Tag: 2016

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps the Government has taken to support the reopening of peace talks in Yemen and the establishment of a ceasefire.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We welcomed and fully supported the UN facilitated talks held in Switzerland in December 2015 and the commitment to engage in a new round of talks in the near future. We are working closely with the UN to encourage parties to engage in good faith without preconditions in future talks. We are encouraging all parties to reinstate a ceasefire at the next round of talks and are working closely with the UN to achieve this. This is being achieved through Ambassadorial and Ministerial engagement with the Yemeni government and the UN. I spoke to the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (IOCA) at the start of February.

  • Robert Jenrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Robert Jenrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Jenrick on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what timetable the Government has set for the release of sanctioned Iranian assets; and what value of assets the Government expects to release in 2016 and 2017.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer my Honourable friend to the written answer I gave on 10 March 2016 (Ref: 29924).

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the implications of the leaked documents relating to the operations of Mossack Fonseca for HM Revenue and Custom’s policy on investigating and tackling tax evasion and avoidance using offshore vehicles.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government has introduced tough new powers and game-changing measures to tackle offshore and onshore tax evasion, and as recently as the summer Budget 2015 gave HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an additional £800 million to invest in expanding compliance and tax evasion work. This is expected to recover £7.2 billion in tax over the next five years.

    The Government is introducing a criminal sanction for corporates facilitating tax evasion, and launching a taskforce, jointly led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA). Drawing on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, NCA, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), its purpose will be to swiftly obtain and analyse the Mossack Fonseca papers and take rapid action where there is evidence of wrongdoing. The taskforce will look beyond tax into all potential areas of financial crime and other regulatory breaches.

    The taskforce will provide a progress report to the Chancellor and Home Secretary later this year. The report will set out the their initial assessment of the information in the Panama papers and proposed actions for further analysis and strategy for pursuing any evidence found of wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.

    Additional resourcing of £10m will ensure that the taskforce’s work can be done on top of departmental commitments. Where resource is moved into the task force, existing roles will be back filled as soon as possible.

  • Lord Low of Dalston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Low of Dalston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Low of Dalston on 2016-05-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the Department for International Development is taking to encourage other donors to fund the Education Cannot Wait fund at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. This includes via UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their programme and timetable for the reception of 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    We continue to work with local authorities and International Partners to deliver the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament. We are on track to do this. The number resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the availability of suitable accommodation and support in the UK. Progress on resettlement is indicated in quarterly immigration statistics.

  • Peter Bone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Peter Bone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bone on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with Scottish businesses and trade bodies in Scotland about opportunities for overseas trade.

    David Mundell

    Both the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland and I have undertaken a series of visits and meetings over the summer with key sectors of Scottish industry and business. The purpose of these meetings is to understand any concerns and ideas, including opportunities for overseas trade.

    The Scotland Office also works closely with the Department for International Trade, including on initiatives such as the Exporting is GREAT campaign, which toured Scotland in August and September. This campaign exists to inspire and support more first-time exporters to trade overseas and promote the growth it can bring.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to require the DVLA immediately to (a) suspend the driving licences of people suspected to have drug-related seizures and (b) require such people to undergo medical tests before their suspension can be lifted.

    Andrew Jones

    The law allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to revoke a driving licence after appropriate medical investigations have been carried out. In cases where a drug related seizure has been confirmed after medical investigations, the DVLA is able to immediately revoke a licence for a minimum of six months. The licence will only be restored when it has been confirmed that the driver has been free from drug misuse or dependence for an appropriate period. It will normally be necessary for independent medical assessment, including appropriate tests and consultant reports, to be carried out before the driving licence is restored.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Health and Wellbeing boards have identified in their strategic plans loneliness as an issue needing to be tackled.

    Alistair Burt

    Health and wellbeing boards are responsible for preparing joint strategic needs assessments (JSNAs) which should assess the health and care needs of the entire local population. As such, the JSNA offers a valuable opportunity for localities to review how current local services address loneliness.

    The Government has not highlighted or prioritised any specific groups or area of need over another as this would risk undermining the purpose of JSNAs as being objective, comprehensive and most importantly locally-owned assessments.

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the findings of the First Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, on the proportion of patients in England and Wales referred within three working days of their GP appointment, what steps he is taking to improve the referral rate from GPs when inflammatory arthritis is suspected.

    Jane Ellison

    National Clinical Audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). Audits help drive improvement by providing local trusts with individual benchmarked reports on their performance against a range of measures, feeding back comparative findings to help participants identify necessary improvements for patients

    The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis was published on 22 January 2016. The report identifies that although most services offer prompt educational support and agree targets for treatment with their patients, performance against criteria for referral and assessment could be improved. Since the audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care. More information can be found at the following link:

    www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

    To help clinicians to identify the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and make prompt referrals to specialists, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published Rheumatoid arthritis: The management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults, in 2009. This best practice guideline sets out the signs and symptoms of the disease and emphasises the need for early diagnosis with urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of RA. For those diagnosed with the condition, the guidance also recommends they should be offered the opportunity to take part in educational activities, including self-management programmes.

    The NICE RA quality standard (QS), published in 2013, is based on the NICE guideline, and one of the seven quality statements recommends that people with suspected RA are assessed in a rheumatology service within three weeks of referral. However, whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to these standards in planning and delivering services, they do not provide a comprehensive service specification and are not mandatory.

    Regarding the establishment of early arthritis clinics, the configuration of services, including decisions to such arthritis clinics, is a matter for the local National Health Service.

    The latest monthly workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre showed that, as of November 2015, there were 563 full time equivalent rheumatology consultants employed in the NHS. This is an increase of 119 (26.8%) since May 2010. The recruitment and retention of staff is matter for local NHS services.

  • Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Mary Creagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in each income group decile and in each year have purchased houses through Help to Buy since that scheme started.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department’s statistics on the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme are published and available at the following link. This includes a table with completions by total applicant household income deciles. The figures are cumulative (for the first 33 months of the scheme) and not available by individual years.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics

    HM Treasury’s statistics on the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme are published and available at the following link.

    www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics

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