Tag: 2015

Lord Mancroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS England and Public Health England provide data demonstrating that there is equitable access to the new hepatitis C treatment.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England is working with NHS England and the Clinical Leads of the Operational Delivery Networks to ensure that a minimum data set is collected to allow monitoring of patients being treated. Limited demographic information will be requested to help interpret this information in the context of the whole infected population to help assess whether treatment access is as equitable as possible.

01/01/2023
Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries who have been classified as homeless have been returned to their home countries in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office does not record information in relation to homelessness. We do encounter rough sleepers during enforcement operations and, depending on the individual circumstances, non-UK rough sleepers can be removed or deported. In these situations, the Immigration Enforcement teams will ensure that vulnerable individuals are also connected to support services in their home countries.

For vulnerable individuals who are sleeping rough on the streets, there are locally funded reconnection services they can approach voluntarily to help them return to their home countries voluntarily and connect into support services there. We do not hold data on those who are returned using this service.

Therefore, any information we hold does not provide a complete and accurate picture of those who have returned home.

01/01/2023
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 whether the planning guidance for the NHS for 2016–17 will include a requirement for Clinical Commissioning Groups to achieve real term increases in mental health spending.

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.

01/01/2023
Maria Miller – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Miller on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons section 80 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 has not been brought into force.

Andrew Jones

Section 80 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 contains a duty on persons carrying out works in the carriageway. As the question indicates, this has never been brought into force. It concerns occasions where a person undertaking works in the street finds apparatus belonging to an undertaker that does not appear or differs from the underground asset records provided. In such cases, the person would be required to take steps to inform the owner, or keep a record of its location and inform the relevant local authority of the nature of what they have found and its location.

The associated section 79 (Records of location of apparatus) of the Act was brought into force in 2003. This section provides that those with apparatus under the street must maintain records of that apparatus, and provide it to those requesting it with a legitimate interest.

Some years ago, the industry considered how the requirements in section 80 might operate in practice if they were brought into force. I am aware that at the time, those undertaking street works felt that there would be challenges in identifying the asset owner and conveying the information in a way that would provide an accurate and reliable record for the future. This process could delay completion of the works, causing additional congestion to traffic and adding cost to the job. These consequences conflict with the aims of minimising disruption and cost in carrying out street works. The range of methods used to maintain records, and inconsistency in how the information could be conveyed raised concerns about the feasibility of doing this, and future liability issues.

No further consideration has been given to this matter recently.

01/01/2023
Baroness Coussins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Coussins on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) Afghan interpreters, and (2) members of their immediate families, have been relocated to the UK under (a) the ex gratia redundancy scheme, and (b) the intimidation policy.

Lord Bates

Up to the end of November, 230 Afghan locally engaged civilians along with 297 members of their families have been relocated to the UK under the ex gratia redundancy scheme.

No locally engaged civilians have been relocated to the UK under the current intimidation policy. One former staff member was relocated to the UK under a previous version of the policy.

01/01/2023
Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a fundraising preference service on the work of the charity sector.

Mr Rob Wilson

The Fundraising Preference Service, recommended by the Etherington reviewinto fundraising, will re-balancepower back to individuals and help them to press the ‘reset’ button on their relationship with fundraisers, giving them control over the fundraisingcommunications they receive from charities. It will stop people being inundated withrequests which they do not wish to receive and it will stop charities wasting resources oncommunicating with people that do not wish to hear from them. It also seeks to underwritepublic trust and confidence in charities which is vital to the sector’s work.

A working group involving charities is being established to develop the detailed plans for theimplementation of the service.

01/01/2023
Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their commitment to consult on 100 per cent retention of business rates by local authorities by the end of this Parliament, what additional resources would be available to each local authority with adult social care functions if they had been able to keep all the business rates collected in their area in 2014–15, and what proportion of their total expenditure that business rate retention amounted to.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government intends to move to 100 percent business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. We have confirmed that as part of the new system there will continue to be redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities and protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme. Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact will be on individual areas or authorities.

01/01/2023
Karen Buck – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff are currently working on the review of the localisation of council tax benefit; and whether he plans for further appointments to be made to this team.

Mr Marcus Jones

The details of the Chair and terms of reference for the independent review of local council tax support schemes will be published in due course. A Review team comprising four full-time equivalents staff has been set up to provide project and analytical support to the Chair.

The Review will be completed by the end of March 2016.

01/01/2023
Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which external organisations have contributed to his Department’s review on business rates.

Mr David Gauke

The Government has held a range meetings with stakeholders and received a large number of submissions in response to the business rates review. The review will be fiscally neutral and will report at Budget 2016.

01/01/2023

David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much support from EU agricultural funding has been awarded to UK organic food producers in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

In England between 2010 and 2014, support for organic farmers was provided under the Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme (OELS) and Organic Higher Level Stewardship scheme (OHLS), which were set up under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The following table provides details of the annual funding provided during this period. Organic farmers were also eligible for payments under the Single Payment Scheme.

OELS and OHLS funding in England 2010-2014:

Year	Annual funding for OELS:	Annual funding for OHLS:
2010	£1,986,129	£17,454,578
2011	£4,285,822	£21,059,841
2012	£6,088,660	£24,443,405
2013	£7,503,473	£27,495,231
2014	£8,665,682	£29,486,762
Total Funding:	£28,529,766	£119,939,817

Footnote 1: Because agriculture is a devolved matter, separate schemes operate in other UK countries. Data on other funding provided is available from devolved administrations.

Footnote 2: These data include payments to organic farmers under conventional land management options in combined organic and conventional agreements and include payments for existing and new agreements each year.

Footnote 3: RDPE funding comprises EU funding allocated under the CAP for England and relevant Exchequer match funding.

01/01/2023