The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what opportunities the Department offers to trainee soldiers under the age of 18 to re-sit GCSEs as part of their elective personal development.
Mark Lancaster
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 May to Question number 37109.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of rough sleeping to the NHS.
Jane Ellison
According to the last Departmental estimate, homeless people – primarily rough sleepers and those living in hostels – cost National Health Service hospitals at least £85 million a year, based on around 40,500 people living in hostels (Healthcare for Single Homeless People (2010).
Homeless people consume around four times more acute hospital services than the general population. These extra costs arise from the severity of their health conditions and because they are more likely to be admitted as emergency admissions.
We have made £40 million available through the Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme to provide tailored hostel accommodation to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of rough sleepers and provide stable, transitional, shared accommodation for young people who are homeless or in insecure housing. We have also encouraged local areas to develop and improve hospital discharge arrangements for people who are homeless through the £10 million Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund, including by more effective multi-agency working.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers she has to prevent multi-academy trusts from expanding faster than their capacity to maintain a strong record on school improvement.
Edward Timpson
Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) take decisions in the name of the Secretary of State. RSCs are responsible for intervening where there is underperformance and for the creation of new academies.
When schools are converting to academy status as part of a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) or joining an existing MAT, it is the RSC’s role to decide whether to approve or decline the application. The RSC, supported by their headteacher board, will want to be assured that the governance and leadership of the MAT is clear and robust; and that the MAT has the capacity to drive improvement across all schools within it.
The RSC will reassess MATs at key milestones throughout the academic year (such as following exam results) and at key stages of their growth to consider their capacity to support and enable the academies within their MAT to improve.
This information is publically available and can be found in the RSC decision-making framework on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/517565/RSC-Decision-Making-Framework.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of excluding agency workers from the pay bill when determining a company’s liability for paying the Apprenticeship Levy due to such workers’ ineligibility for apprenticeships.
Mr David Gauke
Where an employment agency supplies labour to a client and pays Class 1 secondary National Insurance contributions for those workers, they will be liable to pay the levy, providing their annual pay bill exceeds £3million.
The government recognises the important contribution that contingent labour makes to the economy, however, excluding agency workers would create adverse incentives to hire all staff off-payroll.
The government will support all employers in using the levy funds to invest in apprenticeships and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills is working with employers to create apprenticeships across all sectors.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what average length of time taken was to re-broker an academy that received formal intervention in each year since 2010.
Edward Timpson
Where an academy is not meeting the required standard or needs a change of sponsor, the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) strives to ensure that this change happens as quickly as possible, with minimum impact to the school. The Department does not hold a central record of the time taken for re-brokerage.
The Education and Adoption Act 2016 gives RSCs powers to tackle underperformance in academies more quickly, by allowing them to terminate their funding agreement and re-broker an academy if it is judged inadequate by Ofsted or identified as coasting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local authorities are (a) kept informed on and (b) can contribute to Transport for London’s work on business cases for future development of Crossrail 2.
Paul Maynard
Transport for London meets regularly with local authorities to discuss Crossrail 2’s development, including working with local authorities to assess growth projects and associated infrastructure needs to ensure a robust business case is developed. Alongside this ongoing engagement, several formal consultations have already been held, and more will follow as the scheme develops.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the amount of its own capital that BT has invested in the rural broadband rollout programme to date.
Matt Hancock
BDUK does not hold data on BT’s total capital investment to date in the Superfast Broadband Programme. As each project completes, BT is required to confirm that either its contracted capital commitment is fully drawn down, or that any unused capital contribution is committed to an investment fund which is managed by the Local Body to support further delivery. BT’s total capital commitment for Phase 1 of the programme is £348 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the likely effect on house building of the Office of National Statistics reclassifying housing associations as public sector bodies.
Brandon Lewis
The Office of National Statistics has concluded that housing associations should have been classified as public rather than private since 2008, due to several of the regulatory requirements imposed by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 introduced by the last Labour Government. This decision is purely a statistical change. Reclassification makes no material changes to the operation of housing associations. The Government is committed to developing deregulatory measures to help housing associations build more homes and help more people into home ownership.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the size of the current account balance in 2014.
Mr David Gauke
The current account deficit in 2014 was 5.1% of GDP, with this net borrowing from the rest of the world helping fund the budget deficit. The Government’s plan to repair the public finances through fiscal consolidation should in turn improve the current account deficit, as set out in the latest forecasts of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The Government is also working to boost UK exports, including a £20m package of support for first time exporters and working alongside a more effective UKTI and better export finance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what programmes being taken forward by his Department are subject to Project Assessment Reviews instead of Gateway Reviews.
Justin Tomlinson
DWP Projects on the Government Major Project Portfolio (GMPP) follow the procedures outlined in the ‘HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, Major Project Approval and Assurance guidance’ introduced from April 2011. All DWP GMPP projects can therefore potentially have both Project Assessment Reviews and Gateway Reviews during their delivery lifecycle.