Tag: Royston Smith

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what powers his Department has to block access to social media sites for people awaiting sentencing.

Andrew Selous

An extensive programme of work is underway to prevent prisoners having access to mobile phones. As the Prime Minister said on 8 February 2016, we are working with the mobile network operators to challenge them to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so we can block mobile phones’ signals in prisons.

Although there are no rules to prevent prisoners on remand from passing on passwords for social media platforms, prisoners, including those on remand in custody, are not allowed access to social media platforms either directly or via a third party.

It is a criminal offence for a person to take or transmit any image or sound from within a prison and send it outside the prison and where a link between a prisoner and content posted on social media is identified, the case will be referred to the police. A sentence of up to two years can be given if those charged are found guilty. If the police decide not to pursue a criminal investigation, a prisoner can be punished under the prison disciplinary system, for example, by having privileges removed or additional days added to their time in prison.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2016 to Question 37550, what further progress has been made on reviewing the legal and financial implications of an alternative pavement parking regime; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The process for putting in place traffic regulation orders (TROs) was identified as a major factor affecting the enforcement of pavement parking. The Department for Transport is therefore now considering how best to address the general improvement of the TRO-making process and will provide further information once this is available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to reduce the time taken for the DVLA’s Drivers Medical Group department to return driving licences to applicants.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has made a number of improvements in the way it deals with medical cases. Extra caseworkers have been employed and more medical advisers are being recruited.

The DVLA deals with telephone enquiries from drivers who are working abroad or who have a job offer pending as a priority. Also, a dedicated team has been established to ensure that customers challenging a licensing decision, are dealt with as quickly as possible. All applications for first vocational driving licences where a medical condition is declared are dealt with as a priority.

These changes are part of an ongoing programme of work which will continue to introduce improvements. Future changes include the introduction of a digital service channel and a review of how complex cases are handled. The changes will help to significantly speed up the process for both motorists and medical professionals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that seven-day GP services are provided in Southampton.

Alistair Burt

The Southampton City Primary Care Hub scheme supports 269,875 patients from 33 general practitioner (GP) practices, providing them with access to improved services across Southampton via six hubs. The first of these six hubs opened in June 2015 and offers GP and Healthcare Assistant appointments from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the evenings and 8:00am-8:00pm at the weekends. Two further hubs went live in September and a further two early January 2016 as part of a phased rollout.

Information technology offerings from the hubs will feature e-Consultations and e-Feedback for patients which will be phased across the hubs in 2016. Since September 2015, the scheme has also been offering patients a physiotherapy service delivering primary care physio in the evenings and at weekends, alongside a pathway redesign to support GPs as first contact for patients with musculoskeletal problems.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent strategy.

Mr John Hayes

As part of the Prevent Strategy we have trained over 450,000 frontline workers in spotting signs of radicalisation. In Channel, hundreds of people have been successfully provided with support. 130 community based projects were delivered in 2015, up from 70 in 2014, reaching over 25,300 participants. Our local coordinator network has dramatically increased its reach, working with over 2,790 different institutions and engaging nearly 50,000 individuals over the course of 2015.

Following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit, social media providers removed 58,000 pieces of illegal terrorist material in 2015, compared with 46,000 in 2014. This brings the total to 140,000 since February 2010 when the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit was set up.

We report on Prevent delivery annually through the CONTEST Annual report. The next report will be published shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to ensure that people in local authority areas with a larger ageing population do not have to pay disproportionately higher council tax as a result of the social care precept.

Mr Marcus Jones

We have set the social care precept at a maximum of 2% for authorities with adult social care responsibilities. The council tax referendum principles remain in place, and are approved on an annual basis by the House of Commons. Any council tax rise above the overall threshold levels approved by the House must go to a binding referendum of the local electorate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of pupil premium on ensuring children who are classed as behind reach their expected grades at Key Stages 1 to 4.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Government is determined to deliver educational excellence everywhere so that every child, regardless of background, reaches their full potential.

Information on the proportion of low achieving disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard at key stage 4 is available from the KS2-4 transition matrices for disadvantaged pupils[1] on RAISEonline. These show progression from sub-levels at key stage 2 to grades at key stage 4 for a range of subjects, for both disadvantaged and other pupils. Similar information is not published regularly for progression between other key stages.

In 2015 the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee reviewed the pupil premium and concluded that while it is too early to assess the full impact of the funding, there is evidence that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has started to narrow.

The Department for Education’s gap index provides a more accurate measure over time in light of changes to assessments. It shows that attainment has risen and the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed – by 7.1 per cent at key stage 2 and 6.6 per cent at key stage 4 since 2011, the year the pupil premium was introduced.

This means better prospects and a more prosperous life as an adult for this group of pupils. But we refuse to accept second best for any young person, which is why we are continuing the pupil premium at current rates for the duration of this parliament, providing funding to support schools to continue improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

[1] https://www.raiseonline.org/OpenDocument.aspx?document=381%20

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of how many people in Southampton will benefit from the introduction of the national living wage.

Nick Boles

The Government published its Impact Assessment with a full assessment of the National Living Wage policy on 7 December 2015.

300,000 workers in the South East will directly benefit from the National Living Wage by 2020. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has made no detailed assessment of the benefits of the National Living Wage at local authority level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase capacity in UK medical schools to enable an increase in the number of UK-trained doctors entering the NHS.

Ben Gummer

The Government makes a significant investment in educating and training doctors. Health Education England (HEE) has oversight in determining overall medical school place numbers as the Department only funds places for the numbers of doctors needed to work in the National Health Service in the future.

The Government’s Mandate to HEE for 2015/16, required them to “take a strategic role in relation to those healthcare professions where number controls are, or may in the future be, determined nationally, including medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. HEE’s objective is to take a leading role in working with partners in higher education to keep medical, dental training and other healthcare numbers under review.”

HEE is undertaking a review of medical undergraduate numbers which will be published in due course. Where number controls are determined nationally, HEE will need to agree any changes with the Department of Health in discussion with other relevant Government departments, such as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

HEE’s Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016/17 forecasts an increase in the available supply of doctors to the NHS workforce by 2020 of 14.6% above 2015 figures. This includes doctors in general practice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the (a) issuing and (b) geographical extent of abatement notices to homes affected by noise nuisance.

Rory Stewart

The Government does not consider it appropriate to provide best practice guidance to local authorities on abatement notices. Noise nuisance is best dealt with at a local level. Local authorities should therefore be free to take account of local circumstances when determining how best to apply the powers available to them in relevant noise and nuisance legislation.