Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupil premium students attended grammar schools in Gloucester in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The pupil premium was introduced in 2011. The number and proportion of pupils eligible for the deprivation element of the pupil premium who attended one of the four grammar schools in Gloucester is shown in the table below.
Year | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Number of eligible pupils | 46 | 105 | 117 | 115 | 114 | 131 | 136 | 141 |
Rate within schools | 2.0% | 4.5% | 5.0% | 4.9% | 4.8% | 5.4% | 5.5% | 5.5% |
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools have been established on grammar school sites as a linked or feeder school (a) during 2017 and (b) since 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Of the primary schools opened since 2010, the Department is not aware of any that have been established on grammar school sites.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made in supporting people with disabilities into work since May 2015.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This Government is committed to supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to reach their potential. Since 2015 there has been a steady increase in the number of disabled people in work. From April-June 2015 to April-June 2017 (the latest period for which the Office for National Statistics has published estimates without ‘health warnings’), the number of disabled people in work increased by 235,000 from 3.3 million to 3.5 million. The disability employment rate in this period increased by 3.3 percentage points, from 45.9% to 49.2%.
Universal Credit helps people with a disability or health condition who are already in work, to remain and progress in work. It is specifically designed so that we can engage with and support people early in and throughout their claim, to give them advice and support – and not to lose contact with them. All work coaches delivering Universal Credit will receive training on supporting claimants with health conditions.
On 30 November 2017, we published ‘Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability’, which sets out actions we’re taking in the welfare system, in the workplace and in health services to realise our commitment to see one million more disabled people in work by 2027.
Our programme is supported by a wide range of ‘test and learn’ activity designed to build the evidence about what works to support disabled people and those with health conditions to get into and stay in work. Projects worth up to around £1 billion have been launched, including:
We have also recently introduced the new Tech Fund in Access to Work, offering employers significant support with the cost of assistive technology; and we’re continuing to build our engagement with employers through Disability Confident, which is growing strongly and now has over 6,800 employers signed up.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of local festivals on the growth of local tourism.
Answered by Michael Ellis
VisitBritain research shows that in 2016, over one million of the UK’s inbound visitors come here with attending a festival in mind, spending nearly £1.2bn during their visit.
In addition, the Arts Council has carried out research into the benefits of local events on the community and economy. For example, the SO Festival in East Lindsey is estimated to have increased footfall from 30,000 to 83,000. The Grinagog Festival in Torquay submitted a report for their 2018 festival estimating that there was £150,000 direct economic impact based on 2,400 paying customers.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the agreed service waiting time for HM Courts and Tribunals Service cases are in England; and what proportion of cases met that target in (a) England and (c) Gloucestershire in 2017.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) measures performance across all jurisdictions against its operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Pages 34-40 of the agency’s Annual Report and Accounts 2017-18, at the link below, sets out those KPIs.
Page 40 of the Annual Report also provides discrete links to published, official statistics for the criminal, civil and family courts in England and Wales, and tribunals in England, Wales and retained tribunals in Scotland. In some jurisdictions sub-national data are published. Further detail and the links are provided below.
Criminal Court Statistics (annual): January to March 2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-annual-january-to-march-2018
Within the main tables figures are published for ‘Summary statistics on hearing times, waiting times, plea rates and juror utilisation in the Crown Court, by region’ (Table AC9).
Timeliness data for Crown and magistrates’ courts (broken down nationally, regionally, and locally) also appear in the ‘Criminal courts timeliness’ document – the sixth document on the GOV.UK link. These data include Gloucestershire.
Civil Justice statistics quarterly: January to March 2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2018
Table 1.5 of the second document provides the average time to reach trial/hearing in England and Wales. These figures are not broken down by region although data for Gloucester and Cheltenham County Court are available within the timeliness csv file available here:
Family Court Statistics Quarterly: January to March 2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2018
In the second document in the link, the following information is published:-
Underlying data for tables 8 and 10 broken down by region are available within the published csv files:
Tribunals and gender recognitions certificates statistics quarterly: January to March 2018
Figures for timeliness in the three largest tribunals appear in the third document in the link:-
The CSV files within the seventh document include the timeliness figures for Social Security & Child Support cases for the period January-March 2018, broken down by venue and benefit type. These data include Gloucester.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many foreign nationals from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries are employed by Gloucestershire’s NHS Trusts.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics and the following table shows all staff employed in Gloucestershire’s National Health Service trusts by nationality, as at 31 March 2018, headcount.
Headcount | |
All nationalities | 10,129 |
of which: | |
United Kingdom | 6,031 |
European Union (excluding UK) | 284 |
European Economic Area | 2 |
Rest of the World | 285 |
Unknown | 3,529 |
Source: NHS HCHS monthly workforce statistics, NHS Digital
There are over 3,500 unknown NHS staff records in Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with people choosing not to specify their nationality or not asked to. Nationality is self-reported and may be a reflection of cultural heritage rather than country of birth.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the amount of funding allocated from the public purse to (a) fibre broadband installation and (b) mobile phone signal installations to improve digital connectivity in Gloucester.
Answered by Margot James
Government has invested heavily in digital connectivity in Gloucester through its Superfast programme, which has invested over £34m across Gloucestershire, Hereford, and South Gloucestershire. The majority of this investment has supported fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) connections, with some fibre to the premise (FTTP) connections installed in harder to reach areas.
We received an expression of interest from Gloucester City Council in 2017 for the Local Full Fibre Network programme’s Challenge Fund, which is designed to fund locally-led public connectivity projects that have the potential to leverage commercial investment in full fibre broadband connections. Local bodies were invited to submit formal bids, and funding was allocated to 13 successful bidders that were announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement in March 2018. We expect the next round of funding to open in summer 2018. We did not receive a bid from Gloucester for the first wave of funding, so we would welcome a bid from them for this next round.
We are also encouraging fibre broadband rollout through our Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Small to medium sized businesses can claim a voucher worth up to £3,000 and residents can claim a voucher worth up to £500 as part of a group project. Businesses and local community groups interested in requesting a voucher can find details of suppliers in their local area on our website at https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/. So far in Gloucester there has been a total of 11 vouchers requested, so we would welcome further uptake of the scheme.
On mobile connectivity, the Government does not provide direct funding. Our approach is to deliver regulatory reforms that make it easier to roll out mobile infrastructure across the UK. That is why we have reformed the Electronic Communications Code, to encourage investment in the rollout of digital infrastructure by making deployment cheaper. The reforms came into force on 28 December 2017, and this will help expand current and future digital networks. We have also reformed mobile planning laws in England in November 2016, which provided new rights, for example, to build taller masts.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what target his Department has set for receiving a GP appointment; and what the average waiting time is for a GP appointment in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire in the most recent period for which figures are available.
Answered by Steve Brine
The average waiting time for a general practitioner (GP) appointment is not collected or held centrally. In the 2017 GP patient survey 70.8% of respondents (who could remember whether or not they were able to get an appointment, and when they wanted the appointment) stated they saw or spoke to someone at a time they wanted to or sooner. NHS England is working with NHS Digital to consider ways of improving the availability and quality of GP data, including waiting times data.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses were employed by NHS Trusts in Gloucestershire in the last financial year; and how many nurses (a) left and (b) retired in that time period.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.
As at March 2018, there are 2,433 full time equivalent (FTE) nurses and health visitors employed in National Health Service trusts in Gloucestershire, 22 FTE more than in March 2017.
The following table shows how many nurses and health visitors were employed by NHS Trusts in Gloucestershire and how many left and specified retirement as their reason for leaving within the last financial year, headcount.
| 31 March 2017 – 31 March 2018 |
Joiners | 394 |
Leavers, of which | 375 |
Leavers due to retirement reasons | 69 |
Source: NHS Digital, NHS HCHS workforce statistics.
Gloucestershire NHS Trusts include Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Asked by: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to put out to tender the preliminary outline design for the proposed Gloucester to Cheltenham cycle route; and what the timeframe is for the announcement of the successful bidder for that tender.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Gloucester to Cheltenham Cycle Route is a Highways England-led project to provide an alternative route to the A40 for cyclists, using local roads. Preliminary design is currently being undertaken by Highways England’s designers and there is no formal tender process for this element of the work. The scheme is being developed with Gloucestershire County Council as it will use their road network and is due to be delivered in early 2020.