The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on advertisements using Facebook in each of the last three years.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet Office did not spend anything in 2013/14 on Facebook advertising. In 2014/15 there was a total of £17,511.16 spent by Cabinet Office on Facebook advertising. Fully auditable figures are not available for the 2015/16. All figures include VAT.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to support Syria’s economy after the end of the current conflict in that country.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Much of our assistance is already laying the groundwork for future reconciliation, stabilisation and reconstruction efforts inside Syria. Regarding the economy, we are already taking a long term approach to foster market stability and economic recovery. This includes the supply of agricultural inputs to farmers to increase production as well as support to small businesses. This has potential to be scaled up once a political transition is reached and depending on the nature of that settlement.
On 26 November 2015, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will commit at least £1 billion to Syria’s reconstruction. We anticipate that reconstruction funds would be allocated against a plan agreed between a new, inclusive Syrian government and the international community. We expect that, over time, this funding will include support for re-building Syria’s shattered economy and infrastructure.
However, we must not underestimate the scale of the challenge of post-conflict reconstruction. Syria has experienced 40 years under an oppressive regime and a brutal civil war. Conflict has reversed Syria into poverty. Consequently, reconstruction will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. That is why we will use our influence as a major shareholder to push the UN and International Financial Institutions and the private sector to bring their planning, resources and expertise to bear.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keir Starmer on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the Semaphore eBorders system has been affected by a national power outage since 6 May 2010; and when each of those power outages (a) started and (b) ended.
James Brokenshire
For reasons of national security we do not comment on operational issues relating to border security systems.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-06-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage students at Key Stage 3 to take up modern foreign languages.
Nick Gibb
The Government expects all pupils in secondary education to be taught a broad and balanced curriculum, and that includes the opportunity to study a foreign language at Key Stage 3 and 4. In 2010, only 43% of pupils were studying a GCSE in a foreign language, down from 76% in 2000. Since the Government introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the proportion of the cohort in state schools that are entered for a modern foreign language GCSE increased by 20% between 2011 and 2015. Our ambition is that 90 per cent of pupils in mainstream secondary schools will enter GCSEs in the EBacc subjects, including a foreign language.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-09-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the Lake District National Park Partnership in its bid for status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tracey Crouch
Government continues to support the excellent work of the Lake District National Park Partnership and other stakeholders, which has led to the Lake District becoming the UK’s nomination for World Heritage Status in 2017.
Officials will be present to support the partnership during the World Heritage Committee mission to the Lake District, due to take place in October 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has conducted into the likelihood of people who get primary breast cancer twice getting secondary breast cancer.
George Freeman
The Department does not itself conduct research, and has not funded research on this specific topic.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received (a) since his appointment as Secretary of State and (b) since the appointment of his predecessor in that post expressing concerns about Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Alistair Burt
A search of the Department’s Ministerial correspondence database has identified 40 items of correspondence expressing concerns about Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. This figure represents correspondence received by the Department’s Ministerial correspondence unit only.
In 2014, NHS England initiated action including an investigation of the deaths of all patients of the trust who had been in receipt of mental health or learning disability services since 2011.
We are advised by NHS England that a first draft of the Mazars report was shared with it and Southern Health Foundation Trust in September 2015. The Department has not received a copy of the report and the report is still to be finalised before publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of planning applications which were refused on the grounds that the sewerage network or waste water treatment facilities did not have sufficient capacity to service those developments in each of the last five years.
Brandon Lewis
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
The National Planning Policy Framework expects local councils to work with other authorities and providers, such as water and sewerage companies, to assess the quality and capacity of infrastructure and its ability to meet forecast demands. This includes infrastructure for wastewater and its treatment. This should help inform councils’ Local Plans, which should plan positively for the development and infrastructure required in the area. Further information is provided in our on-line planning practice guidance, ‘Water supply, wastewater and water quality’, available at http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/blog/guidance/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how NHS England are ensuring that there is no conflict in how Bain and Company supports both vanguards in their application for funds, and NHS England in deciding how to allocate funds.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) commissioned Bain and Company to support vanguards as an extension to work previously commissioned from the company as part of a programme called Future Focused Finance, an initiative sponsored by the Department of Health and arm’s length bodies. This earlier work for the HFMA had focused on the design of a value-based decision effectiveness tool, piloted in Mid-Cheshire and Liverpool. The HFMA, in partnership with NHS England, commissioned the extension to this work so that the tool could be used to support value-based decision-making in the 2016-17 New Care Models programme.
Alternatives were not sought from competitors because the vanguard support built on the original Bain and Company work for the HFMA.
The value of the vanguard support contract is £650,000. Value for money was obtained by negotiation, having been benchmarked with other commissions made by the National Health Service to external health consultancies.
As part of the contract, Bain and Company will be handing over its approach to NHS England, so that NHS England can support other areas in implementing new care models.
Bain and Company has not been commissioned to assess evidence to support transformation and potential for replication of new care models in other areas. The company is commissioned to develop and implement a framework that appropriately experienced NHS staff can use to assess such evidence. Intellectual property rights in respect of the framework in the future are assigned to HFMA under the terms of the contract. The NHS is entitled to use the framework free of charge in perpetuity.
Bain and Company is involved in the development of the tool used to make the assessment, and in the implementation of the process to use that tool. The company is specifically commissioned to help vanguard sites to use the tool and to summarise the resulting value propositions to facilitate decision-making by NHS England.
No conflict of interest arises as decisions concerning funding allocations for individual vanguards are made by NHS England’s Executive Team and Investment Committee and not Bain and Company.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 10 January 2016, Prime Minister pledges to transform sink estates, what progress has been made since that announcement on the estates regeneration programme.
Brandon Lewis
Work has progressed well since the announcement. The Advisory Panel, which the noble Lord, the rt. hon. Lord Heseltine and I jointly chair, has been set up and is already engaging with the key issues and will be undertaking a planned programme of site visits across the country. The Government has issued a Statement inviting expressions of interest from prospective estates; proposals are being received and considered by the Government’s advisory team.