Category: Speeches

Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the recital in paragraph one of section C of the revised version of the draft EU decision on a new settlement for the UK, what assessment he has made of whether the objectives of political integration enjoys wide support in the union.

Mr David Lidington

There is clearly support in some governments within the European Union for further political integration, but there are other, more sceptical voices, too. The recital in paragraph one of section C makes clear that “the United Kingdom, in the light of the specific situation it has under the Treaties, is not committed to further political integration into the European Union”.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with Ministers of the devolved administrations on proposals to end the statutory supervision of midwives.

Ben Gummer

Ministers in the devolved administrations have been briefed by their Chief Nursing Officers who have been closely involved in the discussions on the changes to statutory supervision of midwives.

The Department will soon be launching a full public consultation on a Section 60 Order (of the Health Act 1999) on midwifery regulation which includes a proposal to remove statutory midwifery supervision from the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s governing legislation.

01/01/2023
Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what records are kept by commanding officers when dealing with offences that are reported to them and dealt with summarily.

Mark Lancaster

A Commanding Officer dealing with a Summary Hearing must complete a Record of Summary Hearing (RSH). This can be found at Annex C to Vol 1 Ch.9 JSP 830 (Manual of Service Law) which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478387/20151113-Chapter9-SHSSSD-AL38.pdf

The information that must be recorded includes the following:

– Details of the accused

– The charges and whether they are admitted or denied

– The outcome of the Summary Hearing and where relevant the sentence awarded

– Any order made (for example detention, order to pay)

– Reasons for sentence (including mitigating and aggravating factors and the effect of the punishment)

– The date of hearing and who it was heard by

The paperwork connected with the Summary Hearing should be processed within 24 hours following the hearing. The RSH should be retained under single-Service arrangements for a minimum period of two years and recordable offences will be recorded on the Police National Computer.

01/01/2023

Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with officials of his Department in which withdrawal of the valuation check service by HM Revenue and Customs was discussed since May 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

Tax-advantaged employee share schemes are greatly valued by both companies and employers, and the government wants to make sure that the rules surrounding these schemes are as simple and clear as possible. Budget 2016 made a number of changes to the rules for employment-related securities and options which will make these schemes fairer and easier for taxpayers to understand, and therefore encourage businesses to use them.

An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned report conducted by Oxera considered the effect of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes on productivity. The report is available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203095056/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/tax-advantaged-report2.pdf.

The government’s most recent assessment of the cost of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes to the Exchequer is provided in the table below.

	Forecast cost of Income Tax relief (2015-16)	Forecast cost of National Insurance relief (2015-16)
Share Incentive Plan	£220 million	£165 million
Save As You Earn	£180 million	£140 million
Enterprise Management Incentives	£70 million	£40 million
Company Share Option Plan	£70 million	£40 million

HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation checking service for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes. However, HMRC has withdrawn other checks for non-tax advantaged schemes as, in the majority of cases, acceptable valuations were submitted. Therefore, the valuation service added no value and is seen as unnecessary.

The government keeps all areas of the tax system under review and as part of that in always interested in understanding the views of all interested parties.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

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01/01/2023

Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many apheresis machines are operational in the UK; and where those machines are located.

George Freeman

Apheresis machines are part of the care provided in a number of haematology services including sickle cell and thalassaemia care.

NHS Blood and Transplant is one of the main providers of Therapeutic Apheresis Services in England and has the largest installed base of therapeutic apheresis equipment in the National Health Service (32 machine platforms across the country). Additional provision of apheresis services are provided by NHS trusts and other UK Blood Services but NHS England does not currently hold information on this information centrally.

Work in relation to these services including the incentivisation of automated exchange through Commissioning for Quality and Innovation will improve the baseline information over the coming year.

01/01/2023

Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children aged 11 to 16 are educated at (a) selective state-maintained schools, (b) non-selective state-maintained comprehensive and academy schools, (c) independent fee-paying schools and (d) other educational settings in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Wales and (v) Northern Ireland.

Nick Gibb

The number and proportion of pupils aged 11-16 in selective state-funded schools, non-selective state-funded secondary schools, independent schools and other settings in England are given in the table below. The Department does not hold this information for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, and therefore cannot provide these figures or a UK figure.

Type of Establishment	Number of pupils aged 11-16 (1)	Proportion of Total
State-funded selective schools	117,310	3.9%
State-funded non-selective secondary schools	2,569,444	86.2%
Independent Schools (2)	226,878	7.6%
All other educational settings (3)	66,498	2.2%

(1) Includes sole and dual main registered pupils, as at January 2016.

(2) Not all independent schools charge all pupils fees, but it is not possible to group only the fee-paying independent schools together here.

(3) Includes state-funded primary schools, state-funded special schools, non-maintained special schools, general hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision academies and free schools.

01/01/2023

Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 9 January 2015 to Question 219449, what progress has been made in improving wheelchair services following the NHS England review.

Alistair Burt

Following the conclusion of its review NHS England has set up an improvement support programme working with 11 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to improve services for wheelchair users. The 11 CCGs are:

– North Yorkshire (NHS Harrogate and Rural District;

– NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby;

– NHS Scarborough and Ryedale;

– NHS Vale of York CCG;

– North West London (NHS West London);

– NHS Hounslow;

– NHS Ealing;

– NHS Central London;

– NHS Hammersmith and Fulham;

– NHS Barnet; and

– NHS Brent.

NHS Improving Quality is supporting the programme which will run from September 2015 to March 2016 and include creating guidance, evidence and material to share with other organisations and communities.

NHS England has also introduced a new national wheelchair dataset with the aim of providing information centrally on the volume, expenditure, access to, and patient experience about wheelchair services to enable transparency and benchmarking. From July 2015, data are being collected quarterly from CCGs.

01/01/2023
David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much money will be devolved to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to coincide with the transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities from NHS England to CCGs in April 2016; and what NHS England spent on such services in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

George Freeman

Any transfer of budget from NHS England to devolved areas will be on the basis of existing contractual activity.

For England, the expenditure against morbid obesity for adults totalled £50.36 million in 2014/15.

NHS England is not able to provide a figure for devolvement on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being discussed.

01/01/2023
Angela Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Crawley on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has to seek legislative consent from the Scottish Parliament for the proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Dominic Raab

This Government was elected with a clear mandate to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights. We will bring forward proposals for consultation in due course, and will fully engage with the Devolved Administrations.

It would be premature to comment on the application of the Sewell Convention until the package of legislation is settled.

01/01/2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recourse is available to patients who believe they have undergone poor or harmful NHS psychotherapy treatment.

Alistair Burt

Complaints about poor or harmful National Health Service psychotherapy treatment are handled through the NHS complaints process. Details are available at the following link:

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/complaints/Pages/NHScomplaints.aspx

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01/01/2023