The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) homes and (b) businesses he expects to receive a rural satellite broadband voucher in the next 12 months.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Up to 300,000 premises are currently eligible for support under the Universal Service Commitment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) overall levels of available compensation and (b) confidence in the NHS of fixed recoverable costs in clinical negligence cases for patients who are (i) over the age of 60 and (ii) female.
Ben Gummer
The Department has established a working group to look at the impact of the proposal on equalities, health inequalities and families. The consultation stage assessment for the introduction of fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence is work in progress and we will seek views on the impact of the policy on equalities, health inequalities and families within the consultation. We can confirm that age and gender, along with the other protected characteristics named within the Equality Act 2010, will be considered. The policy is not seeking to reduce the amount of damages but to reduce the levels of recoverable legal costs and to make claimant legal costs more proportionate to damages and defence costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 27898, whether the Association of Train Operating Companies objected to his Department releasing the average season ticket price.
Claire Perry
The information held by the Department on season tickets sales is derived from the rail industry’s central revenue and ticketing database. The Department is given access to this database for internal use only under licence by the Association of Train Operators (ATOC) who manage the database on behalf of the operators. This licence is subject to a number of conditions which restrict the Department from releasing information that has been derived from the revenue and ticketing data. ATOC’s contact details can be found on their website http://www.atoc.org/contact-us/.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he holds on the number of civilians (a) killed and (b) injured in the Yemen conflict to date.
Mr Philip Hammond
The UN reports that between 26 March 2015 and 17 March 2016 there have been just under 9,000 casualties in Yemen including 3,218 civilians killed and a further 5,778 injured. The UK Government uses UN reports as one of its primary data sources.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many claims the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has settled within one week of the trial date in each of the last five years; and what the cost has been to the NHSLA of those claims in each such year.
Ben Gummer
The Department does not hold the information requested. This data has been supplied by the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA).
The NHS LA aims to resolve claims promptly and fairly without court proceedings or going to trial wherever possible. It does not record cases which resolve within one week of trial separately.
The table below shows the number of claims the NHS LA has defended where (a) the claim has been resolved in favour of the claimant and (b) judgement has been given in favour of the claimant in each of the last five years.
|
Year of trial |
Number of claims resolved in favour of claimant |
Number of claims resolved in favour of defendant |
|
2011-12 |
11 |
22 |
|
2012-13 |
9 |
32 |
|
2013-14 |
9 |
34 |
|
2014-15 |
21 |
39 |
|
Total |
50 |
127 |
Source: NHS LA
Date: May 2016
We understand that the hon. Member maybe asking for the number claims in which liability is admitted before trial.
The table below shows the number of cases in which liability is admitted before trial.
|
Year resolved for damages payment |
Pre trial |
|
2011-12 |
5,306 |
|
2012-13 |
5,262 |
|
2013-14 |
5,354 |
|
2014-15 |
5,801 |
Source: NHS LA
Date: May 2016
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on the effect of charges on local authorities of changes to funding over the next five years announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Mr Marcus Jones
The 2015 Spending Review confirmed a historic four year settlement for local government, including making councils responsible to local people for their financing, rather than central government. It delivers a long-held ambition for councils to be financed from locally raised resources. And it means that by the end of this Parliament, councils will benefit from 100 per cent business rates retention – something they have been calling for, for over a quarter of a century.
It is a settlement which has been subject to extensive consultation, including with the Local Government Association, which welcomed the offer of a four year planning horizon. A range of additional funding flexibilities were sought during the consultation, especially on fees for planning and licensing.
In February 2016, proposals were outlined to link future increases in councils’ fees for processing planning applications to performance in terms of speed and quality of decisions.
By the end of this Parliament, local government will be able to retain 100 per cent of local taxes, including up to £13 billion of revenue from business rates, to spend on local government services. In order to ensure that the reforms are fiscally neutral, these new powers must come with new responsibilities, as well as phasing out grants from Whitehall. The government is working closely with the Local Government Association to design the reforms.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-09-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received an evaluation of the Troubled Families programme from the consultancy firm Ecorys; when they received that evaluation; whether they plan to publish it; and if so when.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
I can confirm we have received a draft evaluation of the original Troubled Families Programme from Ecorys. The original draft report was received last autumn. The evaluation comprises several different strands. The evaluation is not yet ready to publish as there have been methodological issues with one of the strands. We expect the contractors to complete the reports shortly and in line with protocol, the Government will publish them soon after.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the independent report commissioned by the Electoral Commission, Evaluation of Electoral Administration at the EU Referendum, published in August, which showed that almost half of Counting Officers responsible for the referendum considered that their teams had insufficient funds available to support the work required to compile the electoral register, whether they plan to review the electoral registration funding process.
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
It is the responsibility of Local Authorities, under the Representation of the People Act 1983, to appoint an Electoral Registration Officer who has a statutory duty to maintain registers of UK Parliamentary and local government electors for their area. To support Local Authorities with this process, and fund the transition to Individual Electoral Registration, the Cabinet Office has provided over £25 million of funding in 2014/2015 and over £15 million in 2015/2016. In addition, the Government has committed to cover the additional costs associated with the modernisation of electoral registration for at least the rest of this parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to Question 21228, if he will place in the Library a copy of the Letter of Request sent to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
Mr Philip Dunne
It would be inappropriate for the Department to place a copy of the Letter of Request in the Library of the House, as it contains commercially sensitive information. Making the information publicly available would undermine the US and UK Governments’ commercial position and hence jeopardise the Department’s ability to ensure value for money.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from the Kurdish Region in Iraq (a) applied for and (b) were refused entry clearance to the UK in the last six months for which figures are available.
Karen Bradley
For the purposes of this answer, ‘people from the Kurdish region of Iraq’ has been interpreted to mean people making visa applications at the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, UKVI’s application point in the Kurdish region. It is possible for people not ordinarily resident in the region to apply in Erbil, and for people from the region to apply at other locations, but worldwide data specific only to people from the Kurdish region could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The most recent figures available are from April 2015 to September 2015 and show A) the number of Entry Clearance applications made via the Visa Application Centre in Erbil, Iraq, to be 1790 and B) the number of refusals 1165. * The figures quoted are not provided under National statistics protocols but have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.