Chris Heaton-Harris

A. In 2010 the Government announced its intention to revert to the original funding allocations for Arts, Sports and Heritage Good Causes. This saw the proportions shift in two phases from 16.66% to 20% over 2011-2013.

The figures are set out in the table below:

(NOTE: figures are taken from the National Lottery Distribution Fund Annual Report and Accounts and show total NLDF income allocated to the Arts, Sports and Heritage Good Causes, net of Olympic transfers and operational costs. These are cash figures.)

The Children and Families Act - to be implemented from September – introduces the most fundamental reform to the system for SEN and disability for 30 years, placing children and families at the heart of a more integrated system focused on improving outcomes for children and young people.

Families will be more involved in decision making and there will be greater clarity about local services provided in each area.

We're providing substantial funding to local areas to deliver the reforms. Last week we announced a further £45.2m - on top of the £70m already provided this year - for implementing the reforms.

We are also providing £30m over two years to provide independent supporters to families.

The Department for Education does not collect information on the number of people with learning difficulties reported being bullied at school.

The Government is clear that bullying, for whatever reason, is totally unacceptable. All schools are required, by law, to have a behaviour policy with measures to address all forms of bullying including that which occurs online. Schools have the freedom to shape these measures in the context of their particular local circumstances and pupils' needs. Schools are held closely to account by Ofsted for how well they deal with pupil behaviour and safety, which includes bullying.

We are also providing £4 million of funding over two years from spring 2013 to four organisations - Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and The Anti-bullying Alliance (ABA) with the National Children's Bureau (NCB) - to develop effective initiatives that prevent and tackle all forms of bullying.

As part of their funding, the ABA has recently published a guide to cyberbullying for SEND young people, which contains advice for schools on developing effective anti-bullying practice and we link to this report in our Departmental advice on bullying.

The Final Business Case (FBC) for the development was approved by Treasury in March 2012. It includes commercially sensitive information that is unsuitable for release. A decision to withhold the entire document was taken due to concerns over potential harm to commercial interests and the interests of government internal policy formulation.

The last rent review for the tenants of New Covent Garden Market was at the time of the renewal of the leases on the market as at 31^st March 2010. At that time the rents across the market increased by 8.7%. There have been no increases since that date.

Under the terms of the tenants’ leases the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) is currently undertaking a rent review as at 31^st March 2015. As negotiations with tenants on the level of increase continues, the proposals from CGMA are commercially confidential but the increases proposed are based on the increase in market rent for similar premises in the local area since the last rent review in 2010.

It is not intended to demolish and rebuild the existing multi-storey car park at New Covent Garden Market. The existing car park has been assessed by structural engineers from both the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) and by CGMA’s Private Development Partner who consider the structure to be in a satisfactory condition to be retained and refurbished rather than demolished and rebuilt.

The option to demolish and rebuild was considered as was extension of the existing car park. Neither of these options was considered cost effective.

The contracts to undertake the work will be let by the Private Development Partner, VSM (NCGM) Limited. Some of these contracts have yet to be finalised and as such cost information generated in assessing the options is commercially confidential and cannot be disclosed at this time.

There have been no sales of land by the Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) in the last five years. Covent House, CGMA’s former office building, will be sold to London Underground Limited (LUL), a subsidiary of Transport for London, on 31^st July 2015, under a Land and Works Agreement dated 29^th October 2014. This was in order to effect a Compulsory Purchase of the land, necessary for the Northern Line extension of London Underground. The current Project Director of Covent Garden Market Authority is due to join Transport for London later this year. The CGMA Board has been informed of the appointment and was given an opportunity to raise issues or concerns about his move from CGMA to Transport for London. The Board has not raised concerns.

The total expenses claimed by the Board of the Covent Garden Market Authority for each of the last five years were:

2010/11 £9,394

2011/12 £11,139

2012/13 £9,791

2013/14 £5,345

2014/15 £6,451

The amounts predominantly relate to travel and accommodation expenses associated with attendance at Board and Committee meetings.

The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait – a fund for education in emergencies, with the International Development Secretary announcing a £30million commitment to the fund as a founding donor at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23 May. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase to ensure that the final design and results framework are underpinned by a transparent monitoring and evaluation system and robust financial reporting arrangements, to ensure that the UK and other donors have strong oversight of how funds are utilised and results achieved.

The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait – a fund for education in emergencies. A key focus for Education Cannot Wait will be on ensuring that marginalised children and young people are able to access a quality education. This includes refugees and internally displaced children, as well as children facing barriers to their education because of their gender, disability or other factors. This focus is reflected in the Fund’s indicative headline results, which commits to providing “Inclusive education [that] reaches the most marginalised children and young people in crises” with a target of “100% of supported education opportunities demonstrate increase in education for girls, disabled and those in remote locations”. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this commitment is fully reflected in its final design and results frameworks.

DFID is making important contributions to data availability, educational access and learning outcomes for children with disabilities in Kenya. The DFID-funded national special needs survey has collected comprehensive data on the educational needs of children with disabilities for the first time in Kenya; all new DFID infrastructure provide disabled access; and visually and hearing impaired children will soon be supported with learning materials.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the key new vehicle for helping developing countries adapt to climate change and follow low-carbon development paths. The UK will announce its pledge shortly.

The UK Government has committed to help train 190,000 teachers by 2015, to help improve the quality of education for all children, including those with disabilities. By 2013/14, DFID had supported the training of 123,000 teachers. A major challenge in poor countries is developing the data systems which can capture the needs of children with disabilities. We are therefore supporting UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to regularly publish education indicators which disaggregate people with disabilities, and to develop new standards for school censuses and surveys related to marginalised populations.