The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the costs to Ofcom of couriering documents to its (a) board members and (b) Chief Executive in each of the last five years.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The department does not hold this information
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he takes to monitor the economic effect of projects his Department has funded.
Anna Soubry
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has taken a number of steps to embed systematic monitoring of our policies and programmes, including economic effects. The Department’s vision for monitoring and evaluation is outlined in our Evaluation Strategy, found on the GOV.UK website.
In particular:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what proportion of dairy products procured for his Department was sourced from British producers in the latest period for which figures are available.
Guto Bebb
The Wales Office does not procure any dairy products.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department provides support to farmer networks and farmer-to-farmer training to promote good soil management.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID is supporting farmer networks and farmer to farmer training on soil management. For example we fund the International Fund for Agriculture Development’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). This is assisting farmers networks on the promotion of better land and soil management practices and technologies including those developed under our support by the international agriculture research organisation the CGIAR.
For example in Nigeria ASAP is supporting the establishment and strengthening of community development associations for 200,000 smallholder farmers to adopt agricultural practices that both reduce soil erosion and their risks to climate change.
We are also funding farmer to farmer training under our country programmes. In Zambia this is focussed on climate smart agriculture and better management of soils. While in Malawi our support on conservation agriculture has helped 60,000 smallholder farmers to increase their crop yields and incomes by 25% on average.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-09-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much Ascent Flight Training has been fined for failing to deliver an adequate service since it signed the 25-year contract with the Ministry of Defence.
Earl Howe
Up to June 2015, £308,000 was deducted from payments to Ascent Flight Training. No further deductions have been made since that time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action is being taken to increase diagnosis of patients with atrial fibrillation.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team is taking action to promote the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within general practitioner (GP) practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the National Health Service which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke.
The Sustainable Improvement Team is also working with NHS RightCare, a programme committed to improving people’s health and outcomes, to help promote the use of GRASP-AF in the programme’s 65 first wave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS RightCare’s ‘Commissioning for Value’ packs help CCGs identify priority areas such as AF, and the GRASP AF tool provides a practical method of addressing any inequalities. NHS England’s intention is that the work with NHS RightCare will increase the number of CCGs using GRASP-AF in a systematic way.
Anonymised data from GRASP-AF can be uploaded to CHART Online, a secure web enabled tool that helps practices improve performance through comparative data analysis. This allows practices and CCGs to benchmark their management of AF with other practices across England and so help identify and reduce any variation in practice.
The use of GRASP-AF is voluntary and its use therefore varies across CCGs. Currently 2,248 GP practices have uploaded data from GRASP-AF to CHART online across 151 out of the 209 CCGs. Of these, 19 CCGs have all GP practices in their area uploading data.
In addition to the NHS action outlined above, all local authorities in England are required to offer the NHS Health Check programme, with the large majority commissioning general practice to provide them on their behalf. More than 15 million people aged 40-74 are, have been or will be eligible for an NHS Health Check between 2014 and 2018. The programme’s best practice guidance recommends that a pulse check is carried out as part of the process of taking a blood pressure reading and those individuals who are found to have an irregular pulse rhythm should be referred for further investigation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs brought into the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme have been (a) seized and (b) put through quarantine in each year since 2012.
George Eustice
The Pet Travel Scheme covers pet dogs, cats and ferrets. There are separate rules for the commercial importation of these animals; for example for sale or rehoming.
Any dog, cat or ferret identified as being non-compliant with either Pet Travel Scheme or commercial rules to enter the UK will be placed into quarantine. We hold data on illegally landed animals for the three previous years and do not record the species involved or whether the quarantined animals were a pet travel or commercial movement.
The numbers of dogs, cats and ferrets quarantined were 461 in 2013, 498 in 2014 and 609 in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will assess the potential merits of providing legal protection to the professional title of veterinary nurse.
George Eustice
Only those individuals who are properly trained, qualified and registered with the regulator, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), may legally undertake veterinary nursing. The Government is aware that concerns have been raised about the legal protection of the use of the term “Veterinary Nurse” and we are in dialogue with the RCVS and others to see how these concerns might be addressed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 17 November 2015, Official Report, column 515, on non-hospital care, on what date he commissioned Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to examine pressures in the care home sector; and if he will make a statement.
Alistair Burt
Paul Johnson has not been commissioned to examine pressures in the care home sector, nor are there any plans to commission him or the Institute for Fiscal Studies to undertake such a review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to renew concessions to the immigration rules for Syrian nationals lawfully in the UK beyond 28 February 2016.
James Brokenshire
The Government is currently considering whether to renew the concession for Syrian nationals in respect of the Immigration Rules. The Government continues to monitor the situation in Syria closely in order to ensure our response is appropriate.