Tag: 2015

  • Lisa Cameron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lisa Cameron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department identifies vulnerable refugees with intellectual impairment; and what support is provided to such people.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID provides assistance to refugees through bilateral and central funding to a number of trusted organisations such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Organization for Migration, the International Committee of the Red Cross. We are in dialogue with our partners to ensure special consideration is given to the most vulnerable groups, including people with physical and developmental disabilities. In September 2015, DFID issued guidance for staff outlining the specific considerations to be made by DFID partners for those living with disabilities to ensure that their needs are identified and addressed, and that they have opportunity to participate in decisions that affect them. In addition, through the Disaster & Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) for NGOs, we are supporting the development of a new tool to guide humanitarian agencies on how to ensure their programming is inclusive.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many civil servants in his Department are in the redeployment pool.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The function of the redeployment pool is to give appropriate support to employees who have become surplus as a permanent post no longer exists for them. The redeployment pool helps them remain in employment and provides priority access to vacancies before they are advertised across Treasury.

    There are no employees in the HMT redeployment pool.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what average time her Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    George Eustice

    The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness.

    The published figures can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the regulations introduced in April 2015 which ended unsupervised stakes above £50 on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in betting shops.

    Tracey Crouch

    The Government, along with the Gambling Commission, is in the process of evaluating the effects of ending unsupervised stakes over £50 and we will publish the results in due course

  • Marion Fellows – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Marion Fellows – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marion Fellows on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage prompt payment to small businesses.

    Anna Soubry

    We will establish a Small Business Commissioner to help small businesses deal with late payment disputes. We are also introducing new payment reporting requirements for large companies that will allow public scrutiny of payment performance

    I was pleased to see Tesco has cut its payment terms to 14 days for suppliers with total sales to Tesco worth less than £100,000 a year.

  • David Lammy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Lammy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what policies his Department is implementing to promote active fatherhood; and if he will make it his policy that fathers be required to sign birth certificates.

    Priti Patel

    Our objective is to support families to create and maintain good quality relationships to sustain a safe, stable and nurturing environment for their children. We believe that fathers play an integral role in family life and that is why the government has worked hard to ensure that families have the support they need. In particular, we have invested approximately £8m for 2015-16 providing services for couples – mothers and fathers – during key transitions and in difficulty. We have ensured that all specifications for new contracts specifically include a requirement for providers to engage fathers and ensure their services are father friendly.

    We have also introduced the Family Test which ensures that potential impacts on family functioning are carefully considered as part of the policymaking process, including impacts on all members’ ability to play a full role in family life.

    The legislative provisions to introduce mandatory joint registration remain on the statute and we will continue to consider how joint registration can support fathers’ involvement as part of a wider package of support.

  • Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much is expected to be allocated to Northern Ireland under the National Infrastructure pipeline in each of the next five years.

    Greg Hands

    The information requested can be obtained from “National Infrastructure Pipeline”, published in July 2015 and is available here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many civil servants in her Department are in the redeployment pool.

    George Eustice

    There are presently six Departmental staff awaiting redeployment.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how many working households including people under 25 are likely to lose income as a result of changes he has announced to tax credits.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government is committed to achieving a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare economy. That means more emphasis on support to working families on low incomes through reducing tax and increasing wages, than on topping up low wages through tax credits.

    The Chancellor is listening to concerns raised by colleagues and will announce in his Autumn Statement how he plans to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits and saving the money we need to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16575, if he will review the adequacy of the number and accessibility of pharmacy facilities; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England is responsible for ensuring the adequate provision of pharmaceutical services. Local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) assess the need for pharmaceutical services for the relevant area and describe this in the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). Each HWB was required to publish its first PNA by April 2015 following a full local consultation. NHS England determine applications from a prospective contractor to provide NHS pharmaceutical services by reference to the most recent PNA and whether there is an need identified in the PNA.

    The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (as amended) require the Secretary of State to carry out a review of the Regulations and publish the report before the end of August 2017.