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  • Stuart Andrew – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stuart Andrew – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart Andrew on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the recommendations of the Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery Services Review, published on 13 March 2014, if he will make it his policy that continuing audits of performance should be conducted at all children’s heart surgery units.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England and the regulators constantly monitor the outcomes at all children’s cardiac centres. This data is provided regularly by the National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research. Specialised commissioning is currently reviewing the type of information that it analyses as part of the ongoing new Congenital Heart Disease Review into these services.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effects on carers of (a) each change and (b) all changes to the benefits system since 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The Universal Credit Impact Assessment was published in December 2012, full details of the report can be found here

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/welfare-reform-act-2012-impact-assessments

    “

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will conduct an assessment of the effect on carers of the implementation of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

    Mike Penning

    The Universal Credit Impact Assessment was published in December 2012, full details of the report can be found here

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/welfare-reform-act-2012-impact-assessments

    “

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the real-terms income of carers in each of the years from 2010 to 2014; and what estimate he has made of the real-terms income of carers in 2015 in a) Glasgow North West constituency, b) Glasgow, c) Scotland, and d) the UK.

    Mike Penning

    This information is not available.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what issues the HM Revenue and Customs’ Scrutiny Committee has addressed since its establishment in 2013.

    Mr David Gauke

    The remit of the Scrutiny Committee is to advise the Board and Principal Accounting Officer on issues referred by the Board for in-depth review, challenge or assurance. Since its establishment in 2013, the Committee has reviewed the departmental security strategy as well as the department’s complaints handling processes.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the minutes of the meetings of the HM Revenue and Customs’ Board and associated sub-committees for a) 2013 and b) 2014.

    Mr David Gauke

    It is HMRC’s policy to publish Board and Executive Committee minutes annually. The HMRC website is due to be updated with these in the next month. HMRC’s Annual Report contains a summary of the key areas of work for each sub-Committee over the previous year.

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the provision of debt advice for carers in a) Glasgow North West, b) Glasgow, c) Scotland and d) the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Money Advice Service (MAS) is responsible for the coordination of debt advice funding across the UK and has a statutory duty to improve the quality, consistency and availability of debt advice. In 2013/14 MAS funded 163,000 debt advice sessions in England and Wales. MAS also co-funds debt advice in Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government, which in the last financial year led to more than 11,000 people receiving advice.

    MAS research shows that 4% of the clients of its funded services are carers. Research also suggests that advice over the phone can be particularly useful for carers and MAS has expanded its funded services to enable them to provide advice in this way. Carers are also able to access free debt advice over the phone from National Debtline and StepChange Debt Charity.

    In Glasgow, there are two targeted projects which meet carers’specific needs. These are:

    · Yorkhill Families Money and Debt Advice Support Project: Yorkhill hospital and Glasgow Central Citizens Advice Bureau together provide advice to families who are financially vulnerable because of their children’s long-term health condition; and

    · Glasgow Association for Mental Health Money and Debt Project, which provides free face-to-face advice debt advice to people with mental health problems across Glasgow and their carers.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of morale within the National Offender Management Service; and what assessment he has made of the effect on levels of morale of the Transforming Rehabilitation programme.

    Jeremy Wright

    Probation Trusts ceased operating at the end of 31 May 2014. The majority of offenders are now being supervised by staff working in 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies while high risk offenders and those who have committed the most serious offences are being supervised by the National Probation Service. The new structure was tested thoroughly prior to the transition, with staff and cases beginning transfer into the new structure prior to formal transition on 1 June. Formal dissolution of the Probation Trusts will take place following audit of their 2014/15 accounts in the autumn of 2014.

    The leadership of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) remain committed to maintaining morale through the effective leadership of change and continued positive engagement across the organisation. Throughout this significant change programme regular communication has been provided across NOMS to keep people informed about the reforms. We understand the challenges large scale reforms such as this can pose, and we are working closely with probation staff to make sure they can raise any issues quickly. Probation staff at all levels are working hard to implement these vital reforms on the ground and we will continue to support them throughout this process.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the role of police and crime commissioners in the commissioning of probation services within their force areas; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Offender Management Act 2007 places the responsibility for the provision of Probation Services on the Secretary of State for Justice. Under the Act, the Secretary of State may make contractual or other arrangements with any other person for the making of the probation provision. The process of commissioning probation services will be informed by engagement with co-commissioning partners including, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Local Authorities. Contracts will be responsive to changing demands and priorities at local and national levels.

    During the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme, we have undertaken extensive engagement at a national and local level with PCCs and Local Authorities. As part of this process, we have established a national PCC Reference Group and a Local Authority Reference Group which have proved to be useful forums to engage with those PCCs and Local Authorities which are most interested in our reforms and enabled them to scrutinise the commissioning and delivery of the Programme. PCCs and Local Authorities, together with other key local stakeholders have also been able to provide structured advice on what works locally via the creation of competition local advisory panels.

    No organisations are prohibited from bidding in the competition. However, to bid successfully to own and run Community Rehabilitation Companies, they will need to meet the criteria we set, which will include the ability to take on the necessary financial risk under our proposed payment by results mechanism.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicholas Soames – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Transforming Rehabilitation programme risk register.

    Jeremy Wright

    The Transforming Rehabilitation Programme’s risk register is a live document whichthe Department maintains to actively monitor all risks to the successful delivery of the Programme. It is good Government practice to challenge proposals robustly internally and we need to maintain a mechanism to do this to ensure we implement these reforms to the highest standard. It is firmly in the public interest that this process is not inhibited. For this reason there are no plans to publish the risk register.