Category: Speeches

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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 steps he is taking to ensure that mental health services are not deprioritised in the commissioning process for budgetary reasons.

    Nicola Blackwood

    NHS England has a clear commitment that spending on mental health should increase year-on-year by an amount at least as great as the overall growth in clinical commissioning group (CCG) baseline allocations. From this year, NHS England’s budget and financial reporting will be aligned to specific mental health priorities, increasing transparency and allowing additional resources to be tracked at CCG level.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 14607, what the evidential basis is for the assertion on page 8 of the consultation document, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, published in October 2015, that there has been a shift from abuses of employment regulation.

    Karen Bradley

    The relevant text in the consultation document is based on Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority’s operational information.

  • Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne Main – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution of 16 November 2015, Official Report, column 365, if she will bring forward proposals on a national database of communication for refugees.

    James Brokenshire

    On 7 September the Prime Minister announced that 20,000 Syrian refugees would be resettled during this Parliament, and that he wanted 1,000 to arrive before Christmas. We have now achieved this, and are working closely with a range of partners to put in place the plans and structures to further expand the Syrian Vulnerable Persons scheme.

    It is currently up to individuals to determine how to maintain contact with other refugees in the UK; however, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) does link family groups so we can seek to allocate them to the same local authority. We also try and place them close to any family members already residing in the UK.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of lower sulphur dioxide emission limits for merchant vessels in force from 1 January 2015 on (a) seafarer employment and (b) passenger and freight services (i) from Hull and (ii) in the North Sea.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The fall in oil prices means that the cost to the industry of complying with the 0.1 per cent sulphur limit is much lower than predicted. For the time being, these environmental rules do not appear to pose any significant obstacle to growth and employment to ships operating in the North Sea.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 26276, on recycling in Christchurch, if she will place in the Library a copy of the assessment including the cost-benefit analysis.

    Rory Stewart

    Repair and recovery grants were approved by the Executive Director of Operations on the advice of Environment Agency’s Large Project Review Group (LPRG) and its sub group LPRG Lite, which assessed the eligibility of schemes for recovery projects across the country.

    The approval for each recovery project undertaken by the Environment Agency followed a national procedure set out in an operational instruction which I have placed in the House Library.

    Additionally I have placed a copy of the Christchurch Beach Replenishment Scheme Asset Repair Planning Brief setting out the case for the work to take place under the recovery programme.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

    Brandon Lewis

    These statistics relate to absences recorded as “Mental Disorders” under the World Health Organisation categories of absence, which includes non-stress related absences such as depression. The figures therefore should not be read as being fully related to stress caused absence and it should also be noted that non-work related stress absences would also be recorded here.

    Sickness absence due to mental health absences, in the Department were as follows:

    Year

    Number of Officials Absent due to ‘Mental Disorders’ (Headcount)

    Proportion of Total Officials (Headcount)

    Absences due to ‘Mental Disorders’ as a Proportion of Total Working Days Lost

    2011

    109

    4.0%

    18.3%

    2012

    92

    4.2%

    25.0%

    2013

    104

    5.2%

    24.3%

    2014

    98

    4.8%

    20.1%

    2015

    113

    5.3%

    32.8%

    Back in the Summer of 2014 DCLG paid for two staff to become mental health first aid Instructors so that a programme of mental health first aid could be rolled out across the Department. 32 staff have since become mental health ambassadors. The increase in the level of absences due to mental disorders in 2015 is likely to reflect more honest and open reporting of absence by staff following the work done by our Mental Health First Aiders to reduce the stigma that is sometimes felt by sufferers of poor mental health.

    For the 12 month period ending December 2015, the Department’s overall absence rate was 6.5 average working days lost per member of staff. This is lower than the Civil Service average of 7.4 days, the public services average of 8.4 days and private sector services average of 8.2 days (figures from the October 2015 CIPD annual absence management survey).

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many staff at (a) St Paul’s Place, Sheffield and (b) 1 Victoria Street, London work on steel policy.

    Anna Soubry

    There are currently over 80 BIS members of staff working on steel policy. Around 75 are based in 1 Victoria Street, London and 3 at St Paul’s Place, Sheffield. A number of other staff are involved to a greater or lesser extent dependent on need.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36175, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the length of time from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of endometriosis.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has asked the National Institute of Health for Health and Care Excellence to develop a guideline on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis. This will include: symptoms and signs of endometriosis; and use of diagnostic tests including imaging, biomarkers and surgical diagnosis. The guideline is due to be published in September 2017.

  • Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roger Mullin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Ministers of the Scottish Government on City Deals in Scotland.

    Andrew Percy

    The UK and Scottish Governments are ambitious for all our cities and regions. I am therefore pleased that we are currently negotiating a City Deal with Edinburgh and South East Scotland.

    My Ministerial colleagues remain in contact with the Scottish Government on City Deal matters. And on 30 June, My Noble Friend Lord Dunlop met Keith Brown to discuss this agenda.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on management and administration in each of the last five years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department publishes the Administration spending outturn annually in the Departmental Annual Report and Accounts. The latest spending information can be found in the table below.

    2011-12 £ million

    2012-13 £ million

    2013-14 £ million

    2014-15 £ million

    2015-16 £ million

    Administration Outturn

    3,307

    3,502

    3,036

    2,781

    2,421

    The Administration expenditure covers the running costs of the core Department, commissioning sector (NHS England and clinical commissioning groups) and all of the Department’s central government arm’s length bodies.