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Tag: 2014

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether newly negotiated rail franchises and franchise extensions include incentives for the train operator concerned to devote sufficient resources to revenue protection.

    Baroness Kramer

    Most franchise operators are on risk for revenue and are therefore incentivised to protect that revenue. However, we are conscious that where operators are in receipt of revenue support, in some cases it may be appropriate to strengthen the incentive, particularly later in the franchise term. The exact nature of the incentive or mechanism will vary by franchise.

  • Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mr David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Hanson on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what commercial tenders have been received for a new system to introduce exit checks and replace the e-borders programme.

    James Brokenshire

    The activities of the e-Borders programme have been absorbed into the Border
    Systems Programme. The estimated cost to close the e-Borders programme and
    define the Border Systems Programme was £340,000. These costs are attributable
    to civil servants already in post and there has been no additional expenditure
    or procurement in order to move the work from e-Borders to Border Systems.

    The procurement approach to replacing the primary border security elements of
    the Border Systems Programme will reflect broader Government ICT and Commercial
    strategy, and there will be no single, large supplier. The Home Office will
    lead development, with services procured from a range of providers, potentially
    including small and medium enterprises; no tenders have been received at this
    time.

    By March 2015 the Border Systems Programme aims to:

    • Complete resilience of all current business critical systems;
    • Develop replacement primary border security systems;
    • Provide the capability to support commitments on exit checks;
    • Establish a programme for the next generation of Radiological and Nuclear
    detection (Cyclamen);
    • Continue the implementation of second generation e-Gates across the estate;
    • Develop and implement new freight targeting capability for Sea Containers;
    • Establish contracts to purchase new detection equipment;
    • Continue to assure live operations of existing systems.

    The breakdown of FTE Civil Servants engaged by the e-Borders and subsequently
    the Border Systems Programme in each year since 2010, is:

    Dec-10 Dec-11 Dec-12 Dec-13
    SCS PB 2 1 1 1 0
    SCS PB 1 2 1 2 2
    G6 7.8 7.8 7.8 9.8
    G7 11.8 9.8 10.8 17.8
    SEO/HMI 33.5 34.7 48.8 49.7
    HEO/CIO 26 25.4 22.5 30.9
    EO/IO 22 19.3 25 20.8
    AO/PS 7 5 5 3

  • Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Steel of Aikwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current travel advice for visits to Kenya.

    Baroness Warsi

    We keep our travel advice under constant review. As of 12 June, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all but essential travel to:

    – areas within 60km of the Kenya-Somali border

    – Kiwayu and coastal areas north of Pate Island

    – Garissa District

    – the Eastleigh area of Nairobi

    – low income areas of Nairobi, including all township or slum areas

    – Mombasa island and within 5km of the coast from Mtwapa creek in the north down to and including Tiwi in the south (this area does not include Diani or Moi international airport).

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-13.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of reasons for differential turnout between socio-economic groups.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it has not made its own assessment of the reasons for differential turnout between socio-economic groups. However, the Commission is aware of the fact of differential turnout between not only social but demographic and other groups and targets its campaigns accordingly.

    For instance, the Commission ensures that its campaigns reach young people by advertising on channels used by that demographic, including Facebook and video-on-demand services, and that its television adverts are frequently placed during programmes with a high viewership amongst young people.

  • Lord Palmer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Palmer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2014-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of introducing standardised tobacco packaging on the United Kingdom’s ability to trade globally.

    Earl Howe

    The Government continues to carefully consider all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including aspects related to trade.

    The Government will shortly publish a final, short consultation that will contribute to final decision-making on whether standardised packaging will be introduced. The Government encourages anyone with an interest to respond to the consultation, which may include evidence on the impact of standardised packaging on trade.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Jonathan Edwards – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will meet the Electoral Commission to discuss the suitability of the chief executives of Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council for their roles as returning officers at the forthcoming European election.

    Greg Clark

    I have regular meetings with the Chair of the Electoral Commission.

    Cabinet Office officials have been working closely with the Electoral Commission, and have discussed a range of issues, to support the efficient and effective administration of the forthcoming European Parliamentary election.

  • Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the National Probation Service budget has been allocated for the management of high-risk cases.

    Lord Faulks

    The total probation budget for 2014-15 is £804 million. This includes the first two months of the financial year, during which services were provided by the probation trusts. As well as operational delivery, the probation budget includes provision of corporate services to support the new operating model.

    The budget figureis based on an initial assessment of operational and business needs and may vary within the financial period. The costs associated with high-risk offenders fall within a number of budget items and do not constitute a separate category.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Steve Rotheram – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions an individual on licence for an attempted murder conviction has been granted permission to enter an exclusion zone which has been formed as part of their licence arrangement in each of the last 10 years.

    Jeremy Wright

    Unfortunately, it is not possible to answer these questions without carrying out a manual search through all relevant individual offender files, at disproportionate cost.

    Conditions such as an exclusion zone may be applied to an offender’s licence where it is necessary to manage the risk that the individual offender poses following release into the community – and where it is proportionate to that risk. Where qualifying victims have exercised their statutory right to make representations about the offender’s licence conditions, the exclusion zone set will take into account those representations. In each case, the supervising officer proposes conditions as appropriate and requests these from the appropriate authority, which applies it to the licence on behalf of the Secretary of State. In the case of determinate sentence prisoners, the authority is the prison governor; in the case of indeterminate sentence prisoners, or others whose release is on the direction of the Parole Board, the authority is the Parole Board.

    These conditions must be kept under review, and are intended to be flexible to the possible resettlement needs of an offender in the community and any new risks that arise.

    An exclusion zone will rarely be absolute, as it is recognised that there may be exceptional reasons why the offender needs to enter the exclusion zone. Thus, where an exclusion zone is included in the offender’s licence, it will usually be open to the supervising officer to grant the offender permission to enter the exclusion zone, for a temporary period and for a specific purpose.

    As this is a purely localised decision, there is no national record of the number of occasions such permission has been given. It is, therefore, not possible to answer the questions regarding how many times an offender has been granted permission to enter the exclusion zone applied to his licence.

    Data from the last 10 years is not available in the required electronic format to answer the question relating to numbers of offenders with exclusion zones included in their licence. To provide such information would again require a manual interrogation of offenders’ records and this would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2014-06-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of Worcester Walk-In Health Centre onthe emergency department at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

    Earl Howe

    The reconfiguration of local health services is a matter for the National Health Service. All service changes should be led by clinicians and be in the best interests of patients, not driven from the top down.

    We are aware that the local consultation on the Worcestershire Urgent Care Strategy closed on 9 April 2014. The clinical commissioning groups in Worcestershire are now considering the responses. No decisions have yet been made.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-03-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which Health and Safety Executive Approved Codes of Practice (a) have been reviewed since May 2010, (b) are scheduled for review or amendment and (c) are not currently scheduled for review.

    Mike Penning

    Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reviewing all of its Approved Codes of Practices (ACOP) in line with Professor Löfstedt’s independent review of health and safety legislation ‘Reclaiming health and safety for all’ (published November 2011).

    (a) 19 ACOPs have been reviewed since May 2010. Of these, five have been revised and re-published, nine consolidated into three revised ACOPs and five withdrawn completely. These are:

    Revised

    L5 – Control of substances hazardous to health

    L8 – Legionnaires’ disease. The Control of legionella bacteria in water systems

    L24 – Workplace health, safety and welfare

    L117 – Rider-operated lift trucks: Operator training

    L118 – Health and safety at quarries

    Consolidated

    L56 – Safety in the installation and use of gas systems and appliances. This is a consolidation of two ACOPs (L56 and COP20: Standards of training in safe gas installation) into a single revised ACOP (L56)

    L138 – Dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres consolidated the following five ACOPs into a single revised ACOP (L138):

    L134 – Design of plant, equipment and workplace

    L135 – Storage of dangerous substances

    L136 – Control and mitigation measures

    L137 – Safe maintenance, repair and cleaning procedures

    L138 – Dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres

    L143 – Managing and working with Asbestos. This is a consolidation of two ACOPs

    (L127 – The management of asbestos in non-domestic premises and L143 – Work with materials containing asbestos) into a single revised ACOP (L143).

    Withdrawn

    L21 – Management of health and safety at work

    L74 – First aid at work

    L81 – Design, construction and installation of gas service pipes

    L116 – Preventing accidents to children in agriculture

    L130 – Compilation of safety data sheets

    (b) A review of a further 14 ACOPS will be completed by the end of 2014. These are:

    COP25 Safety in docks to be replaced by L148 Safety in docks ACOP

    Five Diving ACOPs:

    L103 – Commercial diving projects offshore

    L104 – Commercial diving projects inland/inshore

    L105 – Recreational diving projects

    L106 – Media diving projects

    L107 – Scientific and archaeological diving projects

    Three Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations linked ACOPs:

    L22 – Safe use of work equipment

    L112 – Safe use of power presses

    L114 – Safe use of woodworking machinery

    L113 – Safe use of lifting equipment

    L101 – Safe work in confined spaces

    L122 – Safety of pressure systems

    L133 – Unloading petrol from road tankers

    L146 – Consulting workers on health and safety

    A further 19 ACOPs associated with changes to legislation and will be reviewed in accordance with the timescale for legislative change.

    (c) All HSE ACOPs are scheduled for review.