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  • Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reform the legislation regarding health professional regulation, and whether they will publish a timetable for the implementation of any reform bill.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    This Government is grateful for the work of the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in reviewing the regulation of health and (in England) social care professionals.

    The Law Commissions made 125 recommendations to reform the existing complex and burdensome regulatory system. The joint four United Kingdom country response to the Law Commissions was published on 29 January 2015 which accepted wholly or in part the vast majority of its recommendations.

    The Department is currently reviewing how best to take forward the work of the Law Commissions. We hope to be able to provide an update on this work soon.

  • Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to retain the Student Opportunity fund.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is responsible for decisions on how the student opportunity fund is allocated to higher education institutions and for publishing guidance.

    We will be issuing a grant letter to the HEFCE in the New Year outlining the Government’s priorities for expenditure through the teaching grant, including on widening access.

  • Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding will be provided to assist with the delivery of their commitment to double the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education by 2020.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    We will be issuing a grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England early in the New Year outlining the Government’s priorities for expenditure through the teaching grant, including on widening access. This will take account of the announcements made in the Spending Review on. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support the access and success of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, up from £404m in 2009/10.

  • Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many police officers there are in the UK per million of population; and what the comparable figures are for (1) France, (2) Germany, and (3) Italy.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers per 100,000 population in England and Wales as part of the annual ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical release. The latest published figures are as at 31 March 2015. These figures can be found in table 4 of the data tables published alongside the release:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444536/police-workforce-tabs-mar15.ods

    As at 31 March 2015, there were 223 FTE police officers per 100,000 population in England and Wales. This excludes the British Transport Police and Central Service Secondments.

    The Home Office does not hold comparable data for Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, Germany or Italy.

  • Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Birt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 23 November (HL3395), how many breaches of government websites there were in 2014 where no national security considerations apply.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    For security reasons we do not comment on specific details of cyber security attacks. GCHQ typically responds to an average of 70 sophisticated attacks on government networks per quarter.

  • Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Derek Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2015-11-24.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to (a) contribute to the delivery of the Financial Capability Strategy for the UK and (b) ensure that vulnerable young people have the requisite financial skills necessary for working life.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The government recognises the importance of impartial financial guidance and that increased financial capability for consumers will lead to better outcomes for both consumers and the wider economy. Helping hard-working people achieve their aspirations at every stage of their lives is at the heart of our long term plan. That is why we launched the Public Financial Guidance consultation in October 2015 to seek input on what role the government should play in promoting financial capability, and how the public provision of free-to-client, impartial financial guidance should be structured to give consumers the information they need to make financial decisions. In addition, the government recognises the importance of giving young people the skills they need to make financial decisions, which is why financial education has been on the national secondary school curriculum in England since September 2014.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost of using external agencies for recruitment to Senior Civil Service posts in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The actual Departmental cost of using external agencies for recruitment to Senior Civil Service posts in each of the last 5 years is:

    Financial Year

    Cost (£)

    2010/11

    3,944

    2011/12

    0

    2012/13 ¹

    394,511

    2013/14 ¹

    362,616

    2014/15 ¹

    141,232

    ¹ Includes Child Maintenance Group expenditure which joined DWP in August 2012.

    Data excludes NDPBs

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to publish responses to the Government’s consultation entitled, Changes to the Investment Regulations following the Law Commission’s report, Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries, published on 26 February 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government plans to publish these responses shortly. They will be available on the Gov.Uk website.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department is doing to deliver the full pension entitlement for those people in Northern Ireland who started work at the age of 14.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Following the fundamental reforms of the National Insurance scheme in 1975 the law provided that only paid contributions and credits from the year in which a person reached age 16 to the year before the one in which they reached state pension age should count for the purposes of entitlement to the state pension. The Government has no plans to review the position reached by Parliament and which has been in place for the past 40 years, since 1975.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13392, if he will make an estimate of the number of people with cancer who will be affected by the proposals to remove the work-related activity element of employment and support allowance.

    Priti Patel

    No current claimants will be affected by these proposals. We do not hold estimates on the number of future claimants of the work-related element of ESA with specific conditions.

    The impact assessment can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006B.pdf.

    “