The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-11-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK citizens there were over the age of 75 in each of the years between 1999 and 2015.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) men and (b) women will not qualify for a pension under the new state pension rules.
Justin Tomlinson
Men or women who reach State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 will be eligible to receive the new State Pension and will do so as long as they have at least 10 qualifying years. Estimates of the number of pensioners in Great Britain who do not have 10 qualifying years will shortly be published in ‘Impact of New State Pension (nSP) on an Individual’s Pension Entitlement – Longer Term Effects of nSP’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department and the Rural Payments Agency will issue partial payments to farmers that have not been paid by early February 2016.
George Eustice
In the past part payments has led to years of confusion for farmers and additional costs in processing and disallowance for the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The RPA, therefore, will not be making partial payments but is instead focusing on paying all farmers as promptly as possible.
As of 25 January the RPA had paid around 61,100 farmers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence Review 2015, when he expects to announce further details of the Government’s proposed armed forces families strategy.
Mark Lancaster
The UK Armed Forces Families’ Strategy 2016-2020 was published on 14 January 2016 and is available at the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-armed-forces-families-strategy
The Strategy will be supported by an action plan which we plan to publish in spring 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-03-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the impact on economic and financial stability of increasing private sector debt as a percentage of GDP and aggregate personal income, and (2) the level at which those ratios would be judged to be too high.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government does not have an explicit target for the level of private sector debt. However, we established the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC), within the Bank of England, which is empowered to identify, assess, monitor and take action in relation to risks across the UK financial system. This includes risks from private sector debt. The FPC actively monitors developments in the aggregate level of credit extended to UK households and private non-financial corporations, and has the macroprudential policy tools required to address any risk it identifies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools were delayed in opening in each year since 2010.
Edward Timpson
Since the free schools programme began, 81 free school projects have had their opening date deferred. In each case there was a need to balance the risk of opening on the planned date against all the elements that must be in place to ensure that a free school is successful when it opens. Our guidance makes clear that allowing a free school project to enter the “pre-opening” phase does not guarantee that the school will open on the date originally planned by the proposer group, or open at all.
Free schools offer excellent value for money. The National Audit Office found in 2013 that free schools were built 45% more cheaply than other school building programmes. The free schools that are already open will provide over 150,000 new places.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will review the (a) commissioning framework and (b) tariff payment for bereavement care for families who have suffered a stillbirth or neonatal death.
Ben Gummer
A report in 2015 on Term, singleton, normally-formed, antepartum stillbirth from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK found that 60% of parents currently receive a good standard of bereavement care but this is not the case for everyone and we are continuing to consider the actions that should be taken to improve bereavement care across England.
NHS England has established a Maternity Transformation Programme Board, this will bring key partners together to oversee the implementation of a broad range of policies to deliver significant improvements to maternity care in England, including implementation of the recommendations of Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England (2016). The Transformation Programme includes work on supporting local transformation of maternity services, promoting best practice for safer care, increasing choice and reforming the payment system.
In Delivering the Forward View: NHS planning guidance 2016/17-2020/21 localities have been asked to produce “Sustainability and Transformation Plans” to show how local services should transform and ensure they are sustainable over the next five years. As part of this, local health economies have been asked to plan how they will transform their maternity services in line with the vision outlined in Better Births, Improving outcomes of maternity services in England. NHS England will be reviewing how well commissioners are planning for delivery of this vision in signing-off plans; and how well those plans are being put into action and on an ongoing basis through its Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Assessment Framework, and annual Ofsted-style rating of each CCG on its commissioning of maternity services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation of the Civil Aviation Authority that night flights at Heathrow Airport be banned between 11.00pm and 6.00am on the two runways at that airport.
Mr John Hayes
We are aware of no such recommendation from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of proposed increases to electricity network costs on manufacturers.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Government published in November 2014, an estimate of the projected electricity networks costs for households and small, medium and large businesses users, in Annex D of the ‘Estimated impacts of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills’. These estimates reflect the eight year price control settlements that run from 2013 to 2021 (electricity transmission) and 2015 to 2023 (electricity distribution), as approved by the regulator, Ofgem.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rooker on 2015-11-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the Teratology Society recommendation regarding mandating folic acid fortification in Europe.
Lord Prior of Brampton
We have not formally reviewed the 2015 Obeid paper but officials are aware of its conclusions which are in line with information already considered by Ministers.
The recommendation in the Teratology Society in essence repeats current advice on folic acid supplements. There are no plans to review this advice.