Category: Speeches

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass asylum accommodation contract with Clearsprings Ready Home Limited for the region of Wales and South West England, how many faults were reported or identified from Compass inspections for each contractual pay period in 2014-15 and 2015-16; and how many such faults were not resolved within the agreed contractual timescales.

    James Brokenshire

    Providers are contractually required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation to comply with the Housing Act 2004 and the Decent Homes Standard. Providers are monitored closely to ensure accommodation meets these standards and the contracts include measures to ensure any issues are quickly addressed. These performance standards are defined in the contract and are managed using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including those which measure whether an individual property is compliant with contractual obligations following an inspection and also the number of service users effected if a fault is not repaired within the contract timescales.

    The Home Office does not centrally record the number of individual faults reported or identified during accommodation inspections, or the number of individual faults not resolved within the agreed timescales. The requested information could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of public health nursing to (a) improving the health of the population and preventing acute hospital admissions and (b) delivering the Government’s commitment to seven-day NHS services.

    Ben Gummer

    Improving population health is the responsibility of every nurse and they have a role in working with individuals, communities and/or the population to prevent illness, protect health and promote wellbeing. The National Health Service Five Year Forward View (FYFV) sets out the need to close the health and wellbeing gap, radically upgrade prevention as part of a drive to reduce acute hospital admissions, and deliver seven-day hospital services for patients with urgent or emergency care needs. The new framework for nurses, midwives and care staff in England, Leading Change, Adding Value, scheduled for publication later this month, sets out how these professionals will support delivery of the FYFV. There are 10 commitments in the framework, of which three specifically relate to population health and population health and prevention.

    To support all health care professionals including nurses to provide evidence based preventative interventions and measure their impact, Public Health England will be launching a resource called All Our Health later this month.

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will provide additional funding for broadband provision to difficult to reach properties in (a) rural and (b) urban areas which have not been provided with access under the Universal Service Obligation to date and where Openreach fibre rollout has been delayed for more than a year.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Superfast broadband coverage will reach 95% of UK premises by the end of 2017. Further funding from clawback and efficiency savings in the local broadband contracts with BT will allow this coverage to be extended further.

    In addition it is the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation. This will give people the legal right to request a broadband connection, no matter where they live, by the end of this Parliament. Our ambition is that this should initially be set at 10 Mbps.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the exclusion of sexual assault, voyeurism, exposure and sexual activity in a public lavatory from the schedule of offences that are subject to the mandatory referrals process on the ability of victims to report such acts.

    Mark Lancaster

    A person who believes they have been a victim of crime may report the matter to the Service or civilian Police, or to their chain of command. Commanding Officers are under a statutory duty to ensure that all allegations which indicate that a service offence may have been committed – including the offences of sexual assault, voyeurism, exposure and sexual activity in a public lavatory – are properly investigated. The Ministry of Defence has undertaken to review the existing provisions whereby Commanding Officers can decide how best to investigate those allegations of sexual offences which do not fall to be automatically referred to the Police. We expect the review to be complete by the end of the year.

  • John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure improved outcomes for patients who undergo stem cell transplantation in the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of patients receiving potentially life-saving stem cell transplants in the United Kingdom continues to increase. The availability of suitably matched donors is a key factor in determining the outcome of stem cell transplantation. The Government has invested £16 million to improve stem cell transplantation services in the UK since 2010 with a further £3 million funding available for the current financial year. This funding has seen more efficient service delivery though the creation of a single unified bone marrow donor registry, more UK patients receiving a stem cell transplant (increasing from 802 in 2010/11 to 1060 in 2013/14) and over 60% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients finding a well matched donor compared to only 40% in 2010.

    Further improvements include NHS Blood and Transplant introducing next generation sequencing technology that is quicker and more accurate in matching donor and patient and delivering improved clinical outcomes. Research is an important part of improving patient outcomes and the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Trials Network supports clinical trials on the development of novel treatment for patients with blood cancer.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust received for treating people from outside the EU in (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

    Alistair Burt

    Patients who are not ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom and to whom no exemption from charges under the Charging Regulations applies should be directly charged.

    Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for funding the care of those visitors to the UK who are exempt from charges and those services that are free to all overseas visitors. Data are not collected centrally.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current status of the Big Society programme; which department and Minister is responsible for it; what projects are currently active; what is the budget for each of those projects; what changes have taken place to the programme since the general election; and what procedures are in place to report to Parliament on the programme.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Big Society programme remains a key manifesto commitment for the Government. The 2015 Spending Review saw this commitment reaffirmed with, for example, funding for the National Citizen Service increased to over a £1 billion creating the next generation of community minded volunteers. An additional £100 million in funding for Social Impact Bonds has also been pledged to reduce demand on public services. These programmes are helping to create a stronger, more engaged nation where people and neighbourhoods are able to take greater responsibility with improving the country.

    These programmes are regularly reviewed and reports are publicly available.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the Housing Investment Fund devolved to Greater Manchester Combined Authority homes over 10 years is in the form of (a) loans and (b) grants.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Housing Investment Fund is a loan, supported by a legal agreement in place between Manchester City Council (as the lead authority for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority) and DCLG. All of the Housing Investment Fund must be used as financial transactions to private sector organisations for the funding to qualify under the terms of that legal agreement.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what notification was given to women affected by the Pensions Act 1995.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Following the Pensions Act 1995, State Pension estimates, issued to individuals on request, made the changes clear. The DWP’s State Pension estimates have been providing individuals with their most up-to-date date of reaching State Pension age since 1995. Over that period, we have encouraged anyone seeking to plan for their retirement to get a pension statement. Since April 2000, the Department has issued more than 11.5 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them. We continue to encourage people to request one, as part of our on-going communications.

    DWP also ran a pensions education campaign in 2004, which included informing people of the future equalisation of SPA. The campaign included:

    • Advertising features in the press and women’s magazines
    • A ‘Women’s Pensions Pack’ containing leaflets for women about changes in State Pension age, made available through the Pensions Service
    • Direct mailings targeted specifically at women highlighting that women’s SPA is changing
    • Sending State Pension forecast letters and accompanying leaflet showing the person’s SPa and explaining who is affected by the changes to women’s SPa (issued to those who requested them)
    • Developing an interactive State Pension date/age calculator facility on the Pensions Service website

    In addition to these efforts, all those affected by the 1995 Act changes were sent letters between April 2009 and March 2011 using the address details held by HMRC at that time.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 31329, on deportation: EU nationals, how many EEA foreign national offenders awaiting deportation have been waiting (a) less than one month, (b) one to three months, (c) three to six months, (d) six to nine months, (e) nine to 12 months, (f) one to two years and (g) more than two years.

    James Brokenshire

    Removals have been increasing year on year since 2010. In 2015, we removed 5,602 FNOs and over 29,000 foreign national offenders have been removed since 2010.

    Our records indicate that as of December 2015, there were 4,217 EEA foreign national offenders awaiting deportation.

    Of which:

    2,748 are still serving a custodial sentence

    A total of 302 are time served detained in immigration removal centres (IRC) and prisons. (242 in IRCs and 60 in prison)

    1,167 are living in the community.

    Of the above, for those detained and living in the community (1,469), the time since the end of their custodial sentence is as follows:

    Less than one month 50

    One to three months 84

    Three to six months 58

    Six to nine months 60

    Nine to 12 months 49

    One to two years 132

    More than two years 80

    No UK conviction or sentence end date not recorded 956

    Total 1,469

    (1) The figures quoted have been derived from management information from the Home Office databases and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

    (2) FNOs living in the community include those released by an Immigration Judge, those released by the Secretary of State and those with oversees convictions who may not have received a custodial sentence in the UK.

    (3) The data provided is up to December 2015. This is not routinely published data. General protocol is that the figures should not breach the National Statistics, so we are not able to disclose figures that are for a later period than those that we have published. Published figures are available up to 31 December 2015.