Tag: Stephen Timms

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much has been lost to the National Insurance Fund from salary sacrifice schemes for occupational pensions in each of the last five years.

Damian Hinds

Department for Work and Pensions has published estimates on salary sacrifice available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-pension-provision-survey-2013 Estimates are not available for the number of active members who take advantage of these schemes or the loss to the National Insurance Fund.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the implementation of universal credit on the level of rent arrears in council homes.

Justin Tomlinson

This information is not collected centrally.

Statistics are published annually on the total value of local authority social housing rent arrears, broken down by Local Authority area. They were most recently published on the Government’s website for 2014-15:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-data#2014-to-2015

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) ducts and (b) poles have been built with BDUK funding which are (i) more than one km in length and cost more than £50,000 to build and (ii) less than one km in length and cost less than £50,000 to build.

Mr Edward Vaizey

BT predominately uses existing duct and pole infrastructure in BDUK project areas, but where state funded infrastructure has been used, they report it on their website at: https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/ductandpolesharing/contracts/contracts/downloads/State_Aided_Infrastruture_One_Truth.xls“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many qualified PE teachers entered the teaching profession in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb

In the academic year 2013 to 2014 (the latest available), there were 1,443 initial teacher trainees on physical education courses in their final year. Further information is detailed in the table below.

Physical education ITT trainees in their final year:

Academic year	Total	Awarded QTS
2010/11	1,557	1,487
2011/12	1,385	1,321
2012/13	1,366	1,243
2013/14	1,443	1,368

(Excludes Teach first)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26614, on children in care: housing, how many young people he expects to be on the Positive Pathway Framework in 2016.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Positive Pathway is a framework to support local authorities and their partners to design their services to prevent homelessness and meet the housing and support needs of vulnerable young people rather than a service to individual young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, at what age it is her policy that schools should start providing pupils with careers advice.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The government wants to see improvements to the extent and quality of the careers advice, guidance and inspiration that young people receive throughout their education, helping them to be better prepared for the world of work and able to take advantage of the opportunities available to them.

Getting the chance to meet a wide range of people doing different jobs is particularly important for those children from disadvantaged backgrounds who have few successful role models, either at home or in their local communities. Tackling gender stereotypes needs to be done from an early age.

The duty to secure independent careers guidance applies to pupils in years 8-13, but the government recognises the importance of exposing pupils to the world of work form an early age. That is why the government welcomes programmes, such as Primary Futures, that help to broaden the aspirations of young people from an early age. Primary Futures is a national initiative, led by the Education and Employers Taskforce and the National Association of Head Teachers, which enables volunteers from a wide range of professions to visit primary schools to inspire pupils.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2016 to Question 29762, on universal credit, how long it took to complete the reset.

Priti Patel

The Universal Credit Programme Reset was carried out from February 2013 to May 2013. This provided sufficient levels of confidence to the Major Projects Authority on plans for delivery, affordability and value for money.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people started studying for a PGCE in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb

Figures from the initial teacher training data management system show the number of first year PGCE trainees from 2010:

	Number of first year trainees on PGCE course
2010/11	19,931
2011/12	18,913
2012/13	20,195
2013/14	21,858

2014/15 performance profiles will be available from late July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether if a participant is unable to obtain Level 1 English as a result of deafness, fluency in British Sign Language can be accepted as a qualification for completing an intermediate apprenticeship.

Nick Boles

It is a minimum requirement of an intermediate apprenticeship that the apprentice complete Level 1 English and maths.

British Sign Language (BSL) is not currently recognised as an alternative for the purposes of completing an apprenticeship.

Apprentices can apply for Access to Work funding for reasonable adjustments. These will depend on the individual’s need and the qualification, but may include extra time, assistive technology and the use of a scribe. BSL is permitted as a reasonable adjustment for the oral element of functional skills.

We are considering whether BSL could be an acceptable alternative to qualifications in English for the purposes of completing an apprenticeship.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason there was a shortage of the BCG vaccine in 2015; and what steps his Department is taking so that such shortages do not occur in the future.

Jane Ellison

The supply of United Kingdom licensed Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine continues to be subject to intermittent manufacturing problems, which have impacted deliveries of vaccine into the UK. This delay has resulted in the depletion of the UK buffer stock and impacted onward supply to the National Health Service in 2015. The NHS remains subject to periods of intermittent supply.

This is in the context of a global shortage of BCG vaccine where Public Health England (PHE) and the Department are actively engaging alternative manufacturers of BCG vaccine to secure supply during this period of disruption as quickly as possible. PHE continues to provide prioritisation advice to healthcare professionals during the period of constrained supply.