Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that 16 to 19 year olds have access to competitive sporting opportunities as (a) players and (b) volunteers or officials in specialist disability colleges.
Answered by Helen Grant
We provide a range of opportunities for disabled young people to get into playing, volunteering and official roles. Last year for example almost 29,000 young disabled people took part at Level 3 of the School Games (county festivals). Sport England also works closely with the Association of National Special Colleges (Natspec) to get more young disabled people playing sport. Learning from Sport England’s work with Natspec colleges is shared with colleges and sixth forms to support them. Further, Sport England is investing £401,153 in the English Learning Disability Sports Alliance, a partnership between Special Olympics GB and Mencap Sport. As part of this investment twelve new partnership networks, which include SEN colleges and schools, will offer new opportunities for people with a learning disability to regularly participate in sport.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress the Clinical Priorities Action Group has made in the review of the treatment duodopa for Parkinson's disease; and how the views of those affected by Parkinson's disease are being taken into account in that review.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that, at the request of patient groups, NHS England is currently consulting with patients and the wider public about how it makes decisions on which specialised services and treatments, including Duodopa, to invest in. This will ensure the principles and process it follows are well informed, evidence-led and in line with the expectations of patients and the public.
The consultation runs until 27 April 2015 and can be found at:
www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/investing-in-specialised-commissioning
Until then, any decision that is urgent on clinical grounds will be dealt with quickly though NHS England’s existing procedures. Clinicians will continue to be able to make Individual Funding Requests, on behalf of their patients, to NHS England for treatments like Duodopa that are not routinely available.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department applies the World Health Organisation's night noise guidelines for Europe; and whether these guidelines have been broken since May 2010.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The World Health Organisation’s (WHOs) guidelines for night noise in Europe relate to outside noise levels from all sources and not just transport.
At a national level, noise is managed through the implementation of the Government’s policy on noise, set out in the Noise Policy Statement for England. Its vision is to “promote good health and a good quality of life through the effective management of noise within the context of Government policy on sustainable development”. The Noise Policy Statement for England recognises that it is not possible to have a single objective noise-based measure that is applicable to all sources of noise in all situations. This is because effect levels are likely to be different for different noise sources, different people and at different times.
There are noise limits in place for motor vehicles and new railway rolling stock has to comply with noise limits set out in EU technical specifications. Civil aircraft using UK airports are subject to international noise certification standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
The Government restricts night flights at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports in order to limit noise. The Government’s stated objective for this regime is to limit and where possible reduce the number of people significantly affected by aircraft noise at night. This will be measured by the area and number of people within the night quota period contours and in particular the 55dBLAeq contour.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of likely changes in the number of workless households in Scotland in the next five years.
Answered by David Mundell
Thanks to the policies of this Government, the number of workless households in Scotland has fallen by 38,000 in the last year.
The best way to ensure this downward trend for the next 5 years is to adhere to the government’s long term economic plan.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships have been started in (a) London, (b) the London Borough of Hounslow and (c) Brentford and Isleworth constituency since May 2010.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Information on the number of apprenticeship starts by geography is published by academic year in a Supplementary Table, entitled Breakdown by geography, equality & diversity and sector subject area: starts 2002/03 to 2012/13, to a Statistical First Release (SFR):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships--2
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent representations he has received on the potential merits of extending the Right to Acquire to homes built before 1997.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
My Department has received a number of recent representations from individual housing association tenants to extend the Right to Acquire to homes built before 1997, to enable them to buy the home in which they currently live.
The Right to Acquire is offered on a different basis to the Right to Buy, including the level of discount, to reflect the different tenancy and type of landlord. Housing association properties which were not part of a stock transfer have been provided through various forms of finance, including private money. However, the Government is committed to keeping the policy under review and we are open to further representations on this matter.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families in (a) London, (b) Hounslow Borough and (c) Brentford and Isleworth constituency, will benefit from the Government's tax free childcare policy.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Mary Macleod (Conservative - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many job vacancies there are in (a) London, (b) the London Borough of Hounslow and (c) Brentford and Isleworth constituency.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Headline figures on the number of unfilled vacancies at a point in time are published by the Office for National Statistics, based on a regular survey of employers. Latest figures, covering January-March 2014, show over 600,000 vacancies available in the UK economy at any one time. The sample size of the survey is, however, too small to allow information to be published below national level.