Category: Speeches

Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on priority categories in Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) processes applications in date order and is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.

The table below shows the average time spent by each police force in England to process disclosure applications between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.

Force Name	Average Days Taken By Force
Avon And Somerset	7.4
Bedfordshire	3.5
Cambridgeshire	10.9
Cheshire	10.7
City of London	9.0
Cleveland	8.6
Cumbria	13.8
Derbyshire	14.8
Devon And Cornwall	4.7
Dorset	76.6
Durham	15.3
Essex	16.2
Gloucester	11.1
Greater Manchester	12.8
Hampshire	11.4
Hertfordshire	10.5
Humberside	9.8
Kent	18.5
Lancashire	5.0
Leicestershire	7.7
Lincolnshire	9.2
Merseyside	8.2
Metropolitan	85.2
Norfolk	1.6
North Yorkshire	17.9
Northamptonshire	17.1
Northumbria	13.9
Nottinghamshire	10.9
South Yorkshire	21.7
Staffordshire	10.7
Suffolk	8.8
Surrey	13.1
Sussex	17.5
Thames Valley	60.3
Warwickshire	7.2
West Mercia	9.3
West Midlands	21.2
West Yorkshire	12.3
Wiltshire	4.8

01/01/2023

Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 21679, when her Department’s investigations into applications for family reunion from Kuwaiti Bidoon people were initiated; when she expects those investigations to be concluded; whether there is a maximum length of time for which a decision will not be taken on the outstanding applications in that cohort; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

In 2014, UK Visas & Immigration in Jordan became aware of potential abuse of the Family Reunion route by individuals claiming to be the dependants of someone granted refugee status in the UK as a Kuwaiti Bidoon. Investigations commenced at this time.

UK Visas & Immigration has concluded the majority of the applications referenced in the response to Question 21679 and continues to work through those applications that have not yet been concluded.

UK Visas & Immigration aims to resolve all applications for UK entry clearance within published customer service standards. Where there is a problem with an individual application or if it is complex, UK Visas & Immigration write to the affected applicant to explain why the application will not be decided within the normal standard. All outstanding applications for UK entry clearance from family members of individuals granted refugee status as a Kuwaiti Bidoon which have not been concluded within published customer service standards are currently being prioritised.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he plans to meet his US counterparts to discuss the effect of the recent EU referendum on UK-US relations.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), met Secretary of State John Kerry in London on 27 June. Both Governments agree that an unbreakable bond exists between the US and the UK; that Britain’s global role remains undiminished, and that the Special Relationship remains a strong and crucial relationship.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on recent discussions on the peace process in Syria between Russia and the US.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), discusses Syria regularly with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Both the Foreign Secretary and US Secretary of State Kerry attended International Syria Support Group meetings on 20 and 23 September in New York. The Foreign Secretary and Secretary Kerry met again, along with their French, German, Italian and EEAS counterparts, to discuss Syria in Boston on 24 September. The conflict in Syria was discussed at the UN Security Council on 17, 21 and 25 September.

01/01/2023
Debbie Abrahams – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether there are differences in the (a) definition and (b) recording of secondary breast cancer in ICD-10 compared with the Cancer Registry.

Jane Ellison

The National Cancer Registration Services (NCRS) code their data using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 03 in which the data is mapped back to ICD-10 for analysis purposes. ICD-10 does not distinguish between a primary breast tumour or secondary breast tumour. They are coded the same. It is the additional data that the Registry collects across the patient pathway, such as those recurrence data items in the Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset that allows NCRS to detect whether a tumour is a primary or a secondary.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many immigration detainees were held in each prison establishment in each of the last 12 months.

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.

01/01/2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the change in the number of civil servants who have had their employment terminated due to absence related to their sickness record has been in each of the last five years.

Matthew Hancock

This information is not held centrally. Each employing department operates their own attendance management process and keep their own records.

The Civil Service strives to improve health and wellbeing at work for our staff and this remains a priority. We have reduced our level of sickness absence over the past five years and continue to actively manage our progress against benchmarking information. However if an employee does not meet the attendance level expected of them then we will take appropriate action, which in some cases might lead to dismissal.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the experience that Bain and Company has to assess evidence to support transformation and potential for replication in terms of health services in the NHS context.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) commissioned Bain and Company to support vanguards as an extension to work previously commissioned from the company as part of a programme called Future Focused Finance, an initiative sponsored by the Department of Health and arm’s length bodies. This earlier work for the HFMA had focused on the design of a value-based decision effectiveness tool, piloted in Mid-Cheshire and Liverpool. The HFMA, in partnership with NHS England, commissioned the extension to this work so that the tool could be used to support value-based decision-making in the 2016-17 New Care Models programme.

Alternatives were not sought from competitors because the vanguard support built on the original Bain and Company work for the HFMA.

The value of the vanguard support contract is £650,000. Value for money was obtained by negotiation, having been benchmarked with other commissions made by the National Health Service to external health consultancies.

As part of the contract, Bain and Company will be handing over its approach to NHS England, so that NHS England can support other areas in implementing new care models.

Bain and Company has not been commissioned to assess evidence to support transformation and potential for replication of new care models in other areas. The company is commissioned to develop and implement a framework that appropriately experienced NHS staff can use to assess such evidence. Intellectual property rights in respect of the framework in the future are assigned to HFMA under the terms of the contract. The NHS is entitled to use the framework free of charge in perpetuity.

Bain and Company is involved in the development of the tool used to make the assessment, and in the implementation of the process to use that tool. The company is specifically commissioned to help vanguard sites to use the tool and to summarise the resulting value propositions to facilitate decision-making by NHS England.

No conflict of interest arises as decisions concerning funding allocations for individual vanguards are made by NHS England’s Executive Team and Investment Committee and not Bain and Company.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 10 January 2016, Prime Minister pledges to transform sink estates, what progress has been made since that announcement on the estates regeneration programme.

Brandon Lewis

Work has progressed well since the announcement. The Advisory Panel, which the noble Lord, the rt. hon. Lord Heseltine and I jointly chair, has been set up and is already engaging with the key issues and will be undertaking a planned programme of site visits across the country. The Government has issued a Statement inviting expressions of interest from prospective estates; proposals are being received and considered by the Government’s advisory team.

01/01/2023
Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department plans to provide for humanitarian assistance in the Central African Republic in the 2016-17 financial year.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Central African Republic (CAR) has faced a severe and protracted crisis since 2012. 900,000 people (20% of the population) are still internally displaced or refugees in neighbouring countries. Needs remain high.

The UK has provided £58m since 2013 to give CAR populations and CAR refugees access to essential humanitarian assistance, including livelihoods support. DFID is currently undertaking aid reviews, which will set out business plans for Africa humanitarian support.

01/01/2023