Category: Speeches

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what average proportion Care Quality Commission registration fees have changed in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC’s income is made up of both fees paid by providers and grant in aid from the Department. Government policy requires that the CQC must increase the fees it charges registered providers so that it can move towards fully recovering the chargeable costs of regulating health and adult social care in England.

    The CQC has set a two-year trajectory to reach full cost recovery for all sectors with the exception of the adult social care domiciliary care sector, which will be subject to a four year trajectory and dentists who are already at full cost recovery. The Government has made available £15 million extra funding for general practice (GP) from April 2016 to reflect a number of increasing cost pressures, of which increased CQC fees are a part.

    The CQC has provided the following information. The CQC has revised the fees that providers will have to pay from April 2016. The table shows how close each sector is to full cost recovery in 2016-17.

    Average fee increase by sector inspected by the CQC1

    Sector

    2012-13 to 2013-14

    2013-14 to 2014-15

    2014-15 to 2015-16

    2015-16 to 2016-17

    Percentage of CQC costs recovered through fees in 2016-17

    NHS Trusts

    0%

    3%

    9%

    75%

    67%

    Adult social care – residential

    0%

    0%

    9%

    12%

    96%

    Adult social care – community

    0%

    1%

    9%

    72%

    44%

    Independent healthcare – hospitals

    0%

    3%

    9%

    12%

    96%

    Independent healthcare – community

    0%

    12%

    0%

    5%

    98%

    Independent healthcare – single specialty

    0%

    3%

    9%

    0%

    96%

    Dentists

    6%

    9%

    0%

    0%

    100%

    National Health Service GPs

    n/a

    2%

    9%

    255%

    56%

    ¹To establish the average percentage increase the CQC has compared the fees in each fee band by category and then taken the average increase per category. In most cases the increase is consistent for each band within the category.

  • Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Steven Paterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the budget is of the Mk4A upgrade programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The UK currently fields the Trident Mk4 warhead as part of the Trident Strategic Weapons System. In order to ensure continuity of the Mk4-based capability, the Mk4A Arming, Fuzing and Firing system is a non-nuclear component being introduced into the UK Trident warhead to replace a similar component. The Mk4A programme will not increase the destructive power of the warhead.

    Approval to procure the new Arming, Firing and Fuzing mechanisms, to manage obsolescence in Mk4 and to adopt a Mk4A component was given in January 2006. I am withholding further details of the date of the Mk4A component’s entry into service, the cost of the Mk4A programme and the extension in operational life expected for the purposes of safeguarding national security.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32920, where the allegations of fraudulent benefit claims are collected.

    Caroline Nokes

    There are a variety of ways that allegations of Benefit Fraud are received by the DWP including telephone calls to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH), online and letter. Once an allegation has been received and, if it meets the required criteria containing enough information, a Fraud Referral Form (FRF) is completed which is then entered into the internal Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS).

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with EU Science Commissioner Carlos Moedas on potential discrimination against UK academics who bid for EU funding.

    Joseph Johnson

    I am in close contact with Commissioner Moedas, who has responsibility for EU science, research and innovation and we have both publicly emphasised the importance of continuing to work together to produce high quality research. In addition, the European Commission has made it clear that while the UK remains a member of the EU, proposals from, or including, UK applicants must be treated in the same way as applications from other Member States. The Department remains vigilant and open to evidence of problems in this area. Specific instances of these problems can be fed back to the email address research@beis.gov.uk.

    “

  • Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord German – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord German on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of the current range of vocational qualifications offered to those serving prison sentences in England and Wales.

    Lord Faulks

    The Secretary of State for Justice announced on 8th September a review of the quality of education in prisons, chaired by Dame Sally Coates. The review will examine the scope, quality and effectiveness of current provision. It will consider the scope and range of the current curricula and identify the most effective teaching and delivery models. Stakeholders are being consulted and a Call for Evidence has been issued. The review is expected to report in the spring of 2016. A copy of the terms of reference can be found at gov.uk

    The Welsh Government provides prison education funding to NOMS in Wales to commission services and these are aligned to the Welsh Government’s learning and skills outcome requirements. Vocational courses represent more than 80% of the prisoner education in prisons in Wales and take account of offender needs and labour market information to increase prisoners’ employment opportunities on release.

  • Baroness Royall of Blaisdon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Royall of Blaisdon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that since July Turkey has hit PKK targets in northern Iraq more frequently than ISIS targets; (2) that Turkish police have arrested more members of the Kurdish political opposition than suspected ISIS members within Turkey; and (3) that Turkey is shelling Kobane, despite it being under the control of Kurdish forces who are cooperating with the coalition against ISIS.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill Turkish police and security forces. The PKK must cease its violence and the peace process needs to be resumed. We support Turkey’s right to defend itself against all forms of terrorism.

    We welcome Turkey’s invaluable contribution to the international campaign against Daesh, particularly its agreement for the use of its airspace and airbases, as a member of the Global Coalition committed to defeating it. Turkey has been carrying out strikes against Daesh since July 2015, and have detained over 2,500 Daesh suspects since 2013, of whom one third are foreigners. Turkey recognises the role that Syrian Kurds have to play in the fight against Daesh, and accepts that Syrian Kurds receive Coalition support.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees what plans there are for the House of Lords to support Fairtrade Fortnight.

    Lord Laming

    Catering and Retail Services stock a range of Fairtrade products, including tea, coffee, cake, biscuits and bananas. That Department will be raising awareness of these lines during Fairtrade Fortnight and running related promotions.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the incidence of death during armed forces training.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 February 2016 to Question 24067 to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr Rosindell).

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which (a) GPs, (b) acute trusts and (c) mental health trusts failed to submit data to the Female Genital Mutilation Enhanced Dataset via the Health and Social Care Information Centre by (i) the 31 July submission deadline for Q2 2015, (ii) the 31 October deadline for Q3 2015 and (iii) the 31 January deadline for Q3 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    The data from the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Enhanced Dataset can be found at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/fgm

    It became mandatory for all acute trusts to collect and submit to the FGM Enhanced Dataset from 1 July 2015 and for all mental health trusts and general practitioner (GP) practices from 1 October 2015. Therefore GPs and mental health trusts were not under a requirement to submit information during the period for which information can be provided. The third quarterly data set has been published today.

    “

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2016 to Question 29811, on further education, if she will publish the minutes of each of those meetings.

    Nick Boles

    Minutes of the steering group meetings are not published as they are a series of internal discussions during which local stakeholders review post-16 provision in their area and work towards a set of recommendations. As such, each local steering group has space and autonomy to develop their proposals and discuss local issues effectively.

    The Department is committed to making the outcomes transparent, and once each review reaches its conclusions, there will be a summary report published at the end of each Area Review process.