Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what has been the current take-up of the Help to Buy scheme in (a) England and (b) Bradford.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home.
By 30 September, 54,520 families have bought a home with the assistance of the three Help to Buy schemes in England and 525 in the Bradford Metropolitan District Council area.
The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in England, broken down by constituency, local authority and postcode, is available at: http://opendatacommunities.org/def/concept/folders/themes/housing-market.
The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: New Buy scheme is available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics. Figures are not available by constituency
The Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is managed by HM Treasury. The latest official statistics is available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-june-2014.This includes total numbers of sales at individual local authority level (Table 7).
The 525 Help to Buy Sales in Bradford comprises 387 equity loan sales, 22 Newbuy sales and 116 Mortgage Guarantee sales.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress he has made on rectifying benefit sanctions found to have been wrongly applied.
Answered by Esther McVey
We get the vast majority of decisions right. All decisions are made by independent decision makers based on evidence provided at the time. A sanction will never be imposed if a claimant provides good reason and once sanctioned a claimant has rights to reconsideration and appeal. Hardship payments are also available and vulnerable claimants, including anyone with responsibility for a child, can receive payments immediately.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many planning applications to develop urban green space have been approved in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The information requested is not centrally held.
This Government has introduced a new Local Green Space planning designation to allow local communities to give special protection to valuable green or open areas of particular importance to them; we have increased councils’ powers to stop unwanted garden grabbing; and we have strengthened the role and primacy of Local Plans to shape where development should and should not go, complemented by new neighbourhood planning.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014, to Question 209601, on free schools: Sheffield, who was named as Chair of Governors in the application to establish a free school at Milner Fields in Bradford.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There is a police investigation taking place regarding events at Kings Science Academy. Until such time as those investigations are brought to a close and a full and final determination reached, it would not be appropriate to release any related information held by the Department for Education.
The Department has made a public commitment to release all successful free school applications once all personal information has been removed. Should the investigation conclude by the time the first batch of applications are released in December, the application for the Kings Science Academy in Bradford will be released at that time.
The release of the names of the proposed Chairs of Governors at the proposed schools in Milner Fields and Darnall might contravene the data protection rights of the individuals concerned.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014, to Question 209601, on free schools: Sheffield, who was named as Chair of Governors in the application to establish a free school at Darnall in Sheffield.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There is a police investigation taking place regarding events at Kings Science Academy. Until such time as those investigations are brought to a close and a full and final determination reached, it would not be appropriate to release any related information held by the Department for Education.
The Department has made a public commitment to release all successful free school applications once all personal information has been removed. Should the investigation conclude by the time the first batch of applications are released in December, the application for the Kings Science Academy in Bradford will be released at that time.
The release of the names of the proposed Chairs of Governors at the proposed schools in Milner Fields and Darnall might contravene the data protection rights of the individuals concerned.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the Free School application for Kings Science Academy in Bradford.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There is a police investigation taking place regarding events at Kings Science Academy. Until such time as those investigations are brought to a close and a full and final determination reached, it would not be appropriate to release any related information held by the Department for Education.
The Department has made a public commitment to release all successful free school applications once all personal information has been removed. Should the investigation conclude by the time the first batch of applications are released in December, the application for the Kings Science Academy in Bradford will be released at that time.
The release of the names of the proposed Chairs of Governors at the proposed schools in Milner Fields and Darnall might contravene the data protection rights of the individuals concerned.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department received an application from the Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust to establish a new free school in Darnall, S9 in Sheffield; and if she will publish it.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education has previously received applications from the Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust to establish free schools in Milner Fields, Bradford and Darnall, Sheffield.
Two applications were received in January 2012, during the third wave of applications. They were listed with all other applications received at this time in a list published online at:
The Department has no plans to publish the two applications.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department received an application from the Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust to establish a new free school in Milner Fields in Bradford.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education has previously received applications from the Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust to establish free schools in Milner Fields, Bradford and Darnall, Sheffield.
Two applications were received in January 2012, during the third wave of applications. They were listed with all other applications received at this time in a list published online at:
The Department has no plans to publish the two applications.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who the Chairs of Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust have been since its establishment; and on what dates each such Chair took took up and relinquished office.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Our record of the dates each Chair of the board of trustees at Kings Science Academy took up and relinquished office is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287911/140113_graham_stuart_-revised_jb.pdf
From pre-opening to 30 September 2011, the Chair was Mr Nadim Qureshi. On 27 September 2011, the Department for Education was informed that Mr Alan Lewis would be the Chair from 1 October 2011. We learnt in October 2012 that we had been misinformed. This was looked at as part of the EFA’s wider investigation into financial management and governance at KSA in December 2012, which confirmed there had been no chair in place for the first year of the school’s operation.
From 25 October 2012 to 13 March 2013, the Chair was Dr Asim Suleman. From 13 March 2013 to 7 October 2013, Mr John Bowers was Acting Chair, and has been Chair from 7 October 2013.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will call an independent public inquiry into events at Kings Free Schools and Academies Trust.
Answered by Edward Timpson
No. An independent public inquiry would not be appropriate while a related police investigation is ongoing.