UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2015

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the representations from the GMC and other health regulators that the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive does not provide sufficient safeguards to ensure that doctors who provide temporary and occasional services in the UK have the right knowledge, skills and behaviours to practise safely.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department supports the principle of free movement for healthcare professionals that the Directive helps provide for and the benefits this can bring. Temporary and occasional provision of services in particular provides important benefits in terms of movement of professionals around the European Union and is not a new concept in the Directive.

    The Department has worked with the General Medical Council and other health regulators extensively over a number of years, including during the negotiations with other Member States, as part of the revision of the Directive. The United Kingdom secured positive changes to the requirements placed on individuals seeking to provide work on a temporary and occasional basis. The changes include the requirement for professionals to provide the regulatory body with a declaration of their knowledge of language and an attestation confirming the absence of temporary or final suspensions and criminal convictions; these supplement the existing requirements, such as providing proof of legal establishment in their home Member State, proof of nationality and evidence of professional qualifications.

    In addition, individual employers ensure that the people they employ or contract with have the required knowledge and skills for the posts for which they are applying.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of the SEND code of practice on educational provision for children with cerebral palsy.

    Edward Timpson

    The reforms introduced in September 2014 will ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25, including those with cerebral palsy, have improved access to the support they need.

    Local authorities are responsible for meeting the educational needs of all children with SEND within their local area. They must co-ordinate education, health and care provision for individual children and ensure that young people and parents are involved in discussions about their individual support and about local provision more generally. Statutory Local Offers published by each local authority must set out what support is available for all children and young people with SEND in their area, including those with more complex needs.

    The reforms detailed in the SEND Code of Practice were drawn up in consultation with a wide range of interested parties, many of whom represented the interests of children and young people with specific impairments. They are intended to improve outcomes for every child or young person with SEND by placing them at the heart of a system designed to respond to their individual needs and aspirations.

    The Department has not assessed the impact of the SEND Code of Practice, or regional variations in provision, on the basis of any specific impairment but is monitoring implementation closely.

    This monitoring includes inputs from annual data collection; termly surveys of local authorities and Parent Carer Forums; and feedback from specialist SEND Advisers and funded voluntary sector organisations. From May 2016, this monitoring will be enhanced by a new joint Ofsted/CQC inspection framework for SEND, which is currently the subject of a national consultation.

    Schools are required by the Children and Families Act 2014 to identify the SEN of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need. Teachers are expected to be able to adapt their teaching to the needs of all pupils, and to have an understanding of the factors that can inhibit learning and how to overcome them.

    To support the school workforce, the Department has funded almost 11,000 SEN Coordinators to attain Masters-level national awards between 2009 and 2014, at a cost of almost £33 million; is funding SEND conferences for school leaders and supporting the development of a ‘SEND gateway’ for education professionals, which offers a wide range of online training and information.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the deficit in trade with the EU in 2014 in (1) goods, and (2) overall in goods and services; and how that deficit is financed.

    Lord Maude of Horsham

    The UK’s trade in goods deficit with the EU was £78.9bn in 2014. The overall trade in goods and services deficit with the EU was £61.7bn.

    The UK’s total trade deficit is financed by a net inflow of investment in the financial account, for which data is not available on a geographical basis. The UK’s financial account surplus was £89.4bn in 2014.

    Source: ONS Pink Book 2015

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions her Department has had with the devolved assemblies on best practice on insulation of historic and other older properties.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has regular discussions with its counterparts in the devolved administrations in order to ensure the sharing of best practice and ideas between all parts of the UK.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Catherine McKinnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of Crown Prosecution Service expenditure on (a) victim liaison units and (b) witness care units in real terms in each year since 2010-11.

    Robert Buckland

    It is not possible to provide the actual expenditure on Witness Care Units (WCUs) and Victim Liaison Units (VLUs) without incurring a disproportionate cost since this information is not separately captured by the CPS. However, the total budget allocated for the administration of WCUs and VLUs in each year since 2010-11 is detailed in the following table;

    WCUs

    VLU’s

    2010-11

    £5,500,000

    –

    2011-12

    £4,000,000

    –

    2012-13

    £4,000,000

    –

    2013-14

    £4,000,000

    –

    2014-15

    £2,500,000

    £1,500,000

    In each of the last four years the CPS has allocated £2.5 million of its Voted expenditure to WCUs. The remainder of the total CPS allocation was funded by income from the Ministry of Justice, via the Victims Surcharge up to and including 2013-14.

    Witness attendance rates (which are used as a proxy for satisfaction) have remained above 80%.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the obesity rate is for (a) adults and (b) children under the age of 16; and what forecast the Government has made of such rates in 2020.

    Jane Ellison

    Data published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in December 2014 showed that in England in 2013 24.9% of adults and 15.2% of children aged from two to 15 years were obese. New data will be published later this month.

    The UK Health Forum modelled adult obesity prevalence, ‘Risk factor based modelling for Public Health England’ (2014), and estimated 30% of adults aged 18-100 would be obese by 2020. This was based on Health Survey for England data from 2000 to 2010 and assumes trends continue.

    No assessment has been carried out on the likely level of child obesity in 2020 specifically. However, predictions for rates up to 2050 were modelled for both adults and children in the Government’s Foresight report: “Tackling Obesities: Future Choices” (2007) using data from 1994-2004. This modelling suggested that by 2025, 21% of boys aged 6-10 years and 11% of boys aged 11-15 years were predicted to be obese. For girls 6-10 years and 11-15 years, 14% and 22% respectively were predicted to be obese. These predictions assumed that the 1994-2004 trends continued and that no interventions successfully changed the direction of these trends.

  • Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Nic Dakin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to embed the family test into its policy making.

    Anna Soubry

    The Family Test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policy in line with the Family Test guidance, published by DWP –

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf.

    “

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions a special adviser in her Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    As has been the case under successive Administrations, civil servants, including special advisers, may routinely accompany their Ministers on official visits.

    Information relating to Ministers’ overseas visits are published on www.gov.uk, as part of the Government’s wider transparency agenda.

    All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 13786, what (a) arrears, (b) compensation and (c) other remedies have been issued to victims of modern slavery in relation to the 60 cases opened since February 2015.

    Mr David Gauke

    None of the investigations opened in February 2015 have yet concluded. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot comment on on-going investigations.

    HMRC’s role in these investigations is to ensure that the correct tax is paid and any employees who are entitled to the National Minimum Wage receive it.

  • Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the purchase of buy-to-let property by a person whose current residence derives only from their job will be deemed as a second home for tax purposes under the new Rules on Stamp Duty coming into force in April 2016.

    Mr David Gauke

    The new higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) will apply to the purchase of additional residential properties and will come into force on 1 April 2016. Work-related accommodation which is provided and owned by an employer does not count when considering whether an individual is purchasing an additional property or not. The Government will shortly consult on the policy design, including on the treatment of particularly difficult cases, to ensure the change to SDLT is implemented in a fair way.