Category: Speeches

Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of doctors left foundation training and entered training posts in core or specialty training in each year between 2008 and 2015.

Ben Gummer

The UK Foundation Programme Office collects data and produces reports annually on behalf of Health Education England and the devolved nations which show next career destinations of second year foundation doctors who have successfully completed their foundation training across the United Kingdom.

Data prior to 2011 was not routinely collected by the UK Foundation Programme Office. Data from the 2015 destination survey is not yet available.

The numbers provided in the attached table are from responses to a survey of outgoing F2 doctors and not all doctors provide a response. The appointments to specialty /general practice (ST/GP) are self-declared by the doctors in response to the survey and are not verified against recruitment data.

Whilst the survey is a fairly accurate predictor of the destination of doctors who have completed foundation training the figures are not intended to be an accurate employment record.

01/01/2023
Bob Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2015-11-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will undertake an analysis of the feasibility of devolving property taxes to London linked to specific infrastructure projects.

Mr David Gauke

By 2020, local government will retain 100% of business rates and will have the power to reduce business rates. Directly elected mayoral authorities, such as the Mayor of London, will have the power to levy a small supplement on business rates to fund new infrastructure.

In the last Parliament, the Government gave local councils greater power over council tax support schemes and the treatment of second homes and empty properties. The Government believes there would be difficulties in devolving other property taxes, such as Stamp Duty Land Tax and Capital Gains Tax, to London as this would create a distortive effect around the border, increase administration costs and complexity and expose local government to significant fiscal risk.

01/01/2023
Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average life expectancy was for (a) the total population, (b) women, (c) men in (i) the UK and (ii) each London borough in each year since 2010.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

01/01/2023
Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate what proportion of the cost of introducing the proposed Teaching Excellence Framework will fall to (a) central government and (b) universities.

Joseph Johnson

We recently published the Green Paper “Fulfilling our potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice,” which sets out our proposals for delivering the Teaching Excellence Framework and reducing the regulatory burden on the sector. The consultation period closed on 15 January 2016.

Once we have considered the consultation responses, and are in a position to publish our final proposals, we will publish a Regulatory Impact Assessment which will set out the costs of implementation.

01/01/2023
Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the distribution of teacher training places in the (a) North Staffordshire sub-region and (b) West Midlands region.

Nick Gibb

The Department for Education has changed the approach to initial teacher training (ITT) allocations for the 2016 to 2017 academic year. The National College for Teaching and Leadership are not allocating a specific number of places to individual organisations for postgraduate ITT courses due to start in the 2016 to 2017 academic year. Instead, eligible schools, school-centred initial teacher training providers (SCITTs) and higher education institutions (HEIs) will be able to recruit as many trainees as they feel they need (subject to a limited number of controls), until the overall system has recruited a sufficient number.

School Direct lead schools, SCITTs and universities across all regions have been given greater freedom for the 2016/17 academic year to manage their recruitment according to local need.

We are monitoring regional recruitment across all subjects, including the West Midlands region. However, as School Direct and SCITT partnerships cover large geographical areas, we are not monitoring recruitment at a sub-regional level.

To date, the only challenge in geographical distribution of ITT places has been found in the London region in recruitment to primary, which was recruiting slower than other regions. In this case we have allowed school led routes (i.e. School Direct (tuition fee) and SCITTs) in this region to continue to recruit to primary courses to ensure that enough trainees are recruited. For all other regions, recruitment is broadly the same as in 2015/16 with some areas showing an increase.

We are prepared to use reserve recruitment controls in other subjects, or for other regions, as required.

01/01/2023
Nick Clegg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Clegg on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people using cannabis in the UK for medicinal purposes; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

We have made no such estimates.

Herbal cannabis is not licensed as a medicine and, under section 7(4) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, a pharmacist would need to obtain a licence from the Home Office if they were to dispense cannabis.

01/01/2023
Baroness Howells of St Davids – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Howells of St Davids on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Movement for an Adoption Apology campaign, whether they have any plans to make a public apology to the mothers whose children were taken away from them between the 1950s and 1980s.

Lord Nash

The Government has a great deal of sympathy for those women and children who were affected by the pressures to give children up for adoption. Their accumulated experiences clearly show them to be victims of the prevailing moral and social behaviour of their time. Governments have subsequently done much to resolve these social ills in the past.

01/01/2023
Lord Donoughue – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent on the International Climate Fund in each financial year from 2011–12 to 2014–15.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Spend under the International Climate Fund by the Department for International Development, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is as follows:

2011-12 – £427m

2012-13 – £548m

2013-14 – £788m

2014-15 – £911m

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent in addition to his Department’s obligations under franchise agreements on driver training or driver recruitment by each train operating company since May 2010.

Paul Maynard

None, as this falls under the franchise agreement and is for the Train Operating Companies to spend.

01/01/2023

George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the number of cancelled elective operations in the (a) Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital NHS Trust, (b) St Helens and Knowsley Hospital Services NHS Trust, (c) Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (d) Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, (e) Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust and (f) Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the last six months.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS England publishes information each quarter on the number of last minute elective operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons. The following table shows this information for the specified trusts in the two most recent quarters. A last minute cancellation is defined as when a patient’s operation is cancelled by the hospital on or after the day of admission, including the day of surgery, for non-clinical reasons.

Number of last minute elective operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons for specified trusts, Quarter 4 2015/16 and Quarter 1 2016/17

	Quarter 4 2015/16	Quarter 1 2016/17
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust	113	93
St Helens and Knowsley Hospital Services NHS Trust	161	102
Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	67	39
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust	55	61
Southport And Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust	77	27
Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust	0	31

Source: Cancelled elective operations, NHS England

Note:

Quarter 2 data will be published on 11 November 2016.

01/01/2023