The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when and by what method she informed South Wales Police of the errors in calculating the police funding formula.
Mike Penning
The Minister of State for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Victims made a statement to the House on Monday 9 November on this issue. Ministers were informed of this issue on Friday 6 November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2015 to Question 12325, whether encouraging UK military exports to that country form part of the Defence Attaché’s duties in each case.
Mr Julian Brazier
Yes, Defence Attachés are to support and promote UK Defence Exports.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of her Department’s policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps she has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments; and if she will make a statement.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The Family Test policy does not apply to DFID’s work as foreign policy is outside of the scope of the Test.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department provides for community solar projects.
Andrea Leadsom
This Government is proud to support the community energy sector. We have provided £2m to support over 100 community groups through the Urban and Rural Community Energy Funds and community solar projects are able to access funding. We also provided £885,000 to Bristol City Council to develop a Local Authority Best Practice Programme, including community solar projects. The DECC-funded online Community Energy Hub helps communities across the UK share knowledge and information on community energy projects.
Community solar projects, up to 5MW in capacity, can also currently seek support through the Feed-in Tariff scheme. The scheme provides a generation tariff for the electricity generated by the installation and a tariff for electricity exported to the grid. These payments are in addition to bill savings for those projects that consume electricity generated onsite.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to implement the family test.
David Mundell
The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. It is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in the development of all new policy. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and my Department follows that guidance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Romania on (a) improving media freedom and media pluralism in that country and (b) the activities of (i) Central Media Enterprise, (ii) Adrian Sârbu and (iii) Ronald Lauder.
Mr David Lidington
The British Embassy in Bucharest continues to follow the issue of media freedom in Romania, given its impact on the quality of democracy and on the rule of law. As part of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (CVM), to which Romania has been subject since its EU accession, the European Commission has called on Romania to “review existing standards to safeguard a free and pluralist media”. We have worked closely with the European Commission and the Romanian government in encouraging full implementation of CVM recommendations including on the relationship between the media and state institutions. The Department has had no recent discussions with the government of Romania on the activities of Central Media Enterprise, Adrian Sarbu or Ronald Lauder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he and Network Rail have to remove level crossings on the mainline between Plymouth and Reading.
Claire Perry
Network Rail operates at arm’s-length from the Department for Transport and is not expected to involve Ministers in its regular operational decisions such as its proposals for the removal or upgrading of level crossings on a particular route.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is take to ensure that the £22 billion NHS efficiency savings proposed in the NHS Five-Year Forward View, published in October 2014, do not affect the quality of services which people with Parkinson’s Disease require to assist them with their condition.
Alistair Burt
Efficiency and high quality care go hand-in-hand; cutting waste and safer care are integral to ensuring better outcomes at a lower cost. The efficiencies the National Health Service needs to find are linked to the challenge of continued improvements in care across all services, including for people with Parkinson’s disease. We are introducing a number of measures to help the NHS spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently by making sure that the health and care system is supported to invest in areas where they can make the most positive impact on the health of their local population.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers who have registered disabilities in East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow have been sanctioned in each of the last five years.
Priti Patel
The available information on JSA sanctions, including those with a disability (which refers to the disability status of the claimant undergoing a sanction and is self-recorded by the claimant) is published at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support in (a) monetary terms and (b) skills his Department provides for research into motor neurone disease.
George Freeman
The usual practice of the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including motor neurone disease (MND). These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Current NIHR awards include a £0.3 million doctoral research fellowship looking at the use of telehealth in MND.
The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting patients to 21 trials and studies in MND.
The NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure is a unique resource for the global life sciences industry, simplifying access to the United Kingdom’s world-leading clinical research infrastructure in all disease areas including MND.
The NIHR Research Design Service supports researchers to develop and design high-quality proposals for submission to NIHR itself and also to other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research in all disease and topic areas including MND. The service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing funding applications in these fields, including advice on research methodology, clinical trials, patient involvement, and ethics and governance.