Tag: 2016

Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what weight is given to the ability to provide services in the Welsh language when assessing tenders for (a) learning and skills and (b) industries at HM Prison Berwyn.

Andrew Selous

The Learning and Skills and Prison Industries Competitions are both in progress. The final evaluation criteria is under development and details are neither finalised nor in the public domain. On that basis the draft evaluation criteria which detail the weightings are currently commercially sensitive and cannot be released at this stage.

However, the contracts for both services will include clauses requiring compliance in relation to Welsh language. The evaluation takes into account a variety of measures and the assessment of Welsh language is being considered as part of the on-going work to finalise evaluation criteria and other tender documentation.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to monitor compliance by betting shops with the gambling minimum age.

Tracey Crouch

The protection of children from being harmed or exploited by gambling is one of the core objectives of the Gambling Act 2005.

For high street betting, this means those under the age of 18 are prohibited from entering or gambling within a betting premises. The Gambling Commission, responsible for compliance on this issue, strengthened the requirements on betting operators to monitor the effectiveness of these age verification controls in May 2015.

The number of individuals challenged upon entry to a betting sector premises but unable to prove their age was 475,646 between Oct 2014- Sep 2015. This is across a total of 9000 betting shops and is a decrease of 8.2% or 42,598 incidents compared to the previous reporting period of Apr 2014 – Mar 2015; continuing a 3-year decline. The number of individuals challenged having gambled but unable to prove their age also fell, by 14%, to 23,619 from 27,445 in the same time period.

Where there is a failure to prevent underage gambling, regulatory and/or criminal action is taken.

01/01/2023

Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British servicemen and women are based on British military bases abroad.

Penny Mordaunt

There are 9,360 British Service personnel permanently based on British military bases abroad. This figure includes those based in Cyprus, Gibraltar, the South Atlantic Islands, Diego Garcia, Germany, Canada, Kenya, Brunei, Nepal and Belize. This figure represents the number of Service personnel who are stationed at that location. It may differ from the actual number of people working on the base at the time, for example due to deployments. The breakdown of these figures into country and service is shown below; where countries have five or less personnel, these are rounded to zero and the country does not appear in the table. The Ministry of Defence regularly publishes the location figures for both military and civilian personnel, which can be accessed on the GOV.UK website at:

https//www.gov.uk/government/statistics/location-of-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-2015

UK Base Country	Navy	Army	RAF	TOTAL
Germany	20	5,900	130	6,050
Canada	10	360	20	390
Kenya	0	210	10	220
Brunei	10	130	10	150
Nepal	0	20	0	20
Cyprus	20	1,480	730	2,230
Gibraltar	110	30	30	170
South Atlantic Islands	10	50	20	80
Diego Garcia	40	0	0	40
Belize	0	10	0	10
TOTAL	220	8,190	950	9,360

(Location of UK regular service and civilian personnel quarterly statistics- 1 October 2015)

01/01/2023

Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether school funding for (a) inner London boroughs and (b) outer London boroughs will decrease in the next financial year.

Mr Sam Gyimah

I can assure my Hon Friend that per pupil funding for a) inner London boroughs and b) outer London boroughs will not decline in the next financial year. The dedicated schools grant schools block is maintained at cash flat per pupil for the 2016 to 2017 financial year for all local authorities. In addition, the pupil premium is also maintained at the current per pupil amounts for the 2016 to 2017 financial year. As announced in the Chancellor’s spending review statement, we will introduce a national funding formula from 2017. We will consult on proposals later this year.

01/01/2023
Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to enable armed forces personnel who train as drivers to receive transferable civilian HGV qualifications.

Mark Lancaster

Drivers within the Armed Forces undertake the same vehicle licence training, resulting in the same licences, as their civilian counterparts. Drivers leaving the Ministry of Defence will retain (unless expired through the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) all the vehicle licences that they have gained during their service career.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an assessment of the number of NHS organisations that have official terms and conditions that set payment terms longer than 30 days.

George Freeman

The Department has developed standard National Health Service terms and conditions for use by NHS bodies procuring goods and services from commercial suppliers. The documents were first published in August 2013.

The Department has details of all activity on the gov.uk website which shows extensive use and downloads of the documents and has also invited regular feedback and online surveys that demonstrate the extensive use of the suite of documents.

In June 2015, the Department and the Cabinet Office Mystery Shopper scheme carried out spot checks with a number of trusts to find out the level of take up of the NHS terms and conditions. The results showed 90% of the trusts contacted confirmed they were using (or intended to use) the NHS terms and conditions.

The suite of documents has been endorsed by the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the industry association for the medical technology sector, and the Health Care Supply Association, the representative and network organisation for NHS buyers. Both organisations inform the Department of any activity they are aware of that NHS bodies or suppliers are deviating from the stated terms and conditions. There have only limited examples to date.

The Department of Health has been made aware of a couple of examples of where NHS bodies were extending their payment terms beyond 30 days. The examples came both via the Cabinet Office mystery shopper scheme and ABHI. To support their members ABHI undertook more extensive research but has found these are isolated cases and the practice is not widespread.

The Department understands the concern and together with NHS Provider Regulators are working very closely with NHS providers to ensure that they have sufficient cash to support the safe delivery of their essential services. Although the NHS financial position is tight, the Department has not endorsed, and do not support, formal extensions of credit terms, particularly with Small and Medium size Enterprises, beyond the 30 days in statute.

The Department will also ask NHS Improvement to communicate with all NHS providers through its official monthly bulletin to raise awareness of the Better Practice Payment Code.

01/01/2023
Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee’s counter-proposal to the Government’s plans for the future of community pharmacy, published in April 2016.

Alistair Burt

We have been consulting on proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond.

Throughout the consultation period we have remained open to new ideas and suggestions both from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and from other stakeholders.

We have welcomed the publication of PSNC’s counter proposal on 26 April 2016. This has enabled these ideas to be discussed with other key stakeholders.

The public phase of the consultation ended on 24 May 2016. The Department, supported by NHS England, will continue to discuss the proposals in confidence, with the PSNC and hold a final round of confidential discussions with other key pharmacy stakeholders.

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 7 March 2016 to Question 29384, for what reasons the announcement of the award of the next East Anglia rail franchise has been delayed; and when he plans to make that announcement.

Claire Perry

The successful bidder will help us realise our ambitious plans for East Anglia’s rail network. We have been clear that as a minimum they must provide a modern service with state of the art trains and also introduce at least two 90-minute services each way between London and Norwich. In addition they must invest heavily in improving stations.

We advised an anticipated date for the award and continue to consider the bids. We will announce the new operator in due course.

01/01/2023
Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Royal Navy is taking to maintain its warship repair capability after the sale of RFA Diligence.

Harriett Baldwin

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 13 September 2016 to Question 45203 to the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Flick Drummond).

01/01/2023
Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects a new Chair for the Environment Agency to be appointed.

George Eustice

Defra has appointed Emma Howard Boyd as Acting Chairman. She will lead the Board until a permanent Chairman is recruited in due course following an open competition.

01/01/2023