The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of changes in average waiting times for GP appointments in Sunderland since May 2010.
Jane Ellison
No such estimate has been made.
The attached table contains results from NHS England’s 2013 GP Patients Survey. The survey collected data from January to March and July to September 2013.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-04-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on the Jobcentre Plus rapid response service in each year since 2003-04.
Esther McVey
Information requested can only be provided in part due to 7 year archive period for financials data.
Spend on Rapid Response Service has therefore been:
Period £
2007-08 579,853
2008-09 851,954
2009-10 9,963,293
2010-11 6,472,119
2011-12 3,432,793
2012-13 4,020,041
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
Because of the devolution of policing and justice functions on 12 April 2010, and subsequent reconfiguration of the Northern Ireland Office, my Department does not hold figures for the periods prior to 2010. Attempting to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
Since April 2010, seven members of staff have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings. Given the small numbers involved, it would not be appropriate to provide any further breakdown as to do so would risk the identification of the individuals concerned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-04-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the reasons for backlogs of medical assessments for personal independence payments.
Mike Penning
We are committed to ensuring personal independence payment (PIP) claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments. Since the introduction of PIP new claims in April 2013, we have been closely monitoring all aspects of the process.
As personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit, processes are currently bedding in. Our latest analysis is telling us that the end-to-end claimant journey is taking longer than expected. We are working closely with the assessment providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. We are also seeking to ensure that all the steps in the process run as smoothly as possible and that there are no barriers in our processes and systems that contribute to claims taking longer than necessary to progress.
Whilst there are no statutory (legal) requirements to complete action on a claim to PIP within a specified time, we have set both personal independence payment assessment providers a target for the length of time to complete assessments of 30 working days.
Any delays experienced in the new claims process will not affect the date from which claimants are paid; all successful claims will be paid from the date the claim was initially made or the date the qualifying period is met, whichever is the later.
As for the administration of all benefits, a claimant is free to complain about the service they have received from the Department for Work and Pensions. Complaints about the service received from our assessment providers should be made direct to the relevant assessment provider. A complaint may result in a special payment if the claimant has experienced unfair treatment or suffered financially.
The Department has robust expectations for provider performance and contracts include a full set of service level agreements setting out expectations for service delivery, including quality of assessments and the number of days to provide advice to the Department. Officials meet regularly with both assessment providers to discuss performance. The contracts include a range of remedies and failure to meet contractual obligations will result in the Department applying service credits in line with the contract.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child victims and witnesses involved in sexual abuse cases have been given access to and use of a Registered Intermediary in each of the last five years.
Damian Green
As at 19 June 2014, 29 Registered Intermediaries (RIs) were available for use by child victims and witnesses in the Greater Manchester police force area that covers Bolton, 25 RIs for Lancashire, 81 RIs for England and 26 RIs for Wales. Support for vulnerable witnesses is a devolved matter in Scotland.
We recruited over 25 RIs this year, to increase the numbers of Active Registered Intermediaries to be used across the 43 police forces to help vulnerable witnesses.
Registered Intermediaries are available for work across multiple police force areas and the numbers quoted above do not reveal the total number of active RIs.
The number of child victims and witnesses involved in sexual abuse cases that have benefitted from the use of an RI in the last four years since the Witness Intermediary Scheme has been operational are provided in the table below. We do not hold data on cases before this time.
|
Age |
Age |
Age |
Yearly |
|
|
2010 |
131 |
152 |
351 |
|
|
2011 |
62 |
107 |
171 |
340 |
|
2012 |
87 |
173 |
165 |
425 |
|
2013 |
168 |
257 |
261 |
686 |
|
TOTAL |
385 |
668 |
749 |
1802 |
The Ministry of Justice continues to monitor the number of Registered Intermediaries and is considering future recruitment plans. We are working with the CPS and police so that RIs are used to help more vulnerable witnesses to give their best evidence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2014-04-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the external law firm appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to review its handling of its announcement on closed life funds is independent of the FCA and the firms covered by the FCA investigation.
Lord Deighton
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have announced that the FCA Non-Executive Directors have appointed Simon Davis, a senior commercial litigation partner at Clifford Chance, to conduct an independent inquiry into the handling of the FCA’s announcement of proposed supervisory work on the fair treatment of long standing customers in life insurance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-06-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what outcomes they anticipate from the visit of Premier Li Keqiang of China.
Baroness Warsi
Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to the UK for the UK-China Summit has brought our two countries closer together in a partnership for growth, reform and innovation. During the visit, £14 billion of trade and investment deals were signed between UK and Chinese firms. London’s position as the leading offshore Renminbi (RMB) trading hub was strengthened by the appointment of China Construction Bank as an RMB clearing bank in London. Premier Li’s visit has also deepened our cooperation on innovation, as well as on key global issues including through a landmark Joint Statement on Climate Change and through positive discussions with the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), on key foreign policy issues such as Iraq and Ukraine.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2014-04-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as part of their package of sanctions towards Russia, they intend to instruct Centrica to cancel their agreement with Gazprom to supply the United Kingdom with gas; and if so, what will be the consequences for United Kingdom gas supplies and energy prices.
Baroness Verma
The international community has sent a clear, strong, consistent message to Russia. The sanctions we have imposed to date are having an impact. The European Council is clear that it will respond with further wide-ranging measures if there is any further destabilisation in Ukraine by Russia.
The contract between Gazprom and Centrica is a commercial matter. It relates to a small part of total gas supply to the UK. While the contract is with a Russian company, the gas can be sourced from anywhere in the European network. The UK is not dependent on Russian energy imports and this contract does not alter that.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tobias Ellwood on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the level of youth unemployment in (a) the UK and (b) Bournemouth East constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Esther McVey
Excluding full-time students, nationally there were 565,000 unemployed under-25s in February-April 2014, a fall of nearly 100,000 since the 2010 election. Latest figures show 5,700 unemployed under-25s in Bournemouth East in January-December 2013, a fall of 900 compared to the same period in 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-03-31.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) incidence rate and (b) age standardised incidents rate of prostate cancer in (i) England and (ii) each parliamentary constituency was in the latest year for which figures are available.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.