Details of Ministerial overseas travel is published quarterly and is available on the gov.uk website.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) carry out an annual survey to report on economic activity in the low carbon and renewable energy sector in the UK.

The latest release provides first estimates for 2015 and shows that an estimated 233,000 full-time equivalent employees were working directly in low carbon and renewable energy activities.

The ONS has not yet published estimates for 2015 of the additional employees supported in the supply chain to the sector. However, estimates for 2014 indicate that this activity could amount to around a further 200,000 full-time equivalent employees. Further information on the ONS releases can be found at the links below.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/finalestimates/2015

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/ukenvironmentalaccountslowcarbonandrenewableenergyeconomytotalactivity2014

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have committed to a comprehensive review of S4C this year. It will look at a range of issues, including funding arrangements, remit, accountability and governance. I look forward to his contributions to that review.

The US authorities are conducting the necessary steps to formally lift their restrictions on exports of EU lamb to the US. Defra is working with the US authorities to ensure exports of lamb from the UK can commence as quickly as possible once the restrictions have been lifted.

The below table from Visit Britain, which contains spending figures on Tourism for the aforementioned periods. The increase in funding during Financial Year 15/16 can be attributed to the inclusion of the North and South West Growth Funds.

A focus on improving access to school and learning outcomes drives DFID’s approach to investment in education in priority countries.

DFID has pledged to support 11 million children with an education between 2015 and 2020. Not just to get children into school, but to ensure they are learning. All of DFID’s education programmes prioritise learning and we are seeing results; for example the Girls Education Challenge has increased the learning outcomes in literacy and mathematics for 700,000 girls across 18 countries. Motivated, trained, effective teachers are essential for children to learn. In Tanzania we are rolling out in-service teacher training with a focus on literacy, numeracy and better pedagogy for over 45,000 teachers in 7 disadvantaged regions.

In Bangladesh, DFID support the ‘English in Action’ programme in which school teachers receive specially designed training modules and lesson plans directly to their low cost mobile phones. It has been shown to improve their teaching and is being modified for use in Nigeria. DFID is also working internationally to embed a global focus on the quality of education.

DFID championed the inclusion of learning indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals and increased support for international monitoring to track progress. We have commissioned rigorous impact evaluations to understand what works to improve learning and ensure good value for money is achieved.

Defra does not hold data on local authority Trading Standards inspections of animals during transit for slaughter abroad. APHA carry out supervised loadings on export consignments of live animals for slaughter.

Information is available on the number of convictions rather than on the number of prosecutions. In the last three years there have been the following number of convictions for breaches of the regulations protecting animal welfare during transport in England and Wales. Separate figures are not kept for convictions relating to live animal exports.

2015 - 8

2014 - 15

2013 – 14

The United Kingdom notes the recent recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Our priority is to ensure children get the education they deserve and in the vast majority of cases this means investing in the state sector. However, where state provision is weak or non-existent we work with paid-for schools to provide an education to children who would otherwise get none.

It is important for national governments to define the appropriate balance between private and public provision in their country, in compliance with their international human rights obligations. We do not accept that DFID’s funding of private provision of education violates children’s right to an education. On the contrary, in many cases it secures it.

The UK Aid Strategy sets out how the Government will tackle the great global challenges of our age in order to eliminate poverty. DFID is helping to ensure that every girl and boy can access, and complete, a good quality basic education.

Our absolute priority is to ensure children in the world’s poorest countries get the education they deserve, regardless of whether the school is public or private. When state provision is not delivering for the poorest, we work with low-cost privately run schools to provide an education to children who would otherwise get none. DFID has made direct investments in low-fee schools in Nigeria, Kenya and Pakistan. In Nigeria, we have spent £7.6m since 2013, 4,000 students are enrolled in 17 new schools in deprived areas of Lagos, with ongoing work to improve the quality standards of education provided to 1.8 million primary students in private schools. In Kenya we have spent £2.4m since 2014. We paid for 20,000 children to go to private schools in deprived urban areas where there is very limited state provision.

In Pakistan we have spent £28m since 2012, contributed to enrolling 1.7 million children in Punjab and 16,000 children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. In addition, the UK’s development finance institution, CDC, invested $7.1m in 2014 on low fee private schools, which includes support in Uganda.

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.

We will consider the findings of the independent review of tidal lagoons, due to report by the end of this year, before

deciding how to proceed on the proposed Swansea bay tidal lagoon project. We hope that the review will contribute to and help develop the evidence base for that technology. That will ensure, with luck, that all future decisions made regarding tidal lagoon energy are in the best interests of the UK and represent value for money to the consumer.

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:

• 96 during 2014
• 121 during 2015
• 72 during 2016

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.

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.

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.