Category: Speeches

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will ensure that all standards explicitly linked to the Renewable Heat Incentive are non-commercialised and publicly available to all relevant parties who may wish to offer services related to the implementation of that initiative.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department is currently working with industry to establish the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a legal entity. The accessibility of MCS standards referenced in the RHI regulations will be considered as part of that process to ensure that those standards which are mandatory for the purpose of the RHI remain publicly available.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much financial support his Department has given to people affected by HIV or hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products in each year since 1988.

    Jane Ellison

    Since 1988 the Government has voluntarily provided ex gratia support for people affected by HIV and/or hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products. To date, over £390 million has been paid out through the schemes, in the United Kingdom.

    The Department only holds finance data for payments under the schemes back to 2007. This information is provided below.

    2014-15 £22,278,096

    2013-14 £27,043,569

    2012-13 £22,052,458

    2011-12 £27,192,232

    2010-11 £39,805,667

    2009-10 £22,461,057

    2008-09 £19,240,337

    2007-08 £20,532,461

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will establish an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding BHS being placed in administration, and in particular in to the implications for employees, pension scheme members and creditors.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    When a company enters administration, the administrators have to report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills within three months on the conduct of the directors.

    In the case of BHS the Insolvency Service is making early contact with the administrators to discuss the directors’ conduct and to consider whether further steps, such as a detailed investigation, may be necessary.

    Where misconduct is established it can lead to disqualification of a director for between 2 and 15 years.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has access to North Korean refugees in China; and what steps they have taken to address the specific matter of China’s responsibilities to aid North Korean refugees fleeing North Korea.

    Baroness Verma

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees does not have access to the North Koreans at the border area in China.

    We raise our concerns around refoulement – the forcible return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution – regularly through our Embassy in Beijing and at the annual UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of his Department’s staff are based in the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place; and what plans he has for the future of those jobs.

    Joseph Johnson

    As of 1 November 2016, there are 21 members of staff based in the Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place. Following the recent Machinery of Government changes, BEIS is considering how to best align the reform agendas of its predecessor departments.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS prescription charge penalty charge notices were issued in the last year for which figures are available; and how much was recovered in (a) prescription income and (b) penalty charges and surcharges in the last year for which information is available.

    David Mowat

    The number of National Health Service prescription charge penalty charge notices issued between September 2015 and August 2016, which is the most recent 12-month period for which we have complete data, was 780,953. Where no response was received to the initial penalty charge notice a follow up surcharge letter was issued to the patient. For the same period a total of 333,508 surcharge letters were issued.

    The value of the recovered prescription income in this period was £2,556,941, and the value of the income from penalty charges and surcharges was £8,678,911 and £745,830, respectively.

    Since taking over the administration of the Prescription Exemption Checking Service in September 2014, the NHS Business Services Authority has not issued any court proceedings for debt recovery in relation to NHS prescription charges and penalties.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sharon Hodgson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what care pathways are in place at each sexual assault referral centre; and what the average waiting time is for access to those pathways for (a) adults and (b) children under 18.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England has set out care pathways for adult and child Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) services in its `Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault referral Centre (SARC) Services’, published in August 2015. Pathway services are wide-ranging, including safeguarding, social care, housing, other medical support and therapeutic counselling. The framework is now being rolled out across England and outlines the expected core service.

    Data on waiting times into care pathways or therapeutic services in SARCs or referred to by SARCs, is not collected centrally.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) requests were made for and (b) individuals passed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) adult first checks in each year since 2012; what the average time taken was for that check to be carried out; and how many of those passed subsequently failed their DBS check, and were therefore not issued with a DBS certificate.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Adult First is a service provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service that can be used in cases where, exceptionally, and in accordance with the terms of Department of Health guidance, a person is permitted to start work with adults before a DBS Certificate has been obtained.

    An individual neither passes nor fails an Adult First check and a certificate is not withheld if a person is on the Adults barred list. If a person is on the list, that fact will be disclosed on the completed DBS certificate.

    There are two outcomes to an Adult First check and the Registered Body is either advised that no match exists for this person on the current Adults barred list, or they must wait for the full disclosure as a match against the Adults barred list cannot be ruled out at this stage. Further investigation is then carried out through the normal disclosure checking process and if a match against the Adults barred list is confirmed, it will be disclosed on the certificate.

    The table below shows the number of requests that were made for DBS Adult First checks, the average time taken to complete Adult First checks and the number of times the Registered Body received a ‘wait for the full disclosure’ or ‘no match found’ response between December 2012 and November 2015.

    Period

    Number of Adult First Requests

    Average Number of Days to Conduct Adult First Check

    Number of “No Match Found” responses

    Number of “wait for full Disclosure” responses

    Dec-12 to Mar-13

    50,175

    1.07

    39,200

    10,975

    Apr-13 to Mar-14

    166,287

    1.08

    130,333

    35,954

    Apr-14 to Mar-15

    173,503

    1.19

    135,792

    37,711

    Apr-15 to Nov-15

    116,602

    1.06

    91,782

    24,820
  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the legal advice he received prior to the tax settlement with Google.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the conduct of tax enquiries. Ministers are not informed of the progress of enquiries and play no part in agreeing the amount of tax to be paid by any taxpayer.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many occasions a Mental Health Act 1983 assessment requested on someone in custody in London took longer than 24 hours in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not held centrally.

    The Policing and Crime Bill, currently before Parliament, will seek to reduce the maximum length of time a person can be detained under section 135 or 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 from 72 to 24 hours, to make clear that people should be assessed as quickly as possible.