Category: Speeches

Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many case conferences have resulted in the reallocation of transgender prisoners to a prison which corresponds with the gender with which they self-identify in the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage

This information is not held centrally and as my Honourable Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, committed to the House on 20 November, my Department will publish data on the number of trans people in prison in due course.

01/01/2023
Jenny Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jenny Chapman on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prisoners were awaiting initial psychiatric assessment (a) on the last date for which figures are available and (b) in each month of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

Data are not collected centrally on the number of prisoners waiting for an initial psychiatric assessment. Data on prisoners in receipt of an assessment and awaiting transfer to secure hospitals under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 are collected by NHS England since April 2015, through Health and Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs) and available data are shown in the attached table, Health and Justice Indicators of Performance – Mental Health Secure Assessment and Transfer. NHS England intends to publish HJIP data online from April 2016.

01/01/2023
William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and micro-employers are able to comply with automatic enrolment for workplace pensions.

Justin Tomlinson

5.81 million people have already been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by 78,789 employers

We are focused on making compliance with automatic enrolment duties as straightforward as possible –especially for small and micro employers, to continue to build on this success.

As part of this, the Pensions Regulator has launched a new, simplified and much shorter ‘Step by Step’ guide on their website. This interactive Step by Step guide will help employers easily find out what they will need to do to comply by way of an easier to navigate, personalised journey. The number of steps an employer now has to take has reduced from 11 to just 5. This is designed to meet the specific needs of smaller employers who may well not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. In addition, The Regulator provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties.

The Regulator has simplified and tailored all letters and guides to ensure that their guidance is easy for small employers to follow; and is working with the key providers in the automatic enrolment market to ensure that employers are offered a consistent automatic enrolment journey.

The Regulator’s website also provides guidance on what to consider when choosing a scheme and includes the list of independently audited, high quality ‘master trusts’ pension schemes. This will make scheme choice (one of the biggest challenges for small employers) easier.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to establish targets in the UK to reduce carbon emissions produced by road and rail transport by 2020.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government has already set stretching legally binding carbon budgets, which will see a 50% economy wide reduction in emissions in 2025 compared to 1990 levels, on a path towards an 80% reduction by 2050, and is committed to ensuring the transport sector plays a full part in delivering the emissions reductions needed.

In December 2011, the Government published Carbon Plan: Delivering our low carbon future, setting out in a series of five-year carbon budget periods how we will meet the UK’s legally binding carbon reduction targets.

The Government will set the level of the fifth carbon budget in June this year (for the period 2028 to 2032) and will publish the next Carbon Plan shortly afterwards.

01/01/2023
Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what public awareness campaigns his Department has planned to improve awareness of work-related respiratory illness.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the national regulator for health and safety at work, takes a lead role in raising awareness of work related respiratory diseases. HSE has run campaigns targeted at specific at-risk workers and/or their employers, a recent example being the ‘Beware Asbestos’ campaign which ran from October 2014 to March 2015 and focussed on tradespeople such as carpenters, electricians and plumbers. HSE has also supported other organisations such as the British Occupational Hygiene Society to develop its ‘Breathe Freely’ campaign targeted at work in the construction industry.

HSE has recently published a new strategy for the GB health and safety system called ‘Helping Great Britain work well’. One of the six themes of the strategy is ‘Tackling ill health’ which will include long-term and coordinated action across all sectors, bringing in additional partners such as the NHS and others to support the substantial behaviour change and awareness programmes that will be required.

01/01/2023
Liz Kendall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients with a diagnosis of autism have been held on mental health wards in each of the last three years because they could not get a suitable living placement; and how many of those patients were (a) children and (b) adults.

Alistair Burt

The total number of adults with a diagnosis of autism who have been held on mental health wards was five in 2014 and 10 in 2015.

The table below provides average and longest length for adults with a diagnosis of autism who were held on mental health wards in each of the last two years because they could not get a suitable living placement.

Longest length of stay (days)

Average length of stay (days)

2014 Adults (aged 18 and over)

435

236

2015 Adults (aged 18 and over)

249

71

Data for children for this same period cannot be provided as the total is fewer than five in each given year and cannot be made available in order to minimise disclosure risks associated with small numbers.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what methodology and data NHS England plans to use to determine which services it will commission at the specialised commissioning prioritisation process in June 2016.

George Freeman

The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) will agree recommendations as to which proposals for new investments in specialised services should be considered by NHS England in the prioritisation round for 2016/17. CPAG is scheduled to meet between 6 and 9 June 2016.

NHS England is currently considering the outcome of a public consultation that it held between April and May 2016 on a proposed method for the relative prioritisation of new investments in specialised services. The consultation guide that it published described the proposed method and the types of data that would be considered. Many detailed submissions were made by respondents to consultation, and they will all be carefully considered. NHS England is expecting to make a decision on the eventual method that will be adopted for 2016/17 in May 2016.

The consultation guide can be found at the following address:

https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/investment-decisions/supporting_documents/consultationguide.pdf

“

01/01/2023
Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-07-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 June (HL325), how government departments and agencies decide who should take executive action to prosecute a series of contacts of interest.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Each of the Government departments and agencies represented at the National Maritime Information Centre has a specific remit and depending on what the nature of the operational scenario in question is, the department or agency with the legislatively proscribed lead responsibility for investigating activity of that kind will take the necessary action. Other departments and agencies will provide support to the lead department or agency as required.

01/01/2023
Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Dental Contract Reform: Prototypes pilot in (a) improving the quality of dental care and (b) improving access to dental care.

David Mowat

The Government is committed to replacing the current National Health Service dental contract with one that better rewards dentists for improving the oral health of their patients in addition to providing treatment where needed.

The dental pilots which ran from 2011-16 tested a new way of delivering care focussed on prevention. Based on the learning from that scheme, 79 high street practices are continuing to test the prevention based clinical pathway with the addition of testing a possible new remuneration system.

The prototype scheme evaluation is expected during 2017-18. The evaluation will be overseen by an evidence and learning group, which includes clinical and stakeholder representation. If successful the new system could start to be rolled out nationally from 2018-19.

01/01/2023

Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cars the DVLA clamped in each month of each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The table below shows the information requested.

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
January	9,023	8,370	5,131	5,197	5,696	8,890
February	10,892	10,550	4,947	5,391	5,115	8,741
March	12,722	9,517	5,356	5,450	5,333	8,630
April	8,978	8,911	4,636	5,802	5,214	8,228
May	8,887	8,265	5,065	5,450	5,549	8,511
June	8,790	8,217	4,339	4,968	5,530	9,957
July	8,970	7,365	5,257	4,238	5,634	10,554
August	8,883	7,947	4,644	2,079	5,384	8,050
September	8,562	7,472	4,525	3,918	5,530	9,444
October	9,435	5,533	4,275	4,576	5,806	9,778
November	9,873	2,828	4,349	4,791	5,756
December	7,587	4,507	1,870	4,283	6,740
Total	112,602	89,482	54,394	56,143	67,287	90,783

By way of context, the equivalent total figure for 2009 is 123,695 cars.

These vehicles would have been clamped by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s national wheelclamping contractors or by local authorities and police forces with devolved powers to clamp and impound unlicensed vehicles.

01/01/2023

	Longest length of stay (days)	Average length of stay (days)
2014 Adults (aged 18 and over)	435	236
2015 Adults (aged 18 and over)	249	71