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Tag: 2015

  • 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 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect on Eastbourne’s local economy of potential reductions in connectivity of future rail projects along the South Coast; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    No plans for reducing rail services to/ from Eastbourne are being considered by the Government or rail industry.

    In developing its successive rail investment strategies and specifying rail franchises, the Government carefully considers the impacts on local economies.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to collect information centrally on how many doctors and nurses have been signed off work as a result of stress and other mental illness.

    Ben Gummer

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre publishes data on overall levels of sickness absence in the National Health Service. The Department has to balance the usefulness of information collected against the burden placed on NHS employing organisations. There are no plans to increase this burden by publishing information on the reasons for sickness absence including stress and other mental illness. Individual NHS employing organisations are responsible for managing sickness absence including where due to mental health.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what financial assistance is available for parents who have lost children to pay for funeral costs.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Social Fund Funeral Expenses scheme provides help towards the cost of a funeral for people on qualifying benefits. Awards cover the full necessary costs involved with either burial or cremation and up to £700 for other funeral expenses. Social Fund Budgeting Loans are also available to help those on income related benefits to cover the costs relating to funeral expenses.

  • Geraint Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geraint Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geraint Davies on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with Health Education England to ensure that the number of speech and language therapy student commissions for 2016-17 is sufficient to meet demand.

    Ben Gummer

    Health Education England (HEE) has been established to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead. HEE will formally publish the National Workforce Plan for 2016-17 in January 2016.

    The National Workforce Plan for England 2015-16 outlines that commissions for Speech and Language Therapists has increased since 2014-15 by 3.7%.

    Ministers hold regular discussions with HEE on a broad range of workforce supply issues. The Government issues an annual Mandate to HEE setting its priorities for the coming year. HEE’s performance against the Mandate deliverables are monitored through regular accountability meetings.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ann Clwyd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of pharmacy services in central London outside working hours.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning NHS services from community pharmacies taking account of the local pharmaceutical needs assessment that is published by the Health and Wellbeing Board for each area. The pharmaceutical needs assessments reflect all NHS pharmaceutical services including hours of opening. 99% of the population can get to a pharmacy within 20 minutes by car and 96% by walking or using public transport and access is greater in areas of highest deprivation Across London there are 1,851 community pharmacies. Of these, 255 are open 70 hours or more, including 103 open for 100 hours a week. In Westminster alone there are six 100 hour pharmacies.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much money will be devolved to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to coincide with the transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities from NHS England to CCGs in April 2016; and what NHS England spent on such services in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    George Freeman

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

    For England, the expenditure against morbid obesity for adults totalled £50.36 million in 2014/15.

    NHS England is not able to provide a figure for devolvement on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being discussed.

  • Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Quirk on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the press release by HMRC on 25 June, what initiatives HMRC have put in place to improve performance in respect of relieving public frustration at being able to make contact by telephone.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recognise that their customer service has not been good enough, and have taken major steps to improve, including recruiting 3,000 new staff into customer service roles, available outside normal office hours when many of their customers choose to call them. The process of recruiting and training the new staff is now complete. These improvements have started to make a difference. This month, HMRC have answered more than 80 per cent of calls, and average queue times are now around 10 minutes.

    HMRC also recognise that some customers have been waiting too long for a response to their complaint. HMRC have recovery plans in place and their performance is improving week on week.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Fabian Hamilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how the £1 billion Ross Fund will be spent.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The £1 billion Ross Fund, announced in November 2015, will target infectious diseases including malaria, diseases with epidemic potential, neglected tropical diseases which affect over a billion people globally, and antimicrobial resistance which poses a substantial and growing threat to global health. The goal of the Ross Fund is to develop, test and deliver a range of new products (including vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to help combat these diseases in developing countries. The finer details about the Fund are currently under development

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that Northern Ireland benefits from the Government’s planned expansion of the intelligence agencies.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    I regularly discuss national security issues with Cabinet colleagues.

    The National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review published this week, confirm that tackling terrorism in all its forms continues to be one of the Government’s highest priorities.

    We will increase funding for counter-terrorism by 30% in real terms over this Parliament.

  • 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 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of the National Offender Management Service budget in (a) staffing resources, (b) allocation of civil service time and (c) funding was set aside for the operation of Just Solutions International throughout its lifespan.

    Andrew Selous

    No funding was allocated within the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) budget for the operation of Just Solutions International (JSi), and exact calculations were not made to apportion staff time on JSi. Under the business model, services provided by JSi were to be provided on a cost recovery basis.