UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2014

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent review her Department has conducted of the threat posed to UK agriculture by invasive species; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Defra commissioned Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International to produce a report, entitled “The Economic Cost of Invasive Non-native Species on Great Britain”, which was published in 2010. The report sets out the economic impacts of invasive non-native species to a range of sectors, including agriculture.

    The Great Britain Non-native Species Secretariat undertakes risk assessments on potentially invasive non-native species and has completed 75 to date. These risk assessments consider the impacts on a wide range of sectors including agriculture.

    An updated Great Britain Invasive Non-native Species Strategy was published in August which sets out a comprehensive framework for delivering action to address the impacts from these species.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in what age groups NHS England has treated for squints in the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    Individuals with squints may be treated in either primary care or secondary care.

    It is not possible to identify those provided with glasses in primary care, funded by NHS England, to correct a squint.

    It is possible to identify those who had a Finished Admission Episode in secondary care, funded by clinical commissioning groups, with a diagnosis of squint and received corrective surgery. The table below, provided by the Health and Social Care Information centre, shows the number of these procedures, broken down by age, carried out in England between 2009-10 and 2013-14. This will not capture other patients seen in secondary care on an outpatient basis where surgery was not necessary.

    Age

    200910

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    0-4

    2,212

    2,130

    2,241

    2,154

    2,064

    5-9

    2,634

    2,635

    2,884

    2,886

    3,043

    10-14

    800

    811

    793

    784

    850

    15-19

    547

    569

    608

    635

    618

    20-24

    448

    469

    484

    456

    419

    25-29

    454

    463

    450

    421

    471

    30-34

    408

    387

    419

    405

    455

    35-39

    437

    452

    415

    393

    361

    40-44

    438

    422

    398

    423

    420

    45-49

    355

    383

    371

    371

    415

    50-54

    303

    298

    310

    316

    346

    55-59

    273

    290

    289

    280

    292

    60-64

    279

    293

    262

    225

    292

    65-69

    180

    238

    239

    245

    284

    70-74

    147

    160

    162

    197

    217

    75-79

    113

    132

    134

    126

    131

    80+

    87

    73

    88

    94

    96

    Unknown

    5

    6

    4

    3

    3

    Total

    10,120

    10,211

    10,551

    10,414

    10,777

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Note: Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has on (a) raising awareness of severe and complex disabilities suspected of having a genetic syndrome for which it is not currently possible to confirm a diagnosis and (b) helping to ensure that patients and their families that are affected by such disabilities have access to appropriate care and support.

    George Freeman

    The Department is committed to improving the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases, including those severe and complex conditions caused by genetic disorders, through implementation of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases, published in November 2013. The UK strategy includes specific recommendations to improve awareness amongst service providers and others of the effects that rare diseases can have on a person’s education, family, social relationships and ability to work. There is also a specific recommendation to improve education and awareness across the healthcare professions and to improve the co-ordination of care, recognising that some patients have complex needs and require expertise from a number of specialists and carers.

    The UK Rare Disease Forum will monitor progress against the recommendations in the strategy and is due to produce its first report in early 2016.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 11793, how many full-time equivalent staff her Department allocated to responding to North West of England hon. Members’ enquiries on their constituents’ immigration issues on 1 September (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    As stated in my previous reply of 22 October to Question 11793, it is not possible to provide the Hon. Member with all the information requested as it is not readily available or held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

    UKVI requires many of its staff, as part of their roles, to contribute to dealing with immigration enquiries from Members. This can include providing contributions to Parliamentary Questions, Ministerial briefing or for a Select Committee hearing. Since 1 September 2015, UKVI has had dedicated MP Account Management teams whose job is to handle MP enquiries relating to their constituents.

    The team designated to responding to members from the North West of England has a total of 9.8 full-time equivalent staff.

    Other members of staff will also contribute to the preparation of responses.

    The North West MP Account Manager team has performed at a high level and the results will shortly be seen following via the Member of Parliament satisfaction survey results which will soon appear on the Gov.uk website.

    Published statistics confirm that UKVI’s overall service to Members has continually exceeded its service standard since Q4 2014. The Hon. Member can access this information at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-august-2015.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to Answer of 21 October 2015 to Question 12217, when more discussions on judicial co-operation are planned to take place.

    Dominic Raab

    Discussions are ongoing and are being taken forward by the British Embassy in Riyadh. No work has yet been undertaken by the Ministry of Justice as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department’s policies on increasing access to public transport for disabled passengers.

    Andrew Jones

    We have made significant progress since 2010 on increasing access to public transport.

    Compliance with bus accessibility regulations is 89% of buses in England in 2015 compared to 59% in 2009-10; while 60% of rail vehicles, up from less than 40% in 2010, were built or fully refurbished to modern access standards.

    By the end of this year Access for All will have completed more than 150 step-free routes at rail stations against a target of 125. More than 1,200 stations have also received smaller scale improvements. To build on this success £160m has been allocated to another 68 stations to be delivered by 2019.

  • Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to monitor regional variations in benefit uptake.

    Priti Patel

    Estimates of take-up are not available at geographies below Great Britain. This is due to the size of the survey sample they are based on and methods used to generate robust national figures.

    However, on 25th June 2015 the Department for Work and Pensions published the report “Income-related benefits: Estimates of take-up in 2013/14 (experimental)”. The full report can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-201314

    “

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with (a) Ministers of the Scottish Government and (b) his Cabinet colleagues on reducing the voting age to 16 for all Scottish and UK elections.

    David Mundell

    The Scottish Parliament passed an Act to lower the voting age in those elections in June 2015.

  • Baroness Berridge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Berridge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Berridge on 2015-10-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the Central African Republic should be included in the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Work in the Central African Republic (CAR) has been an important part of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative in recognition of the large role that sexual violence has played in the conflict in CAR which has included the sexual abuse of women and children, sexual slavery and rape. This work has, to date, been primarily carried out through our work with the African Union (AU). Since the launch of the initiative, the UK has provided £1.3 million to support the AU’s Gender Peace and Security Programme. This includes the deployment of sexual violence experts that were deployed to the CAR in 2014. These experts provided support to victims in the districts of Paoua, Kaga-Bandoro and Bambar. This Programme also supported the AU’s Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, Madame Bineta Diop. We are working with the AU to build on this deployment and increase AU capacity to carry out similar deployments in the future.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-10-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel about the state of emergency declared by the Palestinian Red Crescent on 4 October.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not raised this issue specifically with the Israeli authorities, we are clear that medical staff should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the need to de-escalate the tensions.