Category: Speeches

Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Britain’s exit from the EU on access to pensions for older British citizens who are resident in other EU countries.

Priti Patel

The Prime Minister believes Britain’s best future lies within a reformed European Union. He is focused on addressing the concerns of the British people and is confident that the right agreement can be reached.

January 1, 2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who receive a diagnosis of autism can access appropriate post-diagnostic interventions.

Alistair Burt

In 2015, new statutory guidance building on the 2010 Autism Strategy, and the 2014 Think Autism update, set out expectations for local authorities and the National Health Service in relation to autism training. It is the responsibility for the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to ensure newly qualified pharmacists and health visitors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. The Department has worked the Royal College of Nursing, and Skills for Health and Skills for Care, to develop autism training material. Health Education England is also working with the Royal Colleges and other stakeholders to increase awareness and knowledge of autism for NHS health professionals.

The Department has also provided financial support to the Royal College of General Practitioners’ clinical priorities programme on autism which is undertaking practical work on autism awareness and training for general practitioners (GPs). GPs should be aware of what the local arrangements are for making referrals for autism diagnosis and how to access appropriate post-diagnostic interventions.

NHS England has commenced a programme to visit clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to identify and share good practice in accessing timely autism diagnosis and post diagnostic support. NHS England with support from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services is to visit a selection of areas to talk to CCGs and local authorities about their Autism Diagnostic Care Pathways. A report on the work will be completed by the end of April 2016.

We know that people with autism can experience common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, as well as other mental illnesses. Over £400 million has been invested in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies to ensure access to talking therapies for those who need them, including those with autism.

January 1, 2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of preventing civil society organisations from submitting complaints about school admission arrangements on the transparency and accountability of the admissions system.

Nick Gibb

I refer my honourable friend to the answer to parliamentary question number HL5704.

January 1, 2023
Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which projects in Kosovo have received funds from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.

Mr David Lidington

There are 39 projects worth £4,236,948 in Kosovo, funded under the Western Balkans Programme of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) in Financial Year 2015-16. These projects are listed in the attached table. CSSF programme activity in Kosovo has focused on promoting political, economic and security sector reform – including in the areas of rule of law, reconciliation, addressing corruption and increasing cross-border cooperation with Serbia – in order to address the causes of instability and to help support Kosovo’s Euro-Atlantic accession path.

January 1, 2023
Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to establish an Infrastructure Police Force to replace the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police.

Mike Penning

The Strategic Defence and Security Review made a commitment to “integrate infrastructure policing further and to review the options to do this” and this review is underway.

January 1, 2023

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers for what reasons have taken long-term sick leave in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

Long-term sick leave is defined within the Civil service as periods of absence of more than 28 calendar days. The number of Band 3-5 prison officers to have taken at least one period of long-term sick leave in each of the last five years for which information is available is shown in the table below.

Table: Number of Band 3-5 Officers who had an incidence of sick leave of 28 or more days, by type of sickness, 2010/11 to 2014/15

Type of Sickness	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Blood and Blood-Forming Organs	~	~	~	10	10
Circulatory System	120	130	120	120	110
Digestive System	150	140	140	110	90
Ear and Mastoid Process	20	10	20	10	10
Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases	10	20	20	20	~
Eye and Adnexa	20	20	20	10	20
Genitourinary System	60	60	50	70	60
Infective and Parasitic Diseases	50	40	50	40	50
Injury and Poisoning	300	310	300	380	380
Mental and Behavioural Disorders	840	850	850	960	920
Musculoskeletal System	920	800	730	610	550
Neoplasms	40	40	40	40	40
Nervous System and Sense Organs	60	70	70	60	50
Pregnancy Complications	50	40	40	30	30
Respiratory System	50	50	60	40	40
Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue	20	20	30	20	10
Symptoms Ill-Defined	670	750	790	790	680
Not Recorded	80	80	90	80	160
Grand Total	3490	3430	3410	3390	3200

Where an officer has more than one period of long-term absence within a year for the same reason, they are counted once. Where multiple absences were for different reasons they are counted more than once.

All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

Totals are formed from unrounded parts prior to rounding. For this reason, rounded totals may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

January 1, 2023

Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the value for money provided by Motability to (a) disabled people and (b) the public purse.

Justin Tomlinson

Motability is an independent charitable organisation, wholly responsible for the Motability Scheme. More detailed information about the operation of the Scheme can be requested from the Director of Motability, Motability, Warwick House, Roydon Road, Harlow, Essex, CM19 5PX.

The Department does not provide any funding to Motability so the Scheme does not come at a direct cost to the taxpayer.

January 1, 2023
Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to provide additional funding to cultural and heritage projects previously funded by EU programmes when that EU funding ends.

Matt Hancock

The Chancellor has guaranteed structural and investment fund projects in the UK that are signed even after the Autumn Statement. In addition, projects where UK organisations bid directly and competitively for EU funding will be guaranteed by the UK Government if the bids are won before our departure from the EU, regardless of whether or not the projects continue after departure. Funding for other projects will be honoured by the government if they are good value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities.

Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. Over the coming months, we will consult closely with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.

January 1, 2023
Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of employees of mining companies that are registered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Chris Skidmore

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

January 1, 2023
Oliver Heald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Heald on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the quality and rigour of checks made by locum agencies of the character and credentials of staff to be provided to the NHS or social services; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

Providers of regulated health and social care services must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and comply with certain fundamental standards, including those relating to the employment of fit and proper persons.

In the National Health Service, employing organisations have the overarching responsibility for auditing and monitoring compliance of third party suppliers of temporary workers (including locum doctors) to ensure that they operate to the same level of standards in relation to undertaking pre-appointment checks as outlined by the NHS Employment Check Standards. Under the framework agreements, all external staffing providers (including contractors and agencies) are required to provide assurances that they have robust recruitment processes in place in line with the NHS Employment Check Standards.

Care workers also routinely use agencies to secure employment or apply to care homes and care providers directly. Employers in the care sector have a duty of care to patients and their families to take all appropriate action to ensure employees have the appropriate credentials to enable them to work in the sector. In cases of direct payment, where the council pays the care-recipient directly to employ a carer, this responsibility falls to the care recipient.

January 1, 2023