Tag: 2016

  • Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Tyrie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Tyrie on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of closing the Chichester Combined Court Centre and Chichester Magistrates’ Court on the work of (a) Chichester constabulary, (b) Chichester District Council and (c) other local services.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    All responses to the consultation were carefully considered before the decision was made to close the courts in Chichester. This included evaluating the impact on the police, the District Council and other local services. In recognition of the particular circumstances of court users in Chichester, the Combined Court Centre will not close until suitable local alternative provision is in place.

  • Karin Smyth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Karin Smyth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2016-06-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the higher education entry rate data, published in December 2015, what steps his Department is taking to increase the rate of entry to university from young people in (a) Bristol South constituency and (b) other areas that have a low rate of university entry.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background.

    In the last academic year we saw record entry rates to higher education, including among those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

    Since 2010, we have established a stronger framework, with increased responsibility placed on higher education institutions to widen participation. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up from £404m in 2009/10.

    In addition, we will take steps through the Higher Education and Research Bill to widen access and participation further. This will include strengthening the system of access agreements, and introducing new transparency duties on higher education institutions. We have also asked Universities UK to form a Social Mobility Advisory Group to set out what further steps the higher education sector itself can take to promote social mobility.

  • MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the use of air quality management areas by local authorities.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and we are working at local, national and international levels to continue those improvements. The UK currently meets legal limits for almost all pollutants; however, reducing levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) remains the most challenging.

    Local authorities (LAs) have opportunities to improve air quality for the protection of public health and the environment through decisions they make on land use planning, permitting, roads and air quality management areas (AQMAs).

    Across the UK, 259 LAs declared 715 AQMAs since 1999. Most AQMAs in the UK are in urban areas and have been established to address the contribution to air pollution from traffic emissions of NO2 or particulate matter (PM10). Details of the current AQMAs declared by LAs, broken down by region and pollutant, are set out in the table below.

    Region

    Total LAs

    Number of LAs with AQMAs

    For NO2

    For PM10

    For SO2

    England (outside London)

    294

    193

    497

    38

    6

    London

    33

    33

    33

    29

    0

    Scotland

    32

    14

    25

    21

    1

    Wales

    22

    10

    37

    1

    0

    N. Ireland

    11

    9

    20

    7

    0

    TOTAL

    393

    259

    612

    96

    7

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an estimate of the average time taken by NICE to evaluate new orphan and ultra-orphan therapies in the last three years; and what the average time taken from approval is to access those therapies for patients living with rare and ultra-rare conditions.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has advised that the average time it has taken to evaluate new orphan and ultra-orphan therapies under the highly specialised technologies (HST) programme to date has been 12-14 months. NICE published draft guidance (on average) 6-8 months into the process. NHS England has ensured access to treatments recommended by NICE through the HST programme is available to patients within three months of final guidance. NICE has also advised that its intention is to publish guidance within 4-6 months from marketing authorisation in the future.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 11.10 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how the £55 billion budget for High Speed 2 has been split between phase 1 and phase 2 of that project.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Spending Review 2015 set out a long-term budget of £55.7bn (2015 prices) for delivering HS2. Of this, approximately £27.2bn has been apportioned to Phase One and £28.5bn to Phase Two.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of residential training for officials in his Department in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department is committed to developing its staff and equipping them with the skills and knowledge to carry out their work.

    In 2011, the Department became a full subscriber to Civil Service Learning (CSL). CSL is responsible for providing a managed service for all learning and development across the Civil Service.

    Learning and development activity is typically arranged by individual teams or individuals in the Department.

    Therefore, no central records of these events are kept. To collect this information from the Department’s directorates and match this with CSL data would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Questions 24490 and 24491, on right of abode, what the process is for her Department’s assessment on granting the right of abode to former British-Hong Kong servicemen.

    James Brokenshire

    The assessment of the request by former members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps that they be granted right of abode in the UK is on-going, including discussions at official level with other government departments and a review of archived material on the schemes established between 1990 and 1997. A decision will be made as soon as practicable

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2016 to Question 30739, what information he holds on (a) the legal status of Telahoon Rata and Rev. Hassan Taour and (b) whether their legal team has been granted access to them.

    James Duddridge

    Telahoon Rata and Rev Hassan Taour are being held in detention by the National Intelligence and Security Services under powers granted to them by the National Security Act 2010. They have not been granted access to their lawyers.

    Our Ambassador in Khartoum met the Minister of Guidance and Religious Endowments and the Sudanese Director of Church Affairs in February and raised the cases of Mr Talahon and Rev. Hassan.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the 10 largest grants to fund research into the use of proton therapy treatment for cancers made from the science budget were in the last five years; and when the results of such research will be published.

    Joseph Johnson

    Research into cancer involving proton therapy and laser treatment falls within the remit of the Research Councils.

    I have asked the Chair of the Research Councils UK Strategic Executive to write to the hon. Member and I will place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-06-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream employees based in London complete a placement outside London.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Civil Service Fast Stream is a rotational graduate development programme that lasts 4 years. Fast Streamers are employed on a national contract and undertake a number of roles across different Civil Service organisations and in different locations across the UK.

    The number and proportion of Fast Streamers who will have undertaken a regional placement by the end of their programme will be available for the first cohort who joined in 2013, once they have completed the 4 year programme in October 2017.