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Tag: 2015

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account will be taken of NICE’s clinical guidelines on levels of patient access in setting the budgets devolved by NHS England to clinical commissioning groups for obesity surgery from April 2016.

    George Freeman

    NHS England would expect commissioners to take account of this guidance when commissioning services.

    Any transfer of budget from NHS England to devolved areas will be on the basis of existing contractual activity.

    Before the transfer of services, NHS England will complete a data capture exercise, working with providers through the specialised commissioning hubs, to collect the current activity level. This will provide the basis for the transfer of the budget. Governance sign off will then be agreed at NHS England Board level.

  • Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to maintain the current level of skills funding for 16 to 18 year olds up to May 2020.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Decisions about how 16-19 institutions will be funded in the academic year 2016/17 and beyond will be subject to the outcome of the spending review, which will set the budget for education and other public spending for the coming years.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to assure the public of the safety and quality of laser eye surgery.

    Alistair Burt

    Providers of laser eye surgery are required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as this is a regulated activity. All providers of regulated activities under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 must be registered with the Care Quality Commission and meet the new fundamental standards of safety and quality that came into force on 1 April this year. The CQC has a range of enforcement actions that it can take if providers do not meet the fundamental standards.

    Doctors performing laser eye surgery in the United Kingdom must also be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC). All registered doctors are expected to be familiar with the GMC’s publication Good medical practice and supporting guidance, which describes what is expected of them. This document makes clear that medical doctors must recognise and work within the limits of their competence.

    It has now been agreed that work to improve the delivery, safety and standards for patient information for laser eye surgery will be taken forward separately from the work to implement the Keogh Review, and that, as the professional body for setting the standards of practice for refractive procedures, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists will lead on this work.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have refused to interview and assess some of the boat people who arrived at the British Sovereign base in Cyprus; whether they plan to deport them as individuals to Lebanon; and what assessment they have made of whether deporting those individuals to Lebanon would be an instance of refoulement.

    Lord Bates

    Under an existing agreement with the Republic of Cyprus, those who claim asylum will be processed by the Cypriot authorities on behalf of the Sovereign Base.

    Those migrants who do not claim asylum and have no other basis on which to remain, face removal to their country of origin or Lebanon.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the system for reporting cybercrime.

    Mike Penning

    Action Fraud is the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and takes reports on behalf of all police forces in England and Wales. In June, it was extended to cover Northern Ireland. Action Fraud was set up to improve reporting of what has traditionally been an under-reported crime type. Official figures support the decision to centralise reporting: in the year ending June 2015, recorded fraud offences more than trebled from 72,000 before the centralisation of reporting to over 230,000.

    Action Fraud works in conjunction with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB): as of April 2014 both are operated by the City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud, which means one organisation is responsible for the whole process of taking reports and analysing them. The NFIB analyses Action Fraud crime reports and attempts to match them with other crimes and identify viable lines of enquiry so that an intelligence package can be passed to the police force best able to launch an investigation (usually where the suspect is believed to be located).

    Not all crimes recorded by Action Fraud and analysed by the NFIB will have viable investigative leads: fraudsters and cyber criminals may be based overseas or use false details. Nevertheless, in 2014/15, the number of crimes sent to police forces was almost 62,000. This was an increase of over 50% on 2013/14. The City of London Police are working with local forces to share expertise on how to investigate these types of crimes. City of London Police will be introducing a new IT system in May 2016, comprising of a new and much easier to use online reporting tool and a new data analytics platform within the NFIB. It will improve the identification of viable crimes to be passed to police forces, and the ability to provide improved victim service and care.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ruth Smeeth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of whether the UK has enough qualified IT specialists to meet the IT requirements of businesses in the UK.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is committed to addressing the rising demand for IT specialists and creating a strong digital skills talent pool. Action is being taken across education and training, from the introduction of the new school computing curriculum, to a range of new employer designed apprenticeship standards for digital roles, and the innovative digital degree apprenticeships that started in September.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals to increase the cost cap for environmental legal challenges to £10,000 for individuals on the affordability of such challenges for such people.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Ministry of Justice will keep the impact of any changes to the cost capping scheme for environmental claims under review as part of its consideration of the consultation responses. We will also carry out a full impact assessment on any changes and this will be published as part of the government’s response paper.

  • Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what impact assessment his Department has conducted on withdrawal of ESOL Plus Mandation funding and its effects on further education colleges in (a) Greater London and (b) the UK.

    Nick Boles

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) conducted an equality analysis to support its compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty prior to making the decision to withdraw the English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Plus (Mandation) funding for 2015/16. The decision was taken in the knowledge that providers are independent organisations which manage their own budgets and have the flexibility to use their adult skills budget to continue to provide ESOL training for jobseekers and are therefore able to mitigate any adverse impact. It was also taken on the basis of our data which shows that the numbers of learners in England being referred to ESOL Plus (Mandation) provision was significantly lower than originally anticipated and the ESOL Plus (Mandation) budget was underspent in 2014/15.

    BIS funds skills provision in England only.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment (a) applications and (b) appeals were successful in (i) Hull and (ii) the UK in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Information concerning part A is available here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2015

    The information concerning part B is below.

    Personal Independence Payment

    National

    Hull

    Number Cleared at Tribunal Hearing

    Number In favour DF

    Number Cleared at Tribunal Hearing

    Number In favour DF

    April 15- June 15

    7931

    4495

    60

    23

    (DF refers to Decision in Favour of the appellant).

    “

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

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2015-11-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the French Foreign Minister’s visit to Iran, they plan to use the UK’s political and official diplomacy to promote Airbus products and make clear that they are not solely French products, but contain significant components from the UK.

    Lord Maude of Horsham

    We will continue to promote the UK interests in Airbus in support of their global sales campaigns. We work closely with the Company and the governments of France, Germany and Spain on these campaigns given the shared economic benefits that arise from sales of Airbus aircraft. Because of the significant level of UK products on Airbus aircraft, the company is frequently represented on UK trade missions; it also enjoys the financial support of UK Export Finance and the commercial support of UK Trade & Investment’s overseas network.