Category: Speeches

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many closed Child Support Agency cases with child maintenance arrears have been referred for arrears (a) cleansing and (b) validation between January and March 2016.

    Priti Patel

    (a) The table below shows the number of cases referred for arrears cleansing in each month from January 2016 until March 2016.

    Month

    Jan-16

    Feb-16

    Mar-16

    Number of cases referred for arrears cleansing

    32,720

    38,600

    29,820

    Notes

    1. Figures rounded to the nearest 10.

    (b) There is no set separate validation procedure; it forms part of the cleansing process.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many educational schemes and programmes her Department has funded (a) in Syria and (b) for Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries in each of the last two years.

    Rory Stewart

    A table setting out education programmes financed by DFID in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon in 2014-15 and 2015-16 is attached.

    DFID also supports education for Syrian refugees in Turkey through our contributions to the EU’s Facility for Refugees in Turkey, not through bilateral programming.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, when her Department plans to complete the assessment of local needs and value for money to inform decisions on how to allocate remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The assessment of local needs is an ongoing process. The Environment Agency and other risk management authorities are responsible for maintaining up to date assessments of local flood risk. This information, together with an assessment of options to reduce risk in each area, provides an ongoing pipeline of potential works.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they use to process requests for the disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government is committed to transparency and the Freedom of Information Act. Requests for information are examined on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

  • Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mark Williams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made in negotiations with Barclays Bank plc about business banking services being offered through the Post Office.

    George Freeman

    The Post Office is negotiating with the major banks, including Lloyds and Barclays, with a view to extending and standardising the services available to the banks’ small business customers. These are commercial negotiations which are still ongoing. The Government is clear that completion of these negotiations should be a priority.

    The Government is keen to see continued and wider availability of banking services through Post Office branches. In this context, we welcome the recent agreement between HSBC and the Post Office to provide HSBC’s business customers with services through Post Office branches.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech of 11 January 2016, on life chances, what period the £30 million social investment outcomes fund will cover; when that funding will become available; and to which bodies that funding will be made available.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The Life Chances Fund is an £80m outcomes fund that will focus upon supporting the creation of locally developed social impact bonds tackling a range of social problems. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced that up to £30m of the Life Chances Fund would be made available to support drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The detailed criteria for the fund, including timescales, is being developed but it will provide a portion of outcome payments for locally commissioned social impact bonds where some of the benefits and savings generated fall to central government.

  • Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the decision to cancel the transfer of police custody healthcare services to the NHS, whether they will put into place, and ensure the appropriate funding for, any recommendations made about minimum standards and quality of such police custody healthcare services for vulnerable detainees as a result of the forthcoming independent review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody.

    Lord Bates

    The decision not to pursue the transfer of custody healthcare commissioning from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to NHS England was taken in the context of wider decisions about the Provisional Police Funding Settlement for 2016/17, details of which were announced to Parliament in a written statement by the Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice and Victims on 17 December.

    The Government is clear that Police and Crime Commissioners should retain full flexibility to be able to prioritise resources towards police custody healthcare functions based on their local needs.

    A number of sources of information and guidance are available to PCCs to inform their commissioning of custody healthcare services.

    The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1983 (PACE) sets out the statutory framework for custodial care and the rights and entitlements of a detainee in police custody. The College of Policing, as the professional body for policing, has published Approved Professional Practice (APP) on custody and detention. Police officers and staff are expected to have regard to the APP in discharging their responsibilities.The APP references wider guidance published by professional medical bodies including the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. In addition there is a NHS England national service specification setting out clinical standards for the commissioning and provision of police custody healthcare functions. This is currently being reviewed and updated.

    In many police force areas the close ties which PCCs have established to local NHS England commissioners over recent years have already helped to drive up the standards and quality of provision. On 11 February my Rt Hon Friend the Home Secretary and my Right Honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Health wrote to Police and Crime Commissioners and NHS England Commissioners encouraging them to continue to build upon this work to further improve healthcare service delivery.

    Any recommendations made by the forthcoming independent review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody will be carefully considered in due course.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department has provided for (a) museums and (b) heritage in (i) the East Midlands and (ii) Nottinghamshire in each of the last three years.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    This Government continues to support heritage and arts projects across the East Midlands and Nottinghamshire through its arms length bodies, including Nottingham’s historic Lace Markets’ Galleries of Justice Museum, which was awarded £1m from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to carry out major redevelopment.

    Since 2012, the HLF has given more than £80m to the East Midlands and £6.7m to Nottinghamshire. Figures for 2015/16 are not yet available. Through Arts Council England, nearly £7m has been provided for museums in the East Midlands and over £1.6m for museums in Nottinghamshire, including the City of Nottingham, in the last three years.

    Over the same period, Historic England has given over £3m to the East Midlands, and more than £375,000 to Nottinghamshire. Party of this funding supported a project, in partnership with Bassetlaw District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, to repair and reinstate historic features in the Tuxford Conservation Area – which led to it being remove from the ‘at risk’ register.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of primary school pupils have access to music lessons with a specialist music teacher within their school.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not collect data on the proportion of primary school pupils having access to music lessons with a specialist music teacher within their school curriculum. Schools are best placed to decide on the number and type of teachers they need.

    In 2016-17, we are investing £75 million in music education hubs to ensure all pupils aged 5-18 have access to high quality musical opportunities. Primary schools can access support from specialist music teachers through music education hubs. In 2013/14, Arts Council England data showed that 596,820 pupils learned to play an instrument through whole class ensemble teaching, up from 531,422 in 2012/13.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what warnings and advice they intend to give to the public, in the light of research on the severity of community-onset boils and abscesses in the UK, published in Epidemiology and Infection in December 2014 by Laura Shallcross et al.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) is not planning to launch any new guidance or introduce warnings in light of the study referred to in the question and any public advice now falls within the remit of NHS Choices.

    PHE published national guidance for the diagnosis, treatment and management of PVL-positive strains of S Aureus (PVL-SA) infections, an element of this includes the management of skin boils and abscesses caused by PVL-SA. PVL-SA are strains of a bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus that can produce a particular toxin (Panton-Valentine Luekocidin or PVL). Such strains are strongly associated with skin boils and abscesses which can be aggressive and recurrent in nature. A copy of the Guidance on the diagnosis and management of PVL-associated Staphylococcus aureus infections (PVL-SA) in England is attached.

    PHE produced two leaflets called Patient Information Sheet – Staphylococcus aureus and Boils and Skin Infections: Information for the Public advising individuals on boils and abscesses caused by PVL-SA in response to particular “at risk” local environments and scenarios including schools, sporting groups and military recruits. The main advice in these leaflets is information as to where PVL-SA bacteria can be found, the infections it can cause and practical advice on how patients can minimise the risk of transferring the bacteria to others and experiencing repeated infections. Copies of both leaflets are attached.