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  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether (1) an exemption from the Resident Labour Market Test when switching from Tier 4 to a Tier 2 visa, (2) an increase in the minimum salary threshold from £20,000 to £30,000, and (3) the proposed immigration skills charge, would adversely affect medical trainees and doctors coming from India to the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) is an independent body and its recommendations are not a statement of Government policy. We thank the MAC for their report and we are currently considering the findings carefully. We will announce our response in due course.

    Doctors from overseas make a valuable contribution to the running of our NHS and we will consider the potential impacts on them in making our decisions. The Minister for Immigration met the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and the Minister of State for Home Affairs during a visit to India in February and had wide ranging and constructive talks, including discussion of the MAC’s report on Tier 2.

    The Government fully respects the UK’s international commitments and remains strongly committed to the free trade agenda. The UK immigration system continues to support inward investment and trade.

  • Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many disabled people who receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have so far been reassessed for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and of those that have been reassessed, how many have lost the top level of mobility allowance as they move from DLA to PIP, in each case broken down by disability.

    Baroness Altmann

    The Department intends to provide detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.

    The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)) are published on the Gov.UK website. Breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards can be found through Stat-Xplore, a statistical exploration tool available on the Gov.UK website.

  • Biography information for Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Biography information for Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Baroness Doocey on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Personal Independent Payment claimants have so far been awarded the top level of mobility support; and of those, what percentage were awarded that support as a result of points from (1) the planning and following a journey” activity

    Baroness Altmann

    At the end of January 2016 there were 218,279 people in receipt of the enhanced rate mobility component of PIP. The latest available data on the proportion of awards of the enhanced rate mobility component by activity are in the table below:

    Activities/scores

    Proportion

    12 or more points on the “planning and following a journey” activity

    19%

    12 or more points on the “moving around” activity

    51%

    12 or more points on both “moving around” and “planning and following a journey”

    5%

    12 or more points from a combination of these activities.

    25%

    Notes:

    Figures relate to Normal Rules assessments only.

    Data at 31 December 2015.

  • Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, whether they intend to continue tolling the Severn Bridges at the prevailing rate at the end of the concession until they have collected an additional £63 million above and beyond operational costs of managing the Bridges.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Chancellor announced in his Budget speech that tolls at the Severn Bridges will be cut by 50% at the end of the current concession. Tolls will continue at this lower level to collect the costs of £63m incurred outside of the concession.

  • Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, how the £63 million which will be still outstanding when the Severn Bridges return to public ownership at the end of the concession is broken down.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Most of the cost estimated to have been incurred outside of the concession relate to expenditure between 1992 and 2014, on capital (17%), operations including maintenance (50%) and administration (15%). The remainder was incurred before 1992 or is forecast to be spent between 2015 and 2018. More than half of the operations and maintenance expenditure was to investigate and correct cable corrosion.

  • Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, how long they estimate tolling on the Severn Bridges will have to continue in order to collect the additional £63 million beyond the date of the end of the concession on these bridges.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    This depends on traffic levels and on maintenance costs, both of which may change over time. However our current estimates suggest the £63m could take around 18 months to recoup at the toll levels announced in the recent Budget.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contract with UnitingCare LLP for older people’s and adult community services will consider the role and advice given to the CCG by the Strategic Projects Team.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England confirms that its review will look at the role of the Strategic Projects Team and the advice that it gave to the CCG.

    NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review, so the Strategic Projects Team’s role can be considered objectively.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that their review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group contract with UnitingCare LLP for older people’s and adult community services will deal objectively with the role of the Strategic Projects Team.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England confirms that its review will look at the role of the Strategic Projects Team and the advice that it gave to the CCG.

    NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review, so the Strategic Projects Team’s role can be considered objectively.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that their review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group contract with UnitingCare LLP for older people’s and adult community services will deal objectively with the role of the Department of Health and NHS England, in the light of the fact that both organisations undertook Gateway reviews of the contract proposals.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group’s (CCGss) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review to ensure objectivity. The review is looking at the contract from a commissioning perspective, which means it will cover the role of NHS England, but the role of the Department is not within its scope.

    The Department’s role in gateway reviews was to facilitate the review on behalf of the project owner. The procedure was that the Department’s Health Gateway Team, working with the project owner, selected a suitable review team from a pool of accredited, independent reviewers. At the end of the review, the independent review team produced a report which was presented to the project owner and was their property. The Department stopped providing this service in 2015.

    NHS England advises that the CCG, as the project owner, used the Department’s Health Gateway Team to facilitate three independent gateway reviews into its procurement for older people’s and adult community services, two in 2013 before the submission of final bids and the third in November 2014. NHS England advises that these gateway reviews were not intended to undertake detailed financial reconciliation.

    NHS England advises that it facilitated two gateway reviews in early 2014, before the appointment of the preferred bidder. These focused on reviewing significant service changes from a clinical pathway perspective. They were not intended to cover procurement and technical financial details.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Department of Health gateway final report regarding the contact between UnitingCare LLP and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) made no recommendations about the need to ensure that the business case was fully in-line with the accepted bid by UnitingCare LLP to run older people’s and adult community services for that CCG.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough clinical commissioning group’s (CCGss) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review to ensure objectivity. The review is looking at the contract from a commissioning perspective, which means it will cover the role of NHS England, but the role of the Department is not within its scope.

    The Department’s role in gateway reviews was to facilitate the review on behalf of the project owner. The procedure was that the Department’s Health Gateway Team, working with the project owner, selected a suitable review team from a pool of accredited, independent reviewers. At the end of the review, the independent review team produced a report which was presented to the project owner and was their property. The Department stopped providing this service in 2015.

    NHS England advises that the CCG, as the project owner, used the Department’s Health Gateway Team to facilitate three independent gateway reviews into its procurement for older people’s and adult community services, two in 2013 before the submission of final bids and the third in November 2014. NHS England advises that these gateway reviews were not intended to undertake detailed financial reconciliation.

    NHS England advises that it facilitated two gateway reviews in early 2014, before the appointment of the preferred bidder. These focused on reviewing significant service changes from a clinical pathway perspective. They were not intended to cover procurement and technical financial details.