Tag: 2016

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of cases in which year 10 pupils have enrolled on courses not yet accredited as subjects which have had all four exam board specifications rejected by Ofqual.

    Nick Gibb

    Current pupils in year 10, who are due to take their GCSE exams in summer 2017, are taking the new English and mathematics GCSE qualifications which were accredited in 2015 together with existing GCSE qualifications in all other subjects. A further 20 subjects at GCSE and 11 subjects at AS/A level are being accredited now for first teaching from September 2016. The accreditation of the new qualifications is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked Amanda Spielman, the Interim Chief Regulator, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many nationals of other EU member states who have been victims of violent crime in the UK have been compensated as a result of EU legislation in each year since 2010; and how much that compensation amounted to.

    Mike Penning

    The Criminal Inquiries Compensation Scheme is administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. The Authority does not record or collect data on the nationality of individuals who make applications for compensation or are granted awards of compensation under the Scheme.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to change provision of the Post Office Card Account.

    Priti Patel

    Post Office Card Accounts provide a useful service to many people and there are no plans to change provision.

    The Department recognises, however, that working age claimants may also be receiving wages. As the account does not receive wages or allow for direct debit or standing order facilities, Post Office Card Accounts are not suitable for all of their needs. Those claimants are therefore being encouraged to open main stream bank accounts including credit union accounts.

    The Post Office Card Account contract was awarded from 01 December 2014 and expires on 30 November 2021 and there are no plans to amend that term.

  • Lord Chadlington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Chadlington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to engage with individuals who are aware of having an alcohol problem but have not, because they are too ashamed or frightened, sought help.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Local authorities and their health and wellbeing board partners have responsibility for planning the full range of alcohol services, from early intervention and prevention, through to commissioning alcohol treatment services to meet need in their area and ensure services are accessible to everyone. Furthermore in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) public health guidance (PH 24) Alcohol-use disorders: preventing harmful drinking, Public Health England (PHE) encourages health and social care professionals to carry out Identification and Brief Advice through general practitioners and programmes such as NHS Health Checks and Making Every Contact Count. A copy of the NICE guidance is attached.

    The majority of services offer interventions that are non-religious and are based on cognitive behavioural principles with motivational enhancement techniques.

    There are a number of online resources to help with alcohol issues, including the One You and NHS Choices websites. One You is an integrated social marketing campaign run by PHE which aims to engage adults in making changes to improve their own health. This includes offering users advice and information about alcohol as well as tools which help monitor their drinking. NHS Choices offers a range of information about alcohol dependence and includes an on online directory of local alcohol services that those worried about their alcohol use can approach for assistance.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ensure that the Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plan is published in full before NHS England agrees transformation plans in October 2016.

    David Mowat

    Local areas will submit their plans to the national health and care bodies for review in October, with further public engagement and consultation taking place from this point.

    We expect that most areas will take a version of their Sustainability and Transformation Plan to their organisation’s public board meeting for discussion between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will publish their plans, for more formal engagement, during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement and, where required, consultation.

    NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website.

  • Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to ensure that (a) the armed policing of civilian-staffed MOD establishments will continue to be undertaken by units which are subject to civil police regulations, accountability and obligations and (b) such units will continue to be responsible for dealing with demonstrators at nuclear establishments.

    Michael Fallon

    It is Defence policy to use the MOD Police (MDP) as part of security arrangements at establishments where there is an essential requirement for constabulary powers. An ability to deploy appropriate trained and equipped public order capability in response to spontaneous or pre-planned incidents or events remains a core task of the MDP.

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association last year claiming widespread breaches of the School Admissions Code among religiously selective schools, what assessment they have made of the impact on the number of breaches of the School Admissions Code of preventing groups and organisations from submitting objections to school admission arrangements.

    Lord Nash

    I refer the Baroness Lister to the answer to HL5704, which was submitted to Parliament on 12 February 2016.

  • Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Hungarian counterpart on the sale of Hungarian residency bonds through off-shore companies.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has had no discussions with the Hungarian government on this issue.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent on improving the road network in the Easington constituency in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Jones

    The maintenance of the local road network in Easington is the responsibility of Durham County Council, as local highway authority. The table below sets out how much funding the Department for Transport has allocated to the Council since 2012/13 financial year:

    £millions

    Financial Year

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    2016/17

    Highway Maintenance Block

    10.679

    10.132

    9.780

    11.886

    10.897

    Incentive Fund

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    N.A

    0.666

    Highway Maintenance Block Top Up

    N/A

    1.836

    1.007

    N/A

    N/A

    Integrated Transport Block

    3.183

    3.183

    4.475

    13.949

    13.949

    Wet Weather Payments

    N/A

    1.242

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    Flood Recovery

    N/A

    N/A

    N/A

    1.100

    N/A

    Pothole Fund

    N/A

    N/A

    2.198

    N/A

    0.784

    Total

    13.862

    16.393

    17.460

    26.935

    26.296

    Local highway authorities are able to use revenue funding for maintaining their local highways and this is allocated by the Department of Communities and Local Government through the Revenue Support Grant.

    Durham County Council is part of the North East Combined Authority. From 2015/16 Integrated Transport Block Funding has been paid to the North East Combined Authority and Durham will receive a proportion of that funding.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35790, what data her Department holds on criminal assets abroad and whether such assets are recovered or not.

    Mr John Hayes

    As the Answer to Question 35790 set out, the Action Plan for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance states that there is no definitive measure of the scale of money laundering, but the best available international estimate, by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), of amounts laundered globally are equivalent to 2.7% of global GDP or US$1.6 trillion in 2009. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold data on criminal assets held abroad. Criminal assets recovered since 2009 under asset sharing arrangements were set out in the previous answer.