The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Green Paper on the devolution of employment and support allowance WRAG and targeted support for claimants will be published.
Penny Mordaunt
We will publish a Green Paper later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on responding to correspondence from hon. Members by email rather than by letter.
James Brokenshire
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) can confirm that it corresponds with hon. Members through informal channels such as email and telephone wherever possible as opposed to formal written correspondence.
A recent MP satisfaction survey conducted by UKVI revealed that over 87% of respondents prefer informal channels of communication such as email or telephone rather than a formal letter response. This effective channel shift has improved the level of service that the department has provided to MPs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many semen collection licences her Department has issued in each year from 2010 to 2015.
George Eustice
The information will be placed in the House Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on research being undertaken to assist those severely affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
George Freeman
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds a wide range of research relating to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Major investments include a £2.2 million programme of research with an overall aim to set up a primary care COPD cohort including the full range of disease severity, as a platform for testing novel health service interventions.
The NIHR Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit at Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London has a £0.8 million research area in COPD, including severe COPD. Details of this research are available on the unit’s website at:
www.rbht.nhs.uk/research/our-research/brus/research-areas/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/
Current studies relating to severe COPD delivered by the NIHR Clinical Research Network include:
– a study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of two doses of benralizumab in patients with severe to very severe COPD with a history of COPD exacerbations;
– a study to evaluate the effect of 52 weeks of once daily treatment of orally inhaled tiotropium and olodaterol fixed dose combination compared with tiotropium on COPD exacerbation in patients with severe to very severe COPD; and
– a study to optimise dose selection and evaluate safety after treatment with the Holaira™ Lung Denervation System in patients with moderate to severe COPD.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jolly on 2016-02-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many police officers of the Royal Military Police they estimate will be deployed in (1) 2015–16, (2) 2016–17, (3) 2017–18, (4) 2018–19, and (5) 2019–20.
Earl Howe
The number of Regular personnel in the Royal Military Police (RMP) as at
1 April 2015 was 1,610. The forecast of Regular personnel in the RMP is as follows:
|
April 2016 |
April 2017 |
April 2018 |
April 2019 |
April 2020 |
|
1,600 |
1,600 |
1,610 |
1,600 |
1,580 |
The number of Regular personnel expected to complete their basic training and join the RMP are as follows:
|
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
2019-20 |
|
140 |
120 |
140 |
120 |
110 |
All totals are rounded in accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy; therefore totals may not equal the sum of their parts. All numbers are rounded to the nearest 10 with numbers ending in five rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid bias.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-02-29.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to run a pilot of tax-free childcare before that scheme is launched.
Damian Hinds
The Government confirmed that Tax-Free Childcare will be launched from early 2017. To roll out the scheme in a safe and managed way, we will be gradually opening up the scheme to all eligible parents within 12 months.
We will provide further details of the exact plans for this rollout in due course, in good time for parents and childcare providers to prepare for the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare.
Once the scheme is fully open, we estimate that around 2 million families will be eligible for Tax-Free Childcare. And we estimate that up to 1 million families may take up the scheme in ‘steady state’.
The Tax-Free Childcare system will be extensively tested with users before the scheme is launched.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work capability assessments have been (a) completed and (b) cancelled by Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd in (i) total and (ii) each local authority area.
Priti Patel
Work capability assessments are delivered by Centre for Health Disability Assessments (CHDA is a MAXIMUS company).
Nationally, in the quarter from January 2016 to March 2016, the number of completed assessments was 417,143 and the number of cancellations was 10,143.
Information is not available by local authority area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria his Department uses to determine links between cancer experienced by a current or former member of the armed forces and exposure to chemicals during periods of service.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides no-fault compensation for members of the Armed Forces where illness, injury or death is caused by service from 6 April 2005 under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and, before that date, under the War Pensions Scheme (WPS).
Any disablement, injury or illness, including cancer, can be claimed with awards made where the claimed disorder is accepted as being due to service. Lay and scheme medical advisers work together and decisions are evidence based, reflecting the individual case facts, contemporary medical understanding of causation and the relevant law.
Awards under the WPS depend on the assessed level of disablement with the method of assessment set out in the legislation and expressed as a percentage. The AFCS is tariff based. The legislation includes nine tables of injuries and disorders with associated tariff levels, relevant to military service. A lump sum is paid for pain and suffering taking account of the likely progress of the condition over the person’s lifetime. There are fifteen tariff levels and, for the more serious disorders like cancer, a Guaranteed Income Payment to cover reduced civilian employability is paid, in addition, from the date of claim for life.
Where negligence exists on the part of the MOD, Service personnel may make a claim for damages under common law for service after May 1987. Awards are determined by common law principles which, broadly, take into account, as appropriate, an individual’s pain and suffering, degree of injury, past and future financial losses and level of care required. Levels of compensation which include these elements can vary depending on an individual’s circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to exempt the viewing of sporting events in which nations of the UK are participating from the obligation to pay the TV Licence.
Mr Edward Vaizey
There are no current plans to amend the TV licence framework in this way.
A TV licence is not a fee for broadcasting services, it is a legal permission to install or use television receiving equipment (such as televisions, computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorders) to watch or record television programmes as they are being broadcast. This applies regardless of which television channels a person receives or how those channels are received. The government is also bringing forward legislation to extend the requirement to hold a TV licence to people streaming or downloading television programmes through on-demand services provided by the BBC (notably iPlayer).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 24 March 2016 to Question 31582, whether the Government has offered support to the government of Iraq on collecting forensic evidence of genocide committed against the Yazidis and other religious minority groups.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We continue to condemn in the strongest terms the appalling crimes that Daesh has committed in Iraq against Christians, Yezidis and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population.
On 21 July, The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), announced that the UK will work with international partners to drive a global campaign to hold Daesh to account for its crimes. Over the summer, Ministers and officials have been working with international partners, including the Government of Iraq, to establish the character and scope of this campaign. We will take forward action on it in New York later this month.