Tag: 2016

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will initiate a resolution of the UN Security Council related to whether genocide is being committed against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq.

    James Duddridge

    As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (David Cameron) has said, there is a very strong case for saying that the atrocities committed by Daesh amount to genocide, but recognition of genocide should be a matter for international courts, not political bodies.

    When an attempt was made in 2014 to have the UN Security Council refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We have no reason to believe another referral would deliver a different outcome.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the outcome of the EU referendum on house prices in West Yorkshire.

    Gavin Barwell

    It is too early to tell. We are keeping markets under review and are actively engaged with house builders. The Secretary of State met with leading industry representatives this week to hear their views.

    The strong demand for housing which underpins the housing market continues – as does our commitment to getting them built at a rate that can achieve our ambition for a million more homes and a million more home owners by 2020.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the staffing costs are of the secondees to his Department from elsewhere in the Civil Service.

    Mr Robin Walker

    The term ‘secondment’ to refer to an interchange of staff between the Civil Service and an external organisation as such we have not brought any secondees into the Department from elsewhere in the Civil Service. All joiners from other Government departments have been on a loan basis, which refers to an interchange of staff between Civil Service departments or Agencies. The Department’s budget will be set out to the House of Commons and approved as part of the Supplementary Estimates in the new year, as is standard practice.

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish an analysis of the outcomes and costs of the third badger cull.

    George Eustice

    The Government has published a summary of badger control monitoring during 2015 on the GOV.UK website. The Government will publish its costs once they have been finalised.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the number of workers who would be affected if the exit payments cap for public sector workers was set at any other amount than £95,000.

    Greg Hands

    At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

    Exit payment terms vary significantly across the private sector, and there will be examples of terms that match or even exceed those in the public sector. However, the Government has seen no evidence that redundancy terms such as employer-funded early retirement, which are widely available across the public sector and often cost employers tens, or even hundreds of thousands of pounds per person, are replicated to anything like the same extent in the private sector.

    The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years.

    However, as the average cost of an exit in the public sector in recent years has been around £25,000 the vast majority of exits are below the level of the cap. For example, less than 2% of recent exits in local government were above the level of the cap.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-02-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had on the implementation of the ring-fence between retail and investment banking since May 2015.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Since May 2015, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of ring-fencing, ministers and HMT officials have met with regulators, banks, banking organisations, trustees of bank pension funds and HMRC.

  • Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the observations of the National Audit Office that there was a 7.2 per cent shortfall in nursing, midwifery and health visitor staffing levels in 2014.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department has set up Health Education England (HEE) to plan the future healthcare workforce for England. They are responsible for ensuring a secure workforce supply that reflects the needs of local service users, providers and commissioners of healthcare. There are already over 50,000 nurses in training. HEE has increased adult nurse training places by 14% over the last two years. HEE has also increased midwifery training places by 1.6% in the last 12 months and have confirmed their intention to maintain that number of places in 2017-18.

    In addition to funding nurses through undergraduate training, HEE is running a return to practice campaign to attract nurses back to the National Health Service. This initiative has already yielded an additional 779 nurses available for employment now.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the HS2 project intends to use secondary aggregates, and if so, in which types of concrete required for Phase 1 of that project.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    As part of our overall sustainability policy for HS2, we plan to use both secondary and re-cycled aggregates in structures which are designed with concrete. Their use, along with the types of concrete to be used, will be dependent on the specific design characteristics of individual HS2 structures and will be subject to the detailed design process in due course. The design process will also take into account other important sustainable factors such as material availability and logistics.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent the publication of books, papers and other material containing health advice which does not have a sound evidence base; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    We have no plans to make such an assessment. The Department’s policies and advice are informed by the best available evidence.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans for the Year 7 catch-up grant for secondary schools to continue after academic year 2016-17.

    Nick Gibb

    Since 2012 we have provided £500 per pupil funding to secondary schools for year 7 pupils who did not meet the expected standard in reading or mathematics at primary school. This funding enables schools to deliver additional support, such as individual tuition or intensive support in small groups, for those pupils that most need it.

    While this funding applied for the period of the spending review, to 2015-16, on 7 July 2016 we announced that schools will receive catch-up funding in 2016-17. Schools will receive the same total amount of funding they received in 2015-16 adjusted to reflect the percentage change in the size of their year 7 cohort. We will not know the final amount for each pupil in 2016-17 until the allocations have been determined based on data from the autumn 2016 schools census.

    We will make an announcement about the future of the year 7 catch-up premium in due course.