Tag: Philip Hollobone

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, by what date 100 per cent of residents of (a) Kettering constituency and (b) England will have access to superfast broadband.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Based on current delivery plans, it is estimated that 97% of premises in Kettering will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the gainshare funding that BT have offered in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Kettering and the rest of the area covered by the Northamptonshire broadband project.

The government currently aims to achieve superfast broadband coverage for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on raising awareness of the tax-free Childcare scheme.

Damian Hinds

HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Department for Education, and their Ministers, are collaborating closely on the implementation of Tax-Free Childcare and the Extended Entitlement to free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders are in prison in England and Wales.

Andrew Selous

This information is published and the latest figures, from April to June 2015, can be be found using the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on when Greece will have taken steps to ensure that its asylum system is compliant with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on 21 January 2011 in the case of MSS vs Belgium and Greece.

Mr David Lidington

The Asylum Agency in Greece was founded in 2011 in response to criticism of the previous system and the case of MSS v. Belgium and Greece. The same law adapted Greek legislation to Directive 2008/115/EC on returning illegally residing third country nationals and related issues.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe monitors the case of MSS v. Belgium and Greece under the “enhanced supervision” procedure. They last considered it in December 2015 and will do so again in December 2016. There was no debate in 2015, which means the Secretariat were satisfied with the information Greece had provided.

The UN’s Universal Periodic Review of Greece will take place in early May. The review will cover the full range of human rights in Greece, including the asylum system. Greece’s self-assessment will be available on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will discuss with the Secretary of State for Defence how the best examples of literacy and numeracy education carried out in initial basic training in HM Armed Forces can be introduced to assist underachieving pupils in attaining GCSE grade C in English and mathematics.

Nick Gibb

The Government is committed to raising standards of literacy and numeracy for all pupils. We have strengthened the teaching of reading through rigorous phonics methods and placed greater emphasis within the primary curriculum and assessment on secure grasp of the essentials such as grammar, punctuation and spelling and fluency in mental and written calculation. We provide funding to secondary schools to help pupils catch up quickly and have announced resits for year 7 pupils in reading and mathematics.

Our reforms to mathematics and English at GCSE offer greater assurance that pupils with these qualifications will have the literacy and numeracy skills they need in employment, and we now require every 16-19 year old without a good pass in GCSE English and maths to study these subjects as part of their 16-19 programme.

In every aspect of this work the Department for Education is active in looking for ways to improve literacy and numeracy. We will look with interest at the work of the Armed Forces in this area.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2013, column 507W, what the updated figures are for the latest period available.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The average waiting time from receipt to disposal for all Social Security and Child Support appeals between October and December 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available) was 19 weeks nationally and 15.9 weeks in the Kettering venue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle illegal fly grazing in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.

George Eustice

The Control of Horses Act 2015 (the 2015 Act) came into force on 26 May and specifically applies to horses that are fly-grazing or abandoned on another person’s land. Under the 2015 Act, local authorities and private owners and occupiers of land are able to deal with fly-grazing or abandoned horses more quickly and effectively. Specifically, it permits the disposal of such horses after 4 working days from detention, rather than the 14 days currently prescribed by the previous law. The 2015 Act applies to the whole of England.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to protect pensioners’ incomes in (a) Kettering and (b) England.

Justin Tomlinson

This Government wants all pensioners to have a decent and secure income in retirement. We are committed to the ‘triple lock’, the guarantee that the basic and new State Pension will increase by the highest of the growth in average earnings, price increases or 2.5%. From April 2016, the full basic State Pension will rise to £119.30 a week, an increase of £3.35 and the biggest real terms increase to the basic State Pension since 2001. This will benefit many of the 18000 recipients of State Pension in Kettering and the 10 million recipients in England.

For the poorest pensioners, from April 2016 Pension Credit will top up income to a guaranteed minimum level of £155.60 for a single person and £237.55 for couples. We are protecting key benefits for older people including Winter Fuel Payments, free eye tests, free NHS prescriptions, free bus passes and free television licences for those aged 75 and over.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders in prison have been convicted of (a) drugs, (b) sexual violence and (c) fraud offences.

Andrew Selous

As of 31 December 2015 there were 9,895 Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) held in prisons and NOMS-operated Immigration Removal Centres, of which 6,612 were sentenced prisoners. Of these: 1,312 were sentenced for drug offences; 1,084 of these were sentenced for sexual offences; and, 258 of these were sentenced for fraud offences.

This government has a longstanding policy to do everything possible to return foreign prisoners to their home country at the earliest opportunity. Since 2010, 29,000 FNOs have been removed from the UK, with the total FNO population in our prisons reducing from 10,866 in December 2010 to 9,895 in December 2015. Offender management statistics, including FNOs, can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure the delivery of superfast broadband to the remaining five per cent of properties which do not have access to it in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England.

Mr Edward Vaizey

By2017, approximately 95 per cent of homes and businesses in Northamptonshire will have access to superfast broadband. To support further delivery, a further £1.9 million of funding has been made available through the contractual gainshare arrangements, and Northamptonshire County Council has further funding available beyond this for additional procurement.

In addition, the Government is supporting seven pilot projects to help deliver superfast broadband services to the hardest to reach parts of the UK. We will publish the findings from the pilots in duecourse.