Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support multi-lateral institutions in promoting good governance in the global south.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK supports multilateral institutions by providing both core and non-core project funding to help tackle complex governance challenges in developing countries. For example, we provide funding to UN agencies, including UNDP, to promote inclusive, effective and accountable governance. The UK funds the World Bank, IMF and OECD to deliver capacity building on tax and public financial management, including supporting the flagship "Tax Inspectors Without Borders" partnership between the OECD and the UN. Last month the UK announced £2 million new funding to World Bank and IMF Trust funds focused on supporting developing countries build stronger systems to tackle corruption and illicit finance issues. The UK has consistently championed delivering good governance outcomes across the multilateral system, including by playing a leading role to champion and shape SDG 16 that provides the overarching international framework for this.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to improve the educational outcomes of children and young people in care; and what estimate she has made of the number of care leavers who are not in (a) education, (b) employment and (c) training.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. The Children’s Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care and ensure placements safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Furthermore, the guidance is clear that the child’s allocated social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education and, where a child is in key stage 4, a move should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Responsibility for looked-after children sits with the local authority. The guidance and regulations of the Children Act 1989 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1000549/The_Children_Act_1989_guidance_and_regulations_Volume_2_care_planning__placement_and_case_review.pdf.
Every local authority must appoint a virtual school head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s personal education plan.
In February 2023, the department announced the national rollout of £24 million of pupil premium plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers at post-16 for the next two years, from 2023/24. This funding, which builds on an initial £8 million pilot that launched in October 2021, gives VSHs the financial levers to positively impact the educational outcomes of looked-after children and care leavers in post-16 education.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of moving schools on children in care; and what steps she is taking to reduce the number of children in care who experience school moves.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The needs of the child are paramount when deciding the right care placement. The Children’s Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make sure that there is sufficient provision in their area to meet the needs of children in their care and ensure placements safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Furthermore, the guidance is clear that the child’s allocated social worker, supported by local authority management and resources, should do everything possible to minimise disruption to the child’s education and, where a child is in key stage 4, a move should only be made in exceptional circumstances. Responsibility for looked-after children sits with the local authority. The guidance and regulations of the Children Act 1989 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1000549/The_Children_Act_1989_guidance_and_regulations_Volume_2_care_planning__placement_and_case_review.pdf.
Every local authority must appoint a virtual school head (VSH), who has a statutory duty to promote the educational attainment of all children in their care. All maintained schools and academies must appoint a designated teacher to act as a source of advice and expertise about the needs of the looked-after children on the school’s roll. Looked-after children also have top priority in school admissions and attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,570 per child, up to age 16. This is managed by the VSH, who works with the child’s education setting to deliver objectives in the child’s personal education plan.
In February 2023, the department announced the national rollout of £24 million of pupil premium plus style funding to looked-after children and care leavers at post-16 for the next two years, from 2023/24. This funding, which builds on an initial £8 million pilot that launched in October 2021, gives VSHs the financial levers to positively impact the educational outcomes of looked-after children and care leavers in post-16 education.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will publish a list of his Department's expenditure directly targeting reproductive health under input sector codes (a) 13010, (b) 13021/22, (c) 13030 and (d) 13081 in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annually reports on Official Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure via the Statistics on International Development publications (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development) and are reported in line with OECD Development and Assistance Committee sector codes.
FCDO spend (in £) | 2021 | 2022 |
a. 13010 -Population policy and administrative management | 6,745,320 | 3,776,415 |
b. 13020 - Reproductive health care | 55,139,054 | 91,620,458 |
c. 13030 - Family Planning | 128,880,416 | 112,049,700 |
d. 13081 - Personnel development for population and reproductive health | 3,161,605 | 4,121,363 |
Please note "13020" is the official OECD DAC code for both "13021" and "13022". These codes were defined and solely used by the former Department for International Development. They did not exist in the former Foreign and Commonwealth Office spend data and would not provide a complete picture for the FCDO.
Data for 2023 is not available yet.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of civil servants at Defence Business Services have had information security training in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
There are three information security courses which are mandatory for civil servants in Defence (Protecting Personal Data, Information & Knowledge Awareness and Records Management Awareness). These courses replaced the Defence Information Management Passport (DIMP) which had a three-year expiry timeframe and retired fully in early 2023. Staff who are still covered by the DIMP do not need to complete the three new security courses until their DIMP expires.
Data shows that approximately 43% of the Defence Business Services workforce have completed all of the necessary security information courses, or are still covered by the DIMP. A Civilian Mandatory Learning Review is underway to tackle a range of issues, including compliance, to ensure a higher proportion of the workforce complete their mandatory learning in future.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's guidance on hedge laying; and if he will include roadside hedges in the Countryside Stewardship grant BN5: Hedgerow laying.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under action BN5, support is available to farmers to lay roadside hedgerows where the farmer has management control of both sides of the hedgerow. In January we set out a commitment to introduce a cycle of reviews for scheme actions from 2025, which will include BN5. The current guidance is clear and as part of the cycle of reviews, we will assess the suitability of the guidance, including taking into account any farmer or stakeholder feedback we receive.
We will be publishing voluntary guidance to support the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in the summer.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff have left the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management in each year since its creation.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were transferred from Category A prisons in each year since 2015, by the category of their destination prisons.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of prisoners transferred each year is published in table 3_A_28 available at Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The data for which Category prisons that prisoners have been transferred to can be found in the attached table. Prisoners cannot be transferred into a prison with a lower security category than their individual classification. Moves from higher to lower security classification prisons relate to prisoners who are progressing through the prison system as their assessed risk decreases.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were transferred to Category C prisons in each year since 2015, by the category of the original prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of prisoners transferred each year is published in table 3_A_28 available at Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The data for which Category prisons that prisoners have been transferred to can be found in the attached table. Prisoners cannot be transferred into a prison with a lower security category than their individual classification. Moves from higher to lower security classification prisons relate to prisoners who are progressing through the prison system as their assessed risk decreases.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were transferred to Category D prisons in each year since 2015, by category of the original prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The number of prisoners transferred each year is published in table 3_A_28 available at Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The data for which Category prisons that prisoners have been transferred to can be found in the attached table. Prisoners cannot be transferred into a prison with a lower security category than their individual classification. Moves from higher to lower security classification prisons relate to prisoners who are progressing through the prison system as their assessed risk decreases.