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Tag: 2015

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS 111 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.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Individual Funding Requests NHS England received in (1) 2013–14, (2) 2014–15, and (3) 2015–16 to date, and how many of those requests were accepted in each year.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has advised the following:

    ‒ In 2013-14, 1,283 Individual Funding Requests were received, of which 280 were accepted.

    ‒ In 2014-15, 1,436 Individual Funding Requests were received of which 535 were accepted.

    ‒ In 2015-16 (up to September 2015), 560 Individual Funding Requests were received of which 163 were accepted.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much surplus land owned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its agencies they estimate is suitable for building new houses on; how much has been released in each year since 2010–11; and how much they expect to release in (1) the current year, and (2) each year to 2020–21.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    During the last Parliament, the Government exceeded its ambition to release surplus land with capacity for 100,000 homes. The housing capacity of the land released by Government Departments and their arms length bodies is set out in the attached table.

    Over this Parliament, the Government is committed to releasing surplus public sector land with capacity for up to 150,000 homes by 2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is working with Departments to review their land holdings in order to identify suitable surplus public sector and finalise disposal plans for this Parliament.

  • Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the cost of the right to buy discount for housing association tenants is expected to be each year until 2020; what assessment was carried out on the projected costs of discounts; and whether they will place any such research in the Library of the House.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Government has been clear that the sale of high value vacant council housing will pay for the cost of compensating housing associations for the discount, so the Right to Buy will be cost neutral.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the cost of (a) fully mothballing the SSI Steel site in Redcar and (b) safely cleaning up the site to prepare it for redevelopment.

    Anna Soubry

    We know the SSI Redcar plant lost over £600 million in over three years. When the company went into liquidation, the Official Receiver bought supplies to keep certain operations, such as the coke ovens, going in the hope of finding a commercial buyer.

    Unfortunately, no commercial buyer could be found to maintain operations at the plant. While this was deeply disappointing, with such large losses and debts, and the price of steel produced at SSI expected to stay depressed for some considerable time, it was perhaps not surprising.

    It is too early to say what the costs of preparing the site for redevelopment will be. This will depend on the state the site is left in following liquidation, the future use of the site and any private sector interest in it, which could generate value to offset redevelopment costs.

    The Government is providing the Official Receiver with the funds and support necessary to deliver a safe liquidation of SSI.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of tax and benefit changes included in the Summer Budget 2015 on (a) relative and (b) absolute child poverty.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The intended impact of these reforms is to incentivise work, ensure work always pays, and then allow people to keep more of what they earn.

    We know that work is the best route out of poverty. Our new life chances measures will drive continued action on work and education, which will make the biggest difference to disadvantaged children – now and in the future.

    HMT’s published distributional analysis shows that the proportion of welfare and public service spending which benefits poorer households has not changed since 2010-11, with half of all spending on welfare and public services still going to the poorest 40% of households in 2017-18. At the same time, the richest fifth of households will pay a greater proportion of taxes than in 2010-11 as a result of government policy – and more than all other households put together.

    The Government has carefully considered impacts with regard to all relevant legal obligations when formulating the welfare policies announced at the Summer Budget 2015.

  • Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Vicky Foxcroft – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vicky Foxcroft on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve supported accommodation for homeless young people in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) London Borough of Lewisham, (c) London and (d) England.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government is committed to preventing homelessness and is taking specific action across England to support young homeless people into stable accommodation, education, training or employment.

    We have invested £14 million to enable Crisis to support 10,000 vulnerable single people into privately rented tenancies, of which 41 projects are specifically targeted at young people.

    Our £15 million Fair Chance Fund payment by results scheme is supporting 1,600 vulnerable homeless 18-25 year olds into accommodation, education, training and employment. Projects for the scheme are being delivered across England including Greenwich.

    In addition, the Government is investing £40 million in Platform for Life, a lower rent shared accommodation programme to provide young homeless people with a stable base for work and study.

    We have also implemented the ‘Youth Accommodation Pathway’ good practice model that supports young people to remain in the family home where it is safe to do so and offers tailored support for those who cannot. This has been disseminated across all English local authorities.

  • Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Brendan MacNeil – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how often his Department has made use of its agreement with Storas Uibhist to turn off the turbines when the range has been used for training purposes or has been otherwise active.

    Mark Lancaster

    It has not been necessary for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to exercise its rights under the agreement with Storas Uibhist to turn off the turbines. However, the MOD retains its rights, under the agreement, to do so in the interests of air safety should this be deemed necessary.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools which signed up to the reception baseline providers that were subsequently not approved by her Department will have their costs reimbursed by her Department.

    Nick Gibb

    On 3 July 2015, the Department for Education contacted schools which had selected suppliers that were not approved by the department. This communication confirmed that, should the school continue to use that supplier, no costs would be reimbursed.

  • Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will consider the environmental impact of tidal lagoons in the Severn Estuary, Bristol Channel and Swansea Bay before granting permissions for these lagoons; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Before determining any consent applications for tidal lagoons that are nationally significant infrastructure projects, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will consider their individual and cumulative environmental impacts alongside all other relevant information.