The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she intends to answer the letter dated 18 January 2016 from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs M. Duran.
Nick Gibb
My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, replied to the Rt Hon Member on 1 February 2016. I have arranged for a copy of the letter to be re-sent to his office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions have been secured under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act since its introduction in 2004.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The number of offenders found guilty at all courts of offences under the Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004, in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2014 (the latest available) can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.gla.gov.uk/our-impact/conviction-totals/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to continue payment of benefits through the Post Office Card Account for the next five years.
Priti Patel
Post Office Card Accounts provide a useful service to many people and there are no plans to change provision.
The Department recognises, however, that working age claimants may also be receiving wages. As the account does not receive wages or allow for direct debit or standing order facilities, Post Office Card Accounts are not suitable for all of their needs. Those claimants are therefore being encouraged to open main stream bank accounts including credit union accounts.
The Post Office Card Account contract was awarded from 01 December 2014 and expires on 30 November 2021 and there are no plans to amend that term.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-06-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether companies employed to remove crashed vehicles have a legal obligation to collect detached parts of the vehicles from hedgerows, ditches and property around crash sites.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The company employed by Highways England in respect of vehicle recoveries does not have a legal obligation to remove debris from, or around, the strategic road network.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits derived for people with dementia from recent increased expenditure on dementia research.
Nicola Blackwood
Government funding for dementia research doubled over the last Parliament to around £60 million each year, and will be maintained at this level to total over £300 million in the period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. Much of this investment is in research aiming to achieve a better understanding of dementia to inform development of future treatments and ways to prevent the onset of the condition. Significant research is looking at how to improve symptom management, care and services for people with dementia, ways of maintaining independent living in early-stage dementia, and improving quality of life for people with dementia and their carers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14770, when she plans to publish the contribution the UK will make to the World Food Programme for 2016.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK is currently the second largest donor to the WFP, after the United States. For 2015, the UK has so far provided a total of £270.6million in funding to WFP. UK contributions are made up of unearmarked core funding (£40m in total for the financial year 2015/16) and bilateral funding allocated by DFID country offices (which represents the biggest proportion of UK funding).
DFID will be in a position to announce the UK core contribution to WFP for the financial year 2016 / 2017 once the Multilateral Aid Review 2015 (MAR 2015) is published in March 2016. UK core contribution will be informed by the results of the MAR assessment of WFP and the review of WFP performance and effectiveness in using the core funding provided by UK.
Bilateral funding is decided by DFID at country level and is based on needs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Written Statement of 10 December 2015, HCWS377, on universal credit and local authorities, how he will define reasonable efforts to redeploy staff.
Priti Patel
We will work with Local Authorities to manage the impact of these changes in a way which minimises the need for any redundancies. Where this does not prove possible, after the exercise of all reasonable efforts to redeploy people, the Department has given Local Authorities a commitment that we will meet their costs of any residual redundancies. Reasonable efforts will vary according to the circumstance of the Local Authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 9 February 2015 to Question 222936, when he plans to announce which of the 5,000 ships under consideration will be designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
Mark Lancaster
The consultation process as to which ships under consideration will be designated under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 is at its later stages, and an announcement will be made in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress Operational Delivery Networks have made in establishing services for prisoners diagnosed with hepatitis C.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England, Public Heath England, the National Offender Management Service and other organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners have developed resources to support prison healthcare teams in delivering a blood-borne virus (BBV) opt-out testing programme. This covers all aspects of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) and other BBVs including testing, managing positive and negative test results, providing advice on harm minimisation and supporting prisoners into treatment.
Specialised HCV Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) ensure specialist oversight of HCV services in order maximise uptake and completion of HCV treatment. NHS England has linked every prison to the relevant ODN and a service specification for ODNs directs specialist service providers to accept patients from prisons.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department offers e-cigarettes on prescription or at a reduced price to people living in deprived areas.
Jane Ellison
Prescriptions for e-cigarettes will be charged like any other medication and normal exemption arrangements will apply including for those on low incomes.
In August 2015 Public Health England published a report that outlined evidence that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking. Data from local stop smoking services shows that 2/3 of smokers are successful in their quit attempts when combining e-cigarettes with behavioural support. Data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggests in 2015 there were 2.6 million e-cigarette users of which nearly 2 out of 5 no longer smoked tobacco products. This data is available at ASH ‘Use of electronic cigarettes (vapourisers) among adults in Great Britain’, 2015.
http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_891.pdf
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