Tag: 2016

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prosecutions have been made as a result of information supplied by the Food Crime Unit since its creation.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime.

    At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function including the need or otherwise for the unit to establish an in-house investigative capability.

    Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA). The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.

    The NFCU receives reports of suspicions of food fraud from a number of sources via many different routes. The FSA website directs users to a dedicated email address and telephone number for reporting these suspicions. Information is also received through local authority and law enforcement partners. Information received is analysed and, where appropriate, entered onto the Unit’s intelligence database. Between 1 January 2015 and 18 March 2016, 793 such records were created.

    Establishment costs for the NFCU were minimal as the Unit initially evolved from a small but similar capability within the FSA. Total running costs to date are in the region of £579,000. Estimated costs for the forthcoming year are £1.2 million, subject to final allocations being agreed.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the Middle East water research programme as a vehicle for collaboration between researchers in the UK, Israel and the Middle East.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Science and Innovation network and the British Council in Israel manage the Trilateral Water Research programme, which was launched in 2015. The effectiveness of the programme as a platform for cross border research can be measured by the fact that five research projects have been launched involving leading researchers in the water research field from Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Gaza, Morocco, Jordan and the UK. The projects look at varied aspects of water management in the region and seek to provide innovative solutions while cementing links between academic institutions and facilitating cutting-edge research.

    The programme is subject to monitoring and evaluation procedures in two stages. The first is the selection process for acceptance into the programme and receipt of a research grant. This process is a robust academic selection mechanism involving scientific peer review and is managed centrally by the British Council’s London Institutional Links team in accordance with the procedures that govern the wider Global Institutional Links programme.

    The second stage of monitoring and evaluation will be during project implementation. Projects will be monitored via narrative and financial reporting, in addition to reporting on Researchfish, the British Council’s chosen research evaluation platform. Projects were contracted and finance awarded in April 2016 so reports are not yet available.

  • Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2016-06-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 1 June (HL344), which countries participate in the EU Gendarmerie Force; what is its purpose; and whether it could operate on British soil.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The European Gendarmerie Force comprises police forces with military status from Spain, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Poland. Its work relates to crisis management operations and it’s purpose is set out in the Treaty of Velsen and the Declaration of intent, both of which are available at: http://www.eurogendfor.org/organisation/what-is-eurogendfor.

    The European Gendarmerie Force’s insignia differs from the EU’s flag or branding. The UK does not participate in the European Gendarmerie Force and in the event that it ever sought permission to operate in the UK that would require the agreement of the appropriate authorities.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many people working for his Department on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Guto Bebb

    The Wales Office has no direct employees or contracted workers. Staff at the Wales Office are subject to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) policies for pay and agency contract purposes. No permanent staff working at the Wales Office are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. We have less than five agency staff and none are paid less than the national living wage. No staff are on zero hours contracts.

  • 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 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many pregnant women in (a) Liverpool Wavertree constituency, (b) Liverpool, (c) the Liverpool City Region and (d) England received treatment from alcohol services in each year since 2010.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The data is not published in the requested format.

  • Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jo Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many ambulances were diverted from hospitals in West Yorkshire to the A&E department at Dewsbury and District Hospital in 2015; and what the reason was for each such diversion.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected centrally.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to prevent children either never going to school or going missing from school.

    Lord Nash

    The law provides a number of safeguards to ensure that all children receive a suitable full-time education. These are set out in Chapters I and II of Part VI of the Education Act 1996, and include:

    • a duty on local authorities to make arrangements to establish, as far as it is possible to do so, the identities of children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Section 436A);

    • a duty on local authorities to arrange suitable education for all children of compulsory school age who may not for any period receive it, unless such arrangements are made for them (Section 19);

    • a duty on parents to ensure that their child of compulsory school age is receiving suitable full-time education, either at school or otherwise (Section 7);

    • provision for a local authority to issue a School Attendance Order to a parent where it is not satisfied that a child of compulsory age is receiving a suitable education (Section 437); and

    • provision for the prosecution of a parent who has failed to secure their child’s regular attendance at school (Section 444).

    Statutory guidance requires local authorities to have robust procedures and policies in place to enable them to carry out their duty to identify children of compulsory school age in their area who are not receiving suitable education (Children Missing Education, 2015).

    Under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, schools have a duty to inform their local authority, at agreed intervals, of the details of pupils who are regularly absent from school or have missed 10 school days or more without permission. Schools must also notify the authority if a pupil is to be deleted from the admission register in certain circumstances.

    We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children. The Department for Education is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen further the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 in order to require schools to inform local authorities under all grounds when a child’s name is deleted from a school register.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to provide British pensioners living overseas with the same annual uprating of their state pension as British pensioners who are resident in the UK.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK state pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or countries where we have bilateral agreements. There are no plans to change this.

    Not uprating where there is no legal requirement to do so frees up about £0.5 billion a year which can be used to fund Government priorities in this country.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has not directly received any funding from the European Social Fund during the period stated.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the effectiveness of the recommendations on public sector procurement by Sir Philip Green.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave him on 11 April 2016 to Question HL7227.

    As a result of the commercial and procurement reforms we made during the life of the last Parliament, we saved more than £21 bn.