Tag: 2016

  • Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Mrs Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Anne Main on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to UK businesses of implementing EU harmonised legislation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government produces Impact Assessments that set out the impacts to business of legislation. These are published on the LEGISLATION.GOV.UK website.

    The UK has one of the lightest regulatory regimes in the OECD. The Netherlands, also in the EU, has the lightest. The European Commission has already reformed its approach to regulation, reducing the number of new initiatives proposed in its annual work programmes by over 80 per cent since 2014.

    As part of the UK’s settlement with the EU, the European Commission is now committed to reviewing the burden of regulation each year, looking in particular at cutting red tape for small businesses. For the first time ever, specific targets to reduce costs for businesses will be introduced in the most burdensome areas.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many times she has attended public meetings of the Education Committee since her appointment.

    Nick Gibb

    My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Education has given evidence to the Education Select Committee six times since she was appointed in July 2014.

  • Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Aberdare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Aberdare on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Institute for Apprenticeships will take over any of the functions carried out by Ofsted, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education or Ofqual, such as the inspection of apprenticeship provision or the regulation of qualifications, and if so, which.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The role of the Institute for Apprenticeships will be to ensure the quality of apprenticeship standards.

    Apprenticeships will only attract funding from government or the levy if they are against an approved standard or framework. Each standard will contain a plan for how the apprenticeship will be assessed. Although this will be approved by the Institute, the Institute will not assess the apprenticeship training itself: the register of training providers is owned by the Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted will continue to inspect providers.

    The Institute will, however, need to ensure there is consistency between the levels of assessment being applied, as part of its role in approving standards and assessment plans.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department’s distributed ledger technology benefits payments trial, what blockchain technology is being used for that trial; whether he plans to dismantle that blockchain technology once that trial has ended; and which organisations outside the Government will have access to (a) that blockchain technology and (b) the data stored as part of that trial.

    Damian Hinds

    The DWP works continuously with industry partners to identify and test new innovations that could save taxpayer money, safeguard information and better protect payments to customers.

    The DWP is undertaking some small scale research involving blockchain technology which is expected to last 3-6 months with the results available in the last quarter of 2016. It uses a private permissioned distributed ledger to allow participants to store their transactions, including payments from DWP. Those transactions can then be viewed securely on a mobile application so that they can, if they wish, monitor and allocate their spending into categories, check their available balance and plan future spending. There are currently about 12 people in the trial which we expect to increase to around 24 people by the close.

    The participants in the trial have complete control over their data and how it is used; the government does not receive or see any of that data. The DWP takes privacy and security extremely seriously and this will form part of the learning from the trial.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of requests made to slaughterhouses with CCTV to release their footage for independent review in each of the last five years; and in how many of those cases that footage was released.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Authorised Officers can and do review CCTV footage with the permission of the Food Business Operator (FBO). Where they have grounds to believe an offence has occurred FSA Authorised Officers can seize footage relevant to the offence.

    As part of the regular audit and/or inspection process in slaughterhouses an Authorised Officer may ask an FBO for access to CCTV footage. Whilst the outcome of the reviewed footage will be recorded at a local level we do not keep a national log of such requests and therefore the FSA does not hold a record of this information. Similarly, we do not keep a national record of the number of cases where CCTV footage was released.

  • Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which regions the NHS provides funding for IVF treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    In vitro fertilisation treatment is provided in all four NHS England Regions. The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

    NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the National Institute for Health and Care fertility guidelines.

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

    Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why forensic medical services are an exception under Schedule 2 to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014; why such healthcare services are considered equivalent to other healthcare settings and whether they are subject to the same level of scrutiny; and whether they plan to amend those Regulations to allow the Care Quality Commission powers of inspection of healthcare facilities in police custody.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) document The scope of registration (CQC, 2015) includes a section about those health and care services that lie outside its duties to regulate, and for which providers are not required to register. Within this section, the document classes forensic medical services as a “third party exemption”, because these services are commissioned and paid for directly by police bodies, which are considered to be the “customer” of these services. This differs from healthcare services commissioned and funded by the National Health Service, in which services are arranged and organised for the benefit of patients. A copy of The scope of registration is attached.

    Nevertheless, the CQC regularly takes part in joint inspections of police healthcare services, in partnership with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. The Department, with the CQC and others, is currently considering whether to amend Schedule 2 to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in order to remove the current exemption, and strengthen the CQC’s contribution to these joint inspection arrangements.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Ofsted is taking to ensure that home schooled children are (a) taught about British values and (b) integrated into British society.

    Edward Timpson

    Ofsted has no powers or duties in respect of home education with regards to specific children who are being educated at home. We recognise that parents may choose to home school their children and may do a good job, but that education must be of a suitable quality.

    If parents do educate children at home, a local authority may intervene if it appears to the authority that the parents are not fulfilling their duty. When Ofsted inspects children’s services in local authorities under section 136 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, it considers the effectiveness of the authority’s arrangements for dealing with children missing education, a category which includes any children who are home educated but not receiving a suitable education.

    We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of people from the North East of England working offshore in each year since 2010.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Oil and Gas UK in the UK Continental Shelf Offshore Workforce Demographics Report 2015 estimate that of the total number of offshore workers resident in the UK, 13.8 per cent (7,711) live in the North East of England.

  • Lord Condon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Condon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Condon on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the 10 most recently appointed Chief Constables in the UK were not internal candidates from the appointing police force, and over what period of time those appointments have taken place.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Three of the ten most recently appointed chief constables in England and Wales were not internal candidates from the appointing police force, although eight of the chief constables have served as a chief officer outside of the force.

    These appointments have taken place over the period from June 2015 to March 2016.