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  • Lord Vinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Vinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Vinson on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for the last 12-month period for which figures are available, how many applications have been made under the European Arrest Warrant for prosecution of British nationals overseas, and of those, how many have been (1) agreed to, and (2) rejected.

    Lord Bates

    In the 2014/15 business year the National Crime Agency (NCA) received 127 European Arrest Warrants for British citizens. During the same period 40 British citizens were extradited under an EAW.

    The number of EAWs for British citizens which resulted in a discharge by the courts during this same period is not held centrally.

  • Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are any plans to increase the number of military doctors working less than full-time.

    Earl Howe

    While there are currently no plans to increase the numbers of military doctors, there are plans to provide a limited number of already serving regular medical officers the opportunity to be employed at reduced levels of obligation, for a number of days worked per year for a bounded period of time.

    Applicants will shortly be invited to participate in this Flexible Duties Employment Trial, which is due to commence in early 2016.

  • Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the relocation of families on staff retention in the Defence Medical Services.

    Earl Howe

    Based on the results of exit interviews, conducted when an individual leaves the Service, the majority of medical officers who choose to leave are citing stability as a reason.

    The Surgeon General is aware of the reasons why medical officers are choosing to leave and is working with the heads of the single Service medical branches to address this.

  • Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase staff retention in the Defence Medical Services.

    Earl Howe

    The Defence Medical Services (DMS) takes very seriously the issue of retention and ensures the views expressed by personnel in exit interviews, conducted when they leave the Service, inform policy in this area.

    There are no Financial Retention Incentives for personnel within the DMS as a whole. However, the Royal Navy has introduced Financial Retention Incentives for Submariner Medical Assistants based on their Return of Service. In addition, Medical and Dental Officers, Nurses (Officers and Other Ranks) and Veterinary Officers have bespoke pay spines which are seen as retention positive. Specialist Nurses are also able to claim Recruitment and Retention Pay.

    There are a number of non-remunerative incentives for DMS personnel and these include access to funded Continuing Professional Development courses; career opportunities outside the main clinical roles and responsibilities; inter trade transfers (predominantly from Combat Medical Technicians and Medical Assistants into an Allied Health Professional trade or Nursing) and the availability of post graduate training.

  • Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Touhig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of morale in the Defence Medical Services.

    Earl Howe

    The Defence Medical Services (DMS) Continuous Attitude Survey (CAS) was completed in June 2015 and contained specific questions about morale.

    The survey included a question to personnel asking "What is the level of morale like where you work?" 35% of respondents reported that the level of morale is either ‘high’ or ‘very high’ with 34% reporting it as ‘neutral’.

    The results of the CAS have been considered by the Surgeon General and DMS Board.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve broadband networks in the UK to support small businesses.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Since 2010 the proportion of households and businesses with access to superfast broadband has risen from 45% to 83%. Thanks to the Government’s investment this will rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has been a tremendous success. More than 55,000 small businesses across the UK have taken up the offer, many of which are already seeing significant boosts to their business as a result of improved broadband speeds.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they had with Facebook about their recent updates to make it easier for businesses to interact with customers on that platform.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government regularly meets Facebook, who are part of our Strategic Relationship Management programme, to discuss a range of issues across a number of government departments.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the OECD global trade outlook and its recommendation that governments should step up investment to support growth.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The latest OECD Economic Outlook forecasts the UK to be the joint fastest growing major advanced economy in 2015. The OECD have revised down the forecast for both world trade growth and global GDP growth in 2015 and 2016. This demonstrates the need to continue to fix the economy to ensure the UK can deal with risks from abroad.

    The government remains committed to encouraging long-term investment and promoting a dynamic economy, and recently set out comprehensive reforms to support productivity growth in “Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation”.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote the role of women researchers in the global agriculture sector.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government is committed to developing a strong, diverse research community. The Research Councils and National Academies share this commitment.

    Government is working with its partner organisations to promote equality across all research disciplines and has established a Diversity Steering Group to guide this work.

    To improve the diversity of research fellowship awards, the National Academies are working to encourage more applications from under-represented groups and to guard against discrimination in the selection process. Government has also commissioned the Research Councils to develop an action plan to improve the diversity of grant applications and peer-review rates.

    As an international example, Government and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have jointly funded four research programmes involving collaborative projects between UK researchers and partners in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

    All programmes have included research capacity building in developing countries and have had an increasing focus on integrating gender into agricultural research.

    The most recent programme, Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) includes a studentship programme and of the twelve PhD students who have been appointed, eight are women.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the measures small businesses can take to protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    he Government is investing £860m in a comprehensive National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) to protect the UK from cyber attacks, tackle cyber crime and make the UK one of the safest places in the world to do business online.

    Through the NCSP the Government is providing protective advice and guidance, such as the “Ten Steps to Cyber Security”, the Cyber Streetwise campaign, and “Get Safe Online”, and promoting the Cyber Essentials scheme, which sets out the basic technical controls to protect against common cyber attacks. The Government is also building partnerships with industry and sharing cyber threat information, and building law enforcement capabilities to tackle cyber crime, including the National Cyber Crime Unit within the National Crime Agency, and the new network of cyber crime officers within the Metropolitan Police Service and Regional Organised Crime Units.

    The Cyber Essentials scheme and Cyber Streetwise campaign are specifically designed to help protect small businesses. In addition, tailored guidance called “What you need to know about cyber security” is available for small businesses, as well as a free online training course for staff in small and medium-sized business.