Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what measures she has put in place to improve ministerial oversight of aid programmes.
Answered by Justine Greening
I have introduced more stringent ministerial sign off controls and this is backed up by thorough monitoring and evaluation processes and management information to better identify underperforming programmes so they can be dealt with.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to promote the development of small modular reactors.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are nuclear reactors with power outputs of 300MWe equivalent or less. They are modular, this means that the bulk of the design and plant can be fabricated in a factory environment and transported to site.
Government recognises the potential of SMRs to offer potential for both economic growth and energy security.
My Department is overseeing a £250m nuclear R&D programme, including a competition to identify the best value SMR design for the UK and £30m for an SMR enabling advanced manufacturing programme. Phase one of the SMR competition has been launched.
An economic and technical assessment of SMRs is due to conclude soon. We will consider publishing at the appropriate point.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2015 to Question 14393, what proportion of the £4.2 billion funding to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided partners has been allocated to Bracknell Forest Council.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Bracknell Forest local authority received £2.7m (0.2%) of the £1.4bn allocated to schools in 2015-16. This funding is for maintained and voluntary aided schools. Academies are not funded via local authorities.
Bracknell Forest local authority’s share of the £1.4bn allocations for 2016-17 and 2017-18 (and therefore the total £4.2bn for 2015-18) will depend on the number of maintained and voluntary aided schools in the local authority.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the exposure of children to alcohol marketing.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department is not responsible for alcohol marketing.
In 2014, 8% of pupils had drunk alcohol in the last week, which is less than half the level in 2003 when this was 25%. There has been a consistent decrease the percentage children and young people drinking in the last week since 2003.
The survey data can be found at:
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential efficacy of introducing restrictions on the advertising of foods high in saturated fats, sugars and salts on television before 9pm in reducing rates of childhood obesity.
Answered by Jane Ellison
There is a total ban in place on the advertising of foods high in fat, sugars and salt during children’s television programmes, on dedicated children’s broadcast channels and in programmes of particular appeal to children under the age of 16.
We have noted Public Health England’s recent assessment of evidence on the impact of marketing to children as set out in their report Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action. We are considering this advice, along with other areas of potential action, as part of our plans to bring forward a childhood obesity strategy in the new year.
Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470179/Sugar_reduction_The_evidence_for_action.pdf
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to make access to liver transplantation services more equitable.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Livers are retrieved and allocated on a zonal basis and the decision whether or not to list a patient for transplantation is taken by a multi-disciplinary team at the transplant centre, of which there are seven in the United Kingdom.Patients meeting the agreed clinical criteria, and with their consent, will be added to the National Transplant List. All centres must follow a common listing policy to ensure equity of access and that organs are allocated in the most clinically effective way, resulting in 842 liver transplants between 1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015.
NHS Blood and Transplant, the organ donation organisation for the UK, launched their strategy in July 2013 – Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020, that sets the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates by increasing consent rates. Encouragingly organ donation rates have increased by around 60% and transplant rates by some 47% since 2008 mainly through a strengthening of the donation infrastructure including increased specialist nurses and improved retrieval arrangements.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupils' learning; and what provision is available to assist schools with conversion of facilities from an open-plan layout where that layout is shown to be having a detrimental effect on learning.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department has not made any formal assessment of the overall effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupil’s learning.
On 9 February 2015 the government announced £4.2bn of allocations to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided partners to fund the improvement and maintenance of our schools. This includes £1.4bn in 2015-16.
While we would expect this money to be spent first on making sure that existing school buildings are in good condition, it is for these bodies to decide how to prioritise the funding, according to local needs.
In 2015-16, the Department spent £8 million on improvements to large open teaching areas in academies which had been built under the Building Schools for the Future programme, where independent evidence suggested this was having a detrimental effect on good teaching and learning.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to her Department's Impact Assessment of 8 September 2015 on Onshore Wind: closure of renewables obligation on 31 March 2016, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed closure of the Renewables Obligation for onshore wind on the cost of capital for (a) onshore wind projects and (b) wider renewables investment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The impact assessment (IA) of 8th September sets out the evidence used to inform the 18th June 2015 announcement that the Government would legislate to close the RO to new onshore wind from 1st April 2016 – a year earlier than previously planned.
After the announcement DECC undertook an engagement exercise with hundreds of industry representatives, including developers and investors. DECC is carefully reviewing the feedback provided during the engagement exercise and the IA will be updated when that work has finished.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of the proposed closure of the Renewables Obligation to onshore wind on the cost of capital for (a) onshore wind projects and (b) wider renewables investment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the parliamentary process, the Department will shortly publish an Impact Assessment that considers the potential effects of its proposals for closing the Renewables Obligation to onshore wind. This will be made available on the Department’s website.
Asked by: Phillip Lee (Liberal Democrat - Bracknell)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to defeat ISIL.
Answered by Michael Fallon
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon. Members for Redditch (Karen Lumley) and Southend West (David Amess).