Tag: Stewart Jackson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve teacher recruitment in local education authority areas with poor educational attainment; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

The Government is committed to achieving educational excellence everywhere so that children in every part of the country, regardless of their background and circumstances, have access to an outstanding education.

High-quality teachers are central to that ambition, and we have recently announced the establishment of a new National Teaching Service (NTS) that will second outstanding teachers and middle leaders into the schools that most need support, particularly in areas of the country that find it hardest to retain and recruit good teachers. Our ambition is that by 2020 there will be 1,500 NTS teachers/middle leaders in underperforming schools in areas of the country facing particular challenges in terms of teacher quality and recruitment. The NTS will begin with a pilot of 100 outstanding teachers and middle leaders in the North West from September 2016. Following the pilot the national programme will be rolled out from September 2017 where it will be extended into other regions.

We are also increasing the number of high-achieving graduates teaching in disadvantaged schools by supporting the geographical expansion of Teach First into every region of England. This gives Teach First the scope to reach 90 per cent of eligible schools by 2016, boosting the Government’s commitment to recruit more top teachers throughout England, including in more rural, coastal and disadvantaged areas. We are continuing to increase the proportion of initial teacher training that is led by schools, and our School Direct programme is giving more head teachers the ability to select, train and employ the teachers they need in their local areas.

The pay reforms that we have introduced since September 2013 give schools greater autonomy and more freedom to decide how much they pay teachers and how quickly pay progresses. Schools may also choose to use their pupil premium funding to attract or retain the best teachers. This increased flexibility gives schools in disadvantaged areas more scope to attract and recruit the high quality teachers that they need to deliver outstanding education in the most challenging circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects to publish her Department’s review of Sharia courts; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

The Home Secretary has commissioned a full, independent review to enhance our understanding of any misuse of Sharia law. The review will report to the Home Secretary before the end of this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the availability of (a) raw materials and (b) skilled labour in the construction industry on the Government’s housing targets; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Government’s Housing Implementation Task Force meets regularly to review issues, such as the availability of skills, relating to the delivery of new homes and industry reports such as the Construction Sector Network reports, produced by the Construction Industry Training Board, provide an indication of the skills the construction industry believes it will require between 2015 and 2019 for housing and wider construction. Statistics maintained by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills allow us to monitor key flows of construction materials such as bricks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the Homes and Communities Agency in respect of its duties on (a) land disposals and (b) allocating and choosing partners for developing (i) brownfield and (ii) other land for residential use; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Department regularly reviews the Homes and Communities Agency’s performance to ensure that both the Agency and the Department’s Accounting Officer responsibilities are satisfied.

Over the last Parliament the Homes and Communities Agency disposed of land with capacity for 20,930 homes, exceeding their plan. Whilst the Agency has a panel of preferred development partners, selected through a gateway approvals process, it is not tied to using this panel and will make a decision between engaging the development partner panel or securing a partner on the open market.

An independent assessment of the efficacy of the Home and Communities Agency’s work will be commissioned following the Spending Review and will include consideration of how the Agency performs its functions in respect of land. I expect findings from that review to report in the spring.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Small and Medium Enterprise builders fund; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Builders Finance Fund was launched in April 2014. We have already signed 8 contracts worth over £11 million, with a further 33 contracts worth £70 million in the process of being signed. In addition, we are considering 83 bids for funding worth nearly £280 million. The remaining funding is available to support house builders between now and 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the performance of Build to Rent projects; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis

The Build to Rent fund provides development finance to support the creation of a purpose-built private rented sector, backed by institutional private investment. The fund is market-led and the response has been strong.

As at the end of September, there were 15 schemes in contract with the Homes and Communities Agency, representing £455 million of investment from the Build to Rent Fund, and which are expected to deliver over 4,000 housing units. In addition, a further 8 schemes seeking up to £378 million of investment have been shortlisted and are undergoing their approval process, potentially delivering up to an additional 2,950 housing units.

As at the end of September, a total of 13 schemes – representing 2,631 housing units – receiving finance through the Build to Rent fund had started on site.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of recipients of working tax credits in Peterborough constituency are citizens of non-UK EU member states; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

The information requested is not available. The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

An illustrative renting family with two children, where one parent works full-time on the minimum wage, will be over £2,400 better off in cash terms by 2020.

The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20^th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

In response to a request from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, the government has chosen to produce and release an impact assessment on the tax credit changes to the Committee. The impact assessment shows that 60% of the tax credit savings come from the half of tax credit claimants with the highest income.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) maximum and (b) average recorded waiting time was for an EU passport holder at customs at London Stansted airport on each day of September 2015; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The maximum and average queuing times for EU passport holders at Stansted during the month of September 2015 are given in the attached table. Passenger waiting times at passport control are influenced by a number of factors. These include so called ‘flight bunching’, where a large number of flights arrive within a short period of time, and passengers using non-machine readable documents, which inevitably take longer for Border Force Officers to process. Such documents, which do not have a biometric reader and have a long history of being abused by imposters, need to be manually checked by Border Force Officers.

Border Force and Stansted Airport have jointly invested in 15 new generation E-Gates which are helping to reduce passenger waiting times. Both organisations continue to work together to further improve the passenger experience at Stansted.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-19.

To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on land disposals for residential housing by the Church Commissioners at (a) Paston Reserve and (b) Norwood urban extensions near Peterborough; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Caroline Spelman

The Church Commissioners have two strategic land sites at Peterborough; Paston Reserve and Norwood. Both sites are allocated as residential urban extension sites in Peterborough City Council’s adopted Core Strategy and Site Allocations Development Plan Documents. It is the Commissioners’ intention, over the long term, to make these sites available to facilitate the delivery of housing and other infrastructure.

The construction of Paston Reserve, which has planning permission for over 1,000 houses, local facilities (including a primary school), open space and other infrastructure, began in 2014. The first residential phase of development comprises 87 houses and the first houses on site were sold by the developer, Keepmoat Homes, in early 2015. Discussions in regard to a second phase of development on the site are underway and it is expected that work on site will commence in late 2016.

With respect to Norwood, the Commissioners worked with the local planning authority through the development plan process, which saw the site’s allocation for 2,300 new houses, and are committed to bringing forward the land for development. Pre-application work is currently being progressed with the other landowners across the site and initial discussions have been had with Peterborough City Council about the site’s delivery and potential timescales for an outline planning application.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that databases compiled by local authorities in respect of their regulatory functions can be used to ascertain whether non-UK EU citizens are legally exercising their rights under the Free Movement Directive; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office continues to work with other departments to ensure that the criteria for assessing an EU national’s right of residence in order, for example, to gain access to a public service or benefit is made in line with EU free movement law. This information may be recorded in line with the relevant local authorities’ processes.