Category: Speeches

  • Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Whitaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Whitaker on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider the work undertaken by Thames Valley Police in their newly published review of good practice in policing local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to be innovative; and what plans they have to encourage other police forces to undertake a similar approach to policy and practice in their areas.

    Lord Bates

    Equality and diversity are important – people across all communities want the police to fight crime while having confidence that their needs will be understood and respected.

    The Government are pleased that Thames Valley Police have undertaken this piece of work which was co-authored by one of the Executive Directors of the national Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Police Association.

    The Government established the College of Police as the professional body for policing to set standards, establish an evidence base for policing and disseminate what works.

    It remains a matter for forces how they deal with issues to do with Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities. However, we would expect the College of Policing to make an assessment of effective policing practice and share effective and innovative practice where they find it.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children under the age of 16 were treated in adult psychiatric wards in (a) England, (b) London, (c) each London borough and (d) each London health trust in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    Whilst we do not have figures for how many young people were treated in adult mental health wards, the data below shows the number under the age of 16 who were admitted to adult mental health wards. These figures may therefore include children who have been admitted when their parents are treated, e.g. a mother for a perinatal mental health condition.

    Provider code

    Description

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    England

    97

    47

    23

    43

    75

    London

    5

    10

    *

    *

    *

    RRP

    Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

    *

    10

    *

    *

    *

    TAF

    Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RV3

    Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RWK

    East London NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RAT

    North East London NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RPG

    Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RV5

    South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RQY

    South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RNK

    Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    RKL

    West London Mental Health NHS Trust

    *

    *

    *

    *

    *

    At subnational level, data is always rounded to the nearest five out of respect for the privacy of the individuals concerned. For the same reason, we do not release exact figures where these are less than five.

    This means that since 2012/13 there have never been five or more young people under 16 admitted to adult mental health wards in London in any given year. This reflects the fact that following increased government investment there are now more inpatient beds (‘Tier 4’) in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services than ever before.

    These figures are published in the annual Mental Health Bulletin, which can be found at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/mhldsreports

    “

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of recent public concerns, they will ask NHS England to review the number and distribution of specialised secure facilities for adolescents with autism to ensure a better balance between total and geographical clinical demand and supply.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England requires that regular Care and Treatment Reviews are undertaken for children and young people with learning disabilities with challenging behaviour in inpatient settings commissioned by NHS England or clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

    These Care and Treatment Reviews also help to inform the appropriate provision of treatment and care settings. CCGs are currently also developing learning disability transformation plans to ensure the appropriate balance of capacity between in-patient settings and community settings. The plans are due for submission in April 2016.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many workers his Department estimates will be financially worse off as a result of the recent increase in the minimum wage.

    Damian Hinds

    The introduction of the National Living Wage on April 1st marked a pay rise for low paid workers across the UK. Our objective is for it to reach over £9 by 2020. This means an employee aged 25 or over working full-time on the National Minimum Wage will earn over £4,200 a year more by 2020 in cash terms, or £3,800 after taking into account inflation. 2.9m low wage workers are expected to benefit directly, and up to 6m could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution.

    The independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that the NLW would have, in their words, only a “fractional” effect on unemployment. And taking into account the NLW, the OBR forecast that employment would rise by 1.1 million by 2020.

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19060, if she will estimate how much quicker a Disclosure and Barring Service check will be as a result of the Transformation Programme.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is undertaking an IT-led transformation programme (Release 1) to reform the way it delivers its services. More information on R1, including its aims and costs can be found in DBS’ most recently published Annual Report and Accounts, link here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445942/DBS_ARA_2014_to_2015_accessible.pdf

    The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and the average turnaround time for disclosure checks will continue to be dependent on the operational effectiveness of respective forces.

    “

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what awareness-raising activities his Department has undertaken in support of Diabetes Awareness Week 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England’s (PHE) One You and Change4Life campaigns encourage people and families to make lifestyle changes to improve their health and reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes on an ongoing basis.

    PHE had scheduled Facebook posts raising awareness of Diabetes Awareness Week 2016.

  • Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Security Industry Authority has met its performance target of 80 per cent of applications being processed within 25 days in each month since January 2016.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Security Industry Authority (SIA) have an annual performance target to process 80% of applications (including renewals) within 25 working days. The SIA met this annual target in the 2015/16 financial year. Performance for 2016/17 to date is shown in the table below.

    Apr

    May

    June

    July

    Aug

    Percentage processed in 25 working days

    86%

    81%

    80%

    46%

    72%
  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to make clinical commissioning groups aware of their commissioning responsibilities as set out in the manual for prescribed specialised services in 2016-17.

    David Mowat

    Specialised services are the responsibility of NHS England.

    The ‘Manual for Prescribed Specialised Services 2016/17’ outlines which prescribed specialised services commissioned by NHS England are related to which services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). It is one of a suite of products that NHS England has developed to facilitate the effective commissioning of specialised services.

    However, it does not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of CCG commissioning responsibilities.

    The manual is available from NHS England’s website at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/06/pss-manual-may16.pdf

    “

  • Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the time taken for Montserrat to respond to his Department’s consultation on a public register of beneficial ownership.

    James Duddridge

    I refer the Right Honourable Lady to the answer given by my Hon Friend the member for Hertfordshire South West (David Gauke), the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to questions 10437, 10438 and 10448, which sets out the criteria we expect the Overseas Territories to meet in relation to their central register of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective system. We are in discussions with the Montserrat authorities on this and are offering technical assistance as they develop their proposals.

  • Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Oates – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made regarding the government of Zimbabwe’s attempt to access external funding from multilateral financial institutions including the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank.

    Baroness Verma

    The Government of Zimbabwe has been in arrears to the International Financial Institutions for over a decade. This prevents Zimbabwe from accessing any new financing for development from the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank.

    The Government of Zimbabwe presented its plans to clear multilateral arrears at a side meeting during the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, in October. Bilateral creditors at the meeting, including the UK, broadly welcomed the intention of the Government of Zimbabwe to work towards arrears clearance, but stressed that implementation of reforms would be necessary to achieve debt resolution.