The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of her Department’s (a) Senior Civil Servants and (b) core policy civil servants are based in London.
George Eustice
As of February 2016, 89% of Defra Senior Civil Servants and 82% of core Defra policy civil servants are based in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish an independent analysis of the economic forecasting record of the Office for Budget Responsibility, including an assessment of the accuracy of forecasting against free consensus expectations.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) already publish an assessment of the accuracy of their forecasts in their annual Forecast Evaluation Report (FER). This compares the latest outturn data for the economy and public finances with the OBR’s earlier forecasts, and aims to explain the differences. This assessment is required by the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act (BRNAA); this provides self-discipline for the OBR, and maintains transparency and accountability around their forecasting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what measures she is taking to reassure existing electricity generators that the capacity market is fair and stable.
Andrea Leadsom
The Capacity Market design will enable competition between new and existing capacity and between different technologies so that all providers of capacity have the right incentives to make efficient decisions about investment in, and operation of, their assets. We work with all stakeholders to review the Capacity Market continuously to ensure it remains a fair competition and have acted to ensure a level playing field which retains the confidence of bidders and investors.The Rules governing the operation of the Capacity Market mechanism are managed by Ofgem to ensure both a fair and stable process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Grant on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to staff working at border controls in UK airports on questions which can and cannot be asked to passengers arriving in the UK with EU passports.
James Brokenshire
Anyone seeking entry or admission to the UK must on arrival establish their nationality and identity, as well as comply with other checks under the Border Force Operating Mandate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to ways to prohibit British citizens from travelling to China for the purpose of obtaining an organ transplant until the practice of forced organ harvesting ceases.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
I refer the noble Lord to the answer the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Mr Sharma) gave on 14 September in response to Written Question 45143 from the Hon. Member for Strangford (Mr Jim Shannon), copied below for ease of reference:
“As My Rt Hon. Friend, the former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hugo Swire, stated to the house on the 12 July 2016, we have raised concerns about reports of organ harvesting, as well as about the torture and mistreatment of detainees, during the annual UK-China human rights dialogue. We will do so again at the next round. My officials also raised the issue with their Chinese counterparts on 1 September 2016. However, despite the fact that UK physicians always advise patients against, it is very difficult to prevent UK citizens travelling to less well-regulated countries to seek an organ transplant. Although numbers are not known, it is thought that very few patients in the UK choose to do so.”
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the change in the number of firefighter posts was in the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service in 2013-14.
Greg Clark
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 November 2015, PQ 13946.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of migrants granted leave to remain in the UK were subject to the No Recourse to Public Funds condition in each of the last five years.
James Brokenshire
The proportion of cases granted leave to remain in the UK who were subject to the No Recourse to Public funds condition in each of the last five years was as follows:
2011: 95%
2012: 97%
2013: 94%
2014: 92%
2015*: 92%
These figures have been provided by the Home Office database with figures rounded to the nearest 5, interpreting ‘migrants’ as ‘lead cases’, they exclude asylum applications and figures for 2015 are available up to 30 September 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with meningitis in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) collects data on laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) which is a major cause of bacterial meningitis in England. The data do not distinguish between IMD presentation as meningitis or septicaemia. National data on the number of cases of IMD in England are published by PHE based on the number of laboratory confirmed cases.
Table 1: Number of laboratory confirmed cases of IMD in England by epidemiological year: 2010/11 to 2014/15.
|
2010/11 |
2011/12 |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
|
|
Cases of IMD |
1,009 |
730 |
769 |
636 |
724 |
Source: PHE Health Protection Report, 2015
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education pays annual salaries. These have been converted to hourly rates using the calculation ((Gross Basic Salary*FTE)/52)/Weekly hours:
|
Mar-12 |
Mar-13 |
Mar-14 |
Mar-15 |
Jan-16 |
|
|
a) Male |
£21.62 |
£22.25 |
£22.30 |
£22.37 |
£22.30 |
|
b) Female |
£19.73 |
£19.85 |
£20.09 |
£20.36 |
£20.54 |
|
c) Full-time |
£20.64 |
£21.02 |
£21.16 |
£21.24 |
£21.28 |
|
d) Part-time |
£19.65 |
£19.70 |
£20.15 |
£21.01 |
£21.25 |
This illustrates a positive trend as over the five year period the pay gap between men and women has reduced from 8.7% to 7.9% and the pay gap between full-time and part-time employees has reduced from 4.8% to 0.1%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2016 to Question 26014, what the baseline year is for the commitment to train 10,000 more nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals over the course of the current Parliament.
Ben Gummer
As announced by the Chancellor in the Spending Review in November 2015, the Government has committed to remove the cap on the number of students studying nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions from 1 August 2017. This will enable universities to offer up to 10,000 new training places for students to start these courses in this Parliament.
This reflects estimates on the level of unmet demand for places in the current system where, as an example, for nursing, around two out of three nursing applicants who currently apply for a place are turned down.
The Government is working with health and higher education delivery organisations to determine an appropriate baseline as part of implementing the reforms.