The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to achieve seven-day services in hospitals by 2020.
Ben Gummer
By 2020, all hospital patients who need urgent or emergency care will have access to the same levels of consultant assessment and review, diagnostic tests and consultant-led interventions, whatever day of the week it is.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will urge the Iranian authorities to commute immediately the death sentences of the juvenile offenders identified in the report, Growing up on death row: the death penalty and juvenile offenders in Iran, published by Amnesty International on 26 January 2010.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We have made clear to Iran, as we do with all countries, our opposition to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, and will continue to urge them to put an immediate moratorium on their use of the death penalty, whether for juvenile or adult offenders.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of the change in the OECD definition of foreign aid to include some military spending on the effectiveness of aid spend on reducing poverty.
Justine Greening
We welcome the outcome of the recent High Level Meeting of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which agreed how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) rules should be updated to better tackle the pressing global development issues of the 21st century. The updates to the ODA rules both better recognise the detrimental impact that conflict, fragility and insecurity have on efforts to tackle poverty and reflect the importance of private sector investment for development.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on hydro pump storage in Scotland.
Andrea Leadsom
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State met Mr. Fergus Ewing, in October last year where energy storage was discussed. This resulted in a dialogue between the two ministers discussing next steps. The dialogue has been taken forward at official-level through existing working groups such as the Low Carbon Innovation Co-ordination Group (LCICG).
We are investigating the potential barriers to deployment of energy storage and possible mitigating actions. We are focussing in the first instance on removing policy and regulatory barriers. DECC plans to issue a call for evidence on a smart system routemap shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many challenges to the new Service Family Accommodation gradings have resulted in a change of banding since 1 February 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Lancaster
Between 1 February 2016 and 17 April 2016 a total of 1,675 challenges to the Combined Accommodation Assessment System (CAAS) were received by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation – 24 of these resulted in changes to CAAS bandings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the reoffending rates are for offenders who have had a conviction (a) under and (b) over 12 months in each of the last five years.
Dominic Raab
The most recent proven reoffending bulletin can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/proven-reoffending-statistics. A full report with data going back to 2003 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/519648/proven-reoffending-July-2013-June-2014.xlsx
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of whether eating butter puts people at greater risk of heart disease.
Nicola Blackwood
Butter is high in saturated fat. Evidence shows that average population intakes of saturated fat exceed United Kingdom government advice which is to limit saturated fat intake to no more than 11% of total food energy to protect against heart disease.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition is currently reviewing the evidence on saturated fat and health; it aims to publish a draft report at the end of 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of staff on the payroll of the Law Officers’ Departments who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Robert Buckland
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. There are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has to pay a daily rate or fee to members of the review committee he has proposed on securing the decisive role of the Commons on financial matters and secondary legislation; and what rate he plans to set for that work.
John Penrose
The Government has asked Lord Strathclyde to lead a review to examine how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to (i) its primacy on financial matters; and (ii) secondary legislation. Lord Strathclyde will be supported by a panel of experts and further details will be announced in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Thompson on 2015-11-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to reduce the share of lottery ticket income allocated to the Big Lottery Fund budget.
Tracey Crouch
As set out in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn statement this week, there are no plans to reduce the Big Lottery Fund’s budget. The Fund will continue to receive 40% of National Lottery good cause money. Sport, Arts and Heritage will also continue to receive 20% each.