Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on programmes which promote the use of the (a) Cornish and (b) English language in each year since 2008-09.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Department’s spend is set out below.
|
| 2009/10 (£000s) | 2010/11(£000s) | 2011/12(£000s) | 2012/13 (£000s) | 2013/14 (£000s) | 2014/15 (£000s) | 2015/16 (£000s) | Total (£000s) |
| |||||||||
Cornish Language | 150 | 150 | 150 | 140 | 140 | 100 | 120 | 150 | 1,100 |
DCLG funding for ESOL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,986 | 4,144 | 2,136 | 3,658 | 2,528 | 16,452 |
In addition, the Government spent over £100 million in 2014-15 on English for Speakers of Other Languages training.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many hours of learning were provided on average to people undertaking lessons in English as a second language as a result of courses funded by his Department in each year since 2008-09.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
From 2013/14 the Department has directly funded various innovative projects, each with different delivery models to engage isolated adults with poor or no English who had not previously accessed mainstream training. By March 2017, these projects will have supported over 39,800 isolated adults to learn English.
We do not hold figures on the average number of hours of tuition undertaken as training may vary dependent on need and in some instances includes online resources as well as guided learning.
Prior to 2013/14 the Department's funding to support delivery of English language was channelled via the Skills Funding Agency to Further Education colleges and other providers in areas facing significant integration challenges. The Department does not hold figures on the number of learners undertaking lessons or the average length of tuition.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people his Department has helped to learn English as a second language as a result of courses funded by his Department in each year since 2008-09.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
From 2013/14 the Department has directly funded various innovative projects, each with different delivery models to engage isolated adults with poor or no English who had not previously accessed mainstream training. By March 2017, these projects will have supported over 39,800 isolated adults to learn English.
We do not hold figures on the average number of hours of tuition undertaken as training may vary dependent on need and in some instances includes online resources as well as guided learning.
Prior to 2013/14 the Department's funding to support delivery of English language was channelled via the Skills Funding Agency to Further Education colleges and other providers in areas facing significant integration challenges. The Department does not hold figures on the number of learners undertaking lessons or the average length of tuition.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to review the guidance provided in Approved Document B to the Building Regulations 2010.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
My Department is considering a number of issues related to the Building Regulations and building control system matters. We will make an announcement about our plans in due course.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average response time for first appliance attendance by each UK fire and rescue service brigade was in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Francois
The Department publishes response time information for English fire and rescue services only.
The average response time to fires for each fire and rescue service are published annually in the following Statistical Release. The most recent data available is for 2013/14 and Tables 3a onwards show average response times to different types of fire incident:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2013-to-2014
Note: that this measure records response times as the period between the time of call to the arrival at the scene of the first vehicle. This may differ from some individual services’ own published measures and targets.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average response time for first appliance attendance by each UK fire and rescue service brigade was in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Francois
The Department publishes response time information for English fire and rescue services only.
The average response time to fires for each fire and rescue service are published annually in the following Statistical Release. The most recent data available is for 2013/14 and Tables 3a onwards show average response times to different types of fire incident:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2013-to-2014
Note: that this measure records response times as the period between the time of call to the arrival at the scene of the first vehicle. This may differ from some individual services’ own published measures and targets.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what risk assessment he has made of the proposed merger of the Dorset and Wiltshire fire services.
Answered by Mark Francois
None. The Government supports voluntary mergers between fire and rescue authorities where proposals have been consulted on and have local support. In the case of Dorset and Wiltshire, the Secretary of State was satisfied that the merger proposal put forward by the elected members of both authorities was in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and public safety.
It is a matter for elected members of the new Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue authority to consider the effect on services. The business case for the Dorset and Wiltshire merger was subject to local consultation and, in due course, the approach to service delivery will be set out in a new Integrated Risk Management Plan. The authority will prepare this Plan taking account of advice from senior fire service professionals, and the views of the local community who must be consulted.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on front-line services of the merger of the Dorset and Wiltshire fire services.
Answered by Mark Francois
None. The Government supports voluntary mergers between fire and rescue authorities where proposals have been consulted on and have local support. In the case of Dorset and Wiltshire, the Secretary of State was satisfied that the merger proposal put forward by the elected members of both authorities was in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and public safety.
It is a matter for elected members of the new Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue authority to consider the effect on services. The business case for the Dorset and Wiltshire merger was subject to local consultation and, in due course, the approach to service delivery will be set out in a new Integrated Risk Management Plan. The authority will prepare this Plan taking account of advice from senior fire service professionals, and the views of the local community who must be consulted.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) whole time, (b) retained and (c) control firefighters were employed by each UK fire and rescue service in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Francois
The numbers of firefighters employed in England, for each of the past five years for which data are available, and in terms of total headcount, are provided in the attached summary table. Data are as reported by fire and rescue services, and are broken down by whole time, retained duty system and fire control staff. The numbers of non-uniformed support staff are also shown, along with the total number of incidents attended by fire and rescue services over the period.
The breakdown of annual headcount figures for each fire and rescue service is provided in attached tables.
The Department holds data for England only, other parts of the UK are dealt with by devolved administrations.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on front-line services of the merger of the Dorset and Wiltshire fire services.
Answered by Mark Francois
None. The Government supports voluntary mergers between fire and rescue authorities where proposals have been consulted on and have local support. In the case of Dorset and Wiltshire, the Secretary of State was satisfied that the merger proposal put forward by the elected members of both authorities was in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and public safety.
It is a matter for elected members of the new Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue authority to consider the effect on services. The business case for the Dorset and Wiltshire merger was subject to local consultation and, in due course, the approach to service delivery will be set out in a new Integrated Risk Management Plan. The authority will prepare this Plan taking account of advice from senior fire service professionals, and the views of the local community who must be consulted.