The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have recovered their costs for (a) flood prevention measures and (b) sandbags under the Bellwin Scheme to date.
James Wharton
To date, 35 local authorities have registered an intention to claim under the activated Bellwin scheme but no final claims have yet been received.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Written Statement of 17 December 2015, HCWS 431, to which deployed coalitions the UK is party.
Michael Fallon
The personnel embedded in coalition Headquarters are supporting Operation Shader and wider Middle East security operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to (a) create a business-friendly environment and (b) expand their business rates base.
Mr Marcus Jones
The business rates retention scheme was introduced in 2013-14 to give councils greater autonomy over their finances and to incentivise them to grow their business rates base. According to local authority forecasts, 54% of authorities benefitted from growth above assumed levels in 2013-14, which has risen to 91% in 2016-17. By the end of the Parliament, local authorities will retain 100% of their business rates, further strengthening the incentive for growth. Councils will also have the power to cut the business rates multiplier to improve the business environment for enterprise and attract further businesses to their area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on Lyme disease laboratory tests in each of the last three years.
Jane Ellison
As services for the treatment of Lyme disease are commissioned locally information on the costs associated with laboratory testing and treatment of late stage Lyme disease is not collected centrally. Nor is information collected centrally on the average time to diagnose cases of Lyme disease.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a clinical guideline on Lyme disease and reports progress on its website. NICE recently consulted on a draft scope for the guideline, and expects to publish final guidance in July 2018.
Public Health England and NHS Choices publish information on their websites to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. Given the need to maintain public awareness these or similar mechanisms are expected to continue beyond 2018. Increased awareness is likely to encourage early consultation but no information on the time taken to seek medical advice is available.
There are no plans to set targets for diagnosis and treatment as most cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed empirically by general practitioners using their clinical judgement rather than relying on a laboratory test, thus treatment can start immediately. Diagnosis of patients with late or complicated Lyme disease can be difficult and the National Health Service will continue to provide care taking account of the existing evidence base.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM holds major summit as part of global drive to expose, punish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals requiring foreign companies that own property in the UK to declare their real owners.
Anna Soubry
At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK Government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult with experts to develop the policy throughout the year and consult formally on the detail of the policy in due course. Implementation of the new register requirements is expected to require both primary and secondary legislation, which we intend to introduce when Parliamentary time allows.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides for people on their options for accessing safe and reliable treatments which are not offered through the NHS.
George Freeman
The decision to be treated privately outside the National Health Service is one for individuals and their clinicians to make, in accordance with the relevant professional and regulatory requirements.
Guidance on NHS patients who wish to pay for additional private care was issued in 2009 and is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404423/patients-add-priv-care.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on armed forces and civilian staff of the planned sale of RAF Henlow.
Mark Lancaster
Military personnel currently based at RAF Henlow will be relocated with their unit, the details of this relocation will be made clear later this year.
Civilian staff will be expected to honour the mobility obligations if their post is being relocated. Where an individual’s post is being relocated outside the scope of their personal mobility obligation they will be managed in accordance with normal Departmental policy and processes.
Trade Unions have been consulted and detailed discussions regarding civilian staff will take place well in advance of any closure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of child abuse that have been reported to police (a) did and (b) did not lead to a prosecution in the last five years.
Mike Penning
The Home Office collects recorded crime information from the police, but it is not possible to tell the age of victim for all the offences that could constitute child abuse for all police forces. Therefore, the requested data cannot be provided.
For some offence categories, the offence states the age of the victim or it is clear that the victim is a child (for example, rape of a female child under 16; cruelty to children/young persons). Figures for these offences for the last five year are given in the Table.
The Home Office does not hold information on prosecutions; these figures are the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the changes in the rates of incidence of domestic violence and rape between 2005 and 2015.
Lord Bates
This government is committed to tackling violence against women and girls. We want victims to have the confidence to report these crimes, knowing they will get the support they need and that everything will be done to bring offenders to justice.
The 2014/15 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimates that 6.1% of adults aged 16 to 59 experienced any form of domestic abuse in the last year, down from 8.9% in the 2004/05 survey. While the latest estimate is not statistically significantly different from recent years, it is the lowest since these questions were first asked in 2004/05.
The 2014/15 CSEW also estimates that 0.3% of adults aged 16 to 59 had been a victim of rape (including attempts) in the last year. Due to the low number of respondents to the survey that have been a victim of this crime, it is not possible to say whether this estimate differs from surveys conducted in other years. However, prevalence of less serious sexual assault has fallen from 2.3% in the 2004/05 CSEW to 1.5% in the 2014/15 survey.
Data from the CSEW cannot be disaggregated by ethnicity, nor by the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the Kurdish Peshmerga have been trained by British servicemen since 2014.
Penny Mordaunt
Since Operation SHADER began in 2014, the UK – as part of the Coalition – has trained approximately 3,000 members of the Kurdish security forces. The majority of those trained have been Kurdish Peshmerga.