Category: Speeches

  • Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the budget figures for the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government include provision for the implementation of the Dilnot Commission proposals for capping individual liability for social care, as under the Care Act 2014; and if so, in which years such provision has been made.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government remains committed to introducing the cap on reasonable care costs and extension of means tested support, which will come into force and be funded from April 2020. The Spending Review 2015 sets budgets for the next four years to 2019/20. The final year includes funding to cover the costs of local authorities preparing to implement the changes the following year. This start date is also indicated in the Autumn Statement 2015, as the delayed annually managed expenditure impact of this policy is shown with the policy starting in 2020.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the decision of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in the case of children A and B in relation to Prism, heard on 10 December.

    Lord Bates

    The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) and any decision it makes are entirely independent of Government. The Home Office was not a named respondent in the case and we have made no assessment of the Tribunal’s decision.

  • Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many missions have been flown by UK military forces in Syria to provide direct humanitarian aid to civilians; where those missions took place; what aid was supplied; and what the cost was of those missions.

    Penny Mordaunt

    UK military forces have not flown any missions to provide humanitarian aid in Syria. The UN has not requested the use of air drops, which are not currently the best way of getting help to those in need.

    The UN, Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have successfully delivered aid by road to Madaya, Foah and Kefraya. The UN and non-governmental organisation partners are best placed to deliver humanitarian aid and have the mandate, expertise and capacity to assess needs and deliver an appropriate, timely response.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of in which type of healthcare there is greatest geographical disparity of treatment (a) availability, (b) choice and (c) outcomes across England.

    Jane Ellison

    No such assessment has been made. However, the Right Care programme actively uses variation between clinical commissioning groups to help identify those diseases or conditions that have the potential for greatest improvement. Indicators used include prevalence, treatment and outcomes.

    The NHS Atlas of Variation, Commissioning for Value Packs and indicators in the National Health Service Outcomes Framework and Public Health Outcomes Framework provide publicly accessible resources to compare geographical areas and highlight health inequalities and other variation across a wide variety of indicators.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2016 to Question 29831, what recent steps he has taken to encourage all local authorities to publish (a) transparent financial audits and (b) undisclosed procurement costs for all public-private contracts.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department encourages local authorities to be open and transparent with their data. The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 requires local authorities to publish their audited accounts on their website, and the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities to publish details of expenditure, resource and assets, including details of all of their contracts with a value of over £5,000.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many wholesalers have been found as a result of their failure to sign up to the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme to have been trading in alcohol fraudulently since the introduction of that scheme

    Damian Hinds

    From April 2017, HMRC will be making publicly available details of alcohol wholesalers who are approved. From then, retailers who buy from unapproved wholesalers will be liable to a fine.

    HMRC is now assessing the applications it has received against the scheme’s approval criteria. The number of applications received are lower than HMRCs initial estimate of 21,000 businesses that could be wholesaling alcohol. There could be a number of reasons for this, and HMRC is currently comparing the applications received with original expectations and encouraging businesses that have not applied to do so, to mitigate penalties and the likelihood of enforcement action.

    Where businesses have been purposefully fraudulently trading, HMRC will take action. It is too early to report outcomes of any investigations into illicit trading that HMRC are undertaking since the introduction of the scheme.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure (a) compliance with and (b) appropriate implementation of COMPASS contracts in Teeside.

    James Brokenshire

    The provision of accommodation for asylum seekers is provided under the COMPASS contracts. It is the responsibility of all of the suppliers to ensure that all accommodation used meets the required contractual standard and complies with the Decent Homes Standards. The accommodation should be safe, habitable and fit for purpose. The COMPASS providers are required to inspect properties each month and UKVI’s contract compliance teams reinforce this by visiting properties regularly.

    The Home Office expects the highest standards and where a contractor is found to be falling short of these standards we work with them to ensure that issues are quickly addressed.

    Earlier this year, we instructed our supplier (G4S) to repaint the doors of G4S and Jomast managed properties to ensure that no one colour is predominant. I have received confirmation from the Provider that this had been completed, UKVI staff have also confirmed that no one colour is predominant as they have visited properties as part of their inspection regime.

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

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to announce the rate for NHS-funded nursing care for residents of care homes for 2017-18.

    David Mowat

    The Department appreciates the importance of timely communication of the rate of National Health Service-funded Nursing Care for care homes.

    The new rate will be paid on an interim basis whilst further work is done to review the element of the rate for agency nursing staff (which could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017) and to consult on introducing regional variation from April 2017.

    The rate for 2017/18 will be published following completion of work which is being done by the Department.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data protection measures his Department has in place to ensure the safety of claimant’s personal information from a potential online data breach.

    Caroline Nokes

    The Department takes the security of personal information very seriously. The Department has a range of capabilities in place to ensure the safety of the data it holds and processes. Disclosing the exact nature of the measures it takes to prevent data breaches would be prejudicial to the Department’s ability to keep that data safe.

    The Department works with other agencies, Departments and delivery partners to prevent online data breaches in support of the National Security Strategy.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will publish its strategic plan for housing Syrian refugees.

    Richard Harrington

    This is a voluntary scheme whereby local authorities sign up to accept refugees on a voluntary basis. Housing is one element they would take into consideration before participating. We are working closely with those local authorities that have indicated they wish to be involved as well as with the Local Government Associations.