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Tag: 2015

  • 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 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Return to Work plans produced by the Fit for Work service made recommendations to employers which were accepted in full since the launch of that service.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The number and proportion of Return to Work Plans produced by the Fit for Work service that made recommendations to employers which were accepted in full is not readily available and to provide the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce blood tests for the detection of ovarian cancer on the NHS.

    George Freeman

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 23 November 2015 to Question 16523.

    “

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of (1) all multi-academy trusts, and (2) multi-academy trusts with at least five schools, achieve above average value added.

    Earl of Courtown

    Value added scores are routinely published for individual schools as part of the department’s performance tables, which include the functionality to filter results by an academy sponsor.

    The department does not publish a summary of value added scores for each academy chain or multi-academy trust. Simple aggregations of performance measures can lead to misleading conclusions about performance within a chain since they will often reflect the type of schools that have entered into the chain relationship.

    Earlier this year, the department published a statistical working paper to consider how these issues may be addressed and invited comments from users. This can be found in the attachment to this answer.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to introduce a tax relating to the sugar content of food.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no plans to introduce a tax on sugar. However all taxes are kept under review, with decisions being a matter for the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 9 December (HL4113), whether instances of bullying and abuse of children and young people via social media networks are reported, recorded and included in those exclusions statistics.

    Earl of Courtown

    Incidents of bullying and abuse of children and young people via social media by pupils which resulted in exclusions are reported to the Department. The Department publishes these incidents in its annual exclusions statistics. The latest statistics were published on 30 July 2015 and can be found online at GOV.UK.

    The school census guidance provided to schools and local authorities for the 2015/16 academic year explicitly includes cyber bullying in the bullying exclusion category for the first time.

    Prior to this, the guidance for the bullying category only specifically referenced verbal, physical and homophobic bullying.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to improve awareness of the health implications of drinking during pregnancy.

    Jane Ellison

    The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is overseeing a United Kingdom-wide review of all alcohol guidelines so that people can make informed choices about their drinking at all stages of their lives.

    The Guidelines Development Group, a group of independent experts, was tasked with developing the lower-risk drinking guidelines for the UK CMOs to consider. The group have researched and developed a proposal on the guidelines, including a UK wide approach for guidance on alcohol and pregnancy. We will be consulting on these shortly.

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

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote Small Business Saturday.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is a strong supporter of Small Business Saturday, which was this year held on Saturday December 5. As part of a programme of activity to get behind the event and encourage communities to support their local businesses at a key time in the commercial calendar, the Government worked with Small Business Saturday organisers to hold a flagship market with a diverse range of small companies at HM Treasury. All 21 Government departments were also briefed to raise awareness of the campaign, with many using social media channels to highlight the initiative. In addition, 50 Ministers visited a local business in their area on the day, endorsing the campaign through their own social media channels. We also distributed message packs online to 588 stakeholders to encourage them to reach out to their own memberships and support the day. We are now planning to work with organisers to support Small Business Saturday 2016.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the proportion of crimes committed under the influence of alcohol in the last 12 months.

    Mike Penning

    The Crime Survey for England and Wales from 2013/14 shows that in around half (53%, 704,000 offences) of all violent incidents the victim believed the perpetrator to be under the influence of alcohol. While the volume of incidents has fallen, the proportion of violent incidents that were ‘alcohol-related’ has remained relatively steady over the last ten years.

  • Gary Streeter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gary Streeter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10658, whether the national improvement framework for hepatitis C services will contain guidance on (a) commissioning responsibilities and (b) patient pathways.

    Jane Ellison

    Commissioning responsibilities for hepatitis C are divided between NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. In the light of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance for the anti-viral drugs, the successful establishment of Operational Delivery Networks across England, and the rapidly widening access to curative treatment to thousands of patients, the draft Improvement Framework does not provide detailed commissioning guidance or patient pathways. NHS England is exploring how such guidance might be developed through its collaborative commissioning arrangements.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many remote sites (a) are operational to enable witnesses to give evidence away from court, (b) were available for use by children under the age of 18 in 2014-15 and (c) were used by children under the age of 18 in that year.

    Mike Penning

    The Ministry is committed to supporting all victims and witnesses, including children, when giving evidence in criminal trials. All victims and witnesses are eligible for special measures to relieve stress when giving evidence, including giving evidence by video remotely.

    We have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

    Since March 2015 vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, including child abuse victims, can give evidence from a remote site which is away from the court environment. There is at least one remote site in each of the seven Regions in England and Wales, and twelve sites in total.

    In addition, the court estate is video-enabled so that any victim or witness can give evidence from a court building other than the trial site to ensure they do not come into contact with the defendant, or their family and supporters.

    Whilst HMCTS collates data on the number of witnesses giving evidence by video, the ages of the victims and witnesses are not recorded.