Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to procure anatomically specific body armour for female service personnel.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Our VIRTUS body armour has eight different sizes of Scalable Tactical Vest and three for the frame. It can therefore be configured in a multitude of ways dependent on the size and shape of the wearer.
Studies are continuing which explore further options for body armour that comes in different sizes and shapes in order to optimise the fit and reduce physical burden on all users.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Midlands Expressway on usage of the M6 Toll Road.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government has had recent discussions with Midland Expressway in order to renew an existing agreement to provide resilience to the Strategic Road Network in exceptional circumstances. General usage on the Toll road is a matter for the operator.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to establish ways of encouraging BME organ donations.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As of 9 December 2016, there were 1,851 people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities waiting for an organ transplant. This represents around 29% of the active transplant list. Around 5% of all deceased organ donors came from BAME communities.
There are a number of specific initiatives to increase the number of organ donors from BAME communities. These include the National BAME Transplant Alliance to coordinate the work of BAME organisations working within these communities, a Peer Educator Project working with the Pakistani Muslim Community in Birmingham and the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets and NHS Blood and Transplant has developed a behaviour change campaign strategy in support of the Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020: A UK Strategy. This includes increasing its education and engagement activities with BAME communities and a Faith Action Plan outlining action to work in partnership with faith leaders.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate he has made of the difference between BME organ donations and the level of demand for such donations.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As of 9 December 2016, there were 1,851 people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities waiting for an organ transplant. This represents around 29% of the active transplant list. Around 5% of all deceased organ donors came from BAME communities.
There are a number of specific initiatives to increase the number of organ donors from BAME communities. These include the National BAME Transplant Alliance to coordinate the work of BAME organisations working within these communities, a Peer Educator Project working with the Pakistani Muslim Community in Birmingham and the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets and NHS Blood and Transplant has developed a behaviour change campaign strategy in support of the Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020: A UK Strategy. This includes increasing its education and engagement activities with BAME communities and a Faith Action Plan outlining action to work in partnership with faith leaders.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that HS2 Ltd takes account of the report by RPS Planning and Development, entitled Acoustics assessment of the effects of HS2, rebuttal evidence, published on 24 November 2016, in any discussions on compensation that it has with Aston Villa Football Club relating to the effect of noise from High Speed 2 on that club's Bodymoor Heath training ground.
Answered by Andrew Jones
HS2 Ltd will take the noise evidence provided by RPS Planning and Development into account in the on-going discussions regarding the effects of noise from HS2 on the Bodymoor Heath training ground.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the evidential basis is for the Government's policy that there should be one technical certificate offered by only one awarding organisation; and what assessment she has made of the risks for post-16 education of that policy.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Following the Wolf Report[1], the Government removed thousands of low-quality qualifications that were not valued by employers from accountability measures. However, as highlighted in the Technical Education Reform Case for Change[2], there is still a confusing array of qualifications available to learners and employers, who struggle to identify which are appropriate for their skills needs. Learners are also faced with variation within programmes and training methods vary widely.
The Independent Panel on Technical Education, chaired by Lord Sainsbury[3], was formed to advise the Government on measures that could improve technical education in England. Through considering best practice in the UK and internationally, and consultation with employers, providers and young people, the Independent Panel recommended moving away from the current awarding organisation market model, where qualifications that deliver similar but different outcomes compete with one another, and instead adopt a licensing approach[4].
The Government has accepted this recommendation based on the evidence set out in the Panel’s report[5] and through considering its own evidence base as set out in the Technical Education Reform Case for Change. In particular, the Panel identified evidence that suggested ‘the current system of awarding organisations which operate in many parts of the UK (but works differently in Scotland) has very serious drawbacks. The proliferation of competing qualifications in England and Northern Ireland undermines the labour market value of vocational qualifications, and prevents employers from engaging effectively in the construction of qualifications.[6]’ The Panel also examined international technical education systems, finding our market-based approach to awarding qualifications appeared to be unique.
Based on the evidence considered, the Panel believe that the simplicity and clarity offered by a licensing approach would bring many advantages to employers and individuals alike.
The Government is undertaking further work to fully understand the benefits and effectively mitigate any risks this new approach may pose to post-16 education.
[1] Wolf, A. (2011), Review of Vocational Education – The Wolf Report. (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180504/DFE-00031-2011.pdf)
[2] Page 17, Department for Education (2016), Technical education reform: the case for change. (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536048/Technical_Education_Reform_-_Case_For_Change.pdf)
[3] Department for Education (2016), Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education.( https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536046/Report_of_the_Independent_Panel_on_Technical_Education.pdf)
[4] Page 43, Department for Education (2016), Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education
[5] Page 6, Department for Education (2016), Post-16 Skills Plan. (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536043/Post-16_Skills_Plan.pdf)
[6] Page 42, Department for Education (2016), Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the role of independent training providers in post-16 years' education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Independent providers deliver a wide range of post-16 education, including apprenticeship training, and the Government expects that to continue.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will estimate the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Hayes
Information on the amount lost by businesses in Birmingham and the West Midlands conurbation as a result of congestion on the M6 motorway is not held centrally.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent from the public purse on bus services per capita in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, formerly Centro and (c) each region of England from 2009-10 to the most recent financial year for which information is available.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The attached table shows the estimated revenue spend on bus services and estimated revenue spend per capita on bus services for the English regions, West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority and Birmingham for 2009/10 to 2014/15, the years for which data are available.
The table also shows figures used to derive the total revenue spend from:
The estimates do not include spend from DCLG estimates on ‘public and other transport planning, policy and strategy’ and ‘public transport management’ that could relate to bus services. It is not possible to determine the extent of spend on bus services in these categories from the DCLG figures. Also, any local authority or DfT capital spend on bus infrastructure has been excluded.
Local authority revenue spend is not available for Birmingham. They receive a proportion of the funding from West Midlands ITA to run bus services in their area that is not disaggregated in the DCLG local authority spend estimates.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been spent from the public purse on rail services per capita in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, formerly Centro and (c) each region of England from 2009-10 to the most recent financial year for which information is available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The series for government expenditure on rail per head of population from 2009/10 to 2014/15 for English regions is shown in the table below, as per part (c) of the request.
Government expenditure on railways1 per head of population | ||||||
Region | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
North East | £59 | £57 | £54 | £55 | £53 | £52 |
North West | £97 | £98 | £89 | £92 | £91 | £93 |
Yorkshire & Humber | £95 | £93 | £103 | £107 | £110 | £98 |
East Midlands | £45 | £39 | £36 | £42 | £40 | £34 |
West Midlands | £61 | £52 | £49 | £53 | £54 | £68 |
East of England | £58 | £52 | £59 | £56 | £52 | £71 |
London | £386 | £371 | £331 | £281 | £268 | £353 |
South East | £85 | £84 | £70 | £68 | £66 | £69 |
South West | £49 | £44 | £39 | £40 | £37 | £35 |
England | £120 | £115 | £106 | £100 | £97 | £113 |
1 Includes expenditure on all types of railway | ||||||
Source: HMT, ONS | ||||||
The step change seen in London spending last year is due to increased spending on London Underground and HS2 plus some increase in the Network Grant. This investment is needed to meet the ever increasing demand for passenger journeys into London, of which there are currently about 4 billion every year.
More widely, care needs to be taken in interpreting regional spend figures. Expenditure is usually allocated between regions on the basis of which regions benefit from the expenditure rather than on the basis of where the expenditure is made. However, it is not always possible to put the value of spending down to certain parts of the country and this is particularly a problem for spending on the rail network. Though the Department does try to distribute rail funding across the regions, allocations are inevitably fairly imprecise.
It is also important to note that expenditure comparisons on a ‘per-head’ basis (using resident populations) can present a skewed picture of the distribution of benefits for transport generally, and for transport in London particularly. This is because the transport networks in London are routinely used by a very large number of other regions’ residents.
Even allowing for these points, one would also expect London’s ‘per head’ transport expenditure to be higher than the national average. London provides key international travel gateways for the whole of the country. London is also densely populated with different public transport and infrastructure demands – for example London residents comprise around 15% of the population of England, but London accounts for almost two-thirds of rail journeys in Great Britain.
The equivalent information is unavailable at a sub-region level, therefore cannot be provided as per parts (a) and (b) of the request.