Category: Speeches

  • Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17889, whether all current junior doctors will receive an 11 per cent pay rise after (a) basic pay and (b) all other rates of pay have been taken into consideration under the proposed new contract.

    Ben Gummer

    Under the terms of the November 2015 offer, the current system where junior doctors are paid broad banding supplements to cover extra hours worked, unsocial hours and on call would be replaced by a contract paying doctors for all hours worked with premium rates for unsocial hours and supplements for on call. As part of this, basic pay would increase by 11%. With the addition of transition protection, the offer is an improvement on the pay structure developed whilst the hon. Gentleman was a Minister.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) he, (b) the Minister for Public Health and (c) his special advisers had with representatives of the People Against Sugar Tax campaign in the last six months.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of all Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the GOV.UK website. The latest publication which covers meetings between July and September 2015 is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2015

    Information for October to December 2015 will be published at the end of March.

    “

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 14463, what the timetable for the equality impact assessment referred to will be.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government and NHS Employers have made clear that an Equality Impact Assessment will be published alongside the new national contract, 90% of which was agreed with the British Medical Association in talks up to 10 February 2016.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he used any international systems to inform the formulation of his proposals to introduce a lifetime ISA.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is always mindful of international comparisons when developing tax policy. In the case of the Lifetime ISA, the Government will explore with the industry whether there should be the flexibility to borrow funds from the Lifetime ISA without incurring a charge if the borrowed funds are fully repaid; for example, some US retirement plans allow 50% to be borrowed up to a maximum of $50,000.

    Further details about how the Lifetime ISA will work will be announced when the government brings forward legislation to enact the Lifetime ISA in the autumn.

  • Gerald Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gerald Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Jones on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on the UK’s digital industries.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The UK is home to a thriving digital sector, worth £118.3 billion and equivalent to 7.3% of UK GVA. 43% of the UK tech sector’s total exports go to the EU.

    Digital Single Market reforms could be worth £330 billion a year to the EU economy. This is a clear example of how the single market benefits the UK digital industries.

    The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has carried out a rural proofing assessment of the likely effects of measures contained in the Bus Services Bill.

    Andrew Jones

    The general and specific impacts of the Bill’s provisions are included in a number of Impact Assessments, which will be published shortly. The impact assessments include a ‘rural proofing assessment’.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to comply with the European Court of Justice judgment of 2015 on VAT on green products such as solar panels.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK has applied a five per cent reduced rate of VAT to installations of 11 different types of energy saving materials since 2001. That reduced rate remains in place and is unchanged.

    Following the judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the government published a consultation on this particularly complex issue. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation.

  • Paul Beresford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Beresford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Beresford on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent on external consultants at (a) Epsom Hospital, (b) East Surrey Hospital and (c) The Royal Surrey County Hospital respectively over the last five years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The requested information is not held centrally.

    The available information is provided in the table below.

    The Department holds expenditure data for National Health Service trusts as part of the year end accounts consolidation process. The data is held for the trust which a hospital belongs to rather than for individual hospitals.

    External Consultant Spend by Trust (2011/12-2015/16)

    Financial Year

    Epsom and St Helier University (£000)

    Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (£000)

    Royal Surrey County NHS Foundation Trust (£000)

    2011/12

    2,836

    881

    2,067

    2012/13

    1,525

    1,036

    1,216

    2013/14

    1,289

    509

    2,288

    2014/15

    1,215

    502

    3,165

    2015/16

    1,784

    56

    2,537

    Source: Department of Health Accounts and NHS Improvement

    Notes:

    1. This information is based on the Cabinet Office definition of “Consultancy Services” (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405538/6.1_Cons_definitions.pdf):

    “Assistance provided by consultancy services provided outside the ’business-as-usual’ environment when in-house skills are not available and will be of no essential consequence and time-limited. Consultancy may include the identification of options with recommendations, or assistance with (but not delivery of) the implementation of solutions.”

    This is not the same as spend on external medical consultants; which would have to be obtained from trusts/foundation trusts directly.

    2. This guidance is issued to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts as part of the Department’s Group Accounting Manual, and can be seen on pages 160/161 of that document.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has in place to ensure that researchers assessing the expected severity level of animal experiments when applying for project licences do so objectively and thoroughly.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office has published detailed guidance (see: Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), which describes how severity categories are to be defined. Each protocol set out in a project licence application is assigned a severity category, which is assessed in by the applicant usually in collaboration with the establishment’s Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer, the Named Veterinary Surgeon and the Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body. It is then submitted to the Home Office for assessment by the Home Office Inspectorate who will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State. In addition, where special species or projects with major animal welfare or ethical implications or any applications raising novel or contentious issues, the application will be provided to the Animals in Science Committee (ASC) for advice to the Secretary of State. Under section 5 of the Act, the Secretary of State considers advice from Inspectors and from the ASC, and classifies the likely severity of each of the regulated procedures specified in the licence.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 1.125 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what estimate he has made of the number of single claimants under 35 without dependent children living in social housing who are receiving more than the local housing allowance in housing benefit in (a) total and (b) each local authority.

    Justin Tomlinson

    We estimate that there are approximately 80,000 single claimants under 35 without dependent children living in the social sector who currently receive more than the relevant local housing allowance rate. However, not all claimants in this category will be affected by the announced policy as it will only apply from April 2018, where a new tenancy is taken out or a tenancy is renewed after April 2016.

    Tenants who take on a new tenancy or renew a tenancy will have the opportunity to consider whether they can afford to take on the property before committing to it. As such it is not possible to accurately estimate the proportion of single people without children that will be affected by this policy in 2018.

    As the overall estimate is based on survey data, it is not possible to provide an estimate by Local Authority due to sample size issues.