Category: Speeches

  • Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he provides to local councils to help them secure faster build-out rates from new developments.

    Brandon Lewis

    The National Planning Policy Framework clearly sets out that local authorities should work proactively with developers to secure developments that improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of their areas. We are taking forward measures to speed up the process of discharging planning conditions, which will help ensure work starts on site quickly once planning permission has been granted. In addition, in their statement on 11 May 2016, the House Builder’s Federation announced steps they would take to improve transparency about build out and help inform both plan making and planning decisions.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what advice his Department has issued on whether there are maximum or minimum permitted size of the population to be served by (a) district councils, (b) unitary councils and (c) combined authorities in England.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Where an area has plans for its governance arrangements to be changed and proposes this to the Secretary of State, it must provide evidence as to how its proposals are likely to result in the provision of better local public services, significant cost savings, greater value for money, stronger and more accountable local leadership, and sustainability in the medium to long term. It is of course open to any body or person to make representations to the Secretary of State either in support of or in opposition to such proposals.

    As we have made clear during discussions with areas, whilst size is an important consideration for areas considering governance changes, there are no maximum or minimum permitted sizes.

    The level of council tax of any new authority is a matter for the local councils concerned. The government will however maintain council tax referendum thresholds at a modest level in order to help keep bills down for hardworking people. This is always the case including in cases of governance change.

  • Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost to (1) small businesses, and (2) personal taxpayers, of HMRC’s delays in answering telephone enquiries in terms of lost productivity.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs has not made such an assessment.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent on the provision of eye clinic care liaison officers in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    In England, eye clinics and their staffing, including Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLO), are commissioned and funded by individual clinical commissioning groups on the basis of local assessments of need.

    The Department does not collect data on the number of eye clinic liaison officers employed in hospitals or how much has been spent on funding ECLOs.

    The Government fully appreciates the impact that sight loss can have on a person’s life and the importance of information being available for those newly diagnosed with sight loss, including signposting patients to appropriate support and rehabilitation services.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans for pharmacists who support general practitioners and Accident and Emergency departments to be trained as healthcare professionals, rather than solely as scientists.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    It is the responsibility of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC) to set the standards and outcomes for the education and training of pharmacists and to approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified pharmacists are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality care.

    New roles for pharmacists are being pursued as part of the NHS Five Year Forward View, most notably the employment of clinical pharmacists in general practitioner practices.

    In partnership with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, NHS England has launched a pilot programme to support general practices to recruit and employ clinical pharmacists. This is supported by Health Education England (HEE) through the delivery of a comprehensive education and training programme. This is a new role unlike acute hospital pharmacists or community pharmacists. They will consult with patients, be able to prescribe, where necessary, in particular for those with long term conditions and multiple medication, developing individual pharmaceutical care plans.

    HEEare considering the potential development of an enhanced programme of clinical training for pharmacists in accident and emergency following research undertaken in 2015 in partnership with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, GPC and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

    While there are a range of (often) locally-isolated examples of good practice in the Emergency Department (ED) workforce, there exists little published evidence to support the role of pharmacists in the ED or, specifically, to support pharmacists in undertaking “hands-on” clinical work in the ED. As a result, HEE commenced nation leading project development and research, in partnership with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, GPC and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, with the following aims:

    – To test and justify development of clinical pharmacist roles within the ED; and

    – To provide an evidence base for further project work and national scaling.

  • Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on UK pensioners living in another EU member state of a British withdrawal from the EU.

    Justin Tomlinson

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016 to Question UIN 21952.

    “

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many patrols of UK waters have been conducted by Border Force Cutters in each year since 2010.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force does not record individual vessel patrols as a measure of productivity, as this does not represent the full activity of a Border Force vessel. The Border Force vessels operate 365 days per year and in accordance with the vessel capability in force at the time. Deployments include:

    – being at sea;

    – being at 30 minutes notice for sea;.

    – law enforcement work whilst in port, e.g. rummage of moored vessels; road deployments to remote wharfs and marinas

    It is not in the public interest for Border Force to disclose vessel working patterns further, as this is likely to compromise border security.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass asylum accommodation contract with Serco for the region of Scotland and Northern Ireland, how many faults were reported or identified from Compass inspections for each contractual pay period in the years 2014-15 and 2015-16; and how many such were not resolved within the agreed contractual timescales.

    James Brokenshire

    Providers are contractually required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation to comply with the Housing Act 2004 and the Decent Homes Standard. Providers are monitored closely to ensure accommodation meets these standards and the contracts include measures to ensure any issues are quickly addressed. These performance standards are defined in the contract and are managed using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including those which measure whether an individual property is compliant with contractual obligations following an inspection and also the number of service users effected if a fault is not repaired within the contract timescales.

    The Home Office does not centrally record the number of individual faults reported or identified during accommodation inspections, or the number of individual faults not resolved within the agreed timescales. The requested information could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that block contracts are being phased out for mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England and NHS Improvement are introducing changes to the National Tariff that will rule out unaccountable block contracts for adult mental health services that provide poor value for money and do not support the adoption of new models of care. NHS England and NHS Improvement have developed two possible payment models that could be adopted locally – one based on care clusters on an episodic or year of care basis, and the other a capitation-based model.

    Whichever payment model is adopted for use locally, there should be a strong element that links payment to outcomes, particularly the recommendations arising from the report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has received representations from Amnesty International on photographs alleged to show UK-produced cluster munitions dropped in Yemen.

    Michael Fallon

    Amnesty International wrote to the Prime Minister on the 23 May, and to the Department on 3 June, on the alleged use of UK-produced BL-755 cluster munitions by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.