Category: Speeches

  • Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report, A Charge on Caring?, published by the Carers Trust in September 2015, on the level of compliance by councils with their duty under the Care Act 2014 to prevent carers developing a need for support.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government recognises the valuable contribution made by carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing support to family members or friends.

    The Care Act guidance is clear about policy on charging carers. The Care Act statutory guidance, at paragraph 8.50 states that:

    “Local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so. When deciding whether to charge, and in determining what an appropriate charge is, a local authority should consider how it wishes to express the way it values carers within its local community as partners in care, and recognise the significant contribution carers make.”

    The Care Act replicates the previous position where charging carers was permissible. It would not have been appropriate to impose a blanket ban on charging for carers services, because in some cases small charges are necessary to the viability of services. However, the Care Act provides additional protection to carers by making it clear that local authorities cannot charge carers for services provided to the person being cared for. This means that carers may only be charged for services provided directly to them.

    Most local authorities (currently only 5%) do not routinely charge carers in recognition of the valuable contribution carers make to their local communities, and the Carers Trust report confirms that this is still the case. We will continue to make the case against routine charging of carers and to monitor the situation closely.

    The Care Act and guidance are clear about the provision of preventative services. Under the Care Act, local authorities have a responsibility to support carers in a number of ways. This includes duties on local authorities to provide information and advice and universal preventative services for carers.

    We continue to support implementation of the Care Act 2014.

    To support implementation of the reform programme, we have established a joint Programme Management Office between the Department, Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (ADASS). This unprecedented partnership is driving collaborative working with the sector, influencing the local implementation of these changes to support a consistent and coherent approach. This approach was recognised by the National Audit Office as best practice and should be adopted by other programmes.

    The programme includes a series of stocktakes of local authority readiness and the latest, from June 2015, demonstrates an overall positive picture on implementation:

    – Councils’ confidence in their ability to deliver the Care Act Reforms in 2015/16 remains high, with 99% very or fairly confident.

    – 89% of councils say that they are ‘on track’ with their implementation. The remaining 11% report themselves as only slightly behind.

    The Department is also leading on the development of a new National Carers’ Strategy that will examine what more we can do to support existing carers and the new carers.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions the Minister for Public Health has had with the Chief Executive of Public Health England in each month since January 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    I meet regularly with Duncan Selbie, the Chief Executive of Public Health England, and generally have an informal meeting with him on a monthly basis.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-10-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) funding his Department is undertaking and (b) projects his Department has planned as part of the Government’s Digital Inclusion Strategy.

    Mike Penning

    My department adheres by the Digital Inclusion Strategy when building public facing digital services.

    We continually search for opportunities to improve digital inclusion across the justice system. An example of this is a joint project by the department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the National Offender Management Service, which created a virtual campus to help prisoners develop the skills they need to become more employable upon release. This has been used across government as an example of digital inclusion in action.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-10-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the publication of the latest report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, what assessment they have made of how many television channels in North Korea may be accessed by the North Korean population.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of three television channels which operate within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: Korean Central Television (KCTV) which broadcasts news, sport, dramas and films; Mansudae which focuses on culture; and Ryongnamsan which covers education. KCTV broadcasts nationwide while Mansudae and Ryongnamsan broadcast in Pyongyang only. We also understand there are reports that some North Korean citizens, including those living in Pyongyang, are able to access foreign television services. However, we have been unable to verify if these reports are accurate.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Crawley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2015-10-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether ministerial approval was given to HM Revenue and Customs to conduct a pilot programme of the tobacco industry’s Codentify trading and tracing system.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs is not conducting a pilot programme of the Codentify tracking and tracing system.

    HM Revenue and Customs is piloting Codentify as a tool for product authentication only.

    As this is a trial only, no ministerial approval was required or has been sought.

  • Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will require the Northern Ireland Parades Commission to disclose to the Police Service of Northern Ireland all information about potential disturbances of the peace that have been notified to them in the process of developing determinations.

    Lord Dunlop

    As a public authority, the Parades Commission has general obligations under public law, which may in certain circumstances include an obligation to notify the Police Service of Northern Ireland about potential disturbances of the peace notified to them in the process of developing determinations. The discharge of these obligations is an operational matter for the Commission.

  • Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2015-10-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria are used to judge City Region bids.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    There are no prescriptive criteria in place to assess bids from local areas. All deals are bespoke and based on proposals brought forward by local areas which then form the basis for negotiation. The Government will consider submissions from all places that have strong, credible devolution proposals, including governance.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gareth Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2015-10-22.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people declared themselves as self-employed in each of the last three years in (a) Dartford and (b) Kent.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-22.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of efficiency savings arising from cross-departmental digital strategies in 2014-15.

    Matthew Hancock

    As a result of cross government digital and technology strategies, £1.7 billion was saved in 2014-15. This sum was audited against a 2009-10 baseline.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funding his Department has provided to renovate, repair and bring back into use long-term empty properties in each of the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The number of long term empty homes is at its lowest since records began. Over the last Parliament, the Government provided the right tools and incentives to tackle empty properties.

    • Through the New Homes Bonus, local authorities earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. Since April 2011 almost £3.4 billion has been paid in recognition of the delivery of over 700,000 homes, plus over 100,000 long-term empty properties brought back into use. 75 per cent of local authorities are financially better off in 2014-15 than if New Homes Bonus scheme didn’t exist.
    • We made changes through the Local Government Finance Act 1992 so local authorities can charge up to 150% council tax for homes empty for over two years.
    • We extended permitted development rights to make it easier to convert property from business to residential to give new life to thousands of empty buildings.
    • We amended Empty Dwelling Management Orders to ensure they are only used to tackle the most problematic empty homes.
    • We provided £216 million direct funding to local authorities, registered providers and community groups between 2012- 2015 to help tackle the problem of empty homes and properties. This funding created 9,044 homes from empty properties.