The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is his policy to support the candidacy of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa for FIFA President; and if he will make a statement.
Tracey Crouch
The candidacy of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim is a matter for the football authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2015-11-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what correspondence the Government has had with the Royal Bank of Scotland on implementation of the Access to Banking Protocol and the (a) closure of branches and (b) reduction of banking services in the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking protocol announced in March 2015. From the first of May this year, each participating bank has committed to carry out a number of steps if it is closing a branch. This includes establishing the impact of a branch closure before it takes place; finding suitable alternative provision; and putting in place suitable alternative measures before a branch is closed.
There is a commitment to review the operation of the protocol after one year. In August, the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise and I wrote to the Chief Executive of the British Bankers’ Association and requested an update on progress towards the appointment of an independent reviewer. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Chief Executives of the banks that are signatories to the Access to Banking protocol.
Banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy.
Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches are taken by the management of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether educational and patient-orientated organisations were involved in the planning of the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Clinical Specification Working Group has academic representation on the group from England and Wales. Patient orientated organisations may be involved, as appropriate, at an evaluation stage though they have not engaged with them at this point.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken to increase the number of BAME (a) executive and (b) non-executive staff of (i) NHS trusts, (ii) clinical commissioning groups and (iii) related arms length bodies since 2012.
Jane Ellison
In 2014, NHS England, in partnership with the National Health Service and arm’s length bodies, developed a Workforce Race Equality Standard which requires NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against a number of indicators of workforce race equality, including a specific indicator to address the low levels of Black and Minority Ethnic representation at Board level.
Since April 2015, the Standard has been included in the NHS contract for providers, and it will feature in the new assessment framework for clinical commissioning groups for 2016/17. The Standard has also been included in the Care Quality Commission’s inspections of provider organisations.
In addition to supporting the implementation of the Standard, the arm’s length bodies are also applying it to their own workforces. Further information on the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard can be found at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/equality-standard/
The Department keeps diversity in focus throughout the appointments process for non-executives of arm’s length bodies. The Department’s “Non-Executive Appointments Diversity Action Plan” is published annually which outlines progress and actions to improve the diversity of public appointments and can be found at:
Cabinet Office publishes annual diversity statistics on new public appointments made by United Kingdom Ministers at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-in-public-appointments#history
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24408, if she will discuss with the Sustainable Energy Association and other relevant bodies how to achieve the potential for buildings to contribute to the Government’s goals on reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty.
Andrea Leadsom
DECC officials and ministers will continue to discuss, with a range of stakeholders, the options for buildings to contribute to reducing carbon and tackling fuel poverty. Our approach is to consider the overall use of energy in buildings, and not energy efficiency or heat in isolation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what work was undertaken to modify Warthog vehicles for post-Afghan use after the 2013 decision to keep the platform; and what the cost of that work was to the public purse.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Warthog vehicle entered service in 2010 as an urgent operational requirement for use in Afghanistan. Since the end of operations in Afghanistan a range of armoured vehicles purchased specifically for operations in that theatre have been brought into the MOD’s core inventory; the Warthog vehicle was not one of these. The options for disposing of the Warthog are now being considered, including the possiblity of an export route, but no decisions have been taken at this time.
5 and 32 Regiments Royal Artillery will receive the Bulldog armoured vehicle as a replacement for Warthog. 47 Regiment Royal Artillery will continue to use the Coyote armoured vehicle.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times on which dates in 2014 specialist contractors were used to facilitate the enforced return to Yemen of people from that country who had unsuccessfully claimed asylum in the UK.
James Brokenshire
All escorting services to facilitate enforced returns are provided by the Home Office’s main contractor, Tascor. In 2014, detainee custody officers from the Pilgrims Group, who are sub-contracted by Tascor were used on one occasion on 23rd July to facilitate the enforced return of an individual to Yemen.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with BT on the time taken to repair faulty telephone lines.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Ministers have raised the issue of the time taken for service requests and repairs with senior management at BT and Openreach.
Government supports the measures Ofcom announced in its Digital Communications Review to address the problem across all communication service providers, including: raising minimum standards for the time taken to install new lines and make repairs; and encouraging proactive behaviour in the maintenance of the network. Government expects Openreach’s performance to be consistently above the minimum standard.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether under the terms of its franchise agreement Govia Thameslink Railway is required to consult stakeholders before introducing a change to the timetable for its services.
Paul Maynard
For planned timetable changes, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is required to consult stakeholders before introducing them. However, when – as is the case for the revised timetable which came into effect on Southern and Gatwick Express services on 11 July a revised timetable has been introduced to mitigate the impact of official and unofficial industrial action – no consultation is required. GTR has an overriding obligation to act in the overall interests of passengers and to take all reasonable measures to avoid or reduce the impact of any disruption.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what proportion of staff on the payroll of his Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
Guto Bebb
The Wales Office is not an employer in its own right and payroll services are provided by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on our behalf.