The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to have targets for BAME representation in the Senior Civil Service.
Ben Gummer
The use of stretching goals for BAME representation as well as other protected characteristics are being considered as a way to support and facilitate the increase of senior representation of underrepresented groups within the Civil Service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what resources she has made available to ensure that Article 16 of the Tuberculosis (England) Order 2014 is enforced.
George Eustice
Article 16 of the Tuberculosis (England) Order 2014 concerns the requirement of herd owners to comply with cleansing and disinfection of premises following removal of TB reactors.
APHA inspectors carry out spot checks on a proportion of Bovine Tuberculosis breakdown farms every year to ensure compliance with these statutory cleansing and disinfection requirements.
APHA employs 208 vets and 137 animal health officers who may be involved in the administration and enforcement of these measures as part of their field duties
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marie Rimmer on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the building of homes for social rent.
Brandon Lewis
We have already allocated £1 billion towards our commitment to deliver 275,000 affordable homes by 2020. This will be the fastest rate of affordable housing building in the last 20 years.
Since April 2010 we have delivered over 260,000 affordable homes, with almost 60,000 delivered last year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis will be made available on the NHS to men who have sex with men.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is working with local authorities, clinicians, patient representatives and Public Health England to consider the clinical and cost effectiveness of providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to at-risk groups to prevent them acquiring HIV. The PrEP clinical policy proposition is one of many going through NHS England’s 2016/17 prioritisation round.
In July 2015 NHS England approved a significant new investment in a ‘Treatment as Prevention’ programme to help reduce transmissions from persons known to be HIV positive.
We have made no estimates of the number of people accessing PrEP through private provision.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Brady on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children obtained five or more good GCSEs including English and Mathematics in (a) selective, (b) partially selective and (c) comprehensive local authority areas in 2015; and what that proportion was by ethnic group in each of those categories.
Nick Gibb
The proportion of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at A*-C, including English and mathematics, by local authority and ethnic group was published in the GCSE and equivalent statistical first release for 2015.[1]
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time for an operation in (a) Pennine Acute NHS Trust and (b) Bolton NHS Trust was in the last year for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
Patients have a legal right, set out in the NHS Constitution, to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. The following table shows the average median waiting time in weeks for patients whose wait ended during the month with an inpatient or day case admission to Pennine Acute NHS Trust or Bolton NHS Trust. Only a proportion of inpatient or day case admissions would have resulted in an operation.
Table: average median waiting times1, 2 in weeks for patients whose wait ended during the month with an inpatient or day case admission3, 2015
|
Month |
Bolton NHS Trust |
Pennine Acute NHS Trust |
|
January 2015 |
8.2 |
10.8 |
|
February 2015 |
8.7 |
11.1 |
|
March 2015 |
7.6 |
9.8 |
|
April 2015 |
7.6 |
10.6 |
|
May 2015 |
7.9 |
10.6 |
|
June 2015 |
7.0 |
11.4 |
|
July 2015 |
6.6 |
11.1 |
|
August 2015 |
6.3 |
10.9 |
|
September 2015 |
6.9 |
10.9 |
|
October 2015 |
7.1 |
11.1 |
|
November 2015 |
7.0 |
10.6 |
|
December 2015 |
5.7 |
10.5 |
Source: Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times, NHS England
Notes:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-03-24.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to conduct an impact assessment on the local economy of Cumbernauld of the proposed closure of HM Revenue and Customs Cumbernauld office.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new Regional Centres in Scotland, in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 employees. HMRC’s new Regional Centres will give its staff all they need including a modern office environment, close to good travel and transport links. They will provide stable, high quality jobs and offer a wide range of opportunities for training and promotion and allow its staff to follow more varied career paths than have previously been possible.
HMRC will help all its staff work through their options. It will give everyone the opportunity to discuss their personal circumstances with their manager ahead of any office closures or moves, so they know about any issues that need to be taken into account when making decisions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much production work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by employees in the UK on UK defence contracts placed with US defence companies in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.
The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.
The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many representations he has made to his (a) Yemeni and (b) Saudi Arabian counterpart in each of the last twelve months on the conflict in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) is in regular contact with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Al Jubeir regarding the situation in Yemen. During his recent tour of the Gulf, the Foreign Secretary held constructive discussions with all six GCC countries, underlining the UK’s commitment to finding a peaceful resolution and working in partnership with key regional actors to achieve this. I also regularly engage with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and President Hadi to encourage commitment to the political process and the UK Special Envoy to Yemen, Sir Alan Duncan, visited the region in April and May to deliver messages to key Yemeni and regional interlocutors. Yemen remains a top priority for the UK Government and we are committed to working towards a durable peace.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to provide employment and social enterprise opportunities for (a) the homeless and (b) those at risk of homelessness in (i) the West Midlands and (ii) Birmingham, Northfield constituency.
Mr Marcus Jones
The government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness. We have increased central government funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the Spending Review period. We have also maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local government, totalling £315 million by 2019/20. One person without a home is one too many, and we are clear that more needs to be done to ensure that support is available for some of the most vulnerable in society.
We recognise that employment and social enterprise opportunities are key factors to help people avoid homelessness and secure a sustainable place to live and build personal resilience. That is why we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment. Young people are being supported by seven projects across the country including in Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull, Walsall and Wyre Forest and the majority of projects are funded by social investment. We will build our learning on this to our £10 million Social Impact Bond for people with complex and multiple needs. In addition we have funded a £40 million Platform for Life programme, providing affordable shared accommodation for homeless young people, so that they have a stable platform for work.
Moreover, we are actively working across government and through our local partners to help vulnerable people find a job and get into training. STRIVE, a joint pilot project with BEIS, DCLG and DWP, is helping homeless people into jobs by improving their basic English, maths and IT skills and is being delivered by Crisis and St Mungo’s. We are continuing to drive cross government action through the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness which is making sure that homelessness is an integral part of every department’s planning and that policies are joined up.