Category: Speeches

Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of patients in the UK with undiagnosed heart valve disease in the last year for which data is available.

Jane Ellison

NHS England is working with professionals across the healthcare system to look at ways in which services and outcomes for patients with heart valve disease can be improved further, for example, by encouraging practitioners to follow clinical guidelines.

Service specifications and policy for the surgical and interventional treatment of heart valve disease are published by NHS England’s Cardiothoracic Clinical Reference Group. These define what NHS England expects to be in place in order for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England is working on the next iteration of the specifications, which will include important standards relating to mitral valve surgery.

In addition, NHS England is holding a clinical summit on 15 June 2016, which will bring together cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to examine the issues relating to heart valve disease, including variation. Outputs from discussions will be used to inform the future commissioning approach within specialised commissioning.

Information on the number of people with an undiagnosed heart valve condition is not collected centrally.

January 1, 2023
Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he provides to local councils to help them secure faster build-out rates from new developments.

Brandon Lewis

The National Planning Policy Framework clearly sets out that local authorities should work proactively with developers to secure developments that improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of their areas. We are taking forward measures to speed up the process of discharging planning conditions, which will help ensure work starts on site quickly once planning permission has been granted. In addition, in their statement on 11 May 2016, the House Builder’s Federation announced steps they would take to improve transparency about build out and help inform both plan making and planning decisions.

January 1, 2023
Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any ministerial extended offices have been set up since 13 July 2016.

Ben Gummer

No new Extended Ministerial Offices have been established since 13 July. We will report in due course in an appropriate Civil Service update on the experience of their operation to date.

January 1, 2023
Michael Dugher – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will provide a list of diplomats at Minister-Counsellor rank serving in the Qatar embassy to the United Kingdom (a) currently and (b) for each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

James Duddridge

Until 2014, the London Diplomatic List was published annually, listing diplomats of foreign and Commonwealth countries in London. The information in the the London Diplomatic List is supplied by diplomatic missions and is now available on-line at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-embassies-in-the-uk. FCO records show that two diplomats hold the rank of Minister-Counsellor at the Qatari Embassy in London and have done so since late 2013. According to our records and the LDL there were no Minister-Counsellors at the Qatari Embassy in London from 2010 to November 2013.

January 1, 2023
Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of farmers who received payments under the Environment Stewardship Scheme in October rather than August 2015 as a result of the withdrawal of online applications for such payments.

George Eustice

Environmental Stewardship (ES) claims are administered by Natural England. Historically, about 60% of advance payments have previously been paid in August.

All ES and Basic Payment Scheme claims have to be cross-checked before payment can be made in line with European regulatory requirements. This year, due mainly to the extension of the claims deadline, it was necessary to delay ES advance payments until they could be cross-checked. From 2018, new European rules will prevent any payments from being made before 16 October each year.

Natural England had paid 28,523 (60.24%) of advance payments by the end of October. Ninety-two percent of ES advance payments have now been made, and Natural England aims to pay the remainder of advance claims by the end of December.

January 1, 2023
Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Attorney General, how many defibrillators are provided in each building the Law Officers’ Departments manage.

Robert Buckland

Staff in the Government Legal Department (GLD) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate who are based at One Kemble Street, have access to two defibrillators which are held by the landlord in their reception areas. GLD client based staff have access to whatever provision is made by those who manage the buildings occupied by their host Department.

The Attorney General’s Office does not currently have access to a defibrillator in its 20 Victoria Street office.

The Serious Fraud Office has access to two automated external defibrillators at their offices in Cockspur Street.

The Crown Prosecution Service does not provide defibrillators in any of its buildings. However, some staff may have access to defibrillators provided by other tenants or the buildings managing agent in buildings that they occupy.

January 1, 2023
Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which electoral wards in England have exceeded a one in 200 saturation level for asylum placements; and by what percentage each such ward has exceeded that level.

James Brokenshire

As part of the regional dispersal policy for asylum seekers established in 2000, the advisory cluster limit of 1 asylum seeker for every 200 of the settled population, applies to local authority area level only. Data on the numbers of asylum seekers in local authority areas is published and can be found at (Asylum Vol 4. Table 16q). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015/asylum.

Data is not collated at ward or constituency level and to do so would incur disproportionate costs, it may also be precluded by the provisions of the Data Protection Act, given that individuals could reasonably be identified through the release of such data.

January 1, 2023
Scott Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Scott Mann on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects on rural communities of disbursements from the community transport minibus fund.

Mr Patrick McLoughlin

The Community Transport Minibus Fund will provide over 300 organisations with a new minibus so that they can continue to provide vital services to help elderly residents, people with learning and physical disabilities and those who do not have access to a commercial bus service.

Approximately one third of the organisations obtaining vehicles through the Fund are based in rural areas.

January 1, 2023

Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on priority categories in Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) processes applications in date order and is reliant on the police completing their checks in a timely manner. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.

The table below shows the average time spent by each police force in England to process disclosure applications between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.

Force Name	Average Days Taken By Force
Avon And Somerset	7.4
Bedfordshire	3.5
Cambridgeshire	10.9
Cheshire	10.7
City of London	9.0
Cleveland	8.6
Cumbria	13.8
Derbyshire	14.8
Devon And Cornwall	4.7
Dorset	76.6
Durham	15.3
Essex	16.2
Gloucester	11.1
Greater Manchester	12.8
Hampshire	11.4
Hertfordshire	10.5
Humberside	9.8
Kent	18.5
Lancashire	5.0
Leicestershire	7.7
Lincolnshire	9.2
Merseyside	8.2
Metropolitan	85.2
Norfolk	1.6
North Yorkshire	17.9
Northamptonshire	17.1
Northumbria	13.9
Nottinghamshire	10.9
South Yorkshire	21.7
Staffordshire	10.7
Suffolk	8.8
Surrey	13.1
Sussex	17.5
Thames Valley	60.3
Warwickshire	7.2
West Mercia	9.3
West Midlands	21.2
West Yorkshire	12.3
Wiltshire	4.8

January 1, 2023

Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many traffic police officers were employed in each police force area in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning

The number of full time equivalent police officers employed in traffic policing roles as at 31 March in each of the last 5 years is provided in the tables. Officers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function or role. Data for 31 March 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available) can also be found in the supplementary tables of the July 2015 police workforce statistics publication:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444537/police-workforce-supptabs-mar15.ods

Reclassification of roles within a force can lead to fluctuations in the number of officers in a particular role.

As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

January 1, 2023