Tag: 2015

Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times participants in the work programme were sanctioned between (a) June 2011 and November 2015 and (b) August 2015 and November 2015.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on Jobseekers Allowance (JSA), sanctions, including those who have been sanctioned for failure to participate in the Work Programme and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) sanction decisions, for those who have been sanctioned for failure to participate in a work related activity, which will include the Work Programme, and these statistics are published via the following link:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

The latest set of Official Statistics was released on 11 November 2015 and covers all decisions made to 30 June 2015.

Guidance on how to extract the information required from Stat-Xplore can be found at:

https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html

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January 1, 2023
Gavin Robinson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to redirect proceeds from the National Lottery away from the Big Lottery Fund to fulfil his Department’s existing commitments to fund the arts, heritage and sport.

Tracey Crouch

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for the regulatory framework for the distribution of National Lottery good causes, which is currently 40% for good causes, 20% for arts, 20% for heritage and 20% for sports.

January 1, 2023

Baroness Byford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many veterinarians qualified in each of the last 10 years, broken down by gender.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the regulatory body for the veterinary profession in the UK, has confirmed that the breakdown of new UK registrants for the each of the last 10 years is as follows:-

Year	Gender	Count	Total per year
2005	F	828
2005	M	490	=1318
2006	F	910
2006	M	458	=1368
2007	F	913
2007	M	488	=1401
2008	F	920
2008	M	391	=1311
2009	F	921
2009	M	351	=1272
2010	F	963
2010	M	358	=1321
2011	F	1041
2011	M	425	=1466
2012	F	1084
2012	M	461	=1545
2013	F	1103
2013	M	499	=1602
2014	F	1166
2014	M	504	=1670
2015	F	1442
2015	M	632	=2074

January 1, 2023

Conor McGinn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken in response to the provisional report of the Competition and Markets Authority’s findings on the energy market; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department responded to the CMA’s provisional findings on 31 July (copy attached).

We are committed to implementing the final recommendations of the CMA and we currently expect their final report in April 2016.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the situation in Yemen, and of claims that deliberate attacks on the Doctors Without Borders hospital have taken place in that country.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of reports of alleged airstrikes against a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Sa’ada and on an MSF unit in Taiz, which we take very seriously. We have emphasised the importance of full compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to the Saudi Arabian Government and other members of the coalition and they have assured us of their commitment to comply with IHL. We continue to engage with them on those assurances and have offered advice and training to demonstrate best practice and to help ensure continued compliance with IHL. We welcome the recent public announcement by Saudi Arabia to establish a fact finding committee into the alleged airstrike on the MSF mobile clinic in Taiz. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL and international human rights law. We continue to urge all sides to the conflict to comply with International Humanitarian Law and to investigate incidents of alleged violations fully.

January 1, 2023
Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how the Government plans to use its position on the UN Security Council to facilitate diplomatic negotiations on protecting civilians in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Protection of civilians in Syria, as well as those who have been forced to flee the country, is a priority for the UK. In the UN Security Council the UK has co-sponsored a number of humanitarian resolutions that call for an end to: indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including the use of barrel bombs; starvation as a method of warfare; and obstruction of the flow of humanitarian aid. Specifically, the UK played a key role in negotiating UN Security Council Resolution 2191, which has allowed the UN and its partners to deliver aid across Syria’s borders to people who were previously denied access, including food for 2.1 million people and medical supplies for 2.5 million people. The UK will use its seat on the UN Security Council to push proactively for a renewal of Resolution 2191.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to increase the number of Wellbeing Hubs nationally to help individuals with complex care requirements to access support locally for their individual requirements.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Where commissioned, wellbeing hubs can provide a range services including lifestyle advice, information about self-management courses and help to access local support, including social care. It is for the local National Health Service to decide whether to commission wellbeing hubs and which services should be offered in order to best meet the needs of local populations.

January 1, 2023
Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will review the number of counter-terrorism officials in the West Midlands; and if she will make a statement.

Mr John Hayes

The level and distribution of counter-terrorism resources across the country is informed by advice from the police and security and intelligence agencies on assessments of what is needed to counter the threat. This is regularly kept under review. For security reasons we do not publish a breakdown of counter-terrorism resources by region.

In the Spending Round 2013, specific funding for counter-terrorism policing was protected at £564.3 million for each of the years 2014-15 and 2015-16. We are also providing an additional £14.9 million in 2015-16 to the police to strengthen capabilities in response to the increased threat from terrorism.

In the Summer Budget on 8 July, we committed to protecting overall counter-terrorism spending across the course of the next Spending Review Period. On 16 November we said we would go further. Through the Strategic Defence and Security Review, we will make new funding available for the security and intelligence agencies to provide for an additional 1,900 officers – an increase of 15% – to better respond to the threat we face from international terrorism, cyber-attacks and other global risks.

January 1, 2023
Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to audit (1) NHS England, and (2) Clinical Commissioning Groups in England, on their expenditure on mental health services during this Parliament.

Lord Prior of Brampton

As part of the mental health parity of esteem requirement for 2015-16, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were asked to plan for an increase in spend on mental health services at least in line with the increase in their overall funding allocation for the year, which set a higher bar than achieving a real terms increase in spending, though not all CCGs were able to achieve this target. 192 of the 209 CCGs achieved a real terms growth in mental health planned spend measured against the 1.4% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator for 2015-16.

The list attached shows which CCGs have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health in 2015-16.

The final data for CCGs’ spending on mental health in 2015-16 will be submitted to NHS England by commissioners in May 2016, and it is anticipated NHS England may be in a position to provide final spend information by around the end of the first quarter of 2016-17.

NHS England has not yet published CCG planning guidance for 2016-17. Consideration will be given to holding commissioners to account for spending on mental health.

CCG and NHS England mental health spending information is now routinely collected as party of NHS England’s monthly financial reporting regime. Monthly financial reports by CCGs are scrutinised and quality assessed by NHS England’s regional teams. The monthly reports also form part of the CCG assurance process. NHS England is also in the process of setting up the financial plan assurance process for 2016-17, which will incorporate the review of planned spending on mental health services for future years.

January 1, 2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend free bus travel for people with disabilities to include peak hours.

Andrew Jones

The statutory minimum bus travel concession scheme applies to off-peak travel when there is likely to be unused operational capacity on buses. Concessionary bus travel applies to bus journeys made between 9.30am and 11.00pm Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on bank holidays. These times were set out in legislation in the Transport Act 2000. Whilst I appreciate that concessionary pass holders might wish to use buses before 9.30am, in the current economic climate there are no plans to extend the statutory scheme to include peak time travel.

I would point out that the statutory minimum is indeed just that – a minimum. It remains very much open to each local authority to decide whether to offer its residents local concessions over and above the statutory minimum, including peak hour concessions.

January 1, 2023