The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philippa Whitford on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS England spent on agency nurses in each of the last three years.
Alistair Burt
The information that has been requested is not recorded centrally by the Department of Health or NHS England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) enforce the European Commission Interpretative Notice, C2015 7834 final, on the indication of origin of goods from territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 and (b) ensure that penalties for mis-labeling of such products are effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
George Eustice
The principal feature of the Interpretative Notice is a recommendation that goods imported into the EU which originate from Israeli settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 should bear an indication which makes that provenance clear. That recommendation was included in technical advice to UK retailers and importers concerning labelling agricultural produce from the West Bank that was issued by Defra in 2009. We are currently in discussion with other Departments to consider whether revisions need to be made to the 2009 advice in the light of the Interpretative Notice. As regards sanctions and penalties for mis-labelling, these are dealt with in various pieces of legislation depending on the goods concerned.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of urgent care in Brighton and Hove.
Jane Ellison
The provision of urgent care is the responsibility of NHS England, which is currently reviewing nationally urgent and emergency care and proposes a fundamental shift in the way urgent and emergency care services are provided, delivering more care closer to home where clinically appropriate.
The review is now within its implementation phase. A key aspect of this implementation is the establishment of Urgent and Emergency Care Networks (UECNs).
NHS England has developed a suite of tools and guidance to support implementation of the review, including advice on the role and establishment of UECNs.
In the hon. Member’s constituency, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) undertook a two-day unannounced inspection of urgent and emergency services at the Royal Sussex County Hospital during June 2015. The CQC published the report of this inspection on 23 October 2015 and rated urgent and emergency services inadequate at this hospital.
The CQC expect the Trust to regularly report, in a single and standard approach, the improvements in quality to all stakeholders through the risk summit process.
Following the CQC report publication, the Trust will take the following actions:
– Changes to the Emergency Department floor;
– Improving ward processes;
– Hospital Rapid Discharge Team will review support packages with patients and their family when they first arrive in the Emergency Department; and
– The opening of additional beds at the Princess Royal Hospital.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints from (a) employees and (b) third parties were received by HM Revenue and Customs’ National Minimum Wage Risk Unit in each of the last six years.
Mr David Gauke
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. Anyone who feels they have been underpaid NMW should contact the confidential Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) review all complaints that are referred to them. However, some complaints may not lead to the commencement of an investigation. This might be due to incomplete information being provided, or the worker subsequently wishing to withdraw their complaint. Similarly, multiple complaints about the same employer would only be recorded under one investigation.
In 2014/15, 2489 worker complaints and 691 pieces of third party information were referred to HMRC. However, I reiterate that not all complaints will lead to an investigation. In previous years, HMRC did not record statistics by complaints received, but by investigations completed. In 2014/15, HMRC completed 2204 investigations. I refer the honourable member to the answer provided to her on 6 May 2014 at Hansard Column 110W for information on prior years.
Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing NMW, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation amongst others, but HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond this. The budget allocated to HMRC by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is provided as an overall amount. I therefore refer the honourable member to the answers provided to her at UIN 16853 for budget details & UIN 16938 for information on staffing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the length of time was that each person who successfully appealed against their deportation under the deport first, appeal later measures spent outside the UK.
James Brokenshire
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 11080, that there had been 13 successful appeals, the additional data requested is not available. Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean these questions could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when the ministerial working group on preventing and tackling homelessness will next meet; and what the membership of that group is.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness will meet in the New Year. The group consists of Ministers from ten Departments – Ministry of Justice, Department for Education, Department of Health, Department for Work and Pensions, Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, Home Office, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Government Equalities Office, and Department for Communities and Local Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people receive sufficient vitamin D each day.
Jane Ellison
NHS Choices and the Start4Life website contain information on good sources of vitamin D foods and set out, for those at risk of vitamin D deficiency, the benefits of vitamin D supplementation. This is particularly important for pregnant and breastfeeding women, for babies and children up to the age of five, for those over 65 and people who are not exposed to much sunlight.
For those at risk of Vitamin D deficiency, the UK Chief Medical Officers have also provided advice on vitamin D supplements which is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213703/dh_132508.pdf
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has produced guidance stating that awareness of vitamin D supplementation should be provided to at-risk groups by local public health teams, health and social care practitioners and voluntary and community groups.
The Healthy Start Scheme is a statutory scheme which aims to improve the nutritional health of pregnant women and children under the age of four in low income families by providing vouchers that can be exchanged for free Healthy Start vitamins containing vitamin D.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to change the payment of annual increments to military staff between 2015-16 and 2020-21.
Penny Mordaunt
This Government has no plans to remove incremental pay or annual pay increases for serving members of the Armed Forces.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2015-11-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will (a) consider legal action to recover tax due from Volkswagen as a consequence of carbon dioxide outputs and nitrogen dioxide levels and (b) commit to not reassessing tax payments for an additional benefit in kind as a result of higher carbon dioxide outputting vehicles.
Damian Hinds
The Government takes the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and is taking robust action to get to the bottom of the emissions sandal.
The Government has announced that no UK taxpayers will be penalised by higher taxes if their existing vehicles are found to be affected by the emissions testing scandal.
The Government continues to monitor the actions of Volkswagen closely and will consider all options once the facts are fully clarified.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of retaining the Vanguard submarines in service for approximately five years longer than envisaged in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
Mr Philip Dunne
As set out in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, we have assessed that we can safely manage and maintain the Vanguard boats until the Successor submarines are introduced into service in the early 2030s. The marginal costs associated with maintaining the submarines can be contained within the existing running cost of the deterrent, which is around 6% of the defence budget per year.