Tag: Roger Godsiff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs’ strategy to enforce the national minimum wage.

Nick Boles

The Low Pay Commission publish an annual report on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) which includes a full assessment of the Government’s NMW compliance and enforcement strategy. The 2015 report is available here – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-minimum-wage-low-pay-commission-report-2015 – the next report is due to be published in February 2016.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to encourage other participants in the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference to (a) increase access to accredited quality non-formal education for Syrian refugee children in host countries in that region and (b) ensure that funding for Syrian refugee education is sustained beyond short-term humanitarian support.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region being held in London on 4^th February, we want the international community to agree a new goal that all Syrian refugee children and affected host country children are in education – formal school or non-formal – by the end of 2016/17. Equally, for inside Syria, it is our aim to increase access to good quality schooling or other learning opportunities such as self-learning and non-formal education. In neighbouring countries we will also increase access to vocational or skills training and higher education for children and youth.

At the Conference our ambition is that international donors, governments from countries in the region hosting refugees, non-governmental organisations and the private sector come together to agree a set of reciprocal financial and policy commitments. The UK and co-hosts are working with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. We are also working with refugee hosting governments in particular to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to require GP surgeries to provide his Department with details of all the Med 3 fit notes they issue in respect of people receiving disability benefits.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department will receive anonymised and aggregated GP practice level statistics on Med 3 forms or ‘fit notes’.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that there is a lack of transparency in the school admission system, what steps she plans to take to monitor and enforce compliance with the School Admissions Code.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’. We consider that the code provides clear advice to all admission authorities.

Compliance is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The degree to which maintained schools comply with the code is monitored through the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. We consider the findings of the report and whether changes to the system are necessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the illustrative rota number 15 for junior doctors published by NHS Employers on 18 February 2016, for what reasons that rota requires junior doctors to work on consecutive weekends; whether rota 15 has been updated since its original publication; and whether the illustrative rotas will provide for more junior doctors to be on duty at weekends than there are at present.

Ben Gummer

Only a small number of junior doctors currently work one weekend in two and NHS Employers agreed with the British Medical Association (BMA) that they would work together to move towards no junior doctor working more than one weekend in three as part of an agreed future contract review process. No junior doctor will be required to work consecutive weekends. The illustrative rota concerned has been adjusted to reflect this. However, the BMA said in negotiation that doctors working very frequent weekends would prefer the flexibility to group weekends of work together in order to group weekends off. This will be possible by agreement under the new contract.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to healthcare professionals involved with children with mental health problems on whether they have a responsibility to inform parents that their child may be eligible for disability living allowance.

Alistair Burt

The Department of Health has not issued guidance to healthcare professionals on informing parents of their children’s eligibility for disability living allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions provides information on benefits, including Disability Living Allowance (DLA), in a range of formats at:

www.gov.uk

This includes information relating to DLA for children and includes links to benefit eligibility calculators that will signpost the user to further information about DLA for children.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson’s disease receive personal independence payment at the (a) daily living standard, (b) daily living enhanced, (c) mobility standard and (d) mobility enhanced rate.

Justin Tomlinson

The figures below show numbers of people in Great Britain in receipt of Personal Independence Payment as at 31^st January 2016 who have either Parkinson’s disease or Parkinson’s syndrome / Parkinsonism as their main disabling condition.

Parkinson’s disease

			Daily living
		Enhanced	Standard	Nil
	Enhanced	962	85	13
Mobility	Standard	489	307	44
	Nil	329	686	–

Source: PIP Computer Systems

Parkinson’s syndrome / Parkinsonism

			Daily living
		Enhanced	Standard	Nil
	Enhanced	101	8	–
Mobility	Standard	56	34	7
	Nil	26	64	–

Source: PIP Computer Systems

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much compensation was paid from the public purse to Chagossians; on what dates such compensation payments were made; and how many families were so compensated.

James Duddridge

The UK Government has paid out around £21m at current prices. This comprises two sums. An initial figure of £650,000 which the UK Government paid in 1973 to the Government of Mauritius towards the resettlement of those removed from the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965. This was disbursed with accrued interest in 1977 and 1978 to 595 families. Furthermore, in 1982 the UK Government paid over a further £4m pursuant to an agreement with the Government of Mauritius which had established the Ilois Trust Fund Board to distribute the money for the benefit of the Chagossians. The government of Mauritius had also contributed some land to the Trust Fund and the government of India contributed £1m to it. At least 1,344 Chagossians received compensation through the Trust Fund, which was largely paid out between 1982 and 1984, with a final disbursement in 1987. The Government does not hold information about those it has not compensated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether additional funding will be provided to support further education students who have to travel further to access education as a result of colleges merging.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Future college mergers will tend to be decided through area reviews of post-16 education which are focused on meeting the needs of learners in each area. Area reviews, because they are overseen by steering groups including Chairs and Principals of colleges as well as local authorities, are well placed to ensure decisions are taken which are in the interests of local further education students, taking into account travel to learn distances. The steering group’s recommendations will always be based on the best available evidence, including an analysis of local economic and educational needs, and the mapping of current curriculum provision and travel to learn patterns.

As well as being members of area review steering groups, local authorities have statutory responsibility for transport to education and training for 16- to 19-year-olds. We expect local authorities to make reasonable decisions about the support they offer based on the needs of their young people, local transport infrastructure and the resources they have available. Authorities will need to take account of the recommendations arising from each area review and the impact on transport for learners. Local authorities fund any support they provide for transport to post-16 education through the grants they receive from national government and through generated income, such as council tax.

Most 16- to 19-year olds have access to a discount or concession on local travel, from their local transport provider, their local authority, or from their education or training provider. The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund is also available to support young people with the costs associated with attending education or training, and transport is the biggest single area of expenditure for which this fund is used.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent by academies on marketing and public relations in each of the most recent five years for which figures are available; and how much of that spending came from (a) public funding and (b) other sources.

Edward Timpson

Marketing and public relations is not a category under which the Department collects expenditure information from academies and data is not, therefore, held by the Department in a way which distinguishes it from other spending by academies.

Income and expenditure data for academies is collected and published each year by the Department as a Statistical First Release. The latest published data is for 2013/14 and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-and-expenditure-in-academies-in-england-2013-to-2014

It is not possible to differentiate for any spend in an academy whether it was made from public funds or from self-generated income.

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