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Tag: 2016

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported decline in the population of resident and regular migrant butterflies in the UK, and whether they are taking any action to prevent further decline.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra publishes an annual indicator on butterfly abundance, using data collected by volunteers. Large fluctuations are typical of butterfly populations but in England the indicator shows that butterfly numbers have generally fallen since 1990, although with numbers of some common species stabilising over the last five years.

    In England, we will take forward our manifesto commitment to produce a 25 year strategy for the environment, which will include biodiversity. Our approach will be designed to meet the habitat needs of many species including butterflies. In England’s National Pollinator Strategy we are aiming to expand flower rich habitats across different types of land to benefit pollinators including butterflies.

    The England network of protected areas provides benefits for many species even when those areas are not specifically designated for the conservation of those particular species. This network includes local and national sites protected under domestic legislation and international sites protected under European and International law. Some of these sites are specifically designated for species of particular importance, including the marsh fritillary butterfly, which is a notified feature of a number of Special Areas of Conservation, designated under the Habitats Directive.

    Agri-environment schemes play a major role in the conservation of butterflies in England. For instance, across grassland habitats in Dorset, between 1990 and 2010 the marsh fritillary increased in abundance by around 278% on land managed under these schemes.

    In the summer of 2014 the critically endangered high brown fritillary experienced its best season since 2004 with numbers increasing by more than 180% as compared to 2013 across Dartmoor, Exmoor, and Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and sites in the Lake District.

    The Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package in the new Countryside Stewardship scheme contain options to improve habitats and provide nectar sources for butterflies. It will play a key role in supporting the National Pollinator Strategy.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of substance addiction in people aged over 50.

    Jane Ellison

    Local authorities are responsible for commissioning effective drug and alcohol prevention and treatment services based on an assessment of local need. Public Health England (PHE) supports local authorities in this work, by providing bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings, and advice on good practice to help local authorities meet the needs of their local population, including older people.

    PHE is engaged in a series of work programmes which aim to reduce the incidence of substance addiction and help provide support to older people; an alcohol misuse screening question has been part of the national NHS Health Check since 2013. The Health Check programme is offered to three million 40-74 year olds per year.

    An independent expert group updating the United Kingdom drug misuse clinical guidelines, Drug Misuse and Dependence: UK Guidelines on Clinical Management[1] is considering specific advice for clinicians on managing and addressing substance addiction in older people.

    [1] http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/clinical_guidelines_2007.pdf

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  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Highways England has made on introducing Regional Road Safety Co-ordinators; and whether Highways England’s Regional Incident and Casualty Reduction Plans will include targets for casualty reductions.

    Andrew Jones

    Regional Safety Coordinators have now been appointed by Highways England. The first appointment was made in January 2016 and the final appointment was made this month.

    The killed and seriously injured reduction target, which is within the Roads Investment Strategy, is a 40% reduction by 2020 (against 2005 to 2009 average baseline). Highways England’s Regional Incident and Casualty Reduction Plans which will provide the disaggregated targets per region will be published in April 2016.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the current multi-purpose vaccine will continue to be used following the recent tender for supply of that vaccine to the UK HPV Vaccination programme.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department and Public Health England are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to secure vaccine to support the human papillomavirus vaccination programme for girls. As this is a competitive tender, it would not be appropriate to discuss the outcome of the procurement until a contract has been concluded with the successful bidder following the mandatory standstill period.

    The procurement will take account of the costs and benefits of all vaccines offered to establish which provides best value for money for the National Health Service. The award criteria are published on the government’s Contracts Finder website:

    https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/813bc859-8662-4c79-822b-f03cc84b8ceb

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum on teacher recruitment and retention.

    Nick Gibb

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department is making on the procurement and appointment process for the construction of a new lorry park around junction 11 on the M20.

    Andrew Jones

    Highways England have appointed Mott MacDonald Sweco JV as designers and awarded the contract for the potential construction of a lorry area on the M20 to Balfour Beatty.

    Following the recent consultation, the Secretary of State will make an announcement on the decision on the preferred site in the summer 2016.

    Awarding the construction contract early will ensure that Highways England is in the best position to enable the earliest possible start of construction, following the announcement on the decision on the preferred site by the Secretary of State.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle online abuse on social media.

    Sarah Newton

    The Criminal Justice Act 2015 strengthened two existing communications offences: section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988, and section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 which can now be used to prosecute misuse of social media. The police now have longer to investigate either offence, and the maximum penalty for the former has been increased to two years imprisonment.

    We have introduced a new law to make ‘revenge porn’ a specific criminal offence. Those convicted will face a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison. We have already seen convictions under this legislation and will continue to monitor its effectiveness.

    To improve police capability, the Home Office has allocated £4.6m of the Police Transformation Fund to begin the critical work of setting up a comprehensive programme of digital transformation across policing. This money will help provide a step-change in digital capability, funding police led programmes that will work to equip forces with the tools to effectively police a digital age and protect victims of digital crime.

    We are also working with the College of Policing to drive improvements in police capability to investigate and prosecute online Violence against Women and Girls offences. For example, we have introduced an ‘online flag’ allowing police forces to record instances of crimes such as stalking and harassment taking place online.

    We are driving work through the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) to keep children and young people safe online. UKCCIS brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to help to keep children and young people safe online.

  • Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Angela Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-10-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in (a) Wallasey constituency, (b) Wirral and (c) Merseyside have had tax credits claims (i) amended and (ii) cancelled by Concentrix.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold data broken down specifically by constituency areas.

    HMRC is currently focussed on resolving the outstanding cases but will be preparing regional analysis, which will be available in due course.

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 December (HL3999), when they expect to publish the Savills report on the regeneration of local authority estates in central London.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    A copy of the report will be placed in the Library of the House in due course.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provision there is for people with perinatal mental health issues living in clinical commissioning group areas where there is no specialist community perinatal mental health team.

    Alistair Burt

    This Government is committed to improving access to perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year. In January 2016 the Government set out that an additional £290 million will be made available over the next five years to 2020/21, over and above the money identified in the Spring Budget, to invest in perinatal mental health services. This is funded from within the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement and means that in total from 2015/16 to 2020/21 £365 million will be invested in perinatal mental health services.

    We are aware that there is unacceptable variation in the levels of access to high quality, NICE-recommended specialist perinatal mental health care for women across England. A 2014 census identified that 40% of women in England have no access to specialist perinatal mental health services and that is why we have confirmed this additional investment. The funding should enable significant progress towards closing this gap and will help to enable women across the country to access evidence-based specialist support, in the community or through inpatient mother and baby services, closer to their home, when they need it. It is anticipated that, by 2020/21, around 30,000 more women should be able to access appropriate specialist support.

    This new funding, together with the recommendations of the forthcoming report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce, will enable NHS England to work with partners to design a longer-term transformation programme to build capacity and capability in specialist perinatal mental health services over the next five years. This will include setting detailed plans for how the additional investment will be targeted over the period to 2020/21 and setting clear outcome measures and metrics to monitor the impact of the funding on perinatal mental health provision.

    In 2015/16 work is already underway to lay the foundations for this longer-term work programme through targeted funding of activities to build capacity in specialist services. This will include, for example, a £1 million investment in strengthening clinical networks across the country. It is also expected to include the provision of national and regional benchmarking data and analytical support to regions, and work to develop clinical leadership capacity. Work will also continue to support the development of specialist mother and baby units in the regions identified as most in need of new services.

    To ensure the workforce are available and appropriately trained, NHS England is working closely with Health Education England and key stakeholders to better understand the future workforce commissioning requirements and how it is best to meet multi professional education and training needs.