Tag: Stephen Timms

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press release entitled Nicky Morgan unveils new vision for the education system, published on 17 March 2016, whether religious education will continue to be a statutory subject in state schools in England.

Nick Gibb

Religious education (RE) remains compulsory for all state funded schools, including academies and free schools, at all key stages. The Government firmly believes in the importance of RE. High quality RE can develop children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and foster understanding among different faiths and cultures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33689, how many teachers of GCSE (a) English and (b) mathematics were employed by the armed forces in each of the last five years.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not hold figures on the number of teachers employed to teach GCSE English and Mathematics. The Ministry of Defence provides Service personnel with a range of educational, learning, development and resettlement opportunities through a number of training centres and apprenticeship programmes. The main learning centres have English and Mathematics tutors who are employed to teach functional skills in numeracy and literacy and can also support GCSEs. However, teachers are not employed specifically to teach GCSEs.

Over 95% of recruits are enrolled into an Apprenticeship Programme each year, regardless of their age, which ensures that Service personnel gain a Level 2 in numeracy and literacy. This is the equivalent of a GCSE. In addition, there are Functional Skills Deliverers who work as part of apprenticeship delivery in the training establishments and can support learning for GCSEs. However, they are more focused on providing functional skills.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what measures are in place to prevent employer’s (a) late and (b) inaccurate reporting of PAYE through real time information causing errors in the amount of universal credit received by that employer’s employees.

Priti Patel

DWP and HMRC analyse and monitor both the timeliness and accuracy of reported PAYE information. HMRC apply risk based penalties to encourage filing compliance. DWP passes queries about earnings from claimants to an HMRC team who contact employers, software developers and employer’s agents to ascertain the actual position in disputed cases and to educate them on the importance of timely and accurate data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much UK development aid to Bangladesh has been spent on education in each year since 2000; and what information her Department holds on the proportion the total Bangladesh education budget that UK development aid represents in each of those years.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The table below shows the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) spent on education in Bangladesh by the United Kingdom through the government, NGOs and civil society.

UK Calendar year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
UK Spend (£millions)	0	0	7.8	7.7	17.3	28.9	19.6	8.9

UK Calendar year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
UK Spend (£millions)	22.2	34.6	33.5	50.2	26.5	34.6	33.1

2015 figures will be published later this year.

Details of the total Government of Bangladesh education budget can be found here: http://www.mof.gov.bd/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68&Itemid=1/.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the European Court of Auditors in each year since 2010.

Mr David Lidington

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) does not publish figures relating to its staff numbers and nationality. According to our own internal records, the following number of UK nationals have been on the staff of the ECA since 2010:
2010: 51
2011: 50
2012: No records held
2013: 50
2014: 50
2015: 49
2016: 50

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Access to Work programme for young deaf people; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

Access to Work continues to support deaf people and people with hearing loss. Access to Work has specialist teams including a dedicated team for deaf people and those with hearing loss to help customers and their employers with advice on adjustments, technological support and personal budgets which are currently being trialled.

The number of people in general helped by Access to Work has grown in each of the three years to 2014/15 and are published quarterly here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/514468/access-to-work-statistics-to-dec-2015.pdf

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 35139, how many people need to be successfully treated for latent TB infection under the Collaborative TB Strategy’s entrant screening programme to prevent one case of active TB.

Jane Ellison

Evidence shows that latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) treatment has a protective efficacy of between 60-90% in preventing progressions to active TB[1]. Without treatment 5-10% of patients with LTBI would progress to active TB.

Using these figures, between 11 and 33 persons with LTBI would need to be treated to prevent one case of active TB.

[1]

Sharma SK, Sharma A, Kadhiravan T, Tharyan P. Rifamycins (rifampicin, rifabutin and rifapentine) compared to isoniazid for preventing tuberculosis in HIV-negative people at risk of active TB. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD007545. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007545.pub2

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she would expect a Regional School Commissioner, having arranged, following a formal notice, for an Academy to move from one multi-academy trust to another, to carry out an investigation of the stewardship of the original Trust; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) act in the name of the Secretary of State. Where a RSC takes the decision to transfer an academy from one trust to another, there will have been several discussions with both trusts involved. If such a move is due to concerns over performance, the RSC will hold the outgoing trust to account, ensuring that any remaining academies are receiving the best support and the trust is regularly monitored.

This information is publicly 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

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of differential rates of apprenticeship completion by sector; and if she will make a statement.

Robert Halfon

Apprenticeship achievement rates by sector subject area vary from 60.4% (Science and Maths) to 78.9% (Information and Communication Technology). With the exceptions of Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care, Arts, Media and Publishing and Science and Mathematics, the achievement rate for all Sector Subject Areas increased between the 2013/14 and 2014/15 academic years.

Our reforms are improving the quality of all apprenticeships. We have insisted that they must all be paid jobs with substantial training, develop transferable skills and have a minimum 12 months’ duration. Ensuring that, at the end of their apprenticeship, apprentices have transferable skills and can progress their career will all help encourage people to complete their apprenticeship.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children aged 11 to 16 are educated at (a) selective state-maintained schools, (b) non-selective state-maintained comprehensive and academy schools, (c) independent fee-paying schools and (d) other educational settings in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Wales and (v) Northern Ireland.

Nick Gibb

The number and proportion of pupils aged 11-16 in selective state-funded schools, non-selective state-funded secondary schools, independent schools and other settings in England are given in the table below. The Department does not hold this information for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, and therefore cannot provide these figures or a UK figure.

Type of Establishment	Number of pupils aged 11-16 (1)	Proportion of Total
State-funded selective schools	117,310	3.9%
State-funded non-selective secondary schools	2,569,444	86.2%
Independent Schools (2)	226,878	7.6%
All other educational settings (3)	66,498	2.2%

(1) Includes sole and dual main registered pupils, as at January 2016.

(2) Not all independent schools charge all pupils fees, but it is not possible to group only the fee-paying independent schools together here.

(3) Includes state-funded primary schools, state-funded special schools, non-maintained special schools, general hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision academies and free schools.