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Tag: 2014

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what use in formulating policy her Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics since the introduction of that Index in 2011; and what policies her Department has introduced to improve national wellbeing as defined in that Index since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is measuring National Wellbeing, not
    as an index but through a framework of 41 indicators which capture social
    progress around important aspects of life for individuals, communities and the
    nation. The statistics are experimental and as such we should not expect to
    have examples of major policies that have been heavily influenced by the
    wellbeing data at this stage. However there is much work going on across
    government which is detailed in the evidence provided to the Environmental
    Audit Committee for its Inquiry into Wellbeing. This can be found at:
    http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/envir
    onmental-audit-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/well-being/

  • Angela Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Angela Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2014-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the outcome of the recent Illegal Wildlife Trade conference and the resulting London Declaration; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that animal welfare is a key element of her Department’s response to that declaration.

    Norman Baker

    The Home Office recognises that the illegal wildlife trade is not only a serious threat to our environment, but is also a transnational criminal industry worth billions of pounds every year, and one which drives corruption and insecurity and undermines efforts to cut poverty and develop sustainable economic opportunities.

    I was therefore pleased that world leaders from over forty nations, including key states such as Botswana, Chad, China, Gabon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Vietnam, alongside the United States and Russia, gathered in London on 13 February 2014 and made a political commitment to take actions to eradicate the demand for illegal wildlife products, strengthen law enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks, and to reduce the incentive for communities in source countries to get involved in the trade by supporting the development of alternative, sustainable livelihoods. I co-chaired part of the proceedings to underline the Home Office’s commitment to this issue.

    The Home Office will continue to work with other departments to ensure that the Government delivers on the UK Commitment to Action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.

  • Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thomas Docherty on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department last met representatives of BAE to discuss Typhoon exports.

    Michael Fallon

    The Eurofighter Typhoon programme is carried out in partnership with the Governments of Germany, Italy and Spain. This includes cooperation on exports. The Government of Belgium has expressed an interest in Typhoon as well as other competing aircraft as a potential replacement for their F-16 fleet. UK Trade and Investment have been invited, to participate in preliminary discussions at official level on Typhoon. United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) officials are working with colleagues across Government, in the partner nations and with Eurofighter GmbH to coordinate a response.

    Within UK Government work on Typhoon export campaigns is led by UKTI, but HMG takes a collaborative approach to defence exports and so all campaigns are a cross departmental effort. Information on staffing numbers is not therefore available centrally.

    Ministerial responsibility for UKTI rests with my noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Investment (Lord Livingston of Parkhead). My noble Friend reports to my Rt Hon Friends the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, as the two responsible Cabinet Ministers.

    Information regarding Ministers’ meetings is published by the Department on the internet: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-business-innovation-skills&publication_type=transparency-data

    The Minister of State for Trade and Investment discussed Typhoon exports during his meeting with BAES on 18 December 2013. The Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills has no immediate plans to meet his Belgian counterpart.

    “

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2014-03-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what customer, user and satisfaction surveys were conducted in the last 12 months in the Department for Education and the agencies that report to it; which of them have been reported to the management board in the last 12 months; and which were commissioned by the management board.

    Lord Nash

    The Department for Education uses a range of feedback mechanisms across policy and delivery work to improve the experience of users and customers. Feedback is commissioned by the relevant teams; there is no central coordination of this activity. To collect details of this would incur disproportionate cost. The Department’s management board considers papers covering the range of the Department’s responsibilities, which reflect the results of the Department’s feedback mechanisms.

  • 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 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) the Chief Executive of HM Passport Office (HMPO) last met staff representatives of HMPO.

    James Brokenshire

    The views of staff representatives are communicated to Ministers through the HM
    Passport Office Chief Executive.
    The Chief Executive holds regular fora and other meetings with staff at HM
    Passport Office premises.
    Events were held in:
    Durham on 12 February 2014;
    Liverpool on 14 March;
    Southport on 30 April;
    Belfast on 9 May; and
    Newport on 16 May.

    The Chief Executive also met local Public and Commercial Services union
    representatives in those offices on those dates.

  • Clive Efford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Clive Efford – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy trusts did not submit their account returns on time in each year since 2011.

    Edward Timpson

    The number and proportion of academy trusts that did not submit an accounts return on time is detailed in the table below:

    Financial year

    Date due

    Number late

    Percentage late

    2012-13

    31 January 2014

    166

    7.6%

    2011-12

    31 January 2013

    119

    8.2%

    2010-11

    31 January 2011

    100

    17.4%

    Academies were not required to submit accounts returns prior to 2010-11.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people are employed in the arms industry in the UK.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence no longer compiles national or regional defence industry employment statistics as they do not directly support policy-making or operations.

  • Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from organisations representing pensioners on the start and end times of the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

    Stephen Hammond

    During the past twelve months we have received no representations on this subject from organisations representing pensioners.

    The Chancellor has committed to maintaining the statutory concession until the end of this Parliament, and we have no plans to amend its hours of validity.

    Travel Concession Authorities have powers to implement discretionary enhancements to the statutory concession, including extending the hours of validity. The Department’s annual concessionary travel survey monitors the availability of such discretionary concessions, and the most recent dataset can be found at:

    http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel/

    “

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

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have had varicose veins surgery in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    In the following table, we have provided information concerning the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs)1 with a primary or secondary procedure2 of varicose vein treatment3 for the years 2008-09 to 2012-134. It should be noted that this is not a count of people as the same person may have had more than one episode of care within the same time period. This data also includes non-surgical treatment such as radio-frequency ablation and other treatments.

    Year

    FCEs

    2008-09

    36,997

    2009-10

    36,366

    2010-11

    33,620

    2011-12

    27,731

    2012-13

    24,767

    Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

    Notes:

    1A finished consultant episode is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

    2The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure.

    3Codes used to identify varicose vein treatment include combined operations on varicose vein of leg, ligation of varicose vein of leg, injection into varicose vein of leg, other operations on varicose vein of leg, and transluminal operations on varicose vein of leg.

    4HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2014, Official Report, columns 18-19W, on the electoral register, in which month of 2014 the statistics on data matching on electoral registration between the Office of National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the National Records of Scotland will be published.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it expects to publish a report on England, Wales and Scotland in summer 2014. The timing of the work in Northern Ireland is still the subject of discussions with NISRA. The Electoral Commission will inform the honourable member when this is confirmed.