Tag: 2014

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 292W, on Royal Mail, from which directorate each member of staff working on the privatisation of Royal Mail was drawn.

    Matthew Hancock

    The core team of 17 people working on the sale of Royal Mail shares comprised staff from the Shareholder Executive. Staff in other BIS Directorates contributed to the work – primarily from Legal Directorate, Finance Directorate, Press Office and Economics and Markets Directorate.

    The project received scrutiny outside BIS from the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority and a Treasury Approval Point panel.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the National Lottery about extending funding to the video games industry.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    No specific discussions have taken place with the National Lottery about the use of Lottery funding in relation to the video games industry. This Government has restored the Lottery shares for heritage sports, and arts good causes to 20%, so contributing to a significant increase in Lottery funding for those areas since the beginning of this Parliament. It is for individual Distributing bodies to determine the beneficiaries of Lottery monies in making awards within their good cause sectors, taking account of their Policy Directions.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library all responses to his Department’s consultation on local authority parking.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We have placed in the Library of the House, a copy of the detailed summary of the 800 responses to the consultation.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent on the Unmanned Sea Vehicle-based Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme Sweep Demonstrator project.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme’s sweep demonstrator project is in its pre-contract award stage; spending to date has been on technical preparation activities at a cost of approximately £40,000.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last discussed violence against women and girls with representatives of the Indian government; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We are committed to working with the Indian government and international partners to address the problems of gender-based violence, human trafficking and child exploitation and regularly discuss these issues with the Indian authorities. Our High Commissioner Sir James Bevan recently met India’s Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi on 17 June to discuss a range of issues, including gender-based violence and the UK’s plans to host the 2014 Girls Summit aimed at tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) and early and forced marriage. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has also discussed the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and its efforts to prevent violence against women and girls, with India’s new Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj.

    Through the Department for International Development (DFID) the UK supports measures in India’s 120 poorest districts to promote the empowerment and access to benefits and services of excluded groups. DFID India also provides support to national and state governments in India, which includes helping girls to complete basic education and further tackling violence against women and girls.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups are running financial deficits requiring financial support from neighbouring clinical commissioning groups.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) funding.

    We are informed by NHS England that there is no provision for financial support between CCGs, and therefore no regime for repayment and/or interest.

    CCGs are expected to live within the resources allocated to them, but in rare cases where this is not possible, and subject to detailed assurance by NHS England Area Teams, a deficit plan is agreed and centrally funded. CCGs are expected to repay such funding over an agreed timescale in accordance with an approved recovery plan. The same applies if a CCG with a planned surplus records a deficit in year.

    In some cases, neighbouring CCGs have opted to enter into risk sharing or investment pooling arrangements, for example, in the context of shared commissioning arrangements or to facilitate wider health economy transformation programmes. The precise arrangements for such risk sharing are a matter for local determination by the governing bodies concerned, and they would be expected to ensure that these agreements were transparently documented and did not impact adversely on patient services.

  • Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Harrington on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps UK Visas and Immigration can take to prevent no cases of Ebola reaching the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    The UK does not specifically screen pre or at entry for Ebola.

    Public Health England has assessed the risk of importation of Ebola in the UK
    as very low. It is extremely unlikely that an outbreak of Ebola would occur in
    the UK even if there was to be an imported case, as there are factors operating
    in West Africa which would not be seen in the UK. The outbreak in West Africa
    is driven by person to person spread in the absence of any infection control
    precautions. Human cases of Ebola virus disease have never yet been exported
    from an outbreak zone to a European country.

    All UK ports have systems and plans for dealing with issues of public health
    concern. However, they all require that the public health system is firstly
    notified of the arrival of someone with a suspected disease of concern. Crew
    are trained to do this by their respective companies and an example of the type
    of guidance that they work towards can be found on the International Air
    Transport Association (the international airline trade body) website at:

    https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/safety/health/Documents/health-guidelines-cabin-cr
    ew-2011.pdf .

    At all UK ports, there is a system for routing reports, produced by the
    commander of a craft, to a local health protection team who are available on a
    24/7 basis throughout the year. Health protection teams have generic
    responsibility for managing incidents of public health concern in all settings
    including our ports. They will then take the lead in managing the incident from
    a public health perspective with the NHS being responsible for the provision of
    healthcare.

    The International Health Regulations (IHR), which entered into force on 15 June
    2007, require countries to report certain disease outbreaks and public health
    events to WHO, including Ebola.

  • Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage more rape victims to report that crime to the police and to ensure that they are treated appropriately when they do so.

    Norman Baker

    Rape and sexual violence are devastating and unacceptable crimes. The
    Coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling such violence and abuse
    is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in
    March 2014. Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which
    includes giving victims more confidence to report crimes, and it is encouraging
    that police recorded crime figures show more victims are having the confidence
    to come forward.

    We want every report of rape to be treated seriously from the point of
    disclosure, every victim to be treated with dignity and every investigation and
    every prosecution to be conducted thoroughly and professionally.

    We have ring-fenced funding for 87 Independent Sexual Violence Advisers to
    provide appropriate and independent support for victims.

    We have supported the publication of data on rape for every police force in the
    country as a basis for improving recording and investigations of rape and
    ensure that guidance on investigating and prosecuting rape is implemented in
    every police force area. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary is
    inspecting the recording of rape as part of a wider crime recording audit, and
    the police and Crown Prosecution Service have published a joint action plan to
    improve how these cases are handled within the criminal justice system.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of his Department’s work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

    Stephen Hammond

    As suggested by the evidence submitted as part of the Department’s work with the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008, the Department for Transport does not use cost per quality adjusted life year in its analysis.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on disabled people in work of the closure of the Independent Living Fund.

    Mike Penning

    The potential implications of closing the Independent Living Fund are set out clearly in the Equality Analysis that was published on 6 March alongside the Written Ministerial Statement announcing the closure.