Tag: Craig Whittaker

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Greek and Turkish governments on the unification of Cyprus.

Mr David Lidington

The UK remains a strong supporter of a Cyprus settlement. We engage regularly with Greece and Turkey, at a range of levels, as part of our efforts to build support for the UN-led settlement talks. We look forward to continuing to work with Greece and Turkey to help the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to reunite their island through a just and lasting settlement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing to universities to increase collaboration with research institutions in developing economies.

Joseph Johnson

The Government is supporting collaboration with research institutions in developing countries through a number of programmes, including the Newton fund, which now operates in 15 countries. We recently announced the extension of the Newton fund to 2021, with total investment rising to three quarters of a billion pounds between 2014/15 – 2020/21. In addition, at the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced a new Global Challenges Research fund worth £1.5 billion over the next five years (2016/17 – 2020/21).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students are taught in schools rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in (a) Calder Valley constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.

Nick Gibb

As at 31 August 2015, 78% of pupils attended maintained schools and academies that were rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in Calder Valley parliamentary constituency. This percentage has increased from 2010 when it was 74%, representing an increase of 1,531 more pupils attending good or outstanding schools.

In West Yorkshire[1], 76% of pupils attended maintained schools and academies that were rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding as at 31 August 2015. This percentage has increased from 2010 when it was 60%, representing an increase of 69,359 more pupils attending good or outstanding schools.

The percentages above include children attending all open primary schools, secondary schools, special schools, nurseries and pupil referral units as at 31 August 2015.

[1] West Yorkshire consists of five local authority areas: Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department has allocated to arts groups in Calder Valley in each of the last three years.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Calder Valley has received the following Arts Council funding over the last three years – £378,238 in 2013/14; £355,900 in 2014/15; and £300,298 in 2015/16 (year to date 8 March).

This investment from Arts Council England has supported a number of projects, including the Lamplighter Festival, Mytholmroyd Arts Festival and the Routes into Theatre project.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) take action against unregistered schools.

Edward Timpson

We have been working closely with Ofsted and local authorities to identify unregistered schools, and the Chief Inspector has powers to make unannounced visits to any institution that he suspects is operating unlawfully as an independent school. We have also given Ofsted additional resources so that they can go out to locate and investigate unregistered schools and draw up a programme for inspecting them to collect evidence to support prosecutions.

Institutions that are suspected of operating as unregistered schools receive a very clear warning from the Department that it is a criminal offence and that they must cease operating immediately.

To raise awareness, we have published two statements setting how we regulate and intervene in independent schools and details of when we will take legal action against unregistered schools.

The statements were announced by the Secretary of State on 19 January 2016, as part of a package to protect children from extremism. The announcement, the press release and the statements are available on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/nicky-morgan-speaks-about-tackling-extremism;

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-drive-to-protect-children-from-spell-of-twisted-ideologies; and

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulating-independent-schools

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has allocated to schools in (a) Calderdale and (b) West Yorkshire to tackle bullying in the last (i) 12 months and (ii) five years.

Edward Timpson

The Government continues to make tackling all forms of bullying a top priority. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with measures to tackle bullying among pupils. While they are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies they are held clearly to account for their effectiveness through Ofsted.

School funding to prevent and tackle bullying is part of their overall funding allocation, and is not separately identified at school or local authority level. In addition, the Department has directly funded a number of national anti-bullying organisations, supporting their work within schools across England to combat bullying.

In 2015/16 we provided around £1.3 million to various anti-bullying charities including the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau (hosted by the Anti-bullying Alliance). These organisations train teachers and pupils in schools to prevent bullying and deal with its impact when it occurs so that bullied children do not suffer continuing distress. Additionally in the past 12 months we have supported the Government Equalities Office (GEO) to deliver a £2 million grant programme aimed at combatting homophobic bullying in schools.

Between 2011 and 2016 we provided over £6.6 million to these and other charities to help them to support schools to support pupils who are bullied and to develop strategies to prevent bullying from happening.

The Department and GEO will both be funding further projects this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will take steps to work with local authorities and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to improve air quality in West Yorkshire.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

We are aware that local authorities have a crucial role to play in improving air quality across the UK. The Government is already taking a number of steps to support them in this role.

The national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, published in December 2015, sets out a comprehensive approach for meeting air quality challenges by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones in five cities in England, one of which is Leeds. The Plan combines targeted local and national measures, forming part of a wider approach that exploits new and clean technologies, such as electric and ultra-low emission vehicles.

We have allocated funding to help Leeds City Council implement the Clean Air Zone and are working closely with City officials on its development. Delivery of the Clean Air Zone will also take account of the need to work closely with related authorities and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Local authorities additionally have a duty to evaluate local air quality against standards set by the Government. They designate air quality management areas (AQMAs) at locations where these standards are not met and take remedial actions to improve air quality at these locations. Six local authorities in West Yorkshire – Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield and York – have declared AQMAs and are implementing remedial action plans to improve air quality in their areas.

Defra introduced regulatory and guidance changes in 2015 to provide better and clearer guidance to local authorities on local air quality management to enable them to improve air quality in their areas and achieve better health and environmental outcomes.

Defra supports local authorities through the Air Quality Grant Scheme, a competitive fund they can bid into to support local action to improve air quality. Details and criteria for this year’s scheme will be available later in the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to review the regulations and guidance governing taxi and private hire vehicles working outside their primary licensing authority area.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport’s Best Practice Guidance on taxi and private hire licensing was issued in 2010. It is expected that a consultation on revised guidance will be launched early next year. Subject to Royal Assent to the Policing and Crime Bill, this will be accompanied by draft Statutory Guidance in relation to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.

The Government is currently considering all the recommendations in the Law Commission’s report on taxi and private hire regulation in England and Wales and will formally respond to the Law Commission and announce its intentions once this scrutiny is completed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to raise awareness of financial scams targeting older people.

Mike Penning

The Government takes all types of fraud and financial scams extremely seriously. The Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, published in 2013, places a strong focus on protecting those most at risk. The Home Office has recently completed a research project in order to better understand who in the UK is at risk from fraud and cyber threats, what makes them vulnerable and how to most effectively reach them. This will enable the Home Office and partners to develop ways to better protect the public, for example providing targeted fraud prevention advice.

The Home Office also works with the City of London Police, which is the national lead force for fraud, to help all police forces to understand better who is vulnerable to fraud in their areas, and to work with local partners including the voluntary sector to help protect those vulnerable people from the threat from fraud.

Action Fraud is the central reporting point for fraud and is operated by the City of London Police. It assesses the vulnerability of victims based on the financial and health impact of the reported fraud, and provides this information to forces. This enables police forces to make targeted interventions with those most at risk. When a serious threat or a new type of fraud is identified, Action Fraud places an alert on its website with advice for individuals to protect themselves from becoming victims. Members of the public can sign up to receive these alerts by email.

The Home Office is also working closely with Financial Fraud Action UK and the British Bankers Association who have issued specific advice to consumers on telephone scams. This includes helping consumers know when they may be a target to these fraudsters, and advice on what information should never be shared, e.g. PIN number. In December last year Financial Fraud Action UK and the police announced a joint declaration to help consumers avoid becoming victims of financial fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many student midwives there were in England in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The following table shows the total number of student midwives in training in England as at the end of each financial year for the period 2010/11 to 2014/15.

Year	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
Midwives	5,644	5,955	6,315	6,413	6,662

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns.