UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2016

  • Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Hoey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of introducing competition into the Disclosure and Barring Service; and if she will make a statement.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is a non-departmental public body which provides access to appropriate criminal record information for employers through its disclosure service for England and Wales. It also makes independent barring decisions about people who have harmed, or where there is considered to be a risk of harm to, a child or vulnerable person within the workplace. Given the sensitive nature of this work and the reliance on police forces to provide locally held intelligence, it would not be appropriate to introduce competition.

    Whilst no assessment has been made of the affect of timeliness on the number of job opportunities which may have been lost, the impact which delays may have on applicants is recognised. The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and is working closely with those forces whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. In very exceptional cases, where it is apparent that a delay is likely to cause undue hardship to an applicant, the DBS will do all it can to expedite the process by raising an escalation with the relevant police force.

    The average end to end time taken to complete a DBS check, including the time taken by police forces, is listed in following table.

    Financial Year

    Average calendar days for a disclosure to be processed

    13/14

    11.5

    14/15

    14.4

    15/16

    14.5

    The proportion of checks which took longer than (a) eight weeks (b) 12 weeks and (c) six months is listed in the following table.

    Financial Year

    Disclosures which took longer than 8 weeks

    Disclosures which took longer than 12 weeks

    Disclosures which took longer than 6 Months

    % of Disclosures

    % of Disclosures

    % of Disclosures

    13/14

    2.6%

    0.8%

    0.0%

    14/15

    4.9%

    2.1%

    0.1%

    15/16

    5.2%

    3.5%

    0.3%

    “

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36275, if he will make it his policy to ensure that disbursements from the Coastal Communities Fund are allocated to the regions of England on the basis of population share.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Our policy is that every coastal community should have the chance to bid for a share of the Coastal Communities Fund to help them with projects that will have a real and lasting impact on their local economy. The 118 Coastal Community Teams (CCTs) in England now provide an important new local context for considering these bids, so that the Fund helps to deliver community-led Economic Plans. Each bid is considered on its merits and allocating the Fund to regions on the basis of their population share would not necessarily ensure best value for money.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of hate crime were reported in each region in the last 12 months.

    Sarah Newton

    The Home Office collects information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police on an annual basis. The most recently published data are for 2014/15 and are shown in the attached table.

    Data for 2015/16 are due to be published in October 2016.

    This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many platform train interface incidents that were reported on the national rail network in each year since 2010 involved driver-only operated passenger services.

    Paul Maynard

    Currently, the method of train dispatch for incidents at the platform train interface is not recorded so the data requested is not available. However, a new Safety Management Information System is being introduced in December 2016, which is designed to enable the industry to dig deeper into the trends behind incidents.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that lower limb amputees are able to access microprocessor-controlled knees through the NHS via a specialised commissioning policy before June 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    The commissioning of prosthetics is the responsibility of NHS England as a specialised service. The rehabilitation and re-ablement of patients is provided at a local level by specialised Multi-Disciplinary Teams which should be consultant led. The NHS Standard Contract for Complex Disability Equipment – Prosthetics, sets out how the specialist centres should operate and the required level of prosthetic services to be delivered.

    A revised policy proposal for the routine commissioning of microprocessor controlled knees was considered by NHS England’s expert Clinical Priorities Advisory Group which recommended its adoption for routine commissioning. The proposal was then considered by NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group at its meeting on 9 December where it was agreed that NHS England would support this service development as a possible call on its resources. However given the potential scale of investment and the need to consider its priority relative to other treatments which would also have a possible call on the specialised commissioning resources, it was decided that the policy should go forward for consideration as part of NHS England’s next annual prioritisation round in June 2016.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22034, whether he plans that any further investment will take place at RAF Northolt (a) on the proposed Engineered Material Arresting System and (b) otherwise until after the Government has responded to the Davies Commission on Aviation Capacity in the South East; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) is being scoped as a military infrastructure requirement commensurate with safety cases for military aircraft operating at RAF Northolt and the associated military aerodrome design standards utilised at the Station. I am withholding estimated costs for the EMAS project as it is at the pre-tender stage and disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice commercial interests.

    The Mott McDonald report has no opinion or relevance against the military aerodrome design criteria and safety cases in place at the Station or the current operation of RAF Northolt. Any infrastructure investment for military operational requirements will continue to be undertaken as necessary to support military and Government outputs.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will bring forward proposals to review the needs-based formula for local government.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    By the end of this Parliament, local authorities will fund local services from their local taxes, including £26 billion raised from business rates.

    We have announced that we will conduct a review of what the needs assessment formula should be in a world in which all local government spending is funded by local resources not central grant, and use it to determine the transition to 100% business rates retention. We will develop this approach in partnership with local government.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s expenditure on computer facilities for public libraries was in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14, (e) 2014-15 and (f) 2015-16 to date.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Public libraries are funded and run by local authorities. However, through the Government’s development agency for public libraries, Arts Council England, funding is provided to support public libraries in England, some of which will fund computer facilities. Specific detail of this funding is not available. Future Arts Council England investment plans for public libraries will be developed following proposals from partner organisations.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding her Department has provided for security at energy sites in Pembrokeshire in each of the last five years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government takes the security of the energy sector very seriously and DECC works closely with industry, the police and the relevant agencies in order to make sure of a robust and proportionate security regime at energy sites across the UK.

    For reasons of national security it would not be appropriate to provide specific details about protective security programmes.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up was for superfast fixed broadband in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    BDUK do not hold take-up data at constituency level, but do have take-up data on local projects with BDUK funding. BDUK publish these statistics for local projects on the programme’s webpage, which is publically accessible at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=0

    “