Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of direct or indirect Government overseas development assistance expenditure on low-fee, for profit private schools on the performance of those schools.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Through targeted investments in programming and research DFID is helping to build, and expand, the emerging evidence base on the performance of the low cost private education sector. It is also directly enabling children to attend school.
In East Africa, CDC’s investments have led to 245 schools opening, educating 60,000 children in areas with limited state school provision. Latest evidence shows that children educated in private and philanthropic schools in developing countries often fare better in terms of both teaching and learning than those in educated in public schools. However it remains the case globally that too many children are either out of school altogether or not achieving basic competencies, which is why the government continues to invest in providing a decent education for millions of children in developing countries.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles the Animal and Plant Agency has inspected (a) during the loading of live animals and (b) at ports from which live animals have been exported in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
Number of vehicles the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has inspected:
(a) during the loading of live animals:
99 during 2014
66 during 2015
127 during 2016
(b) at ports from which live animals have been exported:
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to submit any new police funding formula for England and Wales to a public consultation.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Reforming the police funding formula remains a key priority for this Government and we are engaging with the sector to look at the options for taking this forward. We will not take further decisions until we have considered the conclusions of this process. Any new arrangements would be subject to public consultation before implementation.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consideration her Department gives to (a) tourism and (b) mental health statistics in assessing funding for policing.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Reforming the police funding formula remains a key priority for this Government and we are engaging with the sector to look at the options for taking this forward. We will not take further decisions until we have considered the conclusions of this process. Any new arrangements would be subject to public consultation before implementation.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress has been made towards a review of the Police Core Grant Distribution Formula for England and Wales.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Reforming the police funding formula remains a key priority for this Government and we are engaging with the sector to look at the options for taking this forward. We will not take further decisions until we have considered the conclusions of this process. Any new arrangements would be subject to public consultation before implementation.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures of rural deprivation are used by her Department when calculating police funding formulas.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Reforming the police funding formula remains a key priority for this Government and we are engaging with the sector to look at the options for taking this forward. We will not take further decisions until we have considered the conclusions of this process. Any new arrangements would be subject to public consultation before implementation.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the value of using alternative measures of the policing needs of the night-time economy rather than the volume and density of bars.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Reforming the police funding formula remains a key priority for this Government and we are engaging with the sector to look at the options for taking this forward. We will not take further decisions until we have considered the conclusions of this process. Any new arrangements would be subject to public consultation before implementation.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will clarify the remit of the review into driving offences and penalties for drivers who cause death or serious injury to other people on the roads.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government is committed to making sure that sentencing for those who kill or cause serious injury on the roads is proportionate within the context of our wider sentencing framework.
It is our intention to commence a consultation before the end of the year which will look at driving offences and penalties.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the timescale is for the review into driving offences and penalties for drivers who cause death or serious injury to other people on the roads.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government is committed to making sure that sentencing for those who kill or cause serious injury on the roads is proportionate within the context of our wider sentencing framework.
It is our intention to commence a consultation before the end of the year which will look at driving offences and penalties.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the (a) the environmental benefits of the plastic bag charge and (b) potential merits of introducing such a charge for disposable coffee cups.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
A full impact assessment considering the potential environmental benefits of the plastic bag charge was developed as part of introducing it in October 2015. It is available at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
We recently published the first 6 months’ data reported to us on the charge. Based on this, we expect English consumers to use around six billion less single-use plastic carrier bags this year.
Major coffee chains already have a financial obligation to recover and recycle a proportion of the packaging they place on the market, including disposable coffee cups, as they are captured under the Packaging Waste Regulations. The industry is also taking further voluntary action aimed at significantly increasing paper cup recycling rates by 2020.
The Government is developing the 25 Year Environment Plan, part of which will consider our policies for resources, waste and recycling.