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106426

	registered interest
	date	04/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Primary Education: Free School Meals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential costs and benefits of the introduction of universal infant free school meals in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	213397
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education is responsible for the introduction of the requirement that state-funded schools in England should offer universal infant free school meals, which came into effect on 1 September 2014.</p><p> </p><p>Between 2009 and 2011 the Department for Education and the Department of Health piloted the provision of universal free school meals in Durham and Newham. The independent evaluation of those pilots showed that there were a number of benefits arising from the provision of universal free school meals, including improved attainment, healthier eating habits and increases in the uptake of meals among children who would have been eligible for free school meals under the existing criteria. We also know, from research carried out by the School Food Trust (now Children’s Food Trust), that universal infant free school meals will save families who previously paid for school lunches up to £400 a year per infant child.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has used School Food Trust research into the costs of school meal provision, as well as feedback from local authorities and stakeholders, to inform the allocation of funding for this policy and the targeting of implementation support. In particular, this research informed the decision to allocate £2.30 of revenue funding per meal taken by newly eligible pupils.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 10/11/2014 17:27:32 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

227284

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of students are taught in schools rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding in (a) the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, (b) Berkshire and (c) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	227516
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/03/2015 answer text <p>As Ofsted is responsible for the requested statistics, this is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. A copy of his reply will be placed in the library of the House.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 19/03/2015 14:27:09 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

101106

	registered interest
	date	27/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Secondary Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics there were in UK secondary schools in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	212006
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p>The following table provides the number of science (by separate science subject), technology, engineering and mathematics teachers in service in publicly funded secondary schools in England in November of each year from 2011 to 2013: [1], [2]</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Subject [3]</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2011</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2012</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Physics</p></td><td><p>5,900</p></td><td><p>6,000</p></td><td><p>6,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chemistry</p></td><td><p>6,900</p></td><td><p>7,200</p></td><td><p>7,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Biology</p></td><td><p>8,500</p></td><td><p>8,700</p></td><td><p>8,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Combined/General Science</p></td><td><p>34,700</p></td><td><p>32,700</p></td><td><p>32,900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other Sciences</p></td><td><p>2,800</p></td><td><p>2,400</p></td><td><p>2,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Technology</p></td><td><p>14,800</p></td><td><p>13,800</p></td><td><p>13,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Engineering</p></td><td><p>1,600</p></td><td><p>1,500</p></td><td><p>1,500</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mathematics</p></td><td><p>35,200</p></td><td><p>32,800</p></td><td><p>33,300</p></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><p><em>Source: School Workforce Census</em></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>[1] Figures are based on a large sample of over 70% of secondary schools.</p><p>[2] Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.</p><p>[3] Each teacher is counted once under each subject they teach.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Information for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for the respective devolved administrations.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 03/11/2014 13:58:09 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

100150

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Teachers: Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to encourage (a) computer science graduates and (b) professional programmers to become teachers.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	211327
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Education is committed to recruiting high-quality graduates into teaching. The latest data published by UCAS on 25 September 2014 in its ‘UCAS Teacher Training statistical releases’[1], indicates that there will be an increase in computing trainees commencing initial teacher training (ITT) this year, although this will not be certain until the 2014/15 ITT census is published.</p><p>For computing trainees starting their training in 2015/16, we have increased bursaries to up to £25,000 tax-free. We are also funding a prestigious scholarship scheme for computing trainees worth £25,000 tax-free and offering a range of professional benefits. Additional funding has also been made available to schools offering School Direct (salaried) places in computing to boost starting salaries; computing trainees will be able to earn over £21,000 nationally and £25,000 in inner London.</p><p>There are a range of other incentives in place to attract high quality computing trainees into the teaching profession, including:</p><ol><li>The delivery of a targeted marketing campaign to encourage high-quality computing graduates and potential career changers to consider a career in teaching.</li><li>The offering of tailored support for graduates and career changers interested in teaching computing, including access to a School Experience Programme.</li><li>Funding of computing subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) programmes, which prepare applicants for teacher training by building up or refreshing their existing knowledge. 31% of computing applicants who accepted an ITT place for 2013/14 accessed a SKE course.</li></ol><p>[1] <a href="http://www.ucas.com/data-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-statistical-releases" target="_blank">www.ucas.com/data-analysis/ucas-teacher-training-statistical-releases</a></p> answering member constituency Yeovil answering member printed Mr David Laws question first answered 24/10/2014 10:10:23 answering member 1473 label Biography information for Mr David Laws
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

850766

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Cybercrime
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Office, what steps she is taking to improve awareness of cyber fraud amongst the public.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	130001
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2018 answer text <p>The Home Office delivers the Government’s Cyber Aware campaign, and the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, which is run in conjunction with UK Finance and supported by the UK’s banks. The Cyber Aware and Take Five campaigns are designed to help encourage the public and small businesses to protect themselves from cyber crime and fraud, providing advice on specific protective and actionable behaviours to increase resilience.</p><p>Cyber Aware and Take Five in particular have been developed jointly by industry and Government experts including the National Cyber Security Centre and the Joint Fraud Taskforce and have established consensus around a single set of authoritative advice to protect individuals from cyber criminals and fraudsters. This advice is deployed through a network of over 450 public, private and third sector partners, and through targeted media interventions.</p> answering member constituency Wyre and Preston North answering member printed Mr Ben Wallace question first answered 06/03/2018 19:26:11 answering member 1539 label Biography information for Mr Ben Wallace
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

850753

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2018
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Cybersecurity
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle cyber crime.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	129989
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2018 answer text <p>Cyber security, including cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security.<strong> </strong>This is why the National Cyber Security Strategy 2016-2021 is supported by £1.9billion of transformational investment. We have boosted the capabilities of the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit by increasing their ability to investigate the most serious cyber crime, and we are continuing to invest in the cyber teams within each of the Regional Organised Crime Units across England and Wales.</p><p>We have also established the National Cyber Security Centre which manages national cyber security incidents, carries out real-time threat analysis and provides tailored sectoral advice. We have invested in regional cyber crime prevention coordinators, who engage with SME’s and the public to provide bespoke cyber security advice based on the latest technical understanding from the National Cyber Security Centre.</p><p>Driving up cyber knowledge and expertise at the local policing level is also extremely important. The College of Policing provides a range of courses for police officers and staff on cyber crime. The College are also working on behalf of the Home Office to create the Cyber Digital Career Pathways project. This project will create a Cyber Digital Investigation Profession across all of law enforcement, providing a career pathway and professional certification for Cyber Digital Investigation Professionals.</p><p>The Home Office delivers the Government’s Cyber Aware campaign which encourages the public and small businesses to adopt simple behaviours which will help protect them against the majority of cyber threats. Most recent activity to educate the public on the cyber threat and how they can protect themselves includes the #OneReset campaign to encourage greater use of a strong and separate password for primary email accounts, and, launching on 1 March 2018, a new research report entitled “<em>A Call to Action: The Cyber Aware Perception Gap”</em>, which outlines the need for, and benefit of, a collaborative effort to increase the adoption of cyber secure behaviour.</p> answering member constituency Wyre and Preston North answering member printed Mr Ben Wallace question first answered 07/03/2018 15:29:17 answering member 1539 label Biography information for Mr Ben Wallace
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

873789

	registered interest
	date	28/03/2018
	answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
	answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
	hansard heading	Electronic Cigarettes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the use of electronic vaping devices on smoker mortality levels.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	134903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2018 answer text <p>The Department has been clear that for smokers, quitting smoking completely is the best way to improve health. E-cigarettes are not risk free. However evidence continues to suggest that e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful to health than cigarettes and can aid in helping smokers to quit.</p><p> </p><p>Given that e-cigarettes are a relatively new product, there is no long term data available regarding the impact on mortality rates of smokers who opt to move to vaping as an alternative.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will continue to work with Public Health England (PHE) to monitor the evidence base around e-cigarettes. In the Tobacco Control Plan, published in July 2017, PHE committed to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes and other novel nicotine delivery systems annually until the end of the Parliament in 2022.</p> answering member constituency Winchester answering member printed Steve Brine question first answered 17/04/2018 12:46:26 answering member 4067 label Biography information for Steve Brine
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

428507

	registered interest
	date	16/11/2015
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Bank Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of bank accounts for (a) crowd funding and (b) digital currency businesses.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	16372
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2015 answer text <p>As the Chancellor announced at the Budget in March, the Government intends to bring digital currency exchanges into the scope of anti-money laundering regulation. The digital currency industry has highlighted the current lack of regulation as one of the obstacles firms face when trying to get bank accounts in the UK. The new regulatory regime will be designed to support firms’ access to these vital banking services, and to foster an environment in which legitimate digital currency businesses can flourish in the UK. The Treasury will consult on the detail of regulation shortly.</p><br /><p>The Government has supported the crowdfunding industry by consulting on whether to extend ISA eligibility to debt and equity crowdfunding and helping equity crowdfunding through the tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – without which 24% of investors say they would not have invested.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 23/11/2015 11:47:50 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

520628

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2016
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Bank Services: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the role of financial technology in encouraging consumers to switch their current account.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	37958
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2016 answer text <p>The government is committed to increasing competition in banking to improve outcomes for consumers. This includes delivering the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) which allows customers to switch their personal or business current account where they see a better deal – simply, quickly and reliably. Consumers have switched over 2.8 million times since the service was launched in 2013.</p><p> </p><p>Making it easier for people to understand and compare banking products and services can help drive consumer engagement and could lead to an increase in switching. Financial technology is an important part of this.</p><p> </p><p>In its recent provisional decision on remedies, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed requiring the largest retail banks in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to develop and adopt an open API banking standard by early 2018.</p><p>This will make it easier for financial technology firms to make use of customer bank data in a variety of innovative ways, including providing services that make it easier for consumers to compare products and shop around for a better deal.</p><p> </p><p>The government welcomes the CMA’s ongoing work as a crucial step towards the goal of a highly competitive banking sector, and stands ready to take action as necessary once the CMA publishes its final report in the summer.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 01/06/2016 13:51:23 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

419038

	registered interest
	date	16/09/2015
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Financial Services: Regulation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to bring forward legislation to regulate (a) digital currencies, (b) crowdfunding and (c) peer-to-peer lending.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	10491
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/10/2015 answer text <p>At the March Budget, the Government said it would consult on how to regulate digital currency exchanges in the new Parliament.</p><p>Operating a P2P platform has been an activity regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) since 2014. Crowdfunding is also a Regulated Activity and is subject to FCA rules.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 12/10/2015 14:17:54 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie