Category: Speeches

Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidelines he has issued to local authorities to require them to record the proportion of their procurement spent on small and medium-sized businesses.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government is committed to ensuring there is a simple and consistent approach to procurement across the public sector so that small businesses can gain better and more access to public sector contracts – either directly or as sub-contractors.

The Government produced guidance as part of the reforms included in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 which aim to make public contracts more accessible to businesses and in particular to small and medium enterprises. The reforms included the abolition of pre-qualification questionnaire for low value tenders; simplification of the pre-qualification questionnaire for high value tenders; advertising all local authority contracts of £25,000 or over (or the authority’s standing order limit if higher) on Contracts Finder; and paying down the supplier chain in 30 days.

The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires all local authorities to publish details of contracts exceeding £5,000 including information on whether or not the supplier is a small or medium sized enterprise and/or a voluntary or community sector organisation.

However, the Department has made no assessment of the amount or proportion of local government procurement spend going to small and medium sized businesses.

01/01/2023
Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage investment in (a) sustainable aircraft fuels and (b) other renewable technology.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The UK wants to ensure that the aviation sector makes a significant and cost-effective contribution to reducing global emissions. The Government supports a range of measures to achieve this, including the use of sustainable alternative fuels, technological improvements to aircraft, operational improvements in air traffic management, and market-based measures.

Sustainable fuels have an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions from transport, particularly in sectors where there are limited alternatives for decarbonisation such as aviation.

We are assessing the benefits of making sustainable aviation fuels eligible for certificates under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). We aim to publish a consultation on legislative amendments to the RTFO later this year including proposals for aviation biofuels.

01/01/2023
Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the Government’s policy is on continuing to adhere to the terms of the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters after the UK has left the EU.

Mr David Jones

I refer the honorable Member to the answer given on 26 July to Question 43162.

Until we leave the EU, EU law continues to apply so the UK continues to comply with EU law that implements obligations in the Aarhus Convention. The UK remains a Party to the Aarhus Convention.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will commission research into the economic, social and environmental contribution of the organic farming sector in England to assist in informing policy and funding of this sector once the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice

As part of our commitment to evidence-based policy making, we regularly collect and analyse data on all farm types – including small farms and organic enterprises. We will continue to develop our evidence base to inform policy development, and are committed to working with the industry to ensure a vibrant and productive future for all agricultural sectors outside of the European Union.

01/01/2023

Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many new cases of psychosis were diagnosed in (a) the UK, (b) London, (c) each London borough and (d) each health trust in London in each year between 2010 and 2015.

Alistair Burt

Sadiq Khan (Tooting):

ALISTAIR BURT

Data on new cases of psychosis is not collected at United Kingdom level.

Data for England is provided in the table below:

England Level Data
Financial Year	The number of new cases of psychosis served by early intervention teams
2014-15	10,186
2013-14	10,475
2012-13	10,375
2011-12	10,099
2010-11	10,312

Data for new cases of psychosis in London is provided in the table below:

Financial Year	The number of new cases of psychosis served by early intervention teams
2014-15	1,993
2013-14	2,177
2012-13	2,198
2011-12	1,952
2010-11	2,051

Data on a London borough level is not available centrally.

Data for new cases of psychosis diagnosed in each London Trust are provided in the attached table.

01/01/2023

Lord Wills – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made in the Comprehensive Spending Review of the incidence of mesothelioma in the constituencies covered by the Northern Powerhouse.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Spending Review has not made assessments on the incidence, or expected incidence, of mesothelioma in constituencies covered by the Northern Powerhouse.

01/01/2023
Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the relationship between criminal offending and literacy levels.

Lord Bates

There is no single factor which explains crime. As the Home Secretary has said, the evidence suggests that there are six main drivers of crime: alcohol; drugs; the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System; opportunity; profit; and character. Character, or an individual’s propensity to commit crime, appears to be influenced by a range of social and environmental influences as they grow up. However, the Home Office has made no specific assessment of the relationship between crime and literacy levels.

The most recent crime statistics published by the Office for National Statistics showed that overall crime fell by 8% in the year to June 2015, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Crime has now fallen by more than a quarter since June 2010, with just over 2.9 million fewer crimes a year.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the implementation of universal credit on the level of rent arrears in council homes.

Justin Tomlinson

This information is not collected centrally.

Statistics are published annually on the total value of local authority social housing rent arrears, broken down by Local Authority area. They were most recently published on the Government’s website for 2014-15:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-data#2014-to-2015

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01/01/2023

Siobhain McDonagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Siobhain McDonagh on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average unit cost of a first outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointment was in 2014-15.

Alistair Burt

The information is shown in the following table.

Information on outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2014-15

Median waiting time in days for a first appointment¹	53 days
Number of appointments that were cancelled by the hospital	36,533
Number of appointments that were cancelled by the patient	33,448
Number of appointments that the patient did not attend	65,436
National average unit cost of a first appointment²	£118

Sources:

Hospital episode statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre

Reference costs, Department of Health

Notes:

¹Waiting time is defined as the time in days between the date the referral request was received and the date of the first appointment, whether it was attended or not.

²Defined as a consultant-led single-professional first appointment. Separate data are collected are collected on non-consultant-led, multi-professional, and follow-up appointments.

01/01/2023

Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects a decision to be announced on the contract for the supply of human papilloma virus vaccine.

Jane Ellison

The contract information for the supply for human papilloma virus vaccine to be used in the adolescent girls programme is expected to be placed into the public domain in Contracts Finder before the end of April 2016; the Contracts Finder can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

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01/01/2023