Tag: Royston Smith

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2016 to Question 39260, what factors determine the target allocations for primary care funding.

Alistair Burt

The factors that determine the target allocations for primary care announced in January 2016 for 2016-17 to 2020-21 are: the total size and age-sex profile of each clinical commissioning group’s general practitioner (GP) practices’ registered lists; the number of new registrations; the Index of Multiple Deprivation decile of the GP practice’s registered list; an adjustment for differences in unavoidable costs of non-medical staff employed by GP practices; an adjustment for unmet need and health inequalities based on the standardised mortality ratio for those aged under 75 years; and the national budget available.

NHS England recently published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/#

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what measures are in place to apply restrictions to houses in multiple occupation that are located in areas associated with the night-time economy.

Brandon Lewis

Where Houses in Multiple Occupation are having a detrimental effect on a locality’s night time economy, local authorities have a range of powers to manage their proliferation and poor management. Whilst all large Houses in Multiple Occupation are subject to mandatory licensing, local authorities have a discretionary power to license small Houses in Multiple Occupation in a designated area. Local authorities also have planning powers to limit the proliferation of Houses in Multiple Occupation within their locality. Where there is sufficient evidence of the need to do so, a local planning authority may withdraw a permitted development right in a specific area using an article 4 direction, after consultation with the local community.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of university technical college students go on to achieve a (a) Level 3 and (b) Level 4 apprenticeship qualification.

Robert Halfon

Information on the proportion of university technical college students achieving apprenticeship qualifications over the past three years is not readily available. The Department for Education is phasing in a series of changes to our performance tables from 2018, including the inclusion of apprenticeship outcomes.