The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-22.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax credit claims have been (a) identified as potentially fraudulent and (b) reviewed by Concentrix in each local authority area.
Mr David Gauke
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of immigration on the level of economic productivity over the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Greg Hands
As noted in the 2012 report by the Migration Advisory Committee the empirical literature suggests that the impact of migration on productivity may be mixed and heavily dependent on the type of migrant coming to the UK. Migrants may increase productivity either through a simple ‘batting average’ effect if they work in higher productivity roles relative to the average for non-migrants, or through increasing the productivity of UK workers through greater specialisation and knowledge transfer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost of providing NHS dental services was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Alistair Burt
Information is not collected centrally by the Department on the number of dentists taking on new patients.
The table below shows the expenditure on National Health Service dental services. The total expenditure figures have been broken down into primary care (delivered by high street dentists through General or Personal Dental Service contracts (GDS/PDS)) and other services (delivered in community and secondary care settings).
|
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
||
|
1 |
Primary Care (Net) Expenditure on GDS / PDS |
£2,075,965 |
£2,175,560 |
£2,190,685 |
£2,056,469 |
£2,030,294 |
|
2 |
Patient Charge Revenue |
-£617,014 |
-£637,121 |
-£653,006 |
-£683,583 |
-£716,014 |
|
3 |
Primary Care (Gross) Expenditure on GDS / PDS |
£2,692,979 |
£2,812,681 |
£2,843,691 |
£2,740,052 |
£2,746,308 |
|
4 |
Other (Community and Secondary Care) |
£826,857 |
£602,327 |
£740,640 |
£818,042 |
£851,687 |
|
5 |
Total Expenditure |
£3,519,836 |
£3,415,008 |
£3,584,331 |
£3,558,094 |
£3,597,995 |
Notes:
Total expenditure is the sum of rows 3 and 4.
Expenditure figures between years is not directly comparable owing to changes in commissioning arrangements from primary care trusts (PCTs) to NHS England from April 2013.
In addition, responsibility for public health and prevention programme moved from PCTs to local authorities.
Source: Rows 1, 2, 3 -Primary Care expenditure Departmental accounts; row 4 – Other Programme Budgeting NHS England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what data the Land Registry holds on the number of leasehold domestic properties in (a) the London Borough of Harrow and (b) England in each of the last 10 years.
Anna Soubry
The data requested is on the attached spreadsheet. Land Registry has also provided data relating to both the number of leasehold titles and the number of transactions affecting leasehold titles in Harrow and in England in each of the last 10 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that the review of fair funding for early years education includes steps to close the gender attainment gap at age five.
Caroline Dinenage
The Government published a consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula and changes to funding for the three- and four-year old free entitlements to childcare on Thursday 11 August. The consultation focuses on a creating a fair and transparent way of distributing Government funding to childcare providers. Our proposals set out the means by which every child in receipt of the free entitlement attracts funding to meet their individual needs, regardless of their gender. We rely on the early years profession to spend the money appropriately to meet those needs.
We are making a significant investment in early years education – the expenditure on the free entitlements alone will rise by 38% over this Parliament. Our investment supports the continued increase in the number of qualified staff and the number of providers rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. More than 80% of children are reaching the expected communication and language skills by age five, but we will continue working with the sector until every child gets the high quality education they deserve.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2016 to Question 44657, for what reasons the commencement of Section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 has not yet taken place.
Sir Oliver Heald
The Government remains committed to commencing section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. We are continuing to consider its implementation carefully whilst also considering our other justice priorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Chinese government on the reported disappearance of Gui Haiming and other employees of Sage Communications in Hong Kong.
Mr Hugo Swire
We are following this issue closely along with EU partners. The UK takes seriously any threats to press freedom. We monitor this constantly including through the Foreign Secretary’s Six-Monthly Reports to Parliament. We have welcomed previous statements that the Hong Kong SAR Government remains committed to protecting the freedom of the press. We hope they and the Chinese authorities will also continue to make every effort to ensure that the environment in which the media, and publishers operate in the Hong Kong SAR is conducive to full and frank reporting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the long-term viability of the care home sector; and if he will reassess the contribution that could be made to that viability of the care practitioner role.
Alistair Burt
Through November’s comprehensive Spending Review, the Government announced that it was giving local authorities access to £3.5 billion of new support for social care by 2019/20.
Councils will be able to introduce a new Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. This could raise nearly £2 billion a year for social care by 2019/20.
From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.
Taken together, the new precept and additional Better Care Fund contribution mean local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.
Under the Care Act (2014), local authorities have legal duties to shape a sustainable and diverse market of care providers capable of delivering a choice of quality services to their local population. These duties apply in respect of all care services, including care home services. The Government published statutory guidance to support local authorities discharge their market shaping duties effectively, which includes guidance around adult social care commissioning.
The care practitioner scheme was withdrawn by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, a non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Department of Health was not involved in the assessment of the contribution that the care practitioner role could make to the care home sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will issue a notice to improve to local authorities where Ofsted identify significant concerns over provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities in a local area.
Edward Timpson
The Department continues to monitor progress with implementation of the special educational needs duties set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures, data and analysis and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing, which parts are working well and less well and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people. The Department will consider the findings from the local area inspections as part of our approach to monitoring progress to assess where additional support and challenge may be required.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he or Ofcom have made an assessment or hold information on the proportion of BT’s ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works in the superfast broadband rollout.
Mr Edward Vaizey
BT and other suppliers with funding from BDUK are obliged to provide wholesale access to all new ducts and poles built using public subsidy, in line with the requirements of the BDUK European State aid approval.
Ofcom has not conducted an assessment of the proportion of ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works in the subsequent superfast broadband rollout. Ofcom does not hold any other information on the proportion of BT’s ducts that were able to have fibre blown through them without further civil works.