Category: Speeches

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to (a) reduce waiting times for children to receive an assessment for a mental health condition and (b) address the disparity between those waiting times across different NHS mental health trusts.

    Alistair Burt

    Waiting times are not currently collected centrally, however the Government accepts there is variation in waiting times and is committed to improving access and is introducing the first ever waiting time standards for mental health services.

    These include an access and waiting time standard for Children and Young People with an Eating Disorder. This states that National Institute of Health and Care Excellence concordant treatment should commence within a maximum of four weeks from first contact with a designated healthcare professional for routine cases and within one week for urgent cases. Data collected in 2016 will help inform incremental percentage increases in compliance with the standard, with the aim of 95% of patients being treated within the standard’s timescale by 2020.

    We have also introduced an access and waiting times standard on Early Intervention in Psychosis announced in Mental health services: achieving better access by 2020 which came into force in April 2015. Whilst focused on all ages, most individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis are in the 16-25 age group.

    The setting of a blanket access and waiting time standard for children and young people’s mental health services is not feasible due to the wide range of conditions, services and care pathways this covers. However, NHS England will be working with partner organisations to lead work on the development of further access and waiting time standards for children’s mental health as part of the transformation programme on children and young people’s mental health.

    At a local level, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have worked with local partners to produce Local Transformation Plans for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing that will set out how they will improve support for children and young people in line with the vision in Future in mind. In addition, CCGs have legal duty to consider the need to reduce inequalities in access to, and outcomes from healthcare services, and we would expect commissioners to have due regard to waiting times as part of this.

    The new Mental Health Services Dataset will begin from January 2016, to provide data for both adults and children on outcomes, length of treatment, the source of referral, location of appointment and demographic information.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14345, if her Department will publish a position proper on the criteria it uses to ensure aid graduation is sustainable.

    Justine Greening

    The Department is currently undertaking a Bilateral Aid Review which will determine the countries that we will provide direct bilateral assistance to over the next five years.

  • Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Kilclooney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the value of imports from the EU in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what percentage of that amount is represented by imports from the Republic of Ireland.

    Lord Maude of Horsham

    The value of UK imports of goods and services from the EU28 was £290.6 billion in 2014. Imports from the Republic of Ireland amounted to £17.1 billion, or 5.9% of total UK imports from the EU28 (Source: ONS Pink Book 2015).

  • Lord Rooker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Rooker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rooker on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether UK political parties will be invited to attend and participate in the Anti-Corruption Summit planned in London following the Prime Minister’s speech in Singapore on 28 July 2015.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Invitations will be sent out in due course.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why NATO land forces have so far not been used in aid of the civil powers in both Italy and Greece; and whether there are plans to do so.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK and its European partners are trying to find a collective solution for what has been described as ‘the worst refugee crisis facing Europe since the Second World War’.

    To that end the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has agreed to support international efforts in the Aegean. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced that the UK has deployed Royal Fleet Auxiliary Mounts Bay to the Aegean.

    It is right that our immediate priority is to ensure this new NATO activity is up and running effectively. Whilst there are no requests from Italy or Greece for the sort of assistance described, the UK would be open to considering how NATO could make an effective further contribution to this crisis.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the funding formula is that was used for the 2016-17 allocation of Rural Services Delivery Grant.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Rural Services Delivery Grant is distributed to the top quartile of authorities ranked by their super-sparsity, as calculated using data from the 2011 Census. The amount that each authority receives is dependent on their super-sparsity above the threshold value of 0.089302, their total resident population (calculated using information from the 2011 Census) and the types of services that the council delivers. Further information on the methodology can be found in Part K of the 2014-15 Local Government Finance Report.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people of each nationality detained between 2005 and 2015 for the purpose of removal had been previously detained for the same purpose and released.

    James Brokenshire

    The information requested is not routinely collected and could be provided only by examining individual case records, which would result in disproportionate cost.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to publish information on high quality higher education providers obtaining foundation or taught degree awarding powers on a probationary three year time-limited basis.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Higher Education and Research Bill provides for a power to authorise Degree Awarding Powers on a time-limited basis. We intend this to be the vehicle to implement the concept of probationary Degree Awarding Powers, which was set out in our White Paper ‘Success As A Knowledge Economy’.

    Subject to the passage of the Bill, we plan to consult on the detail of the proposed changes to the Degree Awarding Powers, leading to new criteria and guidance. This would include the requirements and processes that will apply to providers seeking probationary taught or foundation Degree Awarding Powers. As now, we intend that details of all providers who have obtained Degree Awarding Powers will be publicly available. We envisage that this would indicate which providers have obtained those powers on a probationary basis.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many claims made by young asylum seekers in Calais in the past 12 months are still being processed; and how long is the average process time for such cases.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The number of asylum claims made in France over any given period, and their outcome, is a matter for the French authorities.

    The Dublin Regulation is the mechanism for determining responsibility for considering an asylum claim. If accepted for transfer to the UK, the asylum claim is considered in the UK after the individual has been transferred.

    The Home Office has accepted responsibility to consider the asylum claims of over 80 unaccompanied minors from France under Dublin since the start of the year and many more are in train.

    Dublin transfer requests involving children are now generally processed within 10 days by a dedicated team in the Home Office. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis. A senior Home Office official has been seconded to the French Interior Ministry to help speed up the process of identifying children who may qualify for transfer to the UK.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect of increased cyber-security funding on the numbers of (a) frontline police and (b) police community support officers.

    Mike Penning

    Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why, through the National Cyber Security Programme, we have invested over £90 million under the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced this week, this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for cyber crime.

    To date, we have funded the development of National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) and of cyber teams within the Regional Organised Crime Unit network; and invested in Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. We are clear that front line policing also needs to adapt with the changing nature of the threat. In partnership with the College of Policing, we have rolled out cyber crime training so that it is available to all police officers and staff, with over 150,000 modules completed so far. We recognise that local policing capabilities in respect of the investigation of digital crime are a particular concern – that is why we are working with the National Policing Lead for Digital Investigations to define the capabilities required to conduct effective digital investigations. This Government has also made a commitment to expand the number of volunteer ‘Cyber Specials’ across policing. This will harness expertise from other sectors to further increase police capability at all levels, including within local forces.

    This Government will continue investing at the national, regional and local levels to ensure we have the capacity to deal with the volume and sophistication of online crime. We will continue to boost the capabilities of the NCCU by increasing their ability to investigate the most serious cyber crime, both domestically and internationally. We will increase work with industry to stop cyber attacks reaching the UK, and we will work with industry and the public to help them better protect themselves.