Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the difference is between the number of pupils currently studying in England and the number forecasted in 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department publishes both pupil level projections and, separately, data on the numbers in school on an annual basis. The most recent figures on the numbers in school are from January 2016 school census and can be found in the statistical first release available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2016.
The 2015 projection of the 2016 school population (published at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-pupil-projections-trends-in-pupil-numbers-july-2015), and the equivalent school census figures, are given in the table below.
Projected and actual school population, January 2016, England
Full-time equivalent figures up to and including age 15
| All schools1 | State funded schools2 |
2016 census | 7,842 | 7,365 |
2015 projection for 2016 | 7,837 | 7,362 |
thousands
1 State funded nursery, primary, secondary, special and alternative provisions schools, plus independent and non-maintained special schools
2 As 1 but omitting independent and non-maintained special schools
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that additional funding to support the education of children who are entitled to free school meals can be claimed by schools in the event that those children do not claim those free school meals.
Answered by Edward Timpson
We are determined to give every child, regardless of their background, the very best start in life. Both free school meals (FSM) and pupil premium (which links to FSM eligibility) are key to this and we want all parents whose children are entitled FSM, to apply for them.
The current eligibility criteria for FSM requires the parent (or pupil) to be both in receipt of a specified benefit and to make a request for the meal to be provided free of charge.
To support this the Department for Education provides an electronic Eligibility Checking System (ECS), which allows local authorities to check data held by DWP, the Home Office and HMRC in order to establish FSM eligibility. The Department has also provided a model registration form and accompanying guidance, which schools can use as part of their enrolment process.
We want to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility for FSM, and the Department is looking at what can be done in the longer term to make the FSM registration processes even more efficient.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what rail infrastructure investment was in the South West region from 1997-98 to 2015-16.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department specifies rail investment as part of a planning process that includes publishing a High Level Output Specification (HLOS). This sets out how much public expenditure it wishes to devote to rail and what it wants the railway to deliver. This takes into account rail infrastructure in England and Wales, including the South West. It does not include infrastructure investment made by third parties.
The first HLOS was published in 2007 and covers the period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014 and the second HLOS published in 2012 covers the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2019. During these periods rail infrastructure has been delivered or is in delivery in the South West including Reading Station redevelopment, the Great Western Route Modernisation Programme and the Wessex Capacity Programme.
Further information can be found at the following links;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-a-sustainable-railway-white-paper-cm-7176
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-level-output-specification-2012
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2017 to Question 64008, on Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency, how much was paid by each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Local authorities cover the administrative cost associated with requests for vehicle keeper and driver licensing information held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The table below shows how much was paid to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) by each local authority over the last five years. Audited information for this financial year 2016-17 is not yet available.
| 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Local Authority |
|
|
|
|
A |
|
|
|
|
Aylesbury Vale DC | - | £125 | £225 | £485 |
B |
|
|
|
|
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,985 | £606 | £636 | £737 |
Bath & North East Somerset | £2,985 | £552 | £552 | £572 |
Birmingham City Council | £1,054 | £557 | £435 | £303 |
Blackburn with Darwen BC | £3,841 | £939 | £375 | - |
Bolton Council | £3,129 | £18 | £3 | £367 |
Bradford Council | - | - | - | £3,453 |
Brighton & Hove City Council | - | - | - | £4,067 |
Bristol City Council | £6,789 | £2,460 | £5,651 | £3,045 |
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council | £2,985 | - | - | £1,040 |
C |
|
|
|
|
Caerphilly County Borough Council | - | - | £2,985 | £217 |
Cardiff City Council | - | - | £1,320 | £2,062 |
Cheshire Council | - | - | - | £37 |
Crawley Borough Council | - | - | £2,986 | £560 |
Cumbria County Council | £631 | £1,252 | £1,984 | £1,881 |
D |
|
|
|
|
Darlington Borough Council | - | - | £2,985 | £414 |
Denbighshire County Council | - | - | - | £3,012 |
Doncaster Council | £13 | £2,469 | £1,589 | £3,849 |
E |
|
|
|
|
Essex County Council | £1,525 | £2,498 | £2,569 | £1,843 |
G |
|
|
|
|
Glasgow City Council | - | - | - | £4,505 |
H |
|
|
|
|
Hertfordshire County Council | - | £1,009 | £653 | £1,063 |
Huntingdonshire District Council | £1,332 | £4 | £6 | £3,009 |
I |
|
|
|
|
Inverclyde Council | - | - | £594 | £799 |
Isle of Wight Council | £400 | £318 | £658 | £923 |
K |
|
|
|
|
Kirklees Council | - | - | £1,625 | £2,892 |
Knowsley Borough Council | - | - | - | £3,451 |
L |
|
|
|
|
Leeds City Council | £3,385 | £488 | £4,162 | £10,082 |
London Borough of Harrow Council | £15,213 | £3,305 | £189 | £216 |
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham | - | £1,664 | £3,224 | £3,536 |
London Councils | - | £1,040 | £2,080 | £2,080 |
M |
|
|
|
|
Manchester City Council | £1,342 | £6,475 | £6,075 | £6,385 |
Middlesbrough Council | - | - | £2,985 | £1,119 |
Monmouthshire County Council | - | - | - | £2,986 |
N |
|
|
|
|
Newark & Sherwood District Council | - | - | - | £162 |
North Devon District Council | £128 | £193 | £352 | £246 |
North Somerset Council | £48 | £91 | £272 | £340 |
North Tyneside Council | - | - | - | £4,157 |
Northampton Borough Council | £3,279 | £3,346 | £50 | £829 |
Nottingham City Council | £3 | £1,746 | £1,949 | £2,029 |
Nottinghamshire County Council | £3 | £3,003 | £112 | £3,609 |
O |
|
|
|
|
Oldham Council | - | - | £737 | £1,190 |
Oxford City Council | £4 | £3,465 | £836 | £877 |
P |
|
|
|
|
Plymouth City Council | - | - | - | £3,075 |
Portsmouth City Council | - | - | - | £2,992 |
Powys County Council | - | - | - | £2,985 |
R |
|
|
|
|
Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council | - | - | - | £3,347 |
Rochdale Borough Council | - | - | - | £2,985 |
Rushcliffe Borough Council | - | £476 | £588 | £700 |
S |
|
|
|
|
Sedgemoor District Council | - | - | - | £65 |
Sefton Council | £2,985 | £5 | £1,331 | £1,825 |
Sevenoaks Council | - | - | - | £2,998 |
Sheffield City Council | - | - | £1,387 | £2,049 |
South Cambridgeshire Council | - | £72 | £339 | £331 |
South Lanarkshire Council | - | - | £2,985 | £541 |
South Somerset District Council | - | - | £2,985 | £197 |
South Tyneside Council | - | - | £2,986 | £521 |
Southampton City Council | - | £13 | £378 | £419 |
St Edmundsbury Borough Council | - | - | - | £58 |
St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council | - | - | £2,986 | £740 |
Swansea Council | - | - | - | £2,985 |
T |
|
|
|
|
Test Valley Borough Council | - | - | £143 | £296 |
Torfaen County Borough Council | - | £295 | £262 | £259 |
Transport for London | - | £8,319 | £9,188 | £46,775 |
W |
|
|
|
|
Walsall Council | - | - | - | £2,985 |
Warrington Borough Council | - | £237 | £343 | £505 |
Wigan Council | - | - | - | £1,209 |
Wolverhampton City Council | - | - | - | £992 |
Wyre Council | - | £3,325 | £469 | £434 |
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to use the research base for clinical and management procedure that have been exported by groups of NHS clinicians for use in other countries to inform best practice within the NHS.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department is working closely with the Department for International Trade and NHS England to promote the expertise and reputation of National Health Service bodies (and the wider health sector) abroad. This contributes to the health and wellbeing of patients in other countries, protects United Kingdom intellectual property so that the benefits of exported health practice come back into the UK, and generates a return for the NHS.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's policy is on supporting clinicians on the export for use in other countries of clinical and management procedures that have been developed in the NHS.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department is working closely with the Department for International Trade and NHS England to promote the expertise and reputation of National Health Service bodies (and the wider health sector) abroad. This contributes to the health and wellbeing of patients in other countries, protects United Kingdom intellectual property so that the benefits of exported health practice come back into the UK, and generates a return for the NHS.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) clinical and (b) cost effectiveness of the provision of bariatric surgery alongside other preventative public health measures in reducing cases of type two diabetes.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
It is for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to provide national clinical guidance and advice, based on best evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness, for use of interventions, technology and devices.
NICE has published a clinical guideline on the identification, assessment and management of obesity that contains recommendations for assessment for bariatric surgery to be considered for people with recent-onset type 2 diabetes within specified criteria:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189/chapter/1-recommendations
It has not, however, published guidance on the specific role of bariatric surgery as an intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes in those at high risk.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide an update on the advice her Department is giving to universities on whether students taking a sabbatical from their studies should remain enrolled at their university.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Universities are autonomous institutions responsible for setting their own policies. The Department does not provide advice to universities about student sabbaticals.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on local authority payments to the DVLA for air quality improvement purposes.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra does not hold information on local authority payments to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for air quality improvement purposes.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commission.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner laid his first Annual Report before Parliament on 12 October 2016. The report covered his activities during the period 1 August 2015 to 30 September 2016. Home Office Ministers regularly meet the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to discuss progress made against the five priorities set out in his Strategic Plan for the period 2015-2017.