Tag: 2016

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has assessed the merits of updating the NHS data dictionary to include the 2011 census ethnic group classification, which includes gypsy or Irish traveller.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The NHS Equality and Diversity Council has an agenda to look at Data supporting equalities monitoring on the Equality Act 2010 ‘protected characteristics’, of which Ethnicity is one. A decision is pending on whether to adopt the Ethnicity values from the 2011 census within the National Health Service; currently the NHS standard is to use the 2001 values, which do not include gypsy or Irish traveller. Until this decision is made, and a change to existing data standards is brought through the Standardisation Committee for Care Information process, the NHS Data Dictionary values cannot be updated.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Israel concerning the whereabouts and medical condition of the two Birzeit students who were arrested on 7 October and are being detained in an undisclosed location.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have not had any discussions with the Israeli authorities on this issue. Officials in our Embassy in Tel Aviv have, however, raised our concerns over the treatment of Palestinian detainees on many occasions, including with the Israeli Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office and National Security Council.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress the Government has made on the establishment of a memorial to UK citizens killed in terrorist attacks overseas; and what consultation the Government is undertaking with families of victims about that proposal.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    On 22 January I launched an online consultation seeking views on what form the national memorial to British victims of overseas terrorism should take (Official Report, 22 January 2016, col 47WS). The consultation is open until 4 March 2016. I have written to families of victims for whom the Government hold contact details. I have also issued an open letter available on gov.uk to invite all those with an interest to respond to the consultation should they wish to. Decisions on the memorial will be taken after we have fully considered responses to the consultation.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether local authorities that engage in foreign boycotts risk acting in breach of the common law as well as the UK’s regime of procurement rules.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    On 17 February, the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) published procurement guidance for public authorities that makes clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the UK Government.

    This new guidance gives no consideration to matters of common law, which is a matter for the courts. However, the guidance makes it clear that local level boycotts can be unlawful and lead to severe penalties against the contracting authority and the Government.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that workers are not financially worse off as a result of the recent increase in the minimum wage.

    Nick Boles

    On current Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts a full-time National Minimum Wage (NMW) worker will earn over £4,200 more by 2020 from the National Living Wage (NLW) in cash terms. 2.9m low wage workers are expected to benefit directly, and up to 6m in total could see their pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution.

    What is allowed to be deducted from a salary is tightly controlled. The Government enforces this robustly, and is bolstering its resources to bear down on non-compliance through further increasing HMRC’s NMW/NLW enforcement budget for 2016/17.

    Employers can choose to set and change the overall, wider remuneration level as long as they are paying at or above the NMW / NLW minima, but they will also need to consider whether that package, overall, remains competitive to retain and develop the people and talent they need for their businesses.

    The Government has also taken measures to support businesses. First, from April 2016, the Government has increased the employment allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 from April 2016. We are also cutting corporation tax from 20% to 17% by the end of the Parliament, which will benefit over a million firms of all sizes and give the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. The cuts since 2010 will be worth almost £15bn a year to businesses by the end of Parliament. Furthermore, the Government is cutting the burden of business rates by £6.7 billion over the next 5 years.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the most recent National Diet and Nutrition Survey data is being used in the development of the Childhood Obesity Strategy.

    Jane Ellison

    The Childhood Obesity Strategy will draw from a range of the latest data and evidence, including from Public Health England and other partners.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to address understaffing at the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement advises that East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has made good progress in implementing its recruitment plan for frontline staff. During 2015/16, the Trust recruited and educated 350 whole time equivalent frontline staff, against a recruitment plan target of 342. However, the Trust experienced a higher level of staff turnover than expected (11% against a target of 8%).

    The Trust is addressing this through a number of initiatives, including the introduction of the role of technician, an intermediate qualified role between emergency care assistant and paramedic. It has agreed a funded education and career progression route in partnership with Health Education England (East Midlands) to support existing technicians to become registered paramedics. A three-year contract will support 48 Trust technicians in 2016/17 with further cohorts commencing in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

  • Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of time taken was to respond to email enquiries by the Security Industry Authority in each month since January 2016.

    Brandon Lewis

    The average time taken to respond to electronic (e-mail or online) enquiries is unavailable in the format requested prior to July 2016.

    From July 2016, the Security Industry Authority began using a new IT system, which has enabled it to produce a range of metrics. The average time taken to respond to electronic enquiries in July and August was 7 days against their service standard of 10 days.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what purpose data on the nationality of NHS staff is recorded and published.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department does not record or publish data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service. Data on nationality is published twice a year by NHS Digital and turnover data is published quarterly and available by nationality.

    Nationality is a data item within the National Workforce Data set used with a range of other data items to support workforce planning, analysis of staff movement and equality monitoring. It is not mandatory, but self-declared.

    In 2015 and 2016 requests for nationality data on NHS staff in England were published on the supplementary information part of the NHS Digital website, rather than as part of the routine Hospital and Community Health Services statistical publications. In 2016, following NHS Digital’s public consultation, NHS Digital now routinely publish tables showing the self-declared nationality of staff in staff groups and regions, bi-annually, together with quarterly turnover statistics which show the nationality of joiners and leavers to and from the NHS in England.

    The latest nationality data was published in March 2016 and the next set will be published in December 2016 showing the position at September 2016.

    The latest turnover data published in September 2016 covers the 12 month period to 30 June 2016.

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 7 December 2015 (HL3817), what assessment they have made of the fact that, in relation to men and women under 35-years of age, the pay gap is in favour of women.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    This Government is committed to ending the gender pay gap. New figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the gender pay gap in the UK remains the lowest on record. The pay gap for women under the age of 40, working full time, is particularly low. The gap is -0.8% for women working full-time aged 22-29 and 0.6% for women working full-time aged 30-39.

    As well as revising statutory guidance for schools on careers to raise young women’s aspirations, we have established a new Careers and Enterprise Company to encourage greater collaboration between employers and schools to inspire young people and supported the ‘Your Life’ campaign to encourage more young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.