Category: Speeches

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what sub-departments HMRC has in addition to the Tax Capacity Building Unit, the Large Business Service/Directorate, the Compliance Unit, the Transfer Pricing Unit, the Business International Directorate, and the Anti-Money Laundering Supervision Team; and (a) what funds were allocated to and (b) how many FTE staff were employed by each sub-department in each year since 2009-10.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is split into four sub-departments, or business areas, for delivery purposes, which are supported by corporate areas.

    Please see below the expenditure and full time equivalent (FTE) staff for each of those areas for the period 2009/10 onwards.

    Net expenditure (£m)

    09/10

    10/11

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    Enforcement and Compliance

    1,033

    1,004

    991

    1,028

    1,037

    987

    Business Tax

    222

    248

    181

    185

    156

    201

    Personal Tax

    763

    682

    726

    728

    670

    531

    Benefits & Credits

    169

    164

    154

    157

    153

    154

    Corporate

    1,760

    1,477

    1,647

    1,566

    1,629

    1,595

    HMRC

    3,947

    3,575

    3,699

    3,664

    3,645

    3,468

    HMRC has not yet published accounts for 2015/16.

    FTE staff

    09/10

    10/11

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    15/16

    Enforcement and Compliance

    26,864

    25,475

    25,334

    26,601

    26,923

    26,223

    26,798

    Business Tax

    3,776

    3,877

    3,695

    3,410

    3,160

    4,415

    4,582

    Personal Tax

    27,307

    25,975

    26,858

    24,444

    20,558

    14,949

    15,661

    Benefits & Credits

    6,307

    5,834

    5,301

    5,157

    4,983

    5,193

    5,459

    Corporates

    6,445

    5,720

    5,279

    4,865

    6,376

    6,358

    7,356

    HMRC*

    70,699

    66,881

    66,467

    64,477

    61,370

    57,138

    59,856

    *this total for HMRC includes Civil Service Resourcing.

    The question mentions specific teams within HMRC and those teams are within the Business Areas above, as follows:

    Large Business – Business Tax

    Compliance Unit – Enforcement and Compliance

    Transfer Pricing Unit – Business Tax

    Business International – Business Tax

    Anti-money laundering – Enforcement and Compliance

    HMRC does not publish accounts information at a level of detail that includes expenditure or allocations by specific teams.

  • Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to update the national maternity commissioning framework, and if so, whether it will include information about multiple pregnancies.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Saving Babies Lives care bundle covers all types of pregnancy, including multiple pregnancies. The care bundle will be evaluated so that it can be developed and refined to ensure that it continues to reflect best practice.

    The Maternity Transformation Programme Board will drive forward the implementation of the National Maternity Review, Better Births, published in February this year. It will also include work to reduce the rate of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths in England. The formation of the Board marks a clear step forward towards delivering the vision laid out in the National Maternity Review, ensuring that key organisations work together to improve maternity services. Better Births makes recommendations on the use of data including the development of a set of national indicators to aid data comparison. NHS England and its delivery partners are developing plans to implement this and the report’s other recommendations, and as part of this are considering the case for a national dashboard. A copy of both Better Births and the Saving Babies Lives care bundle are attached.

    The Board held its first meeting on 8 June 2016 and is chaired by Sarah-Jane Marsh, Chief Executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Birmingham Women’s Hospital. The Board members and the organisations they represent are detailed in the following table.

    NHS England and its delivery partners are developing plans to implement the vision set out in Better Births, the report of the National Maternity Review. These plans are likely to include commissioning guidance.

    Person

    Organisation

    Sarah-Jane Marsh

    Chair

    Jane Cummings

    Senior Responsible Officer, Chief Nursing Officer

    Keith Willett

    Deputy Chair, Medical Director for Acute Care, NHS England

    Matthew Jolly

    Clinical lead (obstetrics) / workstream lead (data)

    Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent

    Clinical lead (midwifery)

    Dame Julia Cumberlege

    Stakeholder Reference Group Chair / Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework Panel Chair

    Flora Goldhill

    Department of Health / workstream lead (best practice for safer care)

    Wendy Reid / Bill Irish

    Health Education England / workstream lead (workforce)

    Viv Bennett

    Public Health England / workstream lead (public health)

    Ruth May

    NHS Improvement (Director of Nursing)

    Mike Durkin

    NHS Improvement (Director of Patient Safety)

    Jimmy Walker

    Care Quality Commission

    Lauren Hughes

    NHS England /workstream lead (local transformation)

    James Sanderson

    NHS England / workstream lead (choice and personalisation)

    Simon Medcalf

    NHS England / workstream lead (perinatal mental health)

    Tom Denwood

    NHS Digital / workstream lead (technology)

    Martin Campbell

    NHS England / workstream lead (pricing)

    David Richmond

    Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

    Cathy Warwick

    Royal College of Midwives

    Nigel Acheson

    Regional delivery lead / Regional Medical Director, South

    Roz Lindridge

    Clinical Networks maternity lead / East Midlands Associate Director, Clinical Networks and Senate
  • Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrea Jenkyns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrea Jenkyns on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on patient care of junior doctors taking five days of strike action per month until the end of 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    We were encouraged by the British Medical Association’s (BMA) announcement that it is suspending the rolling programme of five continuous days of industrial action from October to December, which it had previously announced and which would have removed urgent and emergency care from some of our most vulnerable patients.

    We have urged the BMA to remove all threat of further industrial action so we can work constructively with junior doctors to address their wider concerns and better recognise their vital importance to the National Health Service.

    Prior to the BMA’s announcement, NHS England, working with NHS organisations, had assessed the impact of the industrial action on cancelled operations and outpatient services and had developed plans to mitigate the impact of the industrial action.

    Had the BMA continued with their proposed industrial action, based on the levels of disruption during the previous two day all out strike, an initial estimate was that around 25,000 operations and 250,000 outpatient appointments would be cancelled during each five day strike period.

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14380, what (a) number or (b) proportion of referrals under the UNHCR VPR scheme translate into arrivals.

    Richard Harrington

    We do not have reliable statistics on this at this stage. We are quickly working our way through the referrals received from UNHCR. It is too early to say how many will become arrivals into the UK. However, we have collaborated closely with UNHCR to ensure that those referrals made in the early months of the expanded scheme are likely to be people that can be matched quickly with Local Authority places. More difficult cases might take longer to place.

    In some instances, refugees choose to withdraw from the scheme, for example, following the death of a family member, marriage or childbirth. Furthermore the Home Office also retains the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to give local authorities the power to enforce moving traffic contraventions under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004.

    Andrew Jones

    There are no plans to do so at present.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurse training places were available in England in each year from 2009 to 2015.

    Ben Gummer

    The following table shows the number of pre-registration nurse training places that were available for each year since 2009.

    Nursing

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    Planned

    21,337

    20,327

    18,069

    17,546

    18,056

    19,206

    20,033

    Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

    Health Education England will formally publish the 2016/17 National Workforce Plan for England in February 2016, this document will include confirmation of the proposed increase in nursing commissions.

  • Lord Wasserman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Wasserman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wasserman on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which police forces in England and Wales have employed officers through the Direct Entry (Superintendent) Programme since its inception; how many officers each of those forces has employed; and how many of those individuals were still employed as police officers in each of those forces on 1 February 2016.

    Lord Bates

    The following forces have appointed direct entry superintendents since the programme’s inception.

    Avon and Somerset Police 2

    City of London Police 1

    Leicestershire 1

    Metropolitan 10

    North Yorkshire 1

    Of the 15 superintendents who started their training, 14 are still employed, 13 of these remaining police officers with the forces they were initially recruited to. In Avon and Somerset, one superintendent transferred to Sussex Police and one left.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what safeguards his Department has in place to ensure that people with mental health problems who are unable to attend a work capability assessment or report to the jobcentre when requested due to their mental health problems do not have their benefits sanctioned as a result.

    Priti Patel

    Claimants with mental health conditions are considered “vulnerable”, therefore if they failed to attend a Work Capability Assessment, attempts will be made to contact them by telephone and, if appropriate, to arrange a “safeguarding home visit” before a decision on entitlement is made.

    The Jobcentre Plus sanctions regime has a range of safeguards for vulnerable claimants, including ensuring all requirements are reasonable and taking into account individual capability and circumstances, such as mental health conditions.

  • Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions has he had with Volkswagen on the timeframe that has been agreed to complete software and technical fixes for all its UK consumers.

    Andrew Jones

    The Secretary of State has met with the Chief Executive of Volkswagen UK to press him to ensure that the technical fixes are completed as quickly as possible for UK consumers.

    The UK’s Vehicle Certification Agency issued the type approval for some Volkswagen Group vehicles. For these the agency is working with the manufacturer to review and approve the proposed fixes. They are carrying out tests to ensure that after the fix is applied the vehicles do not have an illegal defeat device, that they meet all the legal requirements including emissions, and that other vehicles characteristics are unchanged, including fuel consumption and engine noise.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to conduct an annual review of the effect of the Tobacco Products Directive.

    Jane Ellison

    Comprehensive tobacco control measures act in concert. The Government monitors the impact of all tobacco control measures using a range of data sources, some of which are reported annually. The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Regulations 2015, which implement most elements of the Tobacco Products Directive in the United Kingdom, contain a review clause, with the first review of the operation of the legislation falling before 2021.