The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many days of holiday, on average, were awarded to departmental employees living and working overseas in 2015-16.
Rory Stewart
DFID employees living and working overseas may utilise up to 30 days annual leave, with exception of those at A band (Grade 7 and above) who are eligible for 31.5 days, plus agreed local public holidays.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the emergency services can be contacted in areas where mobile phone service is poor or non-existent.
Matt Hancock
Improving mobile connectivity across the UK, including in rural and hard to reach areas, is a priority for the Government and the December 2014 landmark agreement with industry guarantees that each mobile network operator will provide voice and SMS text coverage to 90% of the UK’s landmass by end 2017. Additionally, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises, also by end 2017. Taken together these obligations will cut complete not spots by two thirds, resulting in 98% of the UK landmass with mobile coverage.
This coverage would be available to all mobile phone users for emergency 999 calls as the Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service requires that a caller from a mobile phone is able to roam onto another mobile network to make an emergency call if they have no signal from their own provider.
Furthermore, the Government recognises the importance of public call boxes as a means of calling the emergency services. Ofcom requires that there is a period of consultation before a public call box is removed and that one of the factors to be considered by the relevant public body is the potential importance of the call box to contact the emergency services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the potential UK liability for EU disallowance penalties in relation to late payment by the Rural Payments Agency of Basic Payments in the 2015-16 CAP round.
George Eustice
Following the announcement made by the European Commission on 8 June, the UK will not be subject to late-payment penalties in relation to 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payments made by the Rural Payments Agency during the period 1 July to 15 October 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-11-13.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) employees and (b) companies have participated in the shares for rights scheme under section 31 of the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013.
Mr David Gauke
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the total spending allocation her Department has made to supporting communities affected by recent floods has been spent to date.
Rory Stewart
Defra is administering a Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by the flooding. Further support to communities is available through the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. The RPA will pay out on all eligible claims. The deadline for Fund applications is 1 April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, Cm 9161, what (a) market value and (b) weight of UK steel will be used in the manufacture of the nine new Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Mr Philip Dunne
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 April 2016 to Question 33059 to the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to the disabled students allowance on the ability of disabled student to access non-medical help and to develop coping strategies and learning styles during their time at university.
Joseph Johnson
We do not hold information on the expenditure on individual types of non-medical help support that are available to disabled students through Disabled Students’ Allowances.
The Government’s response to the consultation on reforms to Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), published in December 2015, confirmed that from 2016/17 support roles from band 4 will continue to be primarily funded through DSAs, unless reasonable adjustments are in place that remove the need for such support.
A full equality impact assessment on the proposed changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances was published in December 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the age is of the (a) youngest and (b) oldest person with a profile on the National DNA Database.
Mike Penning
a) The recorded age of the youngest person on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) as at 31 March 2016 was 10.
b) The recorded age of the eldest person on the NDNAD as at 31 March 2016 was 115.
The age recorded for the eldest person is based on what their age would be as at 31 March 2016 from their date of birth recorded at the time of sampling.
It is not their age when they were added to the NDNAD. There is no weeding from the NDNAD due to age or death.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people are currently registered as self-employed in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency; and what the average salary is earned by those people.
Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who suffer from aphasia are given the support needed to communicate effectively.
David Mowat
Rehabilitation services, specifically speech and language therapy, provide much of the National Health Service support for people with aphasia. As clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning these services, they should be taking steps to ensure that support for people with aphasia is available and improve these services where appropriate.
Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia developing in adults. The vast majority of patients are admitted to hospital after a stroke and over 90% are managed on a stroke unit. All stroke units in England have access to speech and language therapy. After discharge from hospital about three quarters of areas in England have access to stroke specific early supported discharge teams of which 91% have a speech and language therapist.