Category: Speeches

Conor McGinn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients in (a) St Helens North constituency, (b) Merseyside and (c) the UK were admitted to mental health hospitals outside of their local authority area in the last five years.

Alistair Burt

Information on the number of patients who were admitted to mental health hospitals outside their home local authority in St Helens North constituency, Merseyside and the United Kingdom in each of the last five years is not available. However, information on the number of people in non-specialist mental health beds treated out of area between September 2014 and July 2015 is set out in the attached table: the number of people in non-specialist mental health bed, placed out of area at the end of the month, for England and Mersey Care NHS Trust, September 2014-July 2015.

01/01/2023
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the P5+1 agreement with Iran, what evidence they have that political prisoners such as Kamal Foroughi and Jason Rezaian have been released, or are being considered for early release, from detention; and what specific evidence they have of any overall progress in respect of such prisoners with UK or US passports.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We have no evidence that dual national political prisoners such as Kamal Foroughi and Jason Rezaian have been, or are being considered, for early release from detention. Nor have we received specific evidence of any overall progress in respect of these dual national cases. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such we are not granted consular access in these cases. We continue to lobby the Iranian Government at the highest level. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised these issues with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani during his trip to Iran in August. The Foreign Secretary also raised it with Foreign Minister Zarif at the UN General Assembly in September. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the case with President Rouhani during a telephone call in July, and wrote a further letter on this matter in October.

01/01/2023
Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what amount of additional funding her Department has allocated to Ofsted to carry out local area inspections of provisions for children with special educational needs and disability; and if so, what amount has been allocated for each of the next three years.

Edward Timpson

Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.

All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.

In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.

Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.

The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.

Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.

The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.

The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.

A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

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01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2016 to Question 26148, on roads: investment, which two projects are not progressing on or ahead of schedule; and when those projects are now expected to be completed.

Andrew Jones

The two projects referred to in Question 26148 are:

A63 Castle Street: this has a commitment to be complete by March 2021 but the current forecast is for August 2021.

The decision to defer was to avoid construction taking place during the year of culture.

A30 Temple to Carblake

This is being delivered by Cornwall County Council: This was originally due to Open for traffic in December 2016, although we understand from Cornwall County Council that current forecast is February 2017.

01/01/2023
Lord German – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2016-03-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 March, whether they intend to continue tolling the Severn Bridges at the prevailing rate at the end of the concession until they have collected an additional £63 million above and beyond operational costs of managing the Bridges.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Chancellor announced in his Budget speech that tolls at the Severn Bridges will be cut by 50% at the end of the current concession. Tolls will continue at this lower level to collect the costs of £63m incurred outside of the concession.

01/01/2023
Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on making tax information of UK-listed companies available to developing countries.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID Ministers and officials have regular discussions with other Government Departments on a wide range of issues relating to international development, including tax.

The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

The UK leads international efforts to help developing countries tackle tax evasion and avoidance. DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

01/01/2023
Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to support breastfeeding services; and what assessment he has made of the importance of breastfeeding to national health policy.

Ben Gummer

Support and information about breastfeeding is currently available to health professionals and parents through: the NHS Choices website under the Start4Life banner; the National Breastfeeding Helpline; UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative; and local peer support programmes.

Parents-to-be and new mums and dads can also sign up to the Start4life Information Service for Parents. Subscribers receive regular free emails, videos and SMS messages offering high quality advice and information, based on the stage of pregnancy and the age of the child, including breastfeeding support. The service also signposts parents to other quality assured information about parenting, relationship support and benefits advice.

Breastfeeding delivers significant health benefits both for the mother and her baby and is more cost effective for mothers than other methods of infant feeding. A mother’s milk provides a perfect balance of nutrients and vitamins, so exclusive breastfeeding is all a baby needs for around the first six months. This is why the Department in line with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidelines encourages exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.

01/01/2023
Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that academics in the UK will be able to continue collaborating with academics in universities in EU member states after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The EU Erasmus+ programme provides opportunities for schools and colleges to collaborate with their counterparts in Europe, and with universities. Access to the programme after we leave the EU is a matter for the forthcoming exit negotiations.

01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-09-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with HM Revenue and Customs and Ministers of the Scottish Government on changes to the rates and bands of income tax in Scotland.

Jane Ellison

The UK Government has regular conversations with the Scottish Government about a wide range of economic policies, both at a ministerial and official level.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury met with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution, Derek Mackay MSP, on 19 September and will continue to work with the Scottish Government to implement the Scotland Act and the Scottish Government’s fiscal framework.

From April 2017, it will be for the Scottish Parliament to set the income tax rates and thresholds that will apply to Scottish taxpayers’ non-savings, non-dividend income, such as that from employment and pensions.

01/01/2023

Maria Caulfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total cost was to his Department of training student midwives in each of the last 10 years.

Ben Gummer

Information prior to 2013/14 is not held centrally by the Department.

Detailed below is an estimate of planned expenditure costs to Health Education England of providing training to student midwives since 2013/14.

Year	New Students Commissioned	Planned Students in training	Estimate Cost (million)
2013/14	2,563	6,874	£102.2m
2014/15	2,603	6,624	£120.8m
2015/16	2,617	7,058	£130.6m

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

01/01/2023