The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what prison training his Department has provided to prison services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Andrew Selous
Details are fully documented in the NAO’s report into JSi, available here: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/investigation-into-just-solutions-international/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department provides to the London Borough of Barnet for the upkeep of local roads.
Andrew Jones
This Department does not provide direct funding to the London Borough of Barnet for the upkeep of local roads. We do, however, provide funding to Transport for London (TfL) each year, which for 2015/16 we have provided a grant of £1.5bn, part of which TfL in turn passes to the boroughs for spending on road maintenance and improvement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Graham on 2015-10-21.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of tax incentives for savings and pensions.
Mr David Gauke
The government is committed to supporting savers at all stages of life and has taken a number of steps to support saving through the tax system, including making ISAs more generous and flexible and introducing a new Personal Savings Allowance from next April. We are also reviewing pension tax relief to make sure it provides the right incentives to save for retirement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they and the NHS 111 service give to qualified nurses about the prioritisation of complex cases and more routine calls, in the light of the targets set for that service.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has seen successes with the NHS 111 service since its launch, with over a million calls offered to the NHS 111 service in August, of which 93.6% were answered within 60 seconds.
The Government expects all NHS 111 centres to be appropriately staffed to offer people safe care and advice and treatment at all times and has asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission has announced it will inspect and rate NHS 111 services by September 2016 to give additional assurances that minimum levels of quality are attained.
New Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care were published last week by NHS England. Developed jointly with commissioners and providers, the Commissioning Standards will support the transformation of urgent care services; introducing the clinical hub employing a broader range of clinical skills, direct booking into general practitioner appointments, improved clinical governance and staff development amongst other developments. Commissioners will now complete their plans to achieve the Commissioning Standards. A copy is attached.
The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local Clinical Commissioning Groups and the safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by local commissioners, monitoring performance and investigating complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Land Use Policy Group published in June, The role of agroecology in sustainable intensification.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra officials have reviewed this report and contributed to its development. The report concluded that agroecological practices have the potential to benefit the sustainability of farming without adversely affecting productivity and profitability. It also found that agroecological approaches can particularly reduce the impact of farming on biodiversity, water quality, soils and greenhouse gas emissions. The report has informed further research, which is being undertaken through the Defra Sustainable Intensification Research Platform.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 12 October concerning operational expenditure on the Severn Crossings (HL2333), whether those figures include the costs of collecting tolls; and if so, what are the specific costs for each year between 2005 and 2014.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The figures provided with the previous answer (HL2333) included the cost of collecting the tolls at the Severn Crossings. The specific costs in relation to the collection of the tolls have not been made available by the concessionaire.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2015-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the removal of the passports of British Jihadists who have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, in order to prevent their return to the United Kingdom.
Lord Bates
The Government has long-standing powers under the Immigration Act 2014 to deprive persons of their British citizenship if such deprivation is deemed ‘conducive to the public good’, for instance if a person has been involved in threats to national security, war crimes, serious and organised crime or unacceptable behaviours such as glorification of terrorism.
Deprivation of British citizenship results in simultaneous loss of the right of abode in the United Kingdom. Once deprived, an individual becomes subject to immigration powers and can be deported or removed from the UK or prevented from returning to the UK if deprivation action occurs whilst they are abroad.
In addition under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, the Home Secretary may impose a temporary exclusion order on a British citizen suspected of involvement in terrorism-related activity outside the UK. The individual’s passport would be cancelled, but the individual may return to the UK in accordance with a permit to return.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, on how many occasions he has discussed the Energy Intensive Industry Compensation Package with the European Commission in the last six months; and what forthcoming meetings he has with the European Commission.
Anna Soubry
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Competition Commissioner Verstager on Friday 23 October, to raise the issue of state aid clearance for our proposed package of support for energy intensive industries. Further discussions are planned this week, and next month. In addition, my officials have been in regular contact with the European Commission throughout this process, and have met with the Commission’s case handler to help progress clearance of the support package.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hammond on 2015-10-20.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new distilleries have been registered in the UK since 2012.
Damian Hinds
HM Revenue and Customs does not hold real time information on the number of distillery licenses issued.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of wheelchair accessible (a) homes, (b) flats and (c) bungalows which will be built in each of the next five years.
Brandon Lewis
Local authorities are best placed to understand the housing needs in their area. We expect them to work closely with key partners and their local communities in deciding what type of housing is needed.
National policy sets out clearly the need for local authorities to plan for the housing needs of all members of the community and that planning should encourage accessibility. The introduction of optional requirements for accessibility in the Building Regulations provides local authorities with the tools needed to ensure that new homes are accessible and that in particular the needs of disabled people are met.
At the same time as introducing these new optional requirements, we amended planning guidance to provide further advice on how they should be applied through local planning policy. We also published a data sheet setting out information and statistics on older and disabled peoples’ needs to act as a starting point for local authorities wishing to develop suitable policies.
An impact assessment supporting implementation of the Housing Standards Review estimated, for appraisal purposes, an indicative rate of construction of accessible housing in the period 2015 to 2025 – the impact assessment and accompanying documents can be found at the link below;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-standards-review-final-implementation-impact-assessment.