Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the adequacy of the level of investment in language subjects at school in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb

The Government has invested some £5 million since 2011, funding projects in schools to raise standards of teaching in languages and to equip teachers to teach the new and more demanding languages curriculum.

We continue to offer generous bursaries for languages trainees, with up to £25,000 for those with a first class or 2:1 degree. In addition, from September 2016 there will be a programme of school-led teacher subject specialism training in modern foreign languages for qualified teachers who wish to develop skills in an additional language to their current specialism, and to provide refresher training for former languages teachers to return to teaching. This funding totals £1.5 million in the current academic year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Simon Kirby’s resignation from HS2 Ltd on achieving the 2026 target date for opening phase one of High Speed 2.

Andrew Jones

Simon Kirby has built a high calibre team and leaves HS2 Ltd in excellent shape. Sir David Higgins remains as chair and a new CEO will be appointed as soon as possible. The 2026 target date for opening phase one of HS2 is not affected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure the Mandarin Excellence Programme is delivered to all local authorities in the UK; and how many (a) schools and (b) pupils in Birmingham are planned to start the programme this year.

Nick Gibb

The Mandarin Excellence Programme offers intensive study in the language. The programme is expected to result in at least 5,000 young people heading towards a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.

Secondary school pupils in an initial 14 secondary schools will study Mandarin for eight hours a week – a significant increase on the time pupils currently spend on the subject.

Currently two schools in the Midlands, one in Coventry and one in Walsall, have joined the programme. Around 300 pupils are expected to join the programme this year. There will be further opportunity for schools to apply to join the programme in subsequent years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45660, what estimate he has made of the number of general practices that require assistance from the new practice resilience programme.

David Mowat

Following the launch of the General Practice Resilience Programme in July 2016, NHS England’s local teams have been working to finalise a range of offers that can be put in place to support practice sustainability and resilience. This includes selecting which practices will receive this support, by using nationally published criteria.

NHS England was initially due to set out which practices would be included in the first cohort to receive support through this programme, on 30 September 2016. The deadline for this assessment and report has been revised to 18 October 2016, to allow greater opportunity for practices to self-refer for assessment. The Department cannot provide an estimate of the number of general practices requiring assistance from the new practice resilience programme until this date, when NHS England will have completed its assessment and report.

Identifying practices in need of support is challenging, as there are elements which are subjective and it can be hard to measure the nature, severity and weight of issues facing individual practices. The national criteria seek to chart a middle route between those aspects that are measurable and those less tangible issues. The nature of the issues facing a practice can be generally grouped as follows; demand, capacity and internal issues. The national criteria acknowledges the importance of local input from clinical commissioning groups and local medical committees, as well as how self-referral of general practices is legitimate as a self-declaration of their support needs.

An earlier NHS England programme, the Vulnerable Practice Programme, launched in December 2015, identified around 900 practices as potentially vulnerable and in need of support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what account his Department took of the suspension by the Department for International Development of a security sector management programme in Ethiopia in deciding to oversee an executive MSc programme in such management.

Mike Penning

The Regional MSc in Security Sector Management was restarted in financial year 2015-16 following discussions between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development (DFID) reviewing the aims, objectives and performance of the previous DFID-funded programme. The new MSc differs from the previous programme as it draws students from across the region and wider African Union countries, thereby contributing to the National Security Council (NSC) objectives of enhancing regional peace and security in East Africa and building the African Union’s capacity to reduce, manage and resolve conflict and crises in Africa. The MSc is now funded from the Conflict Security and Stability Fund, which better reflects the security focus of the syllabus.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by his Department are non-UK nationals.

Simon Kirby

All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose. More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department took to protect (a) all civilians and (b) children in Mosul before the coalition forces’ attack on that city began.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

​The UK has made clear to the Government of Iraq in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government the importance the UK attaches to protecting civilians, including children, in the offensive to liberate Mosul from Daesh. I last highlighted this to Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Kurdistan Region Minister of Foreign Relations Falah Mustafa during a meeting in London on 12 October.

We have received assurances from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani that all allegations of human rights abuses and violations will be investigated and those responsible held to account.

In addition, the UK has announced an extra £40 million of humanitarian funding to Iraq on 21 September, taking our total commitment to £90 million this financial year and £169.5 million since June 2014. This new assistance will be targeted specifically to enable a scale up of humanitarian assistance during the Mosul operation, helping to support efforts to protect civilians, including children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs spent on discretionary payments in respect of administrative errors in each financial year since 2010-11.

Mr David Gauke

Information relating to complaints handling can be obtained from the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to amend current charging rules for veterans injured in service before 5 April 2015 on compensation awarded under the War Pensions Scheme being taken into account in assessing the cost of their social care support.

Alistair Burt

Armed forces veterans injured in service receive payments either through the War Disablement Pension (WDP) or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). The AFCS applies to veterans injured from 6 April 2005. These payments are divided into a personal injury compensation element and other payments. Traditionally, only the personal injury compensation payment has been fully disregarded.

Since October 2012 Guaranteed Income Payments made to veterans under the AFCS have been disregarded. The Department has been in discussion with the Royal British Legion about how WDP payments are treated. Currently the first £10 per week of WDP payments is disregarded. The Government is considering how WDP payments to veterans should be treated in the financial assessment for social care charging in future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure of walk-in centres on patient waiting times in local A&E departments.

Jane Ellison

Decisions about the provision of urgent care centres, including walk-in centres and minor injuries units, are a matter for local commissioners.