Tag: Steve McCabe

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by his Department are non-UK nationals.

Sir Alan Duncan

The total Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) workforce as at 31 March 2016 was 12,563 comprising 4,295 FCO UK based staff and 8,268 FCO local staff. The Aliens’ Employment Act 1955 makes it a requirement that all UK-based staff must be British nationals or dual nationals where one of those nationalities is British. We do not collect centrally details of the nationality of our staff employed locally overseas.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45695, what proportion of rail fares paid by passengers are reinvested in the railways by Network Rail.

Paul Maynard

The Office of Road & Rail calculates that 97 pence in every pound raised from passenger journeys is spent on running or improving the railway by Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies. Approximately 26 pence in every pound is reinvested through capital enhancements and renewals.^[1]

^[1] http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/21039/gb-rail-industry-financial-information-2014-15.pdf

The Rail Delivery Group calculates that 97 pence in every pound raised from passenger journeys is spent on running or improving the railway by Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies. Approximately 26 pence in every pound is reinvested through capital enhancements and renewals.^[1]

^[1] http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/83871.aspx

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Government Actuary’s Department report, A cohort approach to social care funding, published on 15 September 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effectiveness of his Department’s policies on meeting the pension and social care needs of the millennial generation; and if he will bring forward proposals for a cohort approach to social care funding in his Autumn Statement.

David Mowat

Social care continues to be a key priority for this Government. It is critical in enabling people with care and support needs to retain their independence and dignity. That is why we have already introduced landmark reforms to ensure people should not have to sell their home in their lifetime to meet the cost of care and we have set out plans to cap the amount that people will need to spend to meet their cost of care.

We are mindful of the changing demographic of our population and the evidence produced from the Foresight ‘Future of Ageing Population’ project and are looking in the longer term about how best to respond to the challenges ahead. Decisions about the Autumn Statement are a matter for the Treasury.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in scrutinising the suitability of business appointments for former Ministers in government.

Ben Gummer

The Government believes that the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments discharges its remit effectively and efficiently.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to ensure that the additional £40 million of aid her Department allocated in June 2015 to Yemen benefits its intended recipients.

Mr Desmond Swayne

To ensure UK aid reaches its intended recipients, we work with trusted and impartial actors such as UN agencies and NGOs who have a strong track record of prioritising assistance to those most in need, and delivering and monitoring assistance in difficult and dangerous places. We operate a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and have an independent monitoring programme to provide assurance on what we are delivering.

Since the start of the crisis in Yemen, UK aid has assisted at least 700,000 people directly affected by the conflict including vulnerable host communities, internally displaced people and migrants. We have provided critical support for healthcare, malnutrition, water and sanitation, protection and shelter. We have also continued to strengthen and protect local capacity and community assets from further shocks by providing agricultural and other livelihoods assistance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to reduce beer duty by one per cent.

Damian Hinds

The government is committed to supporting the beer industry. The tax on a typical pint of beer was cut by a penny at March Budget 2015, building on the duty cuts at Budget 2014 and Budget 2013.

The government continues to keep all taxes under review and decisions on tax policy are made as part of the Budget process.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 16435, when his Department expects to publish the Impact Assessment on changes to reduce costs in medical negligence mitigation.

Ben Gummer

The Department will publish the impact assessment alongside the consultation document on introducing fixed recoverable costs in clinical negligence claims.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 24142, how much is owed in child maintenance arrears by non-resident parents whose CSA liability has ended as a result of the proactive or reactive CSA case closure process.

Priti Patel

The information requested on case closure arrears is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2016 to Question 26564, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that schools in conflict zones are protected from being attacked or occupied for military purposes.

James Duddridge

The UK is committed to the proper implementation of International Humanitarian Law. We comply fully with our obligations under it, including rules prohibiting civilian objects from being attacked. The UK also works closely with other states and the Red Cross Movement to promote compliance with International Humanitarian Law. We urge all states and non-state actors engaged in armed conflict to respect International Humanitarian Law and to act in accordance with their obligations under it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support her Department has provided to fostering services in each year from 2011 to 2015; and how much that funding was for looked after child in each of those years.

Edward Timpson

Local authority (LA) funding for the provision of children’s services, including fostering services, is provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, LAs are required to submit annual budget and outturn statements about their actual spending to the Secretary of State for Education.

The total LA expenditure on looked after children (including fostering), based upon the section 251 out turn statements, are set out below for each financial year between

2011 – 2015:

	2011-12 (£000s)	2012-13 (£000s)	2013-14 (£000s)	2014-15 (£000s)
Looked After Children	£3,383,664	£3,495,626	£3,661,327	£3,768,523
Fostering	£1,376,869	£1,477,678	£1,515,352	£1,540,324

Since the introduction of the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme in October 2013, the Department is funding the following programmes relating to supporting fostering:

The £100 million Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme is currently supporting 53 projects in the development, testing and spreading of more effective ways of supporting children and families who need help from children’s social care services. The programme is providing funding to projects which have elements that support foster services including matching, specialist foster placements and foster family support and training.

Achieving for Children (£1.1 m) to develop a new approach to supporting adolescents in, and on the edge of, care across the two boroughs of Richmond and Kingston. This will draw together specialist fostering placements, a children’s home and a family intervention team using a new, consistent training programme ‘Better by Design’ across all of these elements.

Action for Children (up to £3.3m) to work with Barnet, Harrow and Hounslow councils to run a suite of evidence based programmes (functional family therapy, multi-systemic therapy and multi-dimensional treatment foster care) to transform the support available to adolescents in West London.

The Fostering Network (£1.6m) to import and adapt the successful mockingbird family model of fostering from the US to the UK. Mockingbird clusters a group of 10 foster carers around a ‘hub’ home. This hub, led by an experienced foster carer, provides respite support and short breaks to the carers in the cluster. All of the carers receive shared training and the carers and young people within a cluster meet regularly, engage in activities and get to know and support each other.

The National Implementation Service (£4.1m) to hot-house, test and build the sustainability of evidence-based interventions in the UK – including multi-systemic therapy and RESuLT (a therapeutic training programme for residential care staff). Four sites have been specially funded to implement KEEP Safe, a training and support programme for foster carers who look after teenagers.

Match Fostercare (£781k) to take on delegated statutory social work responsibilities for children in foster care from several local authorities. They believe this will reduce duplication and bureaucracy and provide a better service to children.

NSPCC (£1m) to introduce the New Orleans intervention model in South London. The model aims to transform delivery and joint commissioning in children’s social work and CAMHS teams in relation to children aged 0 to 5 years who are in foster care due to maltreatment.

Sheffield and South Yorkshire Councils (£1.2m) to develop a sub-regional delivery model for young people experiencing or at risk of child sexual exploitation. This will include recruitment, development and support of specialist foster carers to provide safe placements for young people across South Yorkshire. Local authorities involved are Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster. Other partners are LSCBs in these areas and South Yorkshire police.

Further details about these and other Innovation Programme funded projects can be found here:

http://springconsortium.com/projects-being-funded/

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