The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on that organisation’s pension scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Lancaster
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 October 2015 to Question 13202 to the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr Coaker).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-08.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the evaluation and recommendations of the Law Commission on the Advice Services Transition Fund.
Mr Rob Wilson
The aim of the Advice Services Transition Fund (ASTF) was to support the sector to be able to respond with confidence to the challenges presented by the changing funding environment.
The Fund was always intended to support time limited transformational activity. Cabinet Office is not in a position to commit longer-term funding to support the core-running costs of advice services. However, the fund has supported organisations to transition to more collaborative working. We will also be working with the Big Lottery Fund to ensure that learning is identified and shared across the advice services sector. This work aligns with recommendations outlined in the Low Commission report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-01-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had with the Scottish Government about the future electrification of the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Lord Dunlop
UK and Scottish Government officials have regular discussions regarding transport policy, and the rail industry is undertaking studies to identify the best value cases for further route electrification in Scotland, England and Wales. The introduction of bi-mode intercity express trains on East Coast Scottish services from 2018 is expected to help the business case for electrification between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department of Energy and Climate Change is aligned with the Civil Service Health & Well-being Strategy which was agreed by the Civil Service People Board.
This focuses on three priority areas:
Mental Health
Musculoskeletal Health
Healthy Lifestyle
In DECC this means we ensure visible senior leadership of the well-being agenda, we encourage all managers to undertake mental health awareness training increasing manager capability through Civil Service Learning training.
We have been adopting the Public Health England ‘Workplace Well-being Charter’ and promoting ‘Time to Change’. The Department offers support to staff including ‘Employee Assistance’. The Department is also running wellbeing events and initiatives over the coming year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 31709, how many incidents of face-down restraints there have been in mental health services in (a) January and (b) February 2016.
Alistair Burt
No information is currently available regarding the number of incidents of face down restraint for the months requested. The first publication by the Health and Social Care Information Centre of January 2016 information is due during April 2016. Data will only be published when the Health and Social Care Information Centre is confident that the dataset is accurate and complete.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming (a) pension protection arrangements and (b) corporate pension schemes.
Justin Tomlinson
The pension protection arrangements for defined benefit occupational pension schemes have been robust and effective.
The Government keeps these arrangements under review, engaging relevant stakeholders, in order to ensure that members of pension schemes are properly protected, and considers long term as well as short term factors for the pension protection landscape.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of funding was allocated to Department for Transport Incident Support Units serving the M56 between junctions 12 and 14 in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
Andrew Jones
There is no available data on the historical level of funding allocated specifically to the Incident Support Unit service in the geographical operational area for trunk roads motorways in the North West, where the M56 Motorway is located.
This Incident Support Unit was provided to Highways England’s predecessor organisation, the Highways Agency, by a contractor until 2012. There was a lump sum payment for various duties and it is not possible to disaggregate the cost of the Incident Support Unit service from the overall payments.
A new Asset Support Contract replaced the previous approach in November 2012, and this no longer requires the contractor to provide a dedicated Incident Support Unit team. Incident response is now handled by the trained operatives in the general workforce, who are already working on the road network. This has proved to be a more flexible and cost-effective way of managing incidents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK’s sixth periodic report in relation to social security and unemployment; and if he will make a statement.
Damian Hinds
In paragraph 73 of the UN recommendations, the UN requested that the UK submits its next period report under the Covenant (inclusive of a response to all the recommendations from this year’s examination) by 30 June 2021; it would therefore not be appropriate for me to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we might say in 2021. In any event, the Government regularly assesses the impacts of its policies and will continue to do so.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to promote the welfare of members of the armed forces.
Mark Lancaster
The Armed Forces Covenant ensures that those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. In June 2013 the Chancellor announced that the financial commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant would be made permanent through a £10 million fund per annum in perpetuity from 2015-16.
The Annual Report on the Armed Forces Covenant from December 2015 detailed a number of achievements of which this Government can be proud, including allocating £40 million for accommodation projects for veterans; the £200 million Forces Help to Buy Scheme; and a world class centre for excellence for the training and delivery of Defence Medical Services.
In 2016 to date under the large grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £7.5 million to 24 projects supporting community integration, criminal justice system initiatives and the co-ordination and delivery of support. Under the small grants scheme we have awarded a total of almost £2.4 million to 150 community integration projects. Depending on the quality of the bids, we hope to be able to announce the preferred bidder for the Veterans Gateway Service in November, as well as further tranches of Covenant Grant funding.
In January 2016, the Department published the first ever Armed Forces Families Strategy, embracing seven key themes – partner employment, accommodation, children’s education and childcare, community support, specialist support, health and wellbeing, and transition. This is now routine business supporting our families.
We have reviewed our casualty and compassionate processes, and this autumn we are introducing a new reserves welfare health-check. In the last year Defence has enabled payroll deductions for Service personnel to take advantage of the savings and cheap loan facilities from selected credit unions. This facility was extended to veterans in receipt of a pension in March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what analysis his Department has conducted or commissioned on the number of doctors likely to retire in the next five years; and what assessment his Department has made of whether sufficient numbers of doctors are in training to maintain current service levels.
Ben Gummer
The Centre for Workforce Intelligence medical workforce modelling, estimates that around 13,500 consultants and general practitioners (GPs) in England will retire in the five years from 2015 to 2019 inclusive.
Taking account of expected retirements the consultant and GP workforce is projected to grow by around 9,400 posts by 2019, or 2.2% per annum, which is a considerably faster rate of growth than that projected baseline demand for healthcare services (reflecting population growth and the ageing of the population) over this period.