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Tag: 2015

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on each international subscription in each financial year from 2000-01 to 2014-15.

    Mr David Lidington

    This information is already publically available. Our spend on international subscriptions has been listed under ‘Programme’ in our Annual Report and Accounts each financial year from 2000-01 to 2014-15. Our Accounts since 2004-05 are available on www.gov.uk; Accounts for earlier years are available in hard copy in the Parliamentary Library and can also be accessed on the FCO pages at webarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many medical students completed their studies in London medical schools in each year from 2006 to 2009.

    Ben Gummer

    Data available from the Medical and Dental Students (MDS) Survey from 2009 to 2012 shows the output of those obtaining their first registrable medical qualification from London universities as:

    Year

    Output from London universities

    2009

    1,668

    2010

    1,650

    2011

    1,790

    2012

    1,713

    Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England MDS Survey

    From 2013, the MDS did not collect information on the output from medical schools.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve staff retention in NHS England.

    George Freeman

    NHS England ran a restructuring programme in 2014/15. Since then, the organisation turnover rate has declined and for the last three months has been on average 3.75%.

    Retention issues tend to arise in particular roles or professions, for example finance, or in specific locations. NHS England has mechanisms to address the specific issues. Furthermore, NHS England conducts exit interviews with staff who leave to help understand issues which affect retention and ensure they can be addressed.

    In order to ensure NHS England can attract and retain high quality staff, and plan and manage natural succession, it has introduced a formal talent management process to ensure that line managers are discussing current performance, future potential, personal development plans and career aspirations with staff. This process has covered over 1,000 staff in senior and business critical roles. The organisation and senior leadership now have a much better understanding of people’s aspirations, development needs and career intentions.

    The organisation has also introduced a staff recognition scheme, and other programmes of work to improve health and well-being, capability development, staff engagement and diversity with the aim of making NHS England an employer of choice for talented people.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Syrian refugees coming to Britain do not have criminal records or connections to extremist groups.

    James Brokenshire

    We take security extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement, working closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When potential cases are submitted by the UNHCR for our consideration they are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further on the details of the screening process itself.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of people who do not receive a national insurance number within 28 days of being granted refugee status.

    Priti Patel

    No assessment has been made of the number of people who do not receive a National Insurance number (NINo) within 28 days of being granted refugee status.

    For those granted leave to remain as a result of a successful asylum claim, a joint fast track NINo application process operates between DWP and the Home Office. This process is applicable to the principal family member and the NINo is allocated 2 days after the receipt of the application; this process has been in place since 2005.

    The current year to date processing time for all NINo applications is 11.3 days.

  • Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ann Coffey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Coffey on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to complete the evaluation of the pilots of section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Selous

    A report is being prepared for publication, subject to standard quality assurance checks.

  • Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cat Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings he has planned over the next six months with maritime training colleges to discuss the recommendations of the Maritime Growth Study.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government engages regularly with representative bodies responsible for maritime training. These training representatives, including some maritime training colleges, contributed to the evidence gathering process that informed the Maritime Growth Study. As several recommendations from the Study focus on maritime training provision we intend to keep relevant training bodies fully informed and involved as we begin to take these forward.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve rates of pay for people aged under 25.

    Nick Boles

    The priority for younger workers is to gain skills and experience and to secure work. This is already reflected in the National Minimum Wage rate structure, where the youth rate is currently £1.40 lower than the adult rate. This reflects that wages tend to increase through the early 20s, as workers gain more experience. Youth unemployment is higher compared to those over 25.

    The wages of younger workers will continue to be underpinned by the National Minimum Wage as recommended by the Low Pay Commission at the highest possible level without affecting employment.

  • Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alan Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to expenditure on (a) DWP Administration, (b) the Government Equalities Office, (c) the Health and Safety Executive, (d) the Work Welfare and Equalities Group and (e) the Working Age Client Group in the schedule of comparable programme objects in HM Treasury’s publication, Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly: Statement of Funding Policy, published in October 2010, (i) how much of that expenditure in which locations was on (A) property and (B) personnel and (ii) how many people in which locations were employed through such expenditure between 2010 and 2015.

    Priti Patel

    The level of disaggregation is not readily available. DWP Expenditure for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 is shown in the table below.

    DWP, Departmental Expenditure Limit Resource Outturn, £million

    2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
    DWP 9,152 7,624 7,497 7,615 7,152
    Of which:
    Health and Safety Executive (net) 203 175 162 155 139
    Operational Delivery 1,294 2,487 2,865 2,866 2,191
    Employment Programmes 1,814 876 802 1,037 950

    More information is available in the Department’s report and accounts which are available at gov.uk. A link to the latest report is provided below:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

    “

  • 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 2015-10-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Royal Colleges on potential links between drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco and Alzheimer’s disease.

    Jane Ellison

    Improving the treatment and care of people with dementia, reducing the incidence of dementia and improving dementia research, is a key priority for the Government.

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings with various stakeholders, including Royal Colleges, in which a wide range of topics are discussed. There have been no meetings to discuss the potential links between alcohol, tobacco and Alzheimer’s disease specifically.

    Studies investigating whether alcohol consumption is linked to dementia risk have had mixed results and research is ongoing. However, very heavy drinking is known to cause alcohol-related dementia, also known as Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.

    Public Health England (PHE) has made dementia risk reduction one of their seven public health priorities for the next five years. In May 2014 PHE and the UK Health Forum published the Blackfriars Consensus, a statement calling for action on dementia risk reduction which was signed by 60 organisations and individuals working on dementia and other non-communicable diseases, as well as by the Secretary of State and the Health Ministers from the devolved administrations.

    PHE is now working closely with the Alzheimer’s Society and a range of others partners to deliver concerted action to reduce people’s risk of dementia by supporting them to live healthier lives and manage pre-existing conditions that increase their risk of dementia. Their programme includes work to further develop the evidence base and improve modelling of incidence and prevalence, to embed dementia risk reduction messages into health improvement and secondary prevention activity, and to raise public and professional awareness and understanding of what can be done to reduce dementia risk.

    On the latter PHE is engaging with the Royal College of General Practitioners as well as others such as Health Education England and the relevant sector skills councils.