Tag: 2016

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what procedures are in place to monitor the take-up of advice on NHS websites on prevention of spina bifida.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on the number of live births affected by congenital abnormalities including spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly has been collected by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers and is currently available for the years 2009–2012 at:

    http://www.binocar.org/publications/reports

    There are no current mechanisms in place for monitoring the take-up of advice given on the NHS Choices website about preventing spina bifida.

    “

  • Lord Pendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Pendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what ways they are targeting the entire population to encourage them to take up physical activity, and not just those who are overweight or obese.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England may be damaging their health through a lack of physical activity. Ministers across government continue to work together to identify opportunities to get people active in a range of ways including active travel, health initiatives, planning and sport.

    In December 2015 Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ – the first comprehensive government strategy for sport for 13 years – it sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation. It has a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.

    Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, states that tackling inactivity is a major priority for the organisation, it is tripling its current investment to over £250 million over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve access to the private rented sector for single people who are homeless.

    Gavin Barwell

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness.

    Increasing access to the private rented sector is one of the many ways we are trying to achieve this. We have already made a significant investment of nearly £14 million for Crisis to develop a programme to help single homeless people access private rented sector accommodation. This has helped over 10,000 people, with over 90% maintaining tenancies for at least 6 months.

    In Budget 2016, we also announced a £10 million fund to support and scale-up initiatives to prevent and reduce rough sleeping and a £10 million Social Impact Bond to support the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets.

    In addition, we are working to increase supply, and therefore affordability, in the private rented sector by accelerating the development of a new market for private renters, including our £1 billion build to rent fund and the £3.5 billion private rented sector debt guarantee scheme.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has received evidence that Russia has committed war crimes in Syria; under what international treaties or conventions any such crimes committed by that country fall to be (a) investigated and (b) prosecuted; and what discussions he has had with his European and other counterparts on such crimes.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) has the jurisdiction to judge and prosecute war crimes. However, neither Russia nor Syria are state parties to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC. The only way to secure an investigation by the ICC would be for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC. This would require a UNSC resolution. Russia and China vetoed a UNSC resolution which proposed referring all those responsible for war-crimes and crimes against humanity, regardless of affiliation, to the ICC in May 2014. We regularly raise allegations of atrocities being committed in Syria with international counterparts, most recently in the UN Security Council on Saturday 8 October, when Russia vetoed the proposed UNSC resolution calling for an end to the bombardment of Aleppo. Deliberate targeting of civilians or humanitarian personnel would be a war crime. The attack on a UN aid convoy near Aleppo on 19 September was a clear violation of the most basic of humanitarian principles. Russia appears to be partnering with the Syrian regime in the attacks on Aleppo which are causing large numbers of civilian casualties.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department is making on encouraging buy-to-let mortgage lenders to allow longer tenancies in their terms and conditions.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government supports longer tenancies, and promotes them through its Model Tenancy Agreement. We have continued to encourage mortgage lenders to permit family friendly tenancies, and the majority have now changed their policies, and permit tenancies of up to two to three years.

    A letter was sent to the Council for Mortgage Lenders on this subject in January 2016, urging them to encourage those lenders who have not changed their policies to do so, and to encourage lenders to promote the benefits of the Model Tenancy Agreement to their landlord customers.

  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations were received from (a) USDAW, (b) other trade unions, (c) ACS and (d) other trade and workers’ associations in response to the government’s consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (i) number and (ii) proportion of those respondents answered (A) yes, (B) no and (C) otherwise to Question 1 in that consultation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government received 7,171 responses to the consultation, though a significantly smaller number used the standard online consultation form and addressed the questions directly.

    USDAW responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. USDAW answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    TUC and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers (GMB) also responded to the consultation and their representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. UNISON responded to the consultation but did not meet with officials. All three (100%) responded no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    ACS responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.

    The department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by respondent type as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government has no plans to lower the drink drive limit. We believe that rigorous enforcement and serious penalties for drink drivers are a more effective deterrent than changing the drink driving limit.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has a team with specific responsibility for addressing women’s mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department’s mental health policy teams provide strategic policy advice on mental health for people of all ages and genders. When issues are specific to a gender these are addressed within the policy development.

    The Coalition Government published a national mental health strategy No Health Without Mental Health in 2012 which addressed mental health issues for the whole population, and introduced the concept of parity of esteem for mental health. This Government continues to hold NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate for the achievement of measurable progress towards the parity of esteem for mental health.

    The Government announced almost £1 billion of additional investment for mental health in January 2016 including £290 million of new investment over the next five years to provide mental healthcare for new mothers. The Mental Health Taskforce Report published in February 2016 set out a recommendation for NHS England to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period. The recommendation stated this should include access to psychological therapies and the right range of specialist community or inpatient care so that comprehensive, high-quality services are in place across England.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the timetable for deciding whether to allow a third runway at Heathrow.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    A number of important decisions on airport capacity were taken by the Government in December, including to accept the case for expansion in the South-East. However, we must take the time to get the decision right on a preferred scheme. The Government is further considering the environmental impacts and the best possible measures to mitigate the impacts of expansion, this work will conclude by summer 2016.

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

    Mark Pawsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pawsey on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each local authority area (a) are being home-schooled and (b) were being home-schooled in each of the last five years for which data is available.

    Edward Timpson

    This data is not collected centrally. Although some local authorities operate voluntary registration schemes, there is no legal obligation for the registration of home educated children.