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  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 34277, on disability aids, if he will estimate the cost to the NHS of those delayed days in hospital due to patients waiting for community equipment and adaptions.

    Alistair Burt

    No estimate has been made of the cost to the National Health Service of delayed days in hospital due to patients waiting for community equipment and adaptions.

    The Department collects the unit cost of an excess bed day, which, based on reported costs of stays in hospital beyond statistically derived measures of the expected length of stay for given treatments, was £303 in 2014-15. Whilst this unit cost should generally include only the costs associated with the ward, costing guidance acknowledges that active treatment does continue for some patients. Combining it with information on the number of delayed days would therefore tend to overestimate the gross cost of these delays.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the advertisement on the Hays recruitment website by NHS England for a temporary Senior Deputy Head of Media Planning and Strategy on a daily rate of pay, whether the successful candidate for that post will be paid through (a) the NHS England payroll, (b) that agency or (c) a limited company.

    George Freeman

    A decision has been taken by NHS England to remove the position of temporary Senior Deputy Head of Media Planning and Strategy from advertisement. The temporary position will be covered from NHS England’s existing, internal resources.

  • Graham Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Graham Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Evans on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of potential steps to increase provision of (a) court time and (b) relevantly skilled members of the judiciary to ensure the timely management of legal proceedings on complex planning disputes.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Planning Court was established in 2014 and has greatly increased the speed in which planning cases are dealt with.

    A dedicated cadre of lawyers and judiciary have been appointed to deal expediently with all significant planning cases.

    The Criminal Courts and Justice Act 2015 introduced a permission stage in applications for statutory review, to remove unmeritorious statutory challenges to planning decisions as early as possible.

    Current statistical data shows that the average time taken for a planning case to be dealt with in the Planning Court has reduced from 46.9 weeks in February 2014 to 25.9 weeks in March 2016.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what provision has been made for moving the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) from Chichester Magistrates’ Court when that Court is closed.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to ensuring that adequate provision will be secured for the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) which will relocate from Chichester Magistrates’ Court when it closes. Options are currently being evaluated.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of closing the Chichester Combined Court Centre and Chichester Magistrates’ Court on the work of (a) Chichester constabulary, (b) Chichester District Council and (c) other local services.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    All responses to the consultation were carefully considered before the decision was made to close the courts in Chichester. This included evaluating the impact on the police, the District Council and other local services. In recognition of the particular circumstances of court users in Chichester, the Combined Court Centre will not close until suitable local alternative provision is in place.

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on demand for justice services of future growth in the population of Chichester.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The demand for justice services may change in future due to many factors including, but not limited to, demographic changes. The decision to close the courts in Chichester was made on the basis that the receiving courts have capacity to accommodate current and future projected workloads. The improvements which will be delivered by the reform of HM Courts & Tribunals Service will enable court services to be delivered flexibly and provide greater resilience to changes in demand.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce HGV testing waiting lists at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency testing centres.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is reducing vocational waiting times by recruiting more examiners, improving its forecasting model to better match resource with demand and redeploying examiners from lower wait centres to those with higher waiting times.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Transport for London will pay to the British Transport Police’s budget in 2016-17.

    Claire Perry

    The British Transport Police (BTP) Authority has approved a budget for 2016-17 which includes an amount of £66.933 million in respect of the Transport for London (TFL) Police Service Agreement and overhead charges. The figure excludes any additional policing services which are provided by the BTP at TfL’s request on a commercial basis.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents have been recorded over the last five years on the area of the A417 in Gloucestershire for which an upgrade is planned in 2020.

    Andrew Jones

    Highways England is starting full-scale options work on the A417 Missing Link ‘Air Balloon’ roundabout scheme this financial year (2016/17), with the intention that the scheme will be ready to start construction as early as possible in the next Road Investment Strategy period which starts on 1 April 2020.

    A total of 65 personal injury road accidents were reported to the police between 2010 and 2014 in the vicinity of the A417 scheme.

    The number of reported personal injury road accidents per year by severity are as follows:

    Fatal

    Serious

    Slight

    Total

    2010

    1

    1

    14

    16

    2011

    1

    0

    9

    10

    2012

    0

    2

    13

    15

    2013

    2

    2

    4

    8

    2014

    2

    3

    11

    16

    5yr total

    6

    8

    51

    65

    Figures for 2015 will be published on 30th June 2016.

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend the English national concessionary travel scheme for disabled people beyond off-peak times.

    Andrew Jones

    Whilst I appreciate that concessionary pass holders might wish to use buses before 9.30am, there are no plans to extend the statutory scheme to include morning peak time travel. Local authorities already have powers to introduce “discretionary concessions” building on the minimum national standard. Authorities can, for instance, enable some disabled pass holders to use services during peak hours, to use modes of transport other than buses or to travel with a companion free of charge. Such enhancements are however, entirely a matter for the respective authorities and are funded locally. It follows that any decision on whether to create such enhancements is a matter for the authority concerned.