Tag: 2014

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he will take to introduce safeguards to power of attorney to better protect elderly and vulnerable people from abuses of that power.

    Simon Hughes

    The Government is committed to protecting elderly and vulnerable people, and to ensuring that anyone responsible for abuse is dealt with appropriately.

    The Public Guardian has power to investigate cases where concerns are raised about the actions of a person acting under a power of attorney, and to apply to the Court to revoke the power of attorney where necessary to prevent abuse. The Public Guardian will refer cases to health and care authorities, who can act under statutory safeguarding powers to protect an individual who may be at risk, and to the police if he suspects a criminal offence has been committed.

    We are currently considering whether the Public Guardian needs additional powers to strengthen his role in safeguarding elderly and vulnerable people, including the power to continue an investigation after a power of attorney or court order has been revoked or disclaimed. This would require changes to primary legislation.

    Data on prosecutions for fraud, or for ill-treatment and neglect under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, do not specify whether the allegation relates to a person acting under a power of attorney. The Government’s response to the House of Lords Select Committee’s report on the Mental Capacity Act includes a commitment to review the use of the criminal offence under s44 of the Act.

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will assess the level of care provided by Public Health England and local charities to help those suffering from addiction to, and withdrawal from, psychiatric drugs; and whether they have estimated the number of those afflicted.

    Earl Howe

    Public Health England does not provide care, its role is to support commissioners to better understand and address local drug need. If local addiction charities are commissioned by a local authority, then it is the responsibility of local commissioners to assess the level of care they provide. If they are registered with the Care Quality Commission then they will be expected to meet minimum care standards.

    There is no widely accepted definition of ‘psychiatric drugs’. In-depth research commissioned by the Department found that there are no national databases that can give us information on the number of people who are addicted to medicine.

  • Lord Noon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Noon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Noon on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the counter-terrorism budget for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was in each year since 2010; and how much they are budgeting for the current year.

    Baroness Warsi

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) budget for counter terrorism work is comprised of a range of funding streams, as well as being incorporated into the overall approach taken to assist priority counter-terrorism partner countries.

    The main fund for terrorism-related assistance is the Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF). The tri-departmental (FCO, Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development) Conflict Pool supports complementary work in some fragile and conflict-affected states by tackling the root causes of terrorism through upstream conflict prevention activities. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement on 24 June 2014, Official Report, column WS107-108, total conflict resources for the financial year 2014-15 have increased to £683 million, of which £239m has been allocated to the Conflict pool.

    The budget for the CTPF for the financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14 was £38 million / £38 million / £36 million / £30 million respectively. The administration budget for CTD from the financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14 was £340,500 / £572,500 / £345,000 / £237,500 respectively. The administration budget for CTD in 2014-15 is £211,000. A Written Ministerial Statement will follow on the FCO Strategic Programme Fund allocation for 2014-15, which will include the CTPF.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-06-26.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of his Department’s consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The information is not held by HM Treasury in the format you requested. Annual consumption and spend data is available in the Treasury Annual Report and Accounts for each year, copies of which have been deposited in the library.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of films made in the UK as co-productions with foreign companies in each year since 1997.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The number of films made in the UK as co-productions with foreign companies is recorded in the BFI’s Statistical Yearbook and set out in the following table. Data is not available for the period before 2002 and does not include the numbers of inward investment which are substantially financed and controlled from outside the UK and which are attracted to the UK by factors including the UK’s filmmaking infrastructure and film tax relief. An international co-production is where a film is produced by more than one production company from more than one country.

    2002

    2003

    2004

    2005

    2006

    2007

    2008

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    66

    106

    105

    67

    53

    33

    29

    38

    34

    47

    40

    Source: BFI

  • John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    John Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the duration in days that airports in the south east of England would be able to run at full aviation fuel demand capacity in the event of an emergency on the scale of the Buncefield explosion in 2005.

    Michael Fallon

    UK supplies of aviation fuels are resilient to most hazards and additional protections have been put in place since the incident at Buncefield in 2005. Any impact upon supplies would depend entirely on the nature of any incident.

  • Guto Bebb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Guto Bebb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guto Bebb on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the three Israeli teenagers kidnapped in the West Bank on 12 June 2014; and what steps he has taken to secure their release.

    Hugh Robertson

    I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 26 June 2014 (Official Report, column 258W).

  • Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Bryant – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to (a) free prescriptions, (b) free eye tests and (c) free dental care to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

    Jane Ellison

    The cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free prescriptions, eye tests and dental care to all claimants of Universal Credit once Universal Credit has been fully rolled out will depend on the number of claimants at that time. This number will depend on a range of factors. The Government intends that broadly the same number of individuals will be passported via Universal Credit as are currently passported.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional support she is providing to the passport office in Belfast.

    James Brokenshire

    The Belfast Office Full Time Equivalent (FTE) workforce in June 2014 was 216.29
    compared with 147.76 FTE in June 2012. The increase in staff has been to deal
    with the introduction of processing of work from overseas in 2013-14 and the
    introduction of an evening shift in January 2014 to assist in dealing with UK applications.
    Currently there are 20 additional staff redeployed to Belfast to assist in the
    examination function.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the marginal cost was of one extra prisoner being accommodated in each prison in England and Wales when each prison is functioning at its operational capacity in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not have information on the marginal cost of a prisoner for each prison. The calculation of a marginal cost would normally apply where a permanent change to a prison’s operational capacity is taking place.

    Prisons are not expected to operate above their operational capacity and ensuring that this capacity is set to reflect the provision of safe and decent accommodation and the operation of suitable regimes ensures that levels of crowding in prisons are carefully managed.

    Sensible measures have been taken to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to deal with any temporary increases in population. These include creating additional places in prisons in a safe and decent way and ensuring that prisons reflect the needs of the current population. Any short term increases in capacity will only be those sites where additional prisoners can be safely and decently accommodated and where a senior prison manager has certified that the additional prisoners will be held in safe, secure and decent accommodation.

    We will end this Parliament with more adult male prison places than we inherited, more hours of work in prisons than we inherited, more education for young detainees than we inherited and a more modern, cost effective prison estate than we inherited.