Category: Speeches

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

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-07-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the membership of those NHS provider boards that do not achieve financial balance by the end of 2016–17 will be replaced.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS Improvement continues to work with those providers who have not been able to agree control totals by the end of July. At present, 213 of 238 providers (89.5%) have an agreed a control total. Those providers who have been unable to agree a control total will not be able to access the sustainability and transformation fund.

    NHS Improvement is currently consulting on a new oversight regime, which details proposals on how providers will be monitored in future and this will set out how variance from financial plan or control total will be managed.

    NHS Improvement does not intend to replace the boards of those providers who do not achieve financial balance by the end of 2016/17. The organisation’s new oversight regime also sets out in detail how it proposes to monitor and support providers.

    The Government’s Mandate to the NHS 2016-17, a copy of which is attached, confirms that the National Health Service must ensure that it balances its budget, including commissioners and providers living within their budgets. To support this, £1.8 billion of NHS England’s budget for 2016-17 will be allocated through the Sustainability and Transformation Fund to support providers, in particular emergency services, payable through commissioning or as other support.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff of his Department are deployed outside the UK working on issues relating to Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is not possible to identify a precise figure for staff working on Yemen who are deployed outside of the UK, but the UK diplomatic network does regularly raise the situation in Yemen with their host government and other interlocutors, including the devastating humanitarian and economic situation. As the penholder in the UN Security Council on Yemen, the UK also plays an important role in rallying the international community behind the efforts of the UN Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in trying to reach a peaceful agreement between the Yemeni parties. Peace talks remain a top priority and we will continue to engage with key partners through our overseas network.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141, what steps he is taking to implement the commitment to double the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education by 2020.

    Joseph Johnson

    We have already taken significant steps. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers. Publicly funded institutions can now recruit as many students as they wish if they deem them to be suitable. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 set out steps the Government plan to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education. Further progress will come from the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people who entered the UK as unaccompanied immigrant children were deported last year having reached the age of 18.

    Lord Bates

    The records the Home Office holds relate to unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The most recent records the Home Office holds are to the end of September 2015.

    Period

    Number of Cases

    Enforced Removal

    Voluntary Removal

    Oct 2014 – Sep 2015

    241

    122

    119

    This data relates to individuals who were under 18 at the time of application and aged 18 or over on the day of removal.

  • Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the age at which the death of people with learning disabilities is classified as premature has been set at 60 in the draft NHS Outcomes Framework.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department worked with Public Health England (PHE) and the confidential inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities (CIPOLD) team at the Norah Fry Centre, University of Bristol to define the learning disability mortality indicator in the NHS Outcomes Framework. The placeholder indicator was set at age 60 based on the findings of the CIPOLD at the time which identified the mean age of death in people with learning disability as 60 years old.

    The Department, NHS England, PHE and the Norah Fry Centre are currently reviewing the definition of the indicator to establish if there is evidence to support it being redefined and to establish a robust and stable data source in order for the indicator to be reported and measured.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of how the Sellafield workforce reform initiative will ensure (a) safer, (b) quicker and (c) more efficient delivery of decommissioning at Sellafield.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a responsibility to UK tax payers to ensure that Sellafield Ltd has maximum opportunity for improved performance: accelerating hazard reduction and delivering value for money. A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place to help achieve that. The rationale for this model is set out in the Sellafield Model Change (SMC) Outline Business Case.

    Details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/.

    “

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s press release of 25 November 2015, entitled Department of Health’s settlement at the Spending Review 2015, how the figure of £2 billion of asset sales over five years was calculated; what the 25 potential asset sales with the highest prospective value are; what the value of projected asset sales scheduled to take place will be in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The £2 billion target was a Spending Review target agreed between the Department and HM Treasury. The target was derived from 2015-16 capital plans submitted to the Department from across the NHS Group, taking account of historic trends and additional future disposals needed to deliver the Department’s policy and finance objectives over the Spending Review period.

    Land and buildings are the highest value asset class in the National Health Service. The Department works with a wide range of NHS and foundation trust’s bodies in confidence to identify and help bring forward surplus property. Data on the values of surplus land and property, before it is sold, is commercially sensitive and is not appropriate for the public domain.

    The NHS continuously looks at ways of using its assets more efficiently, including disposing of what is surplus. It is not possible to provide a projected value of surplus assets at this stage while this work is ongoing but the Department is aiming to achieve circa £400 million per annum in sales from NHS and NHS Property Services’ assets over the Spending Review period.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that users of the rail network are aware of the compensation schemes available to them when their trains are delayed or cancelled.

    Claire Perry

    I welcome the publication of the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR’s) recommendations in March this year following Which?’s super-complaint into passenger compensation. It is vital that customers who suffer delays or cancellations understand their rights to compensation and have access to it in a timely way. Industry must now do much more to make the process quick and user-friendly. We are already working with the Association of Train Operating Companies and the ORR to bring about improvements, and my Department will respond to the ORR’s report in the summer of 2016.

  • 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 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy for enabling Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Kosovo to become members of as many European institutions as possible, with the minimum of delay and the maximum of co-operation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    I refer my noble Lord to my answer of 27 April (HL7662). The British Government supports the accession of Western Balkans countries to European institutions such as Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe and Europol, as a means to deliver our rule of law and governance objectives in the region, once relevant criteria are met. Any decision to enlarge the EU requires the unanimous agreement of the governments of all existing Member States and ratification in accordance with each country’s constitutional arrangements. In the case of the UK, under the EU Act 2011 ratification cannot take place without an Act of Parliament to approve the new accession. We can therefore ensure that our requirements are respected in any future EU enlargement.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-07-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the result of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, what plans they have to make up any shortfall in funding for scientific and medical research.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government intends to maintain and enhance the strength of our research and innovation base This is why we have protected the science resource budget in real terms from its 2015/16 level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament.

    While the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged, including those that apply to students, researchers, and businesses. We remain fully open to scientists and researchers from across the EU. We hugely value the contribution of EU and international staff and there are no immediate changes to their rights to live and work in the UK.