The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional coastal patrol vessels she plans to commission.
James Brokenshire
Border Force recently announced that it will purchase additional patrol vessels to complement the work done by its cutters and enable a greater level of flexible response.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many members of staff his Department has recruited since it was established.
Mr David Jones
The department now has over 180 staff in London. The Department has recruited the brightest and the best from across the civil service and brings together policy expertise from across the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign Office and the wider Civil Service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce food waste in government departments and publicly funded bodies; and if she will make a statement.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
Defra is one of the signatories to the Courtauld Commitment 2025. This is a commitment by stakeholders across the UK food and drink system – from producer to consumer – to work together to respond to pressures on increasingly scarce resources. All the food waste from Defra’s London canteen is recycled.
Reducing waste from Government departments is a key focus of the Greening Government Commitments. In 2014-15, Government departments collectively recorded a 22% reduction in overall waste compared to a 2009-10 baseline. The Greening Government target for waste has focused on the top of the waste hierarchy – that is, reducing overall waste, allowing individual departments to take action on different waste streams as appropriate to their specific operations and material impacts.
A new framework of Greening Government targets covering the period to 2020 will be announced soon.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department defines the pay envelope in its work on considering the junior doctor contract.
Ben Gummer
The pay envelope for junior doctor contract reform is as agreed by the hon. Member in his previous capacity as a Minister for Health in 2013 when he approved the “Heads of Terms” for the junior doctor contract. The basis of the agreement is that the cost of the new junior doctor contract will not exceed the cost of the current contract, (expressed on a per full time equivalent basis). Subsequently, the current Government has made it clear that savings are not being sought and that junior doctors’ average earnings would not reduce as a result of the changes proposed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many public relations and communications staff have been hired directly by the NHS in each of the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The Department does not hold the requested information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many grants of what value were made by his Department for meningitis research programmes in each of the last five years.
George Freeman
Since 2011, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has made the following awards through its research programmes and fellowship schemes for research relating to meningitis:
– Impact of conjugate vaccination on population immunity to pneumococcal and meningococcal disease in England: immunosero-epidemiological analysis (£605,843; 2013-15); and
– Improving the diagnosis of meningitis in adults in the United Kingdom (£415,242; 2013-16).
In addition, the NIHR funds research relating to meningitis through:
– the NIHR Clinical Research Network;
– NIHR Biomedical Research Centres;
– NIHR Clinical Research Facilities for Experimental Medicine; and
– Health Protection Research Units.
Since 2011, the Department’s Policy Research Programme has made the following award for research relating to meningitis:
– Characterisation of meningococcal carriage isolates from UK MenCar4 study (£199,990; 2016-17).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of whether his target of implementing opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses in every adult prison in England by the end of financial year 2016-17 will be met.
Ben Gummer
The blood-borne virus (BBV) opt-out testing programme for people in prisons in England is a shared priority for Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Offender Management Service. Programme implementation is overseen by a ‘tripartite’ Task-and-Finish Group which includes third sector and patient voice representation. The roll-out of the programme is informed by phased implementation and evaluation of ‘pathfinder prisons’ over three phases. Phase 1 began on 1 April 2014 and the formal evaluation was published on May 21 2015. Phase 2 pathfinder prisons began implementation from April 2015, with Phase 3 Pathfinders implementing from September 2015. BBV opt-out testing is not limited to only those prisons formally in the pathfinder programme.
NHS England estimates that currently 60% of the adult prison estate in England are offering opt-out testing and are confident that the target of implementation in every adult prison in England will be achieved by the end of the financial year 2016-17.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what guidance she plans to provide to the oil and gas industry on the definition of satisfactory commercial return used in her Department’s report, Maximising economic recovery strategy for the UK, published in January 2016.
Andrea Leadsom
The published MER UK Strategy included, in its annex, a definition of “satisfactory expected commercial return”. Any guidance for industry would be an Oil and Gas Authority matter and they will work with industry to support effective implementation of the MER UK Strategy. The Secretary of State does not intend to issue further guidance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Evans on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to accelerate the rollout of broadband in (a) rural and (b) urban areas.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The BDUK programme continues to work with BT and other suppliers to bring forward delivery of superfast broadband across the UK. 9 out of 10 homes and businesses can now receive superfast speeds and we remain on track to reach 95% by end of 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-09-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of each risk type completed by SYNNEX-Concentrix under its contract with HM Revenue and Customs relating to error and fraud.
Mr David Gauke
Since mid-October 2015 there has been 120 instances where Concentrix has not fully met the performance standards set out in the contract out of a total of 1625.
The estimate of commission paid for the HM Revenue and Customs’ contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix relating to error and fraud is £15.8m since the start of the contract to date.
SYNNEX-Concentrix under its contract with HM Revenue and Customs have completed around 308,718 undeclared partner cases, 198,422 work and hours cases and 152,771 child care cases.