Tag: 2015

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 15363, how many drivers incurred a fixed-penalty charge for using a mobile telephone at the wheel in each of the last five years.

    Mike Penning

    Data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued by the police for using a handheld mobile phone while driving in England and Wales in the last five years is set out below.

    The enforcement of this offence is an operational matter for individual Chief Officers of police and decisions on the size and composition of a force’s workforce are for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.

    Number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued by police in England and Wales (1) for using a handheld mobile phone while driving, 2010 (2) to 2014:

    Number (thousands) England and Wales

    Offence

    2010

    2011

    2012

    2013

    2014

    Use of handheld mobile phone while driving

    124.7

    123.1

    92.7

    52.4

    29.7

    Source: Police Powers and Procedures, year ending March 2015, Home Office

    Notes

    1. Excludes British Transport Police

    2. Data for 2010 is not directly comparable with data from 2011 onwards due to the introduction of the PentiP system which records FPNs in England and Wales. Data from 2011 onwards is slightly lower that comparative data from the previous system.
  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people in (a) Feltham and Heston constituency, (b) Houndslow, (c) London and (d) the UK sought advice from the Family Rights Group in 2015.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education supports the Family Rights Group (FRG) in providing a national helpline for England. Our grant agreement with FRG does not require them to provide us with data by ward or the wider UK.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward proposals to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to remove the requirement for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria as a pre-requisite for obtaining legal gender recognition.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government takes transgender equality issues very seriously and has actively contributed towards the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into transgender equality. There are no current plans to review the Gender Recognition Act, however the Government will consider the recommendations of the inquiry once they become available.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much capital funding his Department has allocated to construction of a new concert hall in London led by the Barbican Centre.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not allocated any capital funding for the construction of the new concert hall in London.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether participants in Daily Work Search Review under the Help to Work scheme are set quotas for completing a minimum number of job applications.

    Priti Patel

    Under Daily Work Search Review claimants need to provide evidence of their work search activity on a daily basis. Their Claimant Commitment will specify their work search activity requirements which can be up to 35 hours a week. The Claimant Commitment is tailored to claimants’ individual circumstances.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of jobcentres have a private room in which Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services can take place.

    Priti Patel

    The Budget 2015 provided £15 million over three years to co-locate Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services in Jobcentres. We are looking to test co-location of IAPT services in two phases in 2015-2018. Within the first phase Canterbury Jobcentre is hosting their local IAPT service within private rooms on site. The second phase will test co-location of IAPT in a wider number of Jobcentres, which have yet to be selected. Some Jobcentres are independently building relationships with their local IAPT services under Freedom and Flexibilities.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department will meet the revised December 2015 target for upgrading air defence radars at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan to the TPS-77 radar standard.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Type 92 radars at Remote Radar Heads Buchan and Benbecula have both been upgraded to the TPS-77 standard; the Buchan upgrade was completed on 30 March 2015 and the Benbecula upgrade on 3 July 2015.

  • Chloe Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chloe Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chloe Smith on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral reply by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Quality of 17 November 2015, Official Report, column 519, what specific support has been provided to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Trust for winter 2015-16; what the financial value of that support is; and what the value is of the total of such support to all hospitals.

    Jane Ellison

    £400 million in resilience money has been invested in the National Health Service for winter 2015/16. Of this £400 million North Norfolk, South Norfolk, West Norfolk and Norwich clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) received £4.8 million of resilience money in their baseline, however it is not possible to give a specific figure for Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Trust. Learning from previous years, we have put this money into the CCG baseline for 2015/16 so that the National Health Service can plan effectively at local level for the long-term and take earlier action to tackle the symptoms of seasonal pressures.

    As part of the best practice guidance from the Safer, Faster, Better report (April 2015), all System Resilience Groups are implementing eight high impact interventions. These focus on short term priorities needed to improve flow through the system and reduce pressure on emergency departments.

  • Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what powers he plans Rail North to assume in relation to rail franchises by 2020.

    Andrew Jones

    In March of this year the Department for Transport (DfT) signed a formal partnership agreement with Rail North. This agreement sets out the arrangements by which a locally-based team in Leeds, reporting to a joint Rail North/DfT strategic board will manage the new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises from April 2016. The agreement includes important mechanisms to enable the Rail North authorities to make decisions on changes to their local rail service and fares and to make investments in these franchises to make improvements. The partnership agreement with Rail North signed in March 2015 sets out the steps by which further devolution will be agreed by the parties during the life of the franchises.

  • Lord Boateng – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Boateng – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2015-11-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of (1) the role of law enforcement in Sub-Saharan Africa in deterring and apprehending people smugglers, and (2) the capacity of those forces to fulfil that role.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    At the Valletta Summit on 11 and 12 November, EU and African leaders made clear their shared determination to provide a comprehensive solution to irregular migration that deals with the root causes as well as responds to the consequences. Both European and African law enforcement agencies have an important role to play in delivering that solution. A key tenet of the Action Plan agreed at the Summit was to strengthen further our collective efforts to prevent and fight against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings through effective border management, enhanced intelligence-sharing and the implementation of the relevant legal frameworks. Through the new EU Trust Fund on migration, as well as bilateral activity, we will help build the capacity of law enforcement agencies in Africa to go after the criminal gangs and smuggling networks that profit from human misery. In Valetta the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced further funding for the UK’s Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce, now totalling £50million for 2015-2020. The Taskforce brings together officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service with the task of pursuing and disrupting organised crime groups involved in the people smuggling trade in countries of source, transit and destination.