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Tag: 2014

  • 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 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what records his Department keeps of the monthly 2-star assessments of its risk registers.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The Ministry of Defence makes extensive use of risk management tools and techniques across the different areas of departmental business. Risk registers are generally created, updated, and assessed as part of day-to-day management action; and the relevant records are kept at local level.

  • Eric Joyce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Eric Joyce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eric Joyce on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the UK armed forces would lose their jobs as a result of Scottish independence.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The UK Government is not planning for Scottish independence and neither is the Ministry of Defence. Existing members of the UK Armed Forces would still be part of the UK Armed Forces and, as far as the UK Government is concerned, would be able to continue to serve in them, subject to the usual requirements of service.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to increase awareness of early screenings for prostate cancer for men at risk.

    Jane Ellison

    The Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme (PCRMP) Scientific Reference Group (SRG) keeps the evidence on prostate cancer screening under review, and has not yet seen compelling evidence that screening should be offered to high risk groups.

    The PCRMP is in place to ensure that men over 50 without symptoms of prostate cancer can have a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test free on the national health service after careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the test and after a discussion with a general practitioner.

    The patient information sheets on PSA testing make it clear that the risk of prostate cancer is greater for men with a familial history of prostate cancer and black-African and black-Caribbean men.

    The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) previously highlighted the increased risk of prostate cancer in black men through the ‘Cancer Does Not Discriminate’ campaign, including distributing over 200,000 health supplements and an editorial in The Voice newspaper.

    In 2011, the Department, NCAT, North East London Cancer Network and Prostate Cancer UK worked with NHS Newham and Barts Health Care Trust to pilot the Newham Prostate Health Drop-in Clinic at the Newham African-Caribbean Resource Centre. 322 men had a consultation at the clinic, 59 were referred to secondary care and nine new diagnoses of early stage prostate cancer were made.

    The learning gained from a formal evaluation of the pilot was shared widely with stakeholders within London and across England, including NHS England. The pilot won the in the 2013 Civil Service Diversity and Equality Award for Understanding and engaging with communities.

    The Department is represented on the multi-disciplinary PCRMP SRG and the Prostate Cancer Advisory Group, along with representatives from clinicians, professional bodies, academics, the voluntary sector and patient groups.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) Help to Buy Mortgage Guarantees and (b) Help to Buy: Equity Loans have been taken out in (i) the North West, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) Pendle to date.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government publishes quarterly official statistics relating to the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme. The first of these were published on 29 May 2014.

    This report, along with accompanying tables, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-march-2014

    The Government also publishes monthly statistics on the number of homes purchased with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, by local authority in England. This data can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics.

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  • Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to investigate allegations that employees of programmes in Bihar State funded by her Department are not receiving their salaries.

    Mr Alan Duncan

    DFID is aware of a contractual dispute between a contractor to the Government of Bihar and its sub-contractors. We have looked into this, and are clear that this is now a matter for the Government of Bihar.

  • Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dobbin on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many appeals were made by applicants for social care at the end of their life in the last two years; how many such appeals were successful; and what proportion of total appeals against decisions about social care such appeals represent.

    Norman Lamb

    Local authorities have a duty to assess the needs of any person for whom the authority may arrange social care and who may be in need of such care. They have a further duty to decide, having regard to the results of the assessment, what, if any, care and support they should provide to meet the individual’s needs. Where a local authority decides to arrange care and support it will carry out a financial assessment to decide what an individual can afford to contribute towards the cost. Appeals against decisions by local authorities are considered locally. Information about appeals is not collected centrally.

    In its 2011 report, the independent Palliative Care Funding Review recommended the provision of free social care at the end of life. A series of palliative care funding pilots were established to test the review’s recommendations, and these completed their work in March 2014. NHS England is currently analysing the financial data collected from the pilots. Once this analysis has been completed, a decision will be made on the issue of free social care at the end of life, taking into account this analysis and wider policy and financial considerations.

  • Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Brown on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the advice received by his Department on health risks of the radiation contamination at Dalgety Bay.

    Mr Mark Francois

    In 2006 the then Health Protection Agency (HPA) Radiological Protection Authority advised that radioactive contamination on Dalgety Bay presented a low risk to the public. A more recent scoping risk assessment undertaken in 2011 by the HPA Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards at the bequest of the Scottish Government concluded that the risk to health was very low.

    The view of the Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards (now part of Public Health England) remains unchanged. However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is completing a detailed quantitative risk assessment to inform the longer term management strategy which will be available in due course.

    Copies of the advice received by MOD together with a copy of the more detailed risk assessment, when published, will be placed in the Library of the House.

  • 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 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Health and Social Care Information Centre takes to ensure that all its registers are complete and can be easily cross-referenced.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    As part of continuous improvement, the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) will continue to review the completeness of all the registers that are being released. The HSCIC has committed to publishing details of all approved data releases including the purpose for which data was released, on a quarterly basis and continue to welcome scrutiny of these registers and feedback and will ensure that any genuine omissions are incorporated within these updates.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, if he will make it his policy that the Government adopt when designing domestic policy the same gender equality provisions as contained in the International (Gender Equality) Act 2014 for development assistance provision.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    Public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales are subject to the s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (Public Sector Equality Duty), which requires them to have to due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity between different groups, for example between men and women in carrying out their functions including policy development.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of excess fare allowance in each year for which figures are available.

    Anna Soubry

    The following table provides the numbers of Ministry of Defence civilian staff in receipt of Excess Fares Allowance (EFA) by financial year, from the earliest date that figures are available;

    Financial Year MOD Civilian Staff in Receipt of EFA
    2007-08 4,735
    2008-09 4,792
    2009-10 4,438
    2010-11 5,072
    2011-12 5,098
    2012-13 4,552
    2013-14 3,987