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Tag: 2015

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gerald Kaufman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he intends to answer the letter to him from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton to her dated 19 October 2015 on Mr K. Joslin.

    Mr David Lidington

    I apologise for the delay to the response to the letter from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 19 October 2015. The letter covered a number of complex issues and, in order to provide the Rt hon. Member with the most comprehensive response, the reply to this letter has been delayed.

    I, along with my ministerial colleagues, take correspondence from members of this House very seriously and always seek to provide comprehensive and informative responses.

  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recent statement of the UNHCR that, under a 2003 United Kingdom–Cyprus memorandum, the United Kingdom is responsible for resettling Syrian refugees who arrive at a United Kingdom military base in Cyprus.

    Lord Bates

    Those migrants who seek asylum will have their claims considered by the Cypriot authorities on behalf of the Sovereign Base Authorities (SBA). There is no obligation to allow those recognised as refugees to take up residence in the UK.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses’ training places were available in each region in each year since 2009; how many (a) agency nurses and (b) nurses from outside the UK were used by the NHS in each year since 2009; and what the cost to the NHS was of both such categories of nurses in each of those years.

    Ben Gummer

    Non-medical training numbers are collected as part of the quarterly multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns that are submitted to the Department by Health Education England (HEE). Prior to the establishment of HEE in 2013/14 these were submitted to the Department by the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) as part of their quarterly Financial Information Management Systems (FIMS) monitoring returns. The table below shows the number of nurse training places available in each SHA from 2009/10 to 2012/13.

    2009/10

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    NHS North East

    1,095

    1,045

    1,000

    992

    NHS North West

    3,630

    3,358

    3,082

    3,066

    NHS Yorkshire and Humber

    2,299

    2,278

    1,848

    1,805

    NHS East Midlands

    1,735

    1,660

    1,462

    1,430

    NHS West Midlands

    2,597

    2,557

    2,102

    2,102

    NHS East of England

    1,889

    1,717

    1,536

    1,494

    NHS London

    3,992

    3,695

    3,401

    3,088

    NHS South East Coast

    1,335

    1,281

    1,169

    1,123

    NHS South Central

    1,175

    1,237

    1,108

    1,153

    NHS South West

    1,590

    1499

    1,361

    1,293

    Total planned

    21,337

    20,327

    18,069

    17,546

    Source: SHA quarterly FIMS monitoring returns

    The following table details the information collected by HEE in relation to available nurse training places from 2013/14 to 2015/16, broken down by Local Education and Training Boards (LETB).

    The disaggregated data for 2013/14 is not held within the format requested. The published national workforce plan for 2013/14 stated that there would be 18,009 training commissions available for nursing.

    LETB Region

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    North East

    1,105

    1,089

    North West

    3,415

    3,322

    Yorkshire and Humber

    2,010

    2,059

    West Midlands

    2,157

    2,192

    East Midlands

    1,613

    1,661

    East of England

    1,783

    2,015

    North West London

    820

    917

    North, Central and East London

    1,201

    1,280

    South London

    1,138

    1,171

    Kent, Surrey and Sussex

    1,126

    1,209

    Thames Valley

    768

    795

    Wessex

    941

    1,011

    South West

    1,368

    1,432

    Total

    18,009

    19,445

    20,153

    Source: Multi-professional education and training budget monitoring returns

    The Department does not collect data centrally on the number of agency nurses working in the NHS. This information may be held locally at Trust level.

    The Department started to collect financial data from NHS trusts and foundation trusts in respect of net temporary and agency staffing costs specifically from 2013/14. Available data on spending nationally on all agency staff in England is set out in the table below. We are not able to separately identify total spending with agencies on nurses from centrally held data.

    Total cost to the NHS of temporary staff in 2013/14 and 2014/15

    2013/14 £000s

    2014/15 £000s

    Total NHS Providers

    2,605,378

    3,355,723

    Source: Department of Health Annual Report and Accounts 2014/15

    The Department does not hold information on the total cost to the NHS of nurses from outside of the United Kingdom working in the service. The information provided in the table below shows the number of declared non-British nurses working in the NHS in England dating back to 2009. Non-British nursing numbers working in the NHS in England covers hospital and community health services in the NHS but not primary care.

    2009

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Non-British

    40,034

    41,642

    40,911

    40,030

    40,330

    43,258

    Proportion of non-British nurses as % of the nursing workforce

    14.4%

    14.3%

    13.8%

    13.3%

    13.0%

    13.5%

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 16 July 2015 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office, HCWS 127, on individual electoral registration, how much of the funding referred to in that statement has been allocated to each electoral registration office in England.

    John Penrose

    In total 103 Local Authorities in England are receiving additional funding to help target their remaining carry forward entries. Almost £570,000 of funding was allocated directly to 53 English authorities where carry forward entries accounted for over 5%, as a proportion of their registers, in May 2015. 59 Local Authorities in England, including 9 which had already received a direct allocation, successfully submitted bids for additional funding, sharing just over £450,000.

    The attached table sets out all 103 English authoritieswhich are receiving additional funding directly and those whhich submitted successful bids along with the total amount they are receiving.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report, Four Nations: How evidence based are alcohol policies across the UK, published by the Alliance for Useful Evidence in November 2015, if the Government will provide a single, clear, easy-to-access, up-to-date source of information on the full range of alcohol policies and programmes in each area of the UK.

    Mike Penning

    We will build on the 2012 Alcohol Strategy to tackle alcohol as a driver of crime and support people to stay healthy, whilst working with partners at a local and national level to reduce the impact of alcohol misuse. Alcohol licensing and policy is devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have no plans to provide the requested information on a UK wide basis.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to allocate the homelessness prevention grant in proportion to the level of need in each local authority.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have made available over £500 million to local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness and since 2010 this has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless.

    Since 2010, local councils have had more flexibility over how they spend the money they receive from central government.

    The allocation of Homeless Prevention Grant has developed over many years to take account of different kinds of pressures, including rough sleeping and statutory homelessness. We supported the establishment of the National Practitioner Support Service’s ‘Gold Standard’ programme to help improve the effectiveness of local authority homelessness prevention services.

    Decisions on funding beyond 2015/2016 will be subject to the forthcoming spending review.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to pages 18 and 19 of his response to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee’s Second Report of Session 2015-16: The Extension of Offensive British Military Operation to Syria, published on 26 November 2015, what his assessment is of the capacity of the 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters referred to (a) taking territory from ISIL, (b) holding that territory and (c) administering it; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Cameron

    We estimate that there are around 70,000 Syrian opposition fighters on the ground who do not belong to extremist groups, many of whom are linked to the Free Syrian Army. In addition to these 70,000, there are around 20,000 Kurdish fighters in Syria, who are also playing an important role in combating ISIL. The information we have on individual groups which forms the basis of this estimate is drawn in large part from intelligence. It would not be to the benefit of these non-extremist opposition fighters if we were to make it public to ISIL and the Syrian regime. We have very close intelligence relationships with a range of allies and partners, and share assessments with them as a matter of course.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of recruitment levels of new teachers; and if she will make a statement.

    Nick Gibb

    Teaching continues to be a popular career; there are now more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before. In November 2014 there were 454,900 full time equivalent teachers, an increase of 5,200 from the previous year and 13,100 from 2010.

    Data from the end of the recruitment cycle showed that we exceeded our target for the recruitment of primary teachers, and made good progress in secondary recruitment, including in several key subjects like English, mathematics, physics and chemistry, where recruitment finished ahead of the previous year.

    We recognise that teacher recruitment is becoming increasingly challenging as the economy continues to strengthen and competition for new graduates intensifies, which is why we are focused on attracting more top graduates and career changers into the profession, particularly in those core academic subjects that help children reach their potential. We have recently announced a package of generous financial incentives for the next recruitment round; this includes tax-free bursaries worth up to £30,000 and the opportunity to earn a salary whilst training.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on the introduction of flexible rail season tickets; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    The introduction and roll-out of part-time season tickets will give people who commute part-time a better deal than they currently have access to. We have challenged the rail industry to develop proposals for pricing and delivering more flexible season tickets for those who work or commute part-time which could also attract new customers onto the railway.

    We are making progress on delivering more flexible tickets. For example, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have a franchise commitment to introduce carnet style tickets on their smartcards which is subject to the Secretary of State’s approval. We expect GTR to meet its obligations and are working with them to ensure they are delivered.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Indonesian counterpart on the recent persecution and violence against Christians in Aceh Province.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The British Government takes freedom of religion or belief extremely seriously and regularly urges governments to protect the right of all individuals to practise their religion or belief free from persecution or discrimination. Staff from our Embassy in Jakarta visit Indonesia’s provinces regularly, discussing our concerns with government officials, civil society leaders and religious communities. We welcome the comments made by Indonesian President Joko Widodo following the violence in Aceh, in which he said that any violence of any kind – especially violence around religion and belief – will destroy diversity.

    We also note action taken by Indonesia on protection of religious beliefs, including a Bill on protections for religious and faith communities, on which we have offered UK assistance and expertise.