Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK aid reaches persecuted Christians.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The UK Aid Strategy commits the UK to be the lead on the “Leave No One Behind” promise. Our analysis of poverty and vulnerability looks at a range of factors that lead to exclusion including religious identity. Humanitarian assistance is provided on need, irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity and we work to ensure that aid reaches the most vulnerable including those from religious minorities.
We work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office who lead on the protection of freedom of religion and religious minorities.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support Christians on death row in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy.
Answered by Mark Field
It is the British Government's longstanding policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and in all countries. In Pakistan, we remain deeply concerned by the misuse of blasphemy laws, and that religious minorities, including Christians, are disproportionately affected. The harsh penalties for blasphemy, including the death penalty, add to these concerns.
We regularly raise our human rights concerns with the Government of Pakistan at a senior level. My colleague, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister in February 2019.
To ensure the United Kingdom is providing the right levels of support to persecuted Christians overseas, the Foreign Secretary asked the Bishop of Truro, Rt Revd. Philip Mounstephen, to carry out an independent review. The Bishop has submitted his interim report; with the full report due later this year.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2019 to Question 203928 and the Answer of 8 January 2019 to Question 205307, on Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000: Fines, if the Speaker's Committee will undertake a review of whether it is an appropriate and proportionate enforcement policy practice by the Electoral Commission for a political party to be fined £6,000 for submitting a quarterly reporting one day after the deadline.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
It is not the remit of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, as set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, to scrutinise the Electoral Commission’s enforcement policies.
Parliament made it an offence to deliver, without reasonable excuse, donation reports that are inaccurate or miss the statutory deadline. Parliament gave the Commission investigation and sanction powers for these, and other, offences. Parliament also set out a legal right of appeal for those sanctioned by the Commission, including on the grounds that the amount of the penalty is unreasonable.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will estimate the (a) number of hours spent by the police on and (b) cost to the police of tackling animal welfare concerns relating to horses in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office does not collect this information. Decisions about the allocation of police resources and deployment of officers are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable PCCs. They are responsible for ensuring the needs of the local community are met.
The Government is supporting the police to respond to changing demand with an over £460m increase in total investment in the police system this financial year, including an increase of around £280m in funding for Police & Crime Commissioners through council tax precept. The Chancellor recognised in his Budget speech that the police are under pressure from the changing nature of crime and that the Home Secretary would review police spending power ahead of the 2019/20 police funding settlement.
Police and local authorities have powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to investigate animal welfare issues. We would not expect the police to deal with horse-related welfare problems unless there was a public safety issue, such as horses loose on roads. Anyone can bring a prosecution under the 2006 Act, and it is on this basis that the RSPCA prosecute people for animal cruelty, including to horses.
In relation to the unlawful placement of horses on other people’s land for grazing (fly-grazing), the Control of Horses Act 2015 gives land owners powers to remove horses which have been left on their land without their permission. If anyone is concerned about the welfare of a horse in a field they can report it to the local authority who can investigate under the 2006 Act or they can report it to the RPSCA or World Horse Welfare who will also investigate.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department has taken to raise educational standards in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, we have reformed the national curriculum, GCSEs and A levels to set world-class standards across all subjects.
We have also committed to 75% of pupils in state-funded mainstream schools studying the EBacc combination of core academic subjects by September 2022 and 90% by September 2025.
The attainment gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and other pupils has fallen by 13% in primary schools and 9.5% at Key Stage 4 since 2011.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
What steps his Department has taken to raise educational standards in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since 2010, we have reformed the national curriculum, GCSEs and A levels to set world-class standards across all subjects.
We have also committed to 75% of pupils in state-funded mainstream schools studying the EBacc combination of core academic subjects by September 2022 and 90% by September 2025.
The attainment gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and other pupils has fallen by 13% in primary schools and 9.5% at Key Stage 4 since 2011.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the appropriateness of the Commission's use of civil sanctions for the late submission of political parties' quarterly reports.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 requires registered political parties to report cash and non-cash donations and borrowing to the Electoral Commission on a quarterly basis. Parliament made it an offence to deliver, without reasonable excuse, donation reports that are inaccurate or miss the statutory deadline. Parliament also gave the Commission investigation and sanction powers for these, and other, offences. The Commission investigates and where appropriate sanctions inaccurate or late donation reports in line with its Enforcement Policy.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance that the Electoral Commission uses when determining the proportionality of setting the level of a variable monetary penalty.
Answered by Bridget Phillipson - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Electoral Commission has powers to impose a variable monetary penalty where it is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person has committed a prescribed offence or contravention under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The Commission takes decisions on sanctions in line with its Enforcement Policy. This document was the result of a public consultation and is available on its website; I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.
The Commission has called for an increase to the maximum penalty it can impose on political parties and others for offences or contraventions under the political finance rules. The Commission’s view is that the current maximum fine of £20,000 per offence could be seen as a cost of doing business, and that monetary penalties should be more proportionate to the income and expenditure of larger and well-funded parties and campaigners.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department has allocated through the National Funding Formula to schools in South Gloucestershire in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c)2019-20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below sets out the funding allocated to South Gloucestershire to fund schools in the years requested. It also sets out the high needs funding given to the local authority, which is for pupils with complex special educational needs and disabilities. Some of this funding goes to mainstream schools to help them meet the needs of these pupils.
Year | Schools block allocation | High needs allocation |
2017-18[1] | £151.15 million | £29.66 million |
2018-19[1] | £151.19 million | £31.04 million |
2019-20 (illustrative)[2] | £154.76 million | £31.33 million |
In addition to the funding allocated through the national funding formula, schools will receive funding from specific grants - for example, through the pupil premium, or the PE and sports premium.
Local authorities remain responsible for setting school budgets at a local level, and individual schools may see their funding change due to changing pupil numbers or characteristics, or changes in how the local authority distributes funding.
[1] Figures are from the Schools Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2017-18 and 2018-19. In addition, the national funding formula (NFF) came into force in April 2018 for the 2018-19 financial year, so South Gloucestershire’s 2017-18 allocation was not calculated using the national funding formula.
[2] Figures are from the NFF allocations published in July 2018 for 2019-20. DSG figures for 2019-20 as these are not yet published. 2019-20 NFF figures are illustrative because they will be updated to reflect the latest pupil numbers when the 2019-20 DSG allocations are confirmed.
Asked by: Luke Hall (Conservative - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department are taking are to encourage local authorities to appoint animal welfare inspectors.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold records of how many local authorities have not appointed or trained inspectors to enforce equine welfare issues.
Local authorities are required to enforce The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 which includes the licensing of businesses that hire out horses for riding or instruction in riding and which requires inspectors to be suitably qualified. We would expect most local authorities, therefore, to have inspectors trained in enforcing equine welfare more generally.