The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many detainees who have medical evidence that they are vulnerable persons have suffered (a) state and (b) non-state violence.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Information on the reasons for a claim for asylum is not readily accessible from central statistical records and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost through a manual search of individual case files.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether reducing incidents of negligent care will be the primary focus of the Government’s proposed package of reforms aimed at reducing costs in medical negligence litigation.
Ben Gummer
Over the past 10 years claimant legal costs as a percentage of damages paid by the National Health Service have increased from 32% to 52%. We believe that claimant legal costs are disproportionate to the value of the damages paid, sometimes representing up to 299% for lower value claims, and disproportionate to the defendant costs. Ultimately this all comes out money for front line services. The proposal for fixed recoverable cost in lower value clinical negligence claims was suggested by Lord Justice Jackson in his report Reform of Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales.
The Department is working closely with partners and interested parties to develop a proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims. The Department’s proposal in the consultation is a maximum threshold level of £250,000, based on Lord Justice Jackson’s original proposal and with a view to covering at least 80% of all claims. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors. The results of a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and the consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances.
The level of potential savings will ultimately depend upon the final maximum threshold level proposed. By making legal costs proportionate to the damages paid we would hope to save circa £80 million per annum. The Department is also working with various clinical groups looking at how the current level of incidents can be reduced. In terms of maternity our target to reduce avoidable harm by 50% and save 6,000 lives.
The Department sees the fixed recoverable cost work as part of an overall strategic approach aimed at improving patient safety, improving customer care and improving litigation. Improving patient safety and reducing the incidents of harm is a key element of this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Network Rail and Suffolk County Council on increasing the number of services stopping at Newmarket railway station.
Claire Perry
The Secretary of State has held no discussions with Network Rail and Suffolk County Council on increasing the number of services stopping at Newmarket station.
The issues of future passenger and freight demand, route capacity and service levels have been considered in Network Rail’s Anglia Route Study; and will be considered by the Department in future planning cycles.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the nuclear agreement with Iran, they plan to make representations to the government of Israel to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agree to the same level of inspection now accepted by Iran.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is the cornerstone of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and the essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament and for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. All state parties should be pushing for universality of the treaty. In that regard, the Government continues to call on all states that are not parties to the NPT, including Israel, to accede to it, and we also continue to call on Israel to agree a full scope Comprehensive Safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of additional jobs and (b) amount of additional housing resulting from a Meadowhall High Speed 2 station location.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Analysis of the Sheffield City Region station options was published in the ‘Engineering options report; West Midlands to Leeds’ dated March 2012. This included analysis of several station sites around the city centre.
The current estimated difference in cost between locating a High Speed station at Victoria and Meadowhall is £680m. Previous work on the cost of options at Victoria and other city centre sites are not comparable to the current estimate given above. With regards to the Meadowhall station, following the 2013 public consultation, no significant changes have been made to the original station design therefore there have not been any changes in cost.
When recommending a station location HS2 Ltd. uses a number of criteria, including;
Potential options were sifted by HS2 Ltd. according to these criteria. To support and challenge this approach, external stakeholders and advisors from the Department’s Project Representative Team were involved in reviewing the process and outcomes where appropriate. Further information about the appraisal process can be found in the 2012 ‘Options for phase two of the high speed rail network’ report and 2013 ‘Appraisal of Sustainability’ report. Both of these documents are available on the government website.
Analysis undertaken by HS2 shows that the introduction of the Sheffield Meadowhall HS2 station could support up to 5,400 jobs and up to 300 residential units, while a HS2 station at Victoria could support an estimated 9,000 jobs and 900 housing units.
Finally, I can confirm that Department for Transport officials have received a copy of Sheffield City Region’s study into connectivity for a city centre High Speed 2 station at Victoria which Network Rail was involved in.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of increasing the state pension age on productivity.
Justin Tomlinson
The projected increase in the number of people working as a result of the rise in State Pension age provided for by the Pensions Act 2011 was estimated to generate a significant increase in gross employment earnings. Under this new timetable the peak increase compared to the previous timetable would be £5.0 billion in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices).
At an individual level, working longer and saving into a private pension will, on average, increase lifetime pension income. Taking into consideration the additional employment income, individuals’ lifetime income will be improved if they work longer. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the rise in women’s State Pension age from 60 to 62 has been accompanied by increases in employment rates for the women affected.
Research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in 2011 showed that an increase of one year in the average effective working life is estimated to result in additional annual national output worth up to one per cent of GDP. In the same research, it was estimated that real GDP would be six per cent lower than it otherwise would have been by 2030, if plans for raising the state pension age (according to the Pensions Act 2007) were not implemented.
The increase in labour supply as a result of the Pensions Act 2011 was also estimated to boost GDP above the projected baseline of the previous timetable. GDP could be between £7 billion and £9 billion higher in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices); in the period 2016 to 2026, the increase in labour supply due to the increase in State Pension age could boost national output by £70 billion (in 2011/12 prices).
More information on both impacts can be found in Annex A of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment at::
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-act-2011-impact-assessment
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the concluding evaluation of the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Payment-by-Results pilot programme will be published.
George Freeman
Publication by the University of Manchester of the final report on the evaluation of the drug and alcohol recovery payment by results pilots programme is expected this summer following completion of an independent peer review process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will seek information from the BBC on the number of unique visitors to the BBC Food website in each month since May 2010; and if he will place that information in the Library.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Decisions in relation to the BBC’s online content are a matter for the BBC which is editorially independent of the Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Attorney General, which EU (a) legislative and (b) other proposals the Law Officers’ Department is leading negotiations on for the Government in the Council of the EU.
Jeremy Wright
The Law Officers’ Departments are not leading any negotiations for the Government in the Council of the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the service standard is for cases handled by the Complex Casework Directorate.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Complex Casework Directorate has a published service standard for in country Administrative Reviews. The target is to decide 95% of all applications within 28 days.