The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Chinese government on the human rights situation in Hong Kong and the alleged abduction of Lee Bo.
Mr Hugo Swire
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 4 February 2016 to question number 24423.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned budget changes to her Department’s Afghanistan Project on economic security in that country.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK remains committed to a long term partnership with Afghanistan, as I communicated to President Ghani when I visited in June 2015.
It is worth noting that Afghanistan has made significant progress over the last decade, and the UK will continue our support to protect these hard-won gains. For example, UK support has helped ensure that more than 60% of the population now live within 2 hours walking distance of public health facilities, compared to only 9% in 2002. We have committed to spend £178m million in bilateral aid per year until at least 2017, and future commitments will be determined as part of the Bilateral Aid Review, due to be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the (a) most recent environmental risk assessment for bound use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks, (b) exposure levels of dioxins and heavy metals in the air when the blocks were cut, drilled or crushed in buildings and (c) scientific methodology used for measuring these levels.
Rory Stewart
In 2012 the Environment Agency’s Definition of Waste panel gave a positive end of waste opinion to the company Carbon8 for the use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks. The company’s submission included their own risk assessment for safety and environmental impacts. We have not published, and do not intend to publish, information on the risks or the methodology relating to the binding of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will commission an independent review into the sentencing regime for imprisonment for public protection which will involve those criminal justice agencies that manage the sentence and incorporate the experiences of prisoners and their families.
Andrew Selous
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders 2012, abolished the sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) and introduced a new sentencing scheme for dangerous offenders.
In respect of IPP sentences already imposed, the government considered that it would not be right or appropriate retrospectively to alter sentences that had been lawfully imposed, particularly because in this case those sentences were imposed with public protection issues in mind.
Significant numbers of IPP prisoners continue to be released where the Parole Board is satisfied that they can be safely managed in the community, but other prisoners currently remain too high risk to be released. It is a priority for us to help remaining IPP prisoners progress towards release, by ensuring that their parole reviews take place on time, through greater efficiency in the parole process, and by giving their opportunity to complete relevant interventions and work in order to demonstrate reduced risk to the Parole Board.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve co-ordination of care for heart failure patients across primary and secondary care.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is working with key partners to ensure better co-ordination and integration of all services with the aim of delivering person-centred and coordinated care which is tailored to the needs and preferences of the individual, their carer and family.
Specifically on heart failure, NHS England is working with Health Education England to look at ways of improving the provision of and increase access to echocardiography, which is used for the diagnosis of heart failure.
NHS England has also established a best practice tariff for acute heart failure. This aims to encourage better practice in the caring for heart failure patients. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published quality standards for acute heart failure and chronic heart failure, which can be found at:
https://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/QS9
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs103
NHS England expects commissioners and providers to take account of quality standards in the services that are delivered to patients.
The use of natriuretic peptides in diagnosing heart failure is widely understood and pathology laboratories are used to measuring them. The NICE’s guidance on acute heart failure and chronic heart failure both cover the use of natriuretic peptides. This guidance can be found at:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg108
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg187
The NICE has also developed a commissioning toolkit for the use of natriuretic peptides assessment in primary care for suspected heart failure:
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of removing the protected status of seagulls in urban areas on local authorities’ ability to manage seagull populations more effectively.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
Defra has not undertaken such an assessment. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 already allows for the control of gulls, under licence from Natural England, in the interest of public health and safety or to prevent disease. Local authorities, businesses and individuals are also able to take action to manage urban gull populations e.g. using bins with secured lids, ensuring domestic animals are not fed outside and that streets are clear of litter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how and when the Community and Environment Fund and Business and Local Economy Fund allocated to the route of High Speed 2 Phase One will become available.
Andrew Jones
We anticipate the Community and Environment, and Business and Local Economy funds will be open for applications in early 2017 at which point guidance on the application process will be published.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) the amount of any underspend expected against departmental expenditure limits in the current fiscal year and (b) her Department’s latest forecast of total AME spend for this year are; and what the forecasts were for those two sums at the time of the Summer Budget 2015 and March Budget 2015.
Karen Bradley
(a) At the close of September 2015, we were not forecasting an underspend of Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL)
At the close of September 2015, we were not forecasting an underspend of Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL)
(b) At the close of September 2015, we were forecasting a total Annual Managed Expenditure (AME) spend for 2015-16 of £1,616 million.
At the time of the Summer Budget 2015 – when we had closed the accounts for June – we were forecasting:
• £9,805 million RDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £363 million CDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £1,618 million AME for the whole of 2015-16
At the time of the Spring Budget we were forecasting:
• £9,805 million RDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £363 million CDEL for the whole of 2015-16
• £1,616 million AME for the whole of 2015-16
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-01-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received representations from the Mayor of London on his concerns about the number of private hire vehicles being licensed each month in London.
Andrew Jones
We receive representations on a number of issues from the Mayor of London, and this has included the impact of the increasing number of private hire vehicles in London on congestion, air quality and parking issues on London’s road network.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many calls were made to (a) the Pay and Work Rights Helpline and (b) ACAS reporting non-payment of the National Minimum Wage by sector in each of the last five years.
Nick Boles
Final approved answer for 2016/02785
No assessment has been made on the impact of confidentiality agreements on the identification of National Minimum Wage (NMW) non-compliance.
Confidentiality is an important protection for workers who wish to make a NMW complaint. If any worker is concerned they have not received what they are entitled to they should contact the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 for free and confidential advice. HMRC follow up every complaint referred to them by Acas and compliance officers can investigate without knowledge of the complainant’s identity. In addition to complaint-led work HMRC investigate employers using third-party intelligence and risk-based targeted enforcement in sectors and areas where there is a higher risk of workers being paid below the NMW.
The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break NMW law. Between April 2015 and November 2015 HMRC took action against over 500 businesses, identifying over £8 million for 46,000 workers. This is already the largest amount of arrears identified in any single year since the introduction of the NMW.
Building on existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW including higher penalties, a dedicated HMRC team to tackle the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance and additional funding for HMRC from April 2016. We have also increased communications so that working people can access support to make complaints in confidence if needed
Table 1: NMW enquiries to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline by trade sector, 2009/10 to 2014/15.
|
Trade Sector |
2009/103 |
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
|
Activities of households as employers |
20 |
20 |
40 |
20 |
20 |
10 |
|
Admin/Office work |
2,530 |
4,410 |
3,910 |
2,950 |
3,310 |
2,390 |
|
Agriculture and related activities |
140 |
100 |
120 |
100 |
110 |
100 |
|
Cleaning services |
440 |
400 |
350 |
320 |
420 |
320 |
|
Construction and related trades |
1,350 |
1,290 |
1,050 |
760 |
1,010 |
810 |
|
Education and teaching |
270 |
370 |
350 |
300 |
540 |
450 |
|
Food processing and packaging |
90 |
40 |
50 |
20 |
30 |
30 |
|
Hairdressing |
1,670 |
1,520 |
1,360 |
930 |
1,040 |
730 |
|
Health, social work and child care |
1,590 |
1,750 |
1,590 |
1,430 |
2,090 |
1,930 |
|
Hospitality |
1,880 |
1,580 |
1,560 |
1,400 |
1,780 |
1,340 |
|
Information technology and communication |
150 |
170 |
180 |
120 |
240 |
150 |
|
Modelling, entertainment, recreation |
90 |
90 |
110 |
80 |
160 |
50 |
|
Other manufacturing |
240 |
200 |
150 |
140 |
140 |
120 |
|
Security services |
240 |
170 |
140 |
120 |
150 |
110 |
|
Shellfish gathering |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
|
Taxi/minicab services |
60 |
40 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
20 |
|
Textiles |
30 |
10 |
20 |
20 |
80 |
30 |
|
Training Provider |
– |
– |
– |
– |
70 |
70 |
|
Transport (other than Taxi/mini-cab) |
350 |
380 |
280 |
270 |
440 |
260 |
|
Warehousing, storage and distribution |
490 |
440 |
420 |
340 |
360 |
310 |
|
Wholesale and retail trade |
1,580 |
1,560 |
1,550 |
1,150 |
1,470 |
930 |
|
Other |
4,980 |
3,880 |
2,590 |
1,980 |
2,780 |
2,210 |
|
Not Known |
3,580 |
2,190 |
5,020 |
5,350 |
5,210 |
7,180 |
|
Total |
21,700 |
20,600 |
20,900 |
17,800 |
21,500 |
19,500 |
Source: Pay and Workers Rights Helpline and the Acas Helpline
Notes:
Since the 1st April 2015, the Acas Helpline has, in addition to its usual services, been answering queries previously handled by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.
Provisional in-year data for 2015/16 show there have been 9,800 queries relating to NMW legislation to the Acas Helpline and 3,700 queries relating to non-payment/deductions from NMW. Information on the number of NMW enquiries by trade sector is not collected on a comparable basis as Acas do not ask callers to disclose information about the sector worked in. Therefore, Acas only record this information when a caller chooses to provide it.
Table 1: The number of NMW related calls received by Acas, 2011/12 to 2015/16.
|
Query topic |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
2015/164 |
|
NMW |
4,400 |
3,800 |
3,800 |
4,400 |
9,800 |
|
Non-Payment/Deductions from NMW |
2,000 |
2,500 |
2,900 |
3,100 |
3,700 |
Source: Acas
Notes