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Tag: 2015

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many improvement notices have been issued by Health and Safety Executive inspectors to operators of offshore oil and gas installations in 2015-16; and what proportion of those notices were issued in response to maintenance matters.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Twenty three Improvement Notices have been issued to offshore operators in the period April 15 to date. Of these, four were related to maintenance.

    Please note that the rationale used for answering the question is as follows:

    • The question specifies Improvement Notices, and so Prohibition Notices have not been considered;
    • The total includes all notices served in respect of the offshore oil and gas industry, and includes pipelines and diving where relevant;
    • Offshore windfarms, withdrawn notices, and notices currently under appeal, or where an appeal has been upheld have been excluded;
    • Maintenance has been taken to include notices in relation to maintenance systems, failures to maintain (includes work equipment and fabric integrity), and maintenance backlogs (generally criteria for deferring maintenance of Safety Critical Elements etc);

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what reports NHS England has produced on progress in achieving parity of esteem for mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England and the Department jointly published Achieving Better Access to Mental Health Services by 2020 in October 2014. This publication recognised that a key element of achieving parity across mental and physical health care depends on enabling people to have timely access to evidence-based and effective care, and set out a clear vision for the development of access and waiting time standards in mental health including introduction of the first set of standards on early intervention in psychosis and psychological therapies, as well as signalling new investment in liaison mental health services in acute hospitals.

    NHS England’s Five Year Forward View set out a clear commitment to a more equal response across mental and physical health and achieving genuine parity of esteem by 2020.

    In support of this objective, NHS England’s latest planning guidance, Forward View into Action: planning for 2015-16, includes an expectation that clinical commissioning groups’ (CCG) spending on mental health services in 2015-16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s allocation increase to support the ambition of parity between mental and physical health.

    NHS England has commissioned an independent Mental Health Task Force to produce a five-year mental health strategy, for improved access and outcomes in all settings, to be published in the New Year.

  • Suella Fernandes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Suella Fernandes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Suella Fernandes on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on changing the police funding formula.

    Mike Penning

    Current police funding arrangements are complex, opaque and out of date. This reflects views put forward by PCCs, police forces and Committees of this House. It is essential that we come to a new funding formula that is fair, transparent and matched to demand – but also one that is supported by policing as a whole. However, we have listened to the views of policing partners and are minded to delay the proposed changes to the formula for 2016/17.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make representations to the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner to (a) extend the consultation period for closures of police stations in Essex and (b) ensure frontline policing is not reduced following proposed police station closures.

    Mike Penning

    Decisions about the most effective use of available resources, including numbers of police stations and deployment of frontline resources, are rightly a matter for individual Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables, tailored to the needs of the local community. Data published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary shows that the proportion of frontline roles in Essex Police increased from 88% to 91% between March 2010 and 2015.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the ratio of NHS employees to the UK population; and how this compares with major European countries and the USA.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    This information is not collected by the Department. Health is a devolved matter across the four countries of the United Kingdom and the Department is only responsible for the health and care system in England.

    The ratio of National Health Service staff in England to the population of England is 0.019824. This is normally expressed as a ratio per 100,000 population, which in this case is 1,982.4 full-time equivalent staff per 100,000 population.

    The Department does not hold information on estimates of the number of health care staff in other countries.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers who have received (a) severance and (b) redundancy packages since May 2010 have subsequently been re-employed as prison officers.

    Andrew Selous

    Between 1 May 2010 and 30 September 2015 60 prison officers left the prison service, received severance payments and have subsequently re-joined the National Offender Management Service as prison officers.

    Over the last Parliament, NOMS delivered £334m prison efficiency savings and £169m savings in prison capacity management through prison closures and the introduction of benchmarking.

    Voluntary exit was used in the last Parliament as a result of the closure of uneconomic prison places. These prison closures and benchmarking reforms have delivered savings of £300 million a year, with the average cost per prison place falling in real terms by 19% since 2009/10.

    This figure is rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.


  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he has had with his counterparts at the G20 in Turkey on support provided to ISIS by nationals of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn) on 18 November 2015 Official Report, column 667.

    I also refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave, during the Oral Statement on the G20 and Paris attacks that I made on 17 November, to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn), Official Report, column 528, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Mr Salmond), Official Report, column 536.

  • Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Chris Stephens – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his plans are for the Government’s 49 per cent stake in NATS; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is currently committed to exploring the sale of its 49% shareholding in NATS and maximising returns to the taxpayer.

    We have not yet set a timetable for the sale.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to improve the energy efficiency of homes; and whether any of the National Infrastructure Committee’s funding will be available for use to increase home energy efficiency.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Since 2013 the Government has supported industry in delivering over 1.6 million measures which were installed in over 1.3 million households through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) alone. We are now working with the industry and consumer groups on a new value-for-money approach.

    We’ve also commissioned an independent review led by Peter Bonfield to investigate quality, standards and consumer protection to ensure that the system properly supports and protects consumers.

    The National Infrastructure Commission will be resourced to carry out its task of advising Government on the UK’s infrastructure needs and priorities. It will not have adirectrole in funding infrastructure delivery.

    We are clear that support should be focussed on those with the greatest need.

  • John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    John Healey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) housing benefit claimant count and (b) average weekly housing benefit award is for tenants in supported accommodation in each (i) county, (ii) region, (iii) local authority and (iv) valuation office agency area.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not available.

    DWP and DCLG have commissioned an evidence review to provide more robust and up-to-date information relating to supported housing. The report will be published in 2016.