The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library the minutes of the meeting of the Council Tax Partnership Forum in June 2015.
Mr Marcus Jones
Forum members agreed to to cancel the June 2015 meeting, as there were no substantive agenda times. Therefore there are no minutes available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries local FM radio stations broadcasting BBC World Service programmes in-country have been closed down by the authorities in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that they experienced closures to their service in the following countries: 2006 – Tajikistan 2008 – Oman 2009 –Azerbaijan 2010 – Somalia 2010 – Sudan 2008 to 2011– Israel 2014 – Rwanda
The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-01-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 6 January (HL4779), what generally” means in that answer
Lord Prior of Brampton
The general position in England is that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) arrange health services for persons for whom they are responsible. Broadly speaking CCGs arrange secondary care, which would include abortion services.
A CCG could commission services, including abortion services, for persons ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland who are nevertheless registered (on a temporary or permanent basis) with a general practitioner who is a member of that CCG, if such services would improve the physical or mental health or treatment of illness of that person. This would be a matter for the CCG to decide however and they are free to exercise their discretion in that regard. There is no duty on a CCG to arrange health services for a person usually resident in NI (or Wales or Scotland) unless that person is present in the CCG’s area and needs ambulance services or accident and emergency services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the financial viability of education providers offering PGCE qualifications.
Nick Gibb
For all new School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) providers there is a rigorous accreditation process which includes a financial and governance review of the lead school encompassing financial accounts and forecasts and governance arrangements. If successful, the new SCITT is awarded accreditation by the Secretary of State. In Academic Year 2015/16 there were 41 new SCITT providers who commenced operations.
As part of the December annual school return process all Local Authority SCITT providers are required to produce an audited income/expenditure statement and balance sheet.
For Academy based SCITT providers, the Education Funding Agency obtain financial health information from the audited academy trust, financial statements by 31 December and their budget returns by 31 July each year. The financial statements include independent audit opinions and regularity reports, which provide assurance that the trust has used funds appropriately and report any instances of financial concerns. The financial information is assessed and where appropriate instances of trusts at potential risk are asked to prepare and submit a recovery plan.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) receiving PGCE bursary funding are regulated through HEFCE and therefore the responsibility of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. There is a Memorandum of Understanding in place with HEFCE so that if there any financial viability issues with HEIs, these are notified and considered by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to seek agreement on a comprehensive package of party funding reform, as outlined in the Cabinet Office single departmental plan: 2015 to 2020, and what cross-party discussions they are holding to that end.
Lord Bridges of Headley
We remain committed to seeking a comprehensive cross-party reform agreement. No cross-party discussions are currently taking place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2016 to Question 27517, how many foreign nationals living in the UK have been prosecuted for a fraudulent child benefit claim for a child living in the EU.
Justin Tomlinson
The Information requested is not available. As DWP does not administer child benefit, we do not legally have any powers to investigate alleged fraudulent claims.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what work his Department has completed with the charity Open Doors since 2010.
Mr David Lidington
Ministers and officials from the FCO’s Human Rights and Democracy Department and from a number of geographical departments regularly meet with representatives of Open Doors. FCO Ministers have also attended and spoken at the annual launch of the Open Doors Annual Report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the likelihood of the yellow fever outbreak in Angola spreading beyond Africa; and what support the Government is providing to tackle that outbreak.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Government recognises the Yellow Fever outbreak in Angola as being of serious concern, with risks of international spread through non-immunised travellers. Government departments are collaborating to monitor the situation closely, including within affected and at-risk countries where the UK has a presence. We are also working with the World Health Organisation, Gavi (the vaccine alliance) and other international partners to support their work to control the outbreak, including through large-scale vaccination campaigns. The UK has financed one quarter of the Yellow Fever vaccine doses provided to the global stockpile in 2016. More than 10.5million people in Angola and nearly 2million people in DRC have already been vaccinated in response to the outbreak.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve ambulance response times.
Mr Philip Dunne
NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Review is working to reform and improve the provision of urgent and emergency care in England. As part of the review, NHS England is considering how to improve responses to 999 calls and patient outcomes under the Ambulance Response Programme. We expect the programme will report its findings in autumn 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the merits of increasing the capacity of the Moyle electricity interconnector between Northern Ireland and Scotland to improve electricity interconnection within the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Jesse Norman
The Government supports the development of new interconnection where it delivers benefits to the consumer, and our approach is designed to deliver those benefits in the most efficient way. We have a developer-led approach to interconnection where the market identifies the best projects and applies to Ofgem to assess their merits. In the 2016 Budget the Government said that it supports the increase of interconnection capacity to at least 9GW; if a developer was to propose additional capacity between Northern Ireland and the GB market, Ofgem would assess it on its merits.