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Tag: 2014

  • Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Chuka Umunna – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 3 March 2014, Official Report, column 624W, on Floods: Business, how many Repair and Renewal Grant applications have been (a) received and (b) processed.

    Dan Rogerson

    The ‘Repair and Renew’ grant was launched on 1 April 2014. Applications for the grant are being received and processed by local authorities, who may then invoice Defra every quarter. Defra began receiving invoices from local authorities in July.

  • Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2014-07-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average length of time taken to process settlements for the War Pensions Scheme has been in each year since 2010.

    Anna Soubry

    The average length of time taken to process claims under the War Pensions Scheme in each year since 2010 has been;

    2010-11 – 39 working days
    2011-12 – 51 working days
    2012-13 – 82 working days
    2013-14 – 110 working days
    2014-15 year to 31 July – 102 working days

    In the majority of cases deadlines for progressing cases are met. The War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Schemes are jointly resourced and administered. The impact of the implementation of the Boyce Review on the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (Cm 7798, published February 2010) and its subsequent publicity campaign, combined with an increase in the number of applications for War Disablement Pension (linked to more people with pre-April 2005 service reaching the end of their engagement), led to delays in processing prospective claims.

  • 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, what estimate he has made of the additional cost of additional appeals to the Parking Traffic Appeals Service if a 25 per cent discount is given to motorists who lose an appeal at tribunal against the issue of a parking ticket.

    Brandon Lewis

    As recommended by the Transport Select Committee (Local authority parking enforcement, HC 118, October 2013), the Government intends to work in partnership with a local authority to assess introducing a 25% discount to motorists who lose an appeal at tribunal level. This trial will allow us to evaluate the impacts, before rolling out the policy nationally.

    The underlying policy rationale is the current lack of any discount at an appeal stage (but with a discount operating if the driver does not appeal) acts as a disincentive for drivers with genuine cases to appeal. I would remind the rt. hon. Member that parking fines are a quasi-judicial process, not a source of revenue for councils. This Government believes in fairness, in contrast to the Labour Government which actively told councils to adopt aggressive parking enforcement practices.

  • Andrew Griffiths – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Griffiths – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children receive free school meals in each (a) free school and (b) local authority area where a free school has been established.

    Mr David Laws

    Information on the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals was included in the publication ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2014′.[1]

    Information on the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in individual schools, including free schools, is provided in the publication’s underlying data. This includes school type and local authority.

    Table 8a in the publication shows the percentage of pupils in state-funded nursery and primary schools known to be eligible and claiming free school meals by each local authority area. Table 8b shows the percentage of pupils in state funded secondary schools known to be eligible and claiming free school meals by each local authority area. Table 3 shows the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in free schools nationally.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014

    “

  • 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, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that those clinical commissioning groups providing financial support to a neighbouring clinical commissioning group does not suffer a reduction in its own provision of services as a result.

    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.

  • Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weatherley on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of missed GP appointments; and if he will make a statement.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Information is not collected centrally on the number of missed general practitioner (GP) appointments. This is a matter for local organisations. However, NHS England estimates that each year around 12 million GP appointments are missed, at a cost to the system of £162 million.

    In order to reduce the number of missed GP appointments, the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund is supporting pilots to ensure appointments are as convenient as possible for the patient. The pilots will offer millions more patients evening and weekend GP appointments, as well as introducing initiatives, such as email and Skype consultations.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, what due diligence tests her Department undertook on the Educational Testing Service prior to awarding the company a contract for delivering language tests for visa applications.

    James Brokenshire

    The licence with Secure English Language Testing providers is clear that
    providers must put measures in place to combat abuse and any concerns regarding
    fraud or abuse should be reported to the Home Office. All third-party service
    providers, whether they are employers, education establishments or test
    providers, must take their obligations seriously or face the removal of their
    licence to work with us.

  • 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 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been in relation to offences under section 57 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Data for offences under Section 57 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 are not reported centrally to the Ministry of Justice. This information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales and as such it can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the value for money of current levels of service on each section of the (a) TransPennine Express and (b) Northern Rail franchises.

    Stephen Hammond

    At a Direct Award or franchise Re-let we carry out value for money assessments (in order to calculate Benefit-Cost Ratios) of changes to service levels but we do not undertake this assessment of the existing base service levels where they carry forward into the new Agreement.

    However, for any large procurement exercise such as a Direct Award or Franchise Re-let, we use externally produced comparators that cover the whole of the franchise to allow us to evaluate the price of any bid that we receive.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Health and Safety Executive’s submission to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review and evidence submitted to the series of interviews with his Department’s staff conducted by researchers from the University of Leeds in 2008.

    Mike Penning

    The submission will be placed in the Library shortly.