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Tag: 2015

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of elderly people experiencing loneliness.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government has not made an estimate of the number of elderly people experiencing loneliness, but recognises that in an increasingly mobile and more fractured society, isolation and loneliness is a significant social issue.

    Through the Care Act 2014 the Government has placed a duty on local authorities to have measures in place to identify people in their area who would benefit from universal services to help reduce, delay or prevent needs for care and support. This includes needs that may arise from loneliness and social isolation.

    Given the complexity of loneliness and the different ways that people are affected there is no single solution that can tackle loneliness and having a range of interventions and solutions is helpful. The Department has funded the Social Care Institute for Excellence to develop and run the Prevention Library which includes examples of emerging practice to prevent, reduce or delay peoples care and support needs from deteriorating.

    The Department has supported a ‘digital toolkit’ for local commissioners, which was developed by the Campaign to End Loneliness, and is now incorporated in their guidance Loneliness and Isolation: Guidance for Local Authorities and Commissioners. This supports commissioners in understanding, mapping and commissioning for loneliness and social isolation in their communities, and includes promising approaches to tackling loneliness.

    We are building a better understanding of how prevention can maintain people’s wellbeing and the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions is expanding. Through the Prevention Library local authorities can learn from emerging practice, and exchange ideas and experience of the impact of information, advice and befriending services.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on the European Commission’s request of 18 June 2015 to five EU member states to terminate intra-EU bilateral investment treaties.

    Anna Soubry

    The UK is participating in discussions with the Commission and other Member States on possible options and approaches towards handling the Commission’s request, regarding the termination of these treaties. These discussions are at an early stage and no consensus has been reached among Member States.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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 effect on patient safety of the project on how emergency calls were dealt with run by South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust between December 2014 and February 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    We are advised that the health sector regulator Monitor is taking action with South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust regarding concerns about a project which was run between December 2014 and February 2015 in the south of England. The regulator is working with the Trust now to identify the negative impact this project could have had on patients.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many investigations were carried out by HM Revenue and Customs National Minimum Wage compliance officers 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.

  • Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gavin Newlands – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people deported under the deport first, appeal later measures have successfully appealed against their deportation; how many of those people have returned to the UK; and of those people that have returned, what the length of time was that each such person spent outside the UK between their deportation and return.

    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.

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will amend the Local Government Pension Scheme to permit boycott, divestment and sanctions policies; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We will issue guidance to local government pension scheme administering authorities in the spring on how their policies on environmental, social and corporate governance matters should reflect foreign policy and related issues. This will make clear that their predominant concern should be the pursuit of their financial return on investments and that they should not pursue boycott, divestment and sanctions policies unless they are consistent with UK foreign policy.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Kenyan counterpart on steps to control terrorism in the last 12 months.

    James Duddridge

    Co-operation on security and counter-terrorism is an important part of our bilateral relationship with Kenya. The Prime Minister discussed the subject with President Kenyatta during their meeting in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York on 28 September. The Foreign Secretary also discussed the issue with the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed in the margins of the same event, where they signed a bilateral Security Compact aimed at enhancing our security cooperation. We continue to work closely with the Kenyan security agencies to counter the shared threat of terrorism. This includes working with Kenya to strengthen its borders, as well as in providing assistance on investigating and prosecuting terrorists in line with international human rights standards.

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of projected savings in his Department arising from the imposition of civilian pay restraint in the 2015-16 financial year and each of the next five such years.

    Mark Lancaster

    The estimated Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian paybill saving in 2015-16 from pay restraint is £10 million.

    The Summer Budget confirmed that the Government would fund public sector pay awards at 1% for four years from 2016-17 onwards.

    The estimated saving for MOD civilians from this pay restraint is £254 million over the next five years as detailed below.


    2016-17     (£ million)


    2017-18     (£ million)


    2018-19     (£ million)


    2019-20     (£ million)


    2020-21     (£ million)

    7

    26

    52

    92

    77

  • Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gloria De Piero – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many families with children living in bed and breakfast have been so accommodated for more than six weeks; and how many families with children were living in bed and breakfast accommodation in (a) each local authority in the East Midlands and (b) England in each year since 2010.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department for Communities and Local Government collects figures for the number of households in temporary accommodation as snapshot figures at the end of each quarter. Theattached table shows the number of families with children who were accommodated in Bed & Breakfast hotels (including shared annexes) on 31st December for each year 2010–2014, who were resident for more than 6 weeks, in the East Midlands and England.

    Numbers for individual local authorities have not been provided, as they generally relate to very small numbers of households and therefore risk disclosing personal information.

    The law is clear that bed and breakfast accomodation should only be used to house homeless in an emergency, and for no longer than six weeks.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian personnel, (b) uniformed personnel and (c) civil servants were employed at (i) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (ii) MOD Llanwrst, (iii) MOD Fairbourne and (iv) MOD Crickhowell in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    Information available on the number of personnel at each of the locations requested is provided in the tables below. The number of military personnel and civil servants is as at 1 October for each year. Data for military personnel can only be provided for the last nine years as prior to this information is not held centrally. The number of contractors can only be provided by financial year.

    The data has been rounded in accordance with data protection principles where ~ denotes less than 5.

    Military Personnel as at 1 October

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2007

    0

    ~

    20

    20

    2008

    0

    ~

    20

    20

    2009

    0

    ~

    20

    30

    2010

    ~

    10

    20

    30

    2011

    10

    10

    20

    30

    2012

    10

    10

    20

    30

    2013

    10

    10

    20

    10

    2014

    10

    10

    10

    10

    2015

    20

    0

    10

    20

    Civil Servant Personnel as at 1 October

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2006

    10

    10

    20

    10

    2007

    10

    10

    20

    20

    2008

    10

    10

    20

    20

    2009

    10

    10

    10

    20

    2010

    10

    10

    10

    20

    2011

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2012

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2013

    ~

    ~

    10

    10

    2014

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2015

    ~

    ~

    10

    10

    Contractors by Financial Year

    Grantown-on-Spey

    Llanwrst

    Fairbourne

    Crickhowell

    2007-08

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2008-09

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2009-10

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2010-11

    ~

    0

    0

    ~

    2011-12

    ~

    10

    10

    ~

    2012-13

    ~

    10

    10

    ~

    2013-14

    ~

    10

    10

    10

    2014-15

    ~

    10

    10

    10

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