Tag: Stephen Timms

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the performance of the Child Protection Taskforce.

Edward Timpson

The Child Protection Taskforce is one of several Implementation Taskforces set up by the Prime Minister to monitor the delivery of key policies. The Taskforce oversees the Government’s reform agenda for child protection: tracking progress; spotting potential blockages and agreeing plans for resolving them; ensuring accountability; and making sure actions are followed through. Since the Taskforce was formed in June 2015, it has been successful in bringing key Ministers and officials together in a forum to drive our ambitious reform agenda on children’s social care.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many enlisted soldiers gained A-levels while serving in the armed forces in each of the last five years; and in which subjects those A-levels were obtained.

Mark Lancaster

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 18 April to Question 33691. Like GCSEs, individual soldiers are free to pursue A-levels as part of their elective personal development with the support of learning credits schemes, but the details of such A-level qualifications are not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how often parents claiming universal credit will be required to report their childcare costs to his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Priti Patel

In the Universal Credit full service, claimants need to report childcare costs in the monthly assessment period in which they paid them, to ensure timely and accurate adjustments to the Universal Credit assessment.

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

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

Mr Desmond Swayne

Total ODA from all donors to Bangladesh can be found here: https://stats.oecd.org/qwids/

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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 has been on the staff of the European Court of Justice in each year since 2010.

Mr David Lidington

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) does not publish figures relating to the nationality of its staff. According to our own internal records, there were 67 UK nationals on the staff of the ECJ in 2013. We do not hold records for the other years.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to assess the case for the proposed Crossrail 2 Eastern Phase.

Mr Robert Goodwill

No final decisions have yet been taken on the Crossrail 2 route. We have safeguarded a route from Angel to Hackney Central, which could form an eastern branch of Crossrail 2 at a later phase of the project, should there be a good business case and funding available for it. However, this is not being assessed as part of the core scheme under current consideration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on whether the cost of degree apprenticeships are supported from the proceeds of the apprenticeship levy.

Nick Boles

The apprenticeship levy will fund growth in apprenticeships at all levels, including Degree Apprenticeships. Degree Apprenticeships are widening access to the professions and providing higher level technical skills employers need.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to publish Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 results for all multi-academy trusts.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education already publishes Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 results for schools, including those in multi-academy trusts. Assessment at Key Stage 3 is a matter for schools and, as such, there is no statutory national test at the end of Key Stage 3.

The Education White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ set out the Government plans to publish performance information for multi-academy trusts in addition to the continued publication of performance data at individual school level. On Thursday 7 July, we published a statistical working paper, using our developing approach, showing the performance of multi-academy trusts at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 using 2015 results.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Multi Academy Trusts have closed down in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson

The Department has a role in monitoring the performance of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and the academies within them. This includes transferring an academy where there are significant concerns about performance from one MAT to another.

MATs are charitable trusts and companies limited by guarantee. It is for its board to decide whether or not to dissolve the trust; the Department has no role.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to raise the situation of Rohingya refugees at the UN Summit on Refugees on 19 September 2016.

Alok Sharma

Whilst the British Government did not raise the subject of Rohingya refugees at the UN Summit on Refugees on 19 September 2016, we remain keen to play our part in helping refugees globally. We are deeply concerned about the ongoing persecution of the Rohingya and have repeatedly raised our concerns with the Burmese Government at the highest levels. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), discussed the Rohingya with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the UK in September and I raised the issue in my intervention at the UN Secretary General’s Partnership Group during my visit to the UN General Assembly in September.

The British Government is one of the largest bilateral donors to Rakhine providing over £18 million in humanitarian assistance since the intercommunal violence of 2012. Across the border in south east Bangladesh, a total of 82,000 people have benefitted from UK funded humanitarian programmes. Since 2014, the British Government has provided nearly £8 million to address the humanitarian suffering of Rohingya refugees and the vulnerable Bangladeshi communities that host them.

We are encouraged to see the new Burmese Government has started to take real steps to try to defuse tensions in Rakhine while making progress for the Rohingya, including through the recently announced Rakhine Commission led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, formation of a cross-Government Rakhine committee and re-starting the citizenship verification exercise. On 25 August I issued a statement welcoming the establishment of the Rakhine Commission, and on 14 September I spoke by phone with Mr Annan to convey the UK’s strong support for his appointment and mandate.