The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on developing a global strategy to tackle diabetes.
Jane Ellison
Departmental Ministers regularly discuss a range of issues, including diabetes, with their international counterparts. However, there have been no specific discussions on a Global Diabetes Strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Vaccine Damage Payment scheme.
Jane Ellison
Policy responsibility for the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme transferred to the Department of Health from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in May 2014 although DWP continues to administer this scheme. The scheme was last revised in 2007 and no assessment of effectiveness has been made since that date.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Jones on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of its annual income has been held in reserve by Lancashire Constabulary in each of the last five years.
Mike Penning
It is up to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Chief Constables to decide how to allocate their resources, including the efficient use of reserves, based on local priorities. The total amount of revenue funding received by each PCC (formerly Police Authorities) and the total amounts of usable reserves, taken from publically available force area accounts are included in the table below. This includes total core Government funding area from the Home Office, Legacy Council Tax Grants and locally raised precept income. It excludes specific grants such as the Innovation Fund and other locally raised income.
|
Hertfordshire Police Authority/PCC reserves |
|
Year |
Reserves £m |
Total revenue funding £m |
Reserves as % of government grant+precept |
|
31 Mar 2011 |
19.4 |
197.4 |
9.8% |
|
31 Mar 2012 |
24.9 |
191.5 |
13.0% |
|
31 Mar 2013 |
28.0 |
189.7 |
14.8% |
|
31 Mar 2014 |
36.7 |
185.2 |
19.8% |
|
31 Mar 2015 |
47.9 |
181.1 |
26.5% |
Lancashire Police Authority/PCC reserves
|
Year |
Reserves £m |
Total revenue funding £m |
Reserves as % of government grant+precept |
|
31 Mar 2011 |
20.1 |
285.6 |
7.0% |
|
31 Mar 2012 |
26.3 |
273.5 |
9.6% |
|
31 Mar 2013 |
27.5 |
273.5 |
10.1% |
|
31 Mar 2014 |
35.8 |
266.0 |
13.4% |
|
31 Mar 2015 |
49.3 |
258.9 |
19.1% |
Thames Valley Police Authority/PCC reserves
|
Year |
Reserves £m |
Total revenue funding £m |
Reserves as % of government grant+precept |
|
31 Mar 2011 |
41.1 |
395.0 |
10.4% |
|
31 Mar 2012 |
48.2 |
383.4 |
12.6% |
|
31 Mar 2013 |
45.8 |
382.2 |
12.0% |
|
31 Mar 2014 |
49.1 |
375.9 |
13.1% |
|
31 Mar 2015 |
51.4 |
369.7 |
13.9% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prison inmates are enrolled on courses or treatments to help them stop smoking.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Validated information is not available centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that drivers on public transport are trained to assist disabled passengers.
Andrew Jones
The Department for Transport (DfT) has work closely with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to commission work to evaluate the existing Disabled Awareness Training and to produce some guidelines in best practice.
Since September 2008 all professional bus and coach drivers have been required to hold a Certificate of Professional Competence as a requirement of the EU Directive 2003/59. Disability Awareness Training is currently available to all drivers as part of the periodic Certificate of Professional Competence training syllabus. The bus industry has reported that virtually all drivers have now undertaken Disability Awareness Training and DfT will continue to work with the industry to encourage the further uptake of disability awareness training by bus and coach drivers.
The standards that taxi and PHV drivers have to meet is a matter for individual local licensing authorities. DfT Best Practice Guidance for taxi and PHV licensing says that licensing authorities should consider requiring or encouraging their drivers to undertake disability awareness training. According to DfT’s 2015 taxi and PHV statistical survey, 104 licensing authorities in England and Wales require taxi drivers to undergo disability awareness training.
In the rail industry awareness training is mandatory for all customer facing staff and managers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to promote racial diversity in the film industry.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
This Government is committed to promoting diversity in the film industry. We support the British Film Institute’s (BFI) newly launched £1 million Diversity Fund, which works to provide professional development opportunities to people from underrepresented groups, as well as funding to organisations that are looking to support diversity projects. The BFI has also recently extended its Diversity Standards to cover all Film Fund Lottery schemes which support film development, production and distribution, and widen access to film in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13246 on digital technology, what support universal credit provides for people without digital skills to gain them.
Justin Tomlinson
Those people without digital skills will be offered support through Universal Credit (UC) to make and manage their claims on-line, and also to acquire and improve their digital skills.
DWP is also working with Local Authorities to build claimants’ digital capability.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the expected amount of the revenue element of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund in (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, and (3) 2018–19.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The recent Spending Round settlement included a new ‘Access’ fund for sustainable travel, building on the legacy of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund and supporting growth in cycling and walking.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Manzoor on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of additional hours of employment and jobs available to people wanting to increase their working hours in order to avoid the proposed four-year freeze in working age benefits from 2016.
Lord Freud
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chidgey on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries the receipt of BBC World Service programmes via the internet has been blocked in each year from 1999 to 2014.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The BBC World Service has advised that blocks via the internet occurred in the following years:
1999 to present – China (BBC Chinese)
1999 to 2008 – China (BBC News – English)
2010 – China (BBC News – English was again blocked in December 2010 for a number of days and then lifted)
2014 – China (BBC News – English was again blocked in October 2014 for two weeks)
2002 – Vietnam
2004 – Uzbekistan
2006 to present – Iran
2013 to present – Sri Lanka
2014 – Rwanda