Tag: 2016

Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Israeli government organisations have been given charitable status in the UK.

Lord Bridges of Headley

In England and Wales the law requires charities to be independent in the way they operate and they must be set up with exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit. This precludes from charitable status any organisations that are established to further the purposes of any non-charity, which would include a national government.

Charity law is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the requirements there are similar.

01/01/2023
Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the health condition of Kamal Foroughi in Iran; and what assessment he has made of the level of Mr Foroughi’s access to appropriate medical care.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have raised our concerns about Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Government and continue to lobby them at the highest level at every opportunity, requesting consular access for officials, access to lawyers and appropriate access to medical treatment. Most recently, on 18 May, I raised our concerns for Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Charge d’affaires. We continue to ask for his early release on humanitarian grounds given his age and medical history.

01/01/2023
Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will meet representatives of Norway and Switzerland to discuss the outcome of the EU referendum.

Sir Alan Duncan

The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) held discussions with European counterparts and a range of other partners to explain the result of the referendum and next steps. Officials continue to be in frequent contact with their Norwegian and Swiss counterparts and have discussed a range of topics since 24 June, including the outcome of the EU referendum.

01/01/2023
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with UK supermarkets about the case for supermarkets regularly to check imported products to ensure that those products are properly labelled.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Under the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 Food business operators are responsible for ensuring that labelling does not mislead the consumer. The rules are enforced by local authorities.

Imported products of animal origin are usually inspected at EU border inspection posts by Port Health Authorities.

As there are well established systems already in place, the Government is not having any specific discussions with UK supermarkets about this issue at this time, but government will continue to monitor this.

01/01/2023
Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will take steps to assist with the backlog of Disclosure and Barring Service applications.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) aims to process all certificates within 56 calendar days and nationally DBS meets this target. The vast majority of applicants do receive their certificates in a timely manner and in December the average processing time for DBS applications was 15.3 days.

It is important that checks undertaken are thorough and sometimes the DBS needs to refer an application to one or more local police forces as part of the enhanced certificate checking process. Unfortunately, a small number of forces have been experiencing difficulties in completing their checks within expected timescales.

DBS has been working closely with forces who are not meeting performance targets to ensure that their performance improves as quickly as possible. The Home Office is taking a keen interest in this work.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect on the agriculture sector in Cumbria of recent flooding and severe weather.

George Eustice

Approximately 600 farmers in Cumbria suffered flooding as a result of Storm Desmond. Considerable damage has been done to stone walls, hedges and tracks. We have established a Farm Recovery Fund which enables farmers to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. The deadline for fund applications is 1 April 2016.

While recognising the significant impact on those farmers affected, the overall impact on UK livestock prices and production is likely to be limited.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons St George’s Medical School is capped at 259 student doctors each year.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for advising the Government on the total number of medical school places and for commissioning postgraduate medical education. This aims to ensure that we have a National Health Service workforce in the right numbers, with the right skills, values and behaviour to respond to the current and future needs of patients. It takes around 5 years of medical school (undergraduate) and a year of training to become a registered doctor and a further 4 to 11 years of training to specialise in General Practice or hospital specialities.

There are currently over 50,000 doctors in training in England according to Health Education England’s Workforce Plan (2015/16) for England.

The latest monthly workforce statistics for November 2015 published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that there are 106,124 full-time equivalent doctors currently employed in the NHS in England which is an increase of 10,703 (11.2%) since May 2010.

The Department and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) share responsibility for determining the medical and dental school undergraduate intakes in England. The Department (via HEE) is responsible for determining overall numbers, and HEFCE has responsibility for the individual distribution to medical and dental schools. Historically places have broadly ben allocated for each institution the same as the previous year, so as to keep stability in recruitment, to help institutions to plan for their intake and in order to meet the national target.

01/01/2023

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Wolf of Dulwich on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many training providers were investigated for fraud or misappropriation of Skills Funding Agency funding during (1) 2011–12, (2) 2012–13, and (3) 2013–14; in how many cases there was a case to answer; and in those cases where findings of fraud or misappropriation were confirmed, which training providers were concerned.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Investigations will result either in no funding issues being identified or the identification of funds for recovery. Funds identified for recovery may have been mis-claimed in error or may be the result of potential fraudulent actions. The Skills Funding Agency is not a prosecuting authority so where an investigation indicates potential fraud the case is referred to the police. Fraud is not confirmed unless there is a successful criminal prosecution.

The table below shows the number of cases investigated, the number of cases where funds were identified for recovery (whether as a result of error or potential fraud), the number of cases referred to the police, the number of cases resulting in charges being brought and the outcome of prosecutions in each of the financial years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Note that where a case is referred to the police it may take a significant period (up to several years) for charges to be brought.

Financial Year	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
No. of live investigations during the year	43	34	37
No. of cases where funds were identified for recovery	20	6	9
No. of cases referred to the police	6	0	1
No. of cases where charges brought	4	–	0
Outcome of prosecutions	1 successful 2 unsuccessful 1 ongoing	–	–

The successful prosecution as a result of an investigation in 2011-12 was of David Peters who worked as an assessor for Safetycor Ltd, a subcontractor to Exeter College and Wolverhampton College.

01/01/2023

Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department ensures that the delivery of drug and alcohol treatment by local authorities conforms to the NHS constitution.

Jane Ellison

Section 2 of the Health Act 2009 as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 requires local authorities to have regard to the National Health Service constitution in performing their health service functions which include the commissioning of services to treat dependence on drugs and alcohol.

Public Health England supports local authorities in their public health functions by providing a range of supportive guidance and materials, as well as bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings, and advice on good practice.

The Department distributes funding to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to carry out their public health functions. The grant conditions include a requirement for each local authority to have regard to the need to improve the take up of, and outcomes from, its drug and alcohol misuse treatment services. Local authorities are also required to report annual expenditure on drug and alcohol services.

01/01/2023
Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance the Government has issued to local police forces in response to the recent increase in reported racist incidents.

Karen Bradley

We have been working with the police at national level to monitor the increase in reported hate crime over the past few weeks and to ensure that local forces have the necessary guidance and assistance to respond. Operational guidance on hate crime was issued by the College of Policing to all forces in 2014.

Police forces are responding robustly to recent incidents, and victims can be reassured that their concerns about hate crime will be taken seriously by the police and courts. Any decisions regarding resourcing of front-line policing are a matter for chief constables in conjunction with their police and crime commissioner.

01/01/2023