Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has given to HRH the Prince of Wales on raising human rights abuses in Cuba with representatives of the Cuban Government on his forthcoming visit to that country.
Answered by Alan Duncan
The UK government regularly raises human rights issues as part of our dialogue with the Cuban government. We believe the best way to encourage progress on human rights in Cuba is through dialogue and practical diplomacy, which is best enabled through engagement. This is reflected in our policy of engagement with Cuba, in which TRHs' trip will play an important role.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the latest statistics on people between 16 and 24 years old who are not in education, employment or training in each local authority area.
Answered by Anne Milton
The latest estimates for young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England and the English regions, based on 2018 quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) data, will be published on 28 February 2019 by the department as part of the series and can be accessed at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-neet.
However, due to sample size limitations in the LFS data, it is not possible to produce reliable estimates for local authority level geographies.
For young people aged 16 to 17, local authorities are required to monitor the extent to which young people are meeting their duty to participate in education or training through the department’s National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS). Local authority level NEET estimates for England are published annually as transparency data from NCCIS and can be accessed at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-and-participation-local-authority-figures. However, these estimates should be used with caution as the headline NEET measure includes people whose activities are not known in order to incentivise local authorities to track all young people.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of recruiting a new Chair of the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership.
Answered by Jake Berry
Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) are independent bodies, supported by an accountable local authority. Government ensures uniform standards are met through the National LEP Assurance Framework, which sets out that chairs are expected to be influential local leaders of high integrity. To meet these standards each LEP makes its own decisions locally for recruitment and associated costs which are subject to scrutiny by the accountable body.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the recommendations of the September 2018 Commission on Religious Education Religion and Worldviews report entitled The Way Forward.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State decided that accepting the Commission’s main proposals would be incompatible with his commitment to make no changes to the curriculum, other than those already announced, during the remaining lifetime of this Parliament.
He did however announce improvements to bursaries for initial teacher training and new funding for religious education subject knowledge enhancement courses. His full response to the Commission is set out in a letter of 6 December 2018 which can be found at: www.religiouseducationcouncil.org.uk/news/government-response-to-the-commission-on-re/.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of his Department's progress towards the target of 75% of pupils studying the EBacc combination of GCSEs by 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government responded to the consultation on implementing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) in July 2017. Schools will have been able to take account of this in GCSE entries from 2020 onwards. The proportion of pupils taking the EBacc subject combination has increased from 22% in 2010 to 38% in 2018. The Department has seen significant increases in pupils taking EBacc science, from 63% to 96%, since 2010. The Department has also seen the proportion of pupils taking history or geography increase from 48% to 78%. Whilst the proportion of pupils taking GCSE languages has increased since 2010, the Department would like to see more pupils taking the subject and have launched initiatives to support this, such as the Modern Foreign Languages hub pedagogy programme.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to visit the A&E department of the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care visits a wide range of National Health Service and social care settings. While he has no immediate plans to visit Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, he will consider all options in plans for upcoming visits.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to introduce hedgehog crossing signs.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport has been exploring the options for a traffic sign to make drivers aware of the presence of hedgehogs and other small animals in the road ahead, in locations where there have been a high number of animal casualties. The Department expects to make an announcement on this in due course.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions has he had with Ofcom on ensuring that public service broadcasters retain a prominent position in electronic programming guides.
Answered by Margot James
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has regular meetings with Ofcom as part of normal government business. The Government recognises the value and importance of high quality public service content and the need for this to be widely accessible to viewers. That is why under the Digital Economy Act 2017, the government required Ofcom to publish a report which looks at the ease of finding PSB content across all platforms. Ofcom’s consultation on proposed changes to the linear EPG Code and the future of the prominence regime closed in October and the government looks forward to the publication of its findings.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Government of the People's Republic of China on its use of the social credit system to identify and detain citizens of Uighur ethnicity.
Answered by Mark Field
We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the Chinese Government’s deepening crackdown; including credible reports of re-education camps and widespread surveillance and restrictions targeted at ethnic minorities.
During China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November, the UK made a statement which described our concern about the treatment of ethnic minorities in China, including Uyghurs. We issued a specific recommendation, calling on China to implement the recommendations by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Xinjiang, and to allow the UN to monitor the implementation. We also raised our concerns about Xinjiang in our Item 4 statement at the September UN Human Rights Council, and we supported the statement of 26 October by the European External Action Service highlighting concerns about Xinjiang.
I raised our concerns about Xinjiang with Vice Minister Guo Yezhou during my visit to China on 22 July 2018. The Foreign Secretary also raised our concerns about the region with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to China on 30 July 2018.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase funding for the Access for All scheme to improve the provision of step-free access at train stations.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Inclusive Transport Strategy, published on 25 July 2018, included a commitment to extend our Access for All programme across rail Control Period 6 (2019 to 2024) with an additional £300m of funding from the public purse. We have received more than 300 nominations for this funding and plan to announce the successful stations in April next year.