The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 16 November (HL3254), what is the UK share of the Common Agricultural Policy budget for 2015 in percentage and cash terms respectively.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In 2015, the UK was allocated 7% of the Common Agricultural Policy budget which is equivalent to €4 billion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Indian government on the recent attack on an Indian military facility at Pathawkof.
Mr Hugo Swire
Officials have been in regular contact with their Indian counterparts in London and in Delhi, including the National Security Adviser who spoke to the Indian National Security Adviser on 6th January. We have issued a statement offering condolences to the victims and their families and re-emphasising our commitment to work with India to counter terrorism.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to provide transitional protection for tax credit recipients who have been naturally migrated onto universal credit.
Priti Patel
Natural migration occurs where people have had a significant change of circumstances that would previously have triggered a new claim to benefits or tax credits. They would always have had their entitlement recalculated based on a new set of rules. That principle is maintained in Universal Credit, and therefore transitional protection is not appropriate. Universal Credit is already proving better than the system it replaces with claimants moving into work faster and earning more. It also provides a seamless taper as well as better support for childcare.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will support changing the Air Traffic Management in the Future Airspace Strategy to give residents a higher priority than commercial interests.
Mr Robert Goodwill
As part of the Government’s ongoing review of its airspace and noise policies, consideration is being given to ensuring that an appropriate balance exists between the beneficiaries of airspace changes and residents who may be affected by them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people started studying for a PGCE in each year since 2010.
Nick Gibb
Figures from the initial teacher training data management system show the number of first year PGCE trainees from 2010:
|
Number of first year trainees on PGCE course |
|
|
2010/11 |
19,931 |
|
2011/12 |
18,913 |
|
2012/13 |
20,195 |
|
2013/14 |
21,858 |
2014/15 performance profiles will be available from late July.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the efficiency of the pension schemes of abolished non-departmental public bodies in (a) identifying pensioners as they become eligible for payments and (b) ensuring that payments are processed and triggered for payment on the due date.
Justin Tomlinson
Departmental preparations for the reform of non-departmental public bodies take account of the Checklist for Departments published by the Cabinet Office, which includes advice on pensions.
In the past five years, the Department has reformed three bodies which employed staff.
In two cases, staff pensions were provided by the Civil Service Pension Scheme, which has established procedures in place for identifying pensioners as they become eligible, and ensuring that payments are processed on time:
The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission was abolished on 31 July 2012 and employed 7,652 full time equivalent staff, all of whom were civil servants;
The Independent Living Fund legally closed on 30 June 2015, however a small residual team of 15 staff was retained until 30 September to deal with any residual closure issues. It had previously employed 99.5 full time equivalent staff.
In April 2015, the Remploy business was sold to a new company outside Government control. The majority of its employees transferred to that company and left the Remploy Pension Scheme at the time. The pension scheme continues to be managed by its trustees and the scheme administrators, who remain responsible for identifying pensioners and ensuring they are paid appropriately once they become eligible. At 1 January 2016, the Remploy Pension Scheme had approximately 18,000 members, of whom over 9,500 were deferred members and thus potential future pensioners. From 1 April 2016, my Department is now the Principal Employer for this scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what process they plan to follow to identify eligible unaccompanied minors and bring them to the UK from refugee camps in Europe.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
As announced by the Prime Minister on 4 May and now reflected in the Immigration Act 2016, we will work to admit unaccompanied refugee children to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, where this is considered to be in the child’s best interests.
The legislation is clear that consultation with local authorities is needed before any figure is set. We are working closely with local authorities and consulting NGOs, the UNHCR, UNICEF and relevant Member States to establish suitable processes to im-plement this initiative.
We are committed to act as quickly as we can but we must take the necessary time to ensure we have the capacity to resettle and support those who are resettled.
We must also ensure that we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK. We will be working closely with local authorities to find suitable placements within the UK. Statutory agencies at a local level are best placed to understand and meet the needs of all children and will continue to make decisions about the right accommodation and support services for those who are looked after. Unaccompanied children will be eligible for foster care if it is considered that that this placement type will provide appropriate support and best meet their individual needs.
The UK has well-established and effective safeguarding procedures to ensure the safety of children who come to the UK. All children brought to the UK will be given the care, support and education they require.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Prime Minister, whether she has made any further machinery of government changes since her Written Ministerial Statement of 18 July 2016.
Mrs Theresa May
Machinery of Government changes are set out in Written Statements, and are available in the Official Report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve early diagnosis of childhood cancers; and if he will make available additional funding to improve such early diagnosis.
David Mowat
Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government, and was clearly highlighted in the report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes published last year by the Independent Cancer Taskforce. Earlier diagnosis makes it more likely that patients, including children with cancer, will receive effective treatments. We have committed to implementing all the recommendations of the Taskforce including that, by 2020, everyone referred with a suspicion of cancer will receive either a definitive diagnosis or the all-clear within four weeks (28 days).
NHS England has the funds necessary to improve cancer services over the next five years, including up to £300 million by 2020 to support earlier diagnosis of cancer and the £10 billion of real terms increase in National Health Service funding by 2020-21. The recommendations in the Taskforce report give direction as to where these funds should be targeted.
In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’ includes new recommendations for childhood cancers.
NICE also addressed generally, non-site specific symptoms of concern in children and young people, recommending that GPs should take into account the insight and knowledge of parents and carers when considering making a referral for suspected cancer. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the value of stationery that has been (a) lost and (b) stolen from his Department in each of the last five fiscal years; and what the cost was of replacing such stationery.
Jane Ellison
The Department does not hold details centrally of lost stationery items nor does it collect details of the cost to replace lost or stolen items.
The Department’s official Losses and Special Payments Register has confirmed that there have been no cases of ‘stolen’ stationery reported in the last five fiscal years.