Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the finding of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association report on the economic impact of changes to the vehicle excise duty, published in February 2017, that those changes will result in rental companies purchasing 24,800 fewer vehicles in 2017 compared with 2016.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is fully committed to successful delivery of the VED reforms, which ensure that all cars other than ones which emit zero-emissions will contribute. At present, cars that emit less than 130g/km of carbon pay no VED in the first year. This is not sustainable at a time when the average new car emits 120g/km.
The Government appreciates this will affect car buyers such as rental companies who may sell vehicles in less than a year. The rules around VED refunds have not changed compared to the current system.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the network of 108 remaining licensed General Aviation airfields in the UK are maintained and enhanced.
Answered by John Hayes
The government is seeking to better define a strategic network of General Aviation airfields and is engaging with the General Aviation Strategic Forum to do this.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what additional safeguards the Government's Right to Buy working group has identified to tackle fraud and abuse of that scheme.
Answered by Lord Barwell
This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.
We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.
The findings and recommendations of the Government’s Right to Buy fraud working group will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what measures his Department has put in place to tackle fraud and abuse related to the Right to Buy scheme.
Answered by Lord Barwell
This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.
We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.
The findings and recommendations of the Government’s Right to Buy fraud working group will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students enrolled at (a) sixth form colleges and (b) school and academy sixth forms in December 2016 were eligible for free school meals at the age of 15.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Eleven per cent of academic aged 16-18 year olds who studied their highest qualification in 2014/15 at a sixth form college, were eligible for free school meals at academic age 15. The equivalent figure for school and academy sixth forms was ten per cent. Data for December 2016 is unavailable.
Note: This proportion is based on those where the FSM status at 15 is known.
Source: Department for Education’s Young Person’s Matched Administrative Dataset.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average GCSE score is of students currently enrolled at (a) sixth form colleges and (b) school and academy sixth forms in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The requested information for pupils at the end of Key Stage 5 in the academic year 2014/15 is given in the following table:
Average GCSE Attainment[1],[2] of pupils at the end of key stage 5 in 2015 by school type | |||
School type | Number of eligible pupils[3] | Average capped[4] GCSE and equivalents point score per pupil | Percentage of students achieving 5A*-C in English and mathematics GCSEs including equivalents |
Sixth form colleges | 64,579 | 381.2 | 81.7 |
All state-funded schools[5] | 181,223 | 390.8 | 84.1 |
Source 16-18 attainment data
[1]In 2013/14, two major reforms were implemented which affect the calculation of key stage 4 performance measures data: 1) Professor Alison Wolf’s Review of Vocational Education recommendations which: restrict the qualifications counted; prevent any qualification from counting as larger than one GCSE; and cap the number of non-GCSEs included in performance measures at two per pupil, and 2) an early entry policy to only count a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification, in subjects counted in the English Baccalaureate. Consequently, the numbers supplied prior to 2013/14 are not comparable with those from 2013/14 onwards.
[2] In 2014/15, early entry policy, under which only a pupil’s first attempt at a qualification is counted in performance measures, was extended to all subjects.
[3] Covers students at the end of advanced level study who were entered for at least one substantial advanced level academic or vocational qualification in the 2014/15 academic year: substantial advanced level academic or vocational qualifications are defined as qualifications that are at least the size of an A level (180 guided learning hours per year), such as a BTEC subsidiary diploma level 3. If a vocational or academic qualification is similar in size to 2 A levels it will be counted as 2 substantial level 3 qualifications. In order to be included in this table, pupils also needed a valid end of key stage 4 record, therefore the number of eligible pupils is lower than that published in the key stage 5 SFR.
[4] Average capped point scores are calculated using the best 8 GCSE or equivalent results.
[5] Includes school and academy sixth-forms
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF crews there are embedded in the New Zealand military on maritime patrol aircraft duties; how many such crews were so embedded in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015; and how many members of those crews no longer serve in the British Armed Forces.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information is not held in the format requested.
However, the number of RAF personnel embedded with each nation’s military on Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) duties as part of the Seedcorn Initiative and Exchange Officer programme, on 1 April each year, is set out in the table below:
Year | Number of Personnel Embedded | |||
| US | Canada | Australia | New Zealand |
2010 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2011 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
2012 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2013 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2014 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
2015 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
2016 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
The number of RAF personnel who were embedded in each nation’s military on MPAs from 2010 to 2016, who no longer serve in the British Armed Forces, is set out below:
US 1
Canada 1
Australia 0
New Zealand 1
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF crews there are embedded in the Australian military on maritime patrol aircraft duties; how many such crews were so embedded in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015; and how many members of those crews no longer serve in the British Armed Forces.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information is not held in the format requested.
However, the number of RAF personnel embedded with each nation’s military on Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) duties as part of the Seedcorn Initiative and Exchange Officer programme, on 1 April each year, is set out in the table below:
Year | Number of Personnel Embedded | |||
| US | Canada | Australia | New Zealand |
2010 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2011 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
2012 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2013 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2014 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
2015 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
2016 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
The number of RAF personnel who were embedded in each nation’s military on MPAs from 2010 to 2016, who no longer serve in the British Armed Forces, is set out below:
US 1
Canada 1
Australia 0
New Zealand 1
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF crews there are embedded in the US military on maritime patrol aircraft duties; how many such crews were so embedded in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015; and how many members of those crews no longer serve in the British Armed Forces.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information is not held in the format requested.
However, the number of RAF personnel embedded with each nation’s military on Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) duties as part of the Seedcorn Initiative and Exchange Officer programme, on 1 April each year, is set out in the table below:
Year | Number of Personnel Embedded | |||
| US | Canada | Australia | New Zealand |
2010 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2011 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
2012 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2013 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2014 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
2015 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
2016 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
The number of RAF personnel who were embedded in each nation’s military on MPAs from 2010 to 2016, who no longer serve in the British Armed Forces, is set out below:
US 1
Canada 1
Australia 0
New Zealand 1
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many RAF crews have been embedded in the Canadian military on maritime patrol duties in each year since 2010; and how many of those crew members no longer serve in the UK armed forces.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information is not held in the format requested.
However, the number of RAF personnel embedded with each nation’s military on Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) duties as part of the Seedcorn Initiative and Exchange Officer programme, on 1 April each year, is set out in the table below:
Year | Number of Personnel Embedded | |||
| US | Canada | Australia | New Zealand |
2010 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2011 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 |
2012 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2013 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 6 |
2014 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
2015 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
2016 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
The number of RAF personnel who were embedded in each nation’s military on MPAs from 2010 to 2016, who no longer serve in the British Armed Forces, is set out below:
US 1
Canada 1
Australia 0
New Zealand 1