Category: Speeches

Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the implications are of the findings of the report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, entitled DFID’s efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, published on 17 May 2016, for her Department’s work on strengthening women’s rights organisations and networks in the developing world.

Justine Greening

I welcome ICAI’s recent review, which awarded my Department their highest rating, a green review score, for our work on tackling violence against women and girls. The review highlights the important contribution UK Aid makes to the lives of women and girls around the world and recognises the significant achievements of DFID to date on this vtial issue. My Department will provide a formal response to the ICAI findings in due course.

01/01/2023

Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding (1) the National Youth Theatre, (2) the National Youth Orchestra, (3) the National Youth Dance Company, and (4) the Youth Music Theatre UK, receive from (a) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and (b) the Department for Education.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

Government funding between 2014/15 and 2015/16 to the National Youth Theatre Great Britain, the National Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Dance Company, and the Youth Music Theatre UK is set out in the table. Youth Music Theatre UK and the National Youth Orchestra receive funding as National Youth Music Organisations, which is jointly funded through the Department for Education and Arts Council England lottery money.

These figures include total funding provided through Grant in Aid and Lottery funding.

	DFE	DCMS
Organisation	Grant in Aid 2014/15 – 2015/16	Grant in Aid 2014/15 – 2015/16	Lottery Funding 2014/15 – 2015/16	Grants for the Arts 2014/15 – 2015/16*
National Youth Theatre of Great Britain	£611,538
National Youth Orchestra**	£500,000		£44,441
Sadler’s Wells Trust Ltd. (National Youth Dance Company specific)***	£650,000	£200,000
Youth Music Theatre UK**	£300,000			£37,250

* Grants for the arts is the Arts Council’s Lottery-funded grant programme for individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work. Grants are available for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work

**National Youth Music Organisation funding

*** The funding is paid to Sadler’s Wells as the grant recipient for use specifically for National Youth Dance Company activities

01/01/2023

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were absent from school due to having a mental health condition in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson

The Department does not hold information on absence due to a mental health condition.

01/01/2023
Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they encourage local authorities and other interested organisations to share best practice regarding the introduction and operation of shared space for vehicles and pedestrians.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

To help identify and disseminate good practice in implementing shared space, the Department for Transport is working with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, who are preparing updated guidance. This work aims to use the practical experience gained from recent shared space schemes to provide good practice advice to local authorities and other interested organisations. To help inform this work, as the Minister responsible for this issue, my Hon Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, the Hon Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Andrew Jones, has written to all local authorities asking them to provide information on relevant schemes to the Department by the end of November.

01/01/2023
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they currently monitor soil quality in the UK, including soil organic matter content, soil loss and the extent and severity of soil compaction; and if so, what data are available.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The 2007 Countryside Survey measured changes in soil organic matter content of soils in Great Britain. It also measured bulk density and a number of other physical and chemical characteristics of soil. A new baseline survey for soil carbon was carried out in 2009 as part of the EU Land Cover and Land Use Statistics (LUCAS) exercise. The 2015 LUCAS soil samples are currently being analysed.

Defra does not routinely monitor national rates of soil loss (erosion), but we are funding research to pilot a national soil erosion monitoring framework for monitoring soil erosion in England and Wales.

Defra also funded a survey of soil compaction levels in grasslands in England and Wales in 2011.

No formal assessment has been made of the sufficiency of the baseline data from which to measure changes in soil quality.

The Government recognises that soil is essential for underpinning a range of benefits, including food production, but also biodiversity, carbon storage and flood protection.

While the future direction of soils policy will be considered as part of the development of the 25 year plans for Food and Farming, and Environment, government is already taking action to improve soil quality.

This includes new rules underpinning cross compliance which anyone claiming Common Agricultural Policy payments must comply with. The rules require a minimum level of soil cover, prevention of erosion and measures to protect the organic matter levels of soil. The new rules take an outcome based approach, instead of the previous paper-based system, thereby focussing on environmental improvements while reducing burdens for farmers. The Government will continue to monitor the implementation of the new rules.

No single body or institution has responsibility for measuring and analysing soils in the UK. Soil testing is carried out by a mix of commercial laboratories and Public Analyst labs. Typically laboratories are accredited and adhere to British Standards on testing procedures. However, there are no regulations governing soil testing procedures themselves.

There are existing soil maps for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which use different soil classifications. There are currently no plans to produce a new UK soil map, and we have not explored options for private sector investment.

01/01/2023

Glyn Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Glyn Davies on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were admitted to hospital for catheter-associated urinary tract infections in each of the last five years; and what the cost was of treating those people.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not hold information on the number of people admitted to hospital for a catheter-associated urinary tract infection, urinary tract infection or urinary incontinence.

The following table shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

YEAR	FAEs
2010-11	215
2011-12	294
2012-13	447
2013-14	641
2014-15	942

The following table shows a count of FAEs in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of urinary incontinence in England.

Year	FAEs
2010-11	27,797
2011-12	26,751
2012-13	24,938
2013-14	23,498
2014-15	20,969

The following table shows a count of FAEs in the last five years with a primary diagnosis of urinary tract infection in England

YEAR	FAEs
2010-11	168,581
2011-12	174,818
2012-13	184,924
2013-14	187,594
2014-15	195,282

Source: Hospital episode statistics (HES), Health and social care information centre

Notes:

A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

The primary diagnosis provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.

The costs to the National Health Service of treating people with urinary tract infections and urinary incontinence is not available centrally.

Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs of providing defined services to patients. Reference costs for acute care are published by Healthcare Resource Group (HRG), which are standard groupings of similar treatments that use similar resources. For example, costs relating to kidney or urinary tract interventions are assigned to the same HRGs.

Table: Estimated total costs of kidney or urinary tract interventions and urinary incontinence or other urinary problems reported by NHS trusts and foundation trusts, 2010-11 to 2014-15 (£ millions)

	Kidney or urinary tract interventions	Urinary incontinence or other urinary problems
2010-11	370.5	28.2
2011-12	398.9	28.1
2012-13	432.4	27.8
2013-14	464.8	28.3
2014-15	506.5	27.6

Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

01/01/2023

Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will place in the Library copies of the impact assessments produced related to the moratorium on gas fired power stations between 1998 and 2000.

Andrea Leadsom

It has not been possible to find copies of any impact assessments related to the moratorium of gas-fired power generation which was introduced by the Government of the time (with a Department of Trade and Industry lead) to allow an analysis of whether the UK energy market was skewed against coal-fired electricity generation.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the number of doctors under training per year is capped.

Ben Gummer

The Government makes a significant investment in educating and training doctors. Health Education England has oversight in determining overall medical place numbers as we only fund places for the numbers of doctors we will need to work in the National Health Service in the future.

01/01/2023
Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

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

To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his Oral Statement of 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 26, on the Panama Papers, from which departmental budgets the Government plans to draw the resources to support the new cross-agency taskforce to analyse the information that has been made available in those papers.

Mr David Cameron

This is new money provided by the Treasury. It will be spent on bringing together some of the most sophisticated technology, experts and resources to tackle money laundering, tax evasion and wider forms of financial crime anywhere in the world.

01/01/2023
Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-05-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the mental and other health services that will be needed to assist the unaccompanied children who will be brought to the UK from refugee camps (1) in Europe, and (2) outside Europe.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The United Kingdom has been operating resettlement schemes for many years and we already have established and effective networks to accommodate and support resettled people. The increase in numbers will require an expansion of current networks and the impact on local communities and infrastructure will need to be managed carefully. That is why we are working with a wide range of partners to ensure that people are integrated sensitively into local communities and that we have the right support in place for unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK from Europe whilst ensuring we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.

The guidance, Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, sets out the health duties for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England. The guidance sets out that local authorities and the National Health Service should take account any particular needs of the child, including if they are unaccompanied asylum seekers. This guidance is attached.

Whilst there are a range of health care professionals, for example youth workers and teachers, who deliver interventions and support for children and young people with mental health conditions, clinical need should be determined by a specialist initial assessment in line with guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Local areas have published Local Transformation Plans that set out how mental health services will be delivered for their population. As part of their plans, local areas were asked to set out how they planned to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children (UASC).

NHS England ensures that all commissioners of health services have appropriate arrangements and resources in place to meet the physical, emotional and mental health needs of looked-after children, including UASC. They will work with local commissioners to raise awareness of the Resettlement Programme and highlight the additional numbers of children who will require their attention and support.

Decisions about the resources needed to meet the mental health and other health needs of all children and young people, including UASC, are taken at a local level by CCGs. This may include decisions to recruit additional staff where necessary.

01/01/2023