Home Office officials have held meetings with a number of interested organisations, and the views of these organisations have been taken into account as the policy has been developed further.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the press release of 11 August 2016 entitled Largest ever list of National Minimum Wage offenders published, what checks HM Revenue and Customs conducted at those social care employers where workers were found to be owed arrears to ensure that all workers at those employers were not paid below the national living and minimum wage.

Margot James

HM Revenue and Customs respond to 100% of worker complaints, and where applicable open an investigation to ensure that the National Minimum Wage has been paid. The aim of enforcement is to ensure all arrears owed to workers are paid back.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken to reduce hate crime since the EU referendum.

Sarah Newton

We have been working closely with the police at national and regional levels to monitor hate crime since the EU Referendum and to ensure that local forces have the necessary assistance and guidance to respond.

Police forces are responding robustly to recent incidents, and victims can be reassured that their concerns about hate crime will be taken seriously by the police and courts.

On 26 July we published a comprehensive new cross-Government Hate Crime Action plan to drive forward action against hate crime. This includes education programmes to prevent hate incidents and measures to improve the police response and recording of hate crime. It also includes £2.4million for security at places of worship which are vulnerable to hate crime and £300,000 funding for community groups to tackle hate crime at local level.

Ministers and officials have also met Ambassadors and High Commissioners from all EU states and offered reassurance and a single point of contact for them to raise concerns over hate crime on behalf of their citizens.