The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many legally trained staff are contracted to his Department for the purposes of their legal expertise; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Robin Walker
The Department for Exiting the European Union has a dedicated legal team that is provided by the Government Legal Department. That team includes 28 qualified lawyers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that residents in council areas with low levels of business rates are protected from the effects of the change to funding council tax benefit by retained business rates in 2020.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
By the end of this Parliament, when local government will keep 100% of the £26 billion of business rates they raise locally, our ambition is that local councils will meet their spending needs, including local council tax support, from local taxation and other locally raised income. At the point that we introduce 100% business rates retention, there will continue to be a measure of redistribution to ensure that no authority loses out just because it starts from a relatively weaker position.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jolly on 2016-01-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many nationals of (1) Bahrain, (2) Kuwait, (3) Oman, (4) Qatar, (5) Saudi Arabia, and (6) the United Arab Emirates, received training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in each year between 2005 and 2016.
Earl Howe
Defence has a long and proud tradition of training overseas military and civilian personnel at its training establishments throughout the UK and this is an essential ingredient of Defence Engagement. Training establishments such as Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) offer international students prestigious courses which remain highly prized. Courses currently undertaken by foreign nationals are the Commissioning Course, the Army Reserve Commissioning Course, the Professionally Qualified Officer Course and the International Trainer Development Course.
These courses expose international partners to UK policy, and promote concepts of accountability, human rights and transparency. They are important in building skills which enable other countries to deal appropriately with their own internal problems, thereby contributing to regional security. The courses are paid for by a combination of self and UK funding. Information on the number of foreign nations in receipt of training at RMAS is provided in the attached table.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what contingency plans the Government has in place to ensure security of energy supply in the event of the proposed Hinkley nuclear power station not being completed.
Andrea Leadsom
We remain confident that Hinkley Point C will go ahead on schedule. Security of supply is ensured through the Capacity Market, in which National Grid recommends a volume of capacity to secure ahead of each four year- and one year-ahead auction. The process in determining the amount of capacity to secure, uses a thorough plant level assessment of what capacity the UK is likely to be able to rely on from other plants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Leeds on 2016-02-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the financial costs to other EU member states of the social security benefits received by UK nationals resident in those member states.
Lord Freud
We do not hold this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for reconsideration or appeal of a sanction decision were submitted in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Priti Patel
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-04-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department has allocated to charities which support women affected by endometriosis in each of the last three years.
Jane Ellison
Endometriosis can be asymptomatic; however, some studies have shown that the length of time from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of endometriosis can be up to eight years in the United Kingdom.
Due to the fact that endometriosis can be asymptomatic it is not possible to estimate the precise prevalence of the condition. The number of people who are affected by endometriosis but have not been diagnosed with the condition is therefore unknown.
However, estimates of the prevalence of the condition range from 2% to 10% of women of reproductive age, to 50% of infertile women. Endometriosis UK estimates that around 1.5 million to 2 million women in the UK have the condition.
The number of people who have been diagnosed with endometriosis is not collected centrally. However the table below shows a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of endometriosis, for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15. However, the data only includes the diagnosis of endometriosis where there was a hospital admission. There may be further cases of the condition that were diagnosed and treated in another healthcare setting. These data should not be described as counts of people as the same person may have been admitted to hospital on more than one occasion within any given time period.
Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of endometriosis, 2010-11 to 2014-15
|
Year |
FAEs |
|
2010-11 |
34,963 |
|
2011-12 |
37,370 |
|
2012-13 |
37,742 |
|
2013-14 |
40,218 |
|
2014-15 |
42,977 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre
The Department’s Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Grant for Endometriosis UK was awarded in the 2014/15 funding round. The project title to which the grant was allocated to was ‘Endometriosis Patient Support Groups aligned to Specialised Endometriosis Centres’. The funding granted per the award letter (2015-16 and 2016-17 funding was indicative at the time of the grant) was:
2014-15 £63,686
2015-16 £59,718
2016-17 £65,403
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Leader of the House, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.
Chris Grayling
I have not visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to hold urgent discussions with her French counterparts on border controls at Dover and other British ports.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Home Secretary met with her French counterpart, Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, on Tuesday 30 August.
The two nations committed to a number of specific steps, including:
Further securing the ports and tunnel in the region – Britain has already provided around £85 million to reinforce security;
Addressing humanitarian challenges in Calais, where around 7,000 migrants are now gathered – including 5,000 without housing;
Continuing to work together to return illegal migrants in Calais who are not in need of protection;
Bringing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK when in their best interest.
A joint statement from both governments after talks reaffirmed the commitment to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border, and to preserve the vital economic link supported by the juxtaposed controls in Calais.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 19 October (HL2257), how much has been spent by departments other than the Department for Transport.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
There has been no further expenditure made by any other ministerial department into the Competition and Markets Authority inquiry regarding the overlap between Arriva buses and Arriva Trains.
As an independent non-ministerial department, the CMA is responsible for merger inquiries. In this role, it has spent approximately £480k (including staff time, legal fees and consulting fees) investigating the acquisition of the Northern rail franchise by Arriva Rail North Ltd. It is not possible to establish what proportion of this figure was spent on the assessment of the overlap between Arriva Buses and Arriva Trains.