Tag: 2016

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 27240, on family courts: domestic violence, when his Department last reviewed the security standards referred to in that Answer.

    Caroline Dinenage

    Family Courts are subject to Security Standards, which provide a framework for security measures at each individual court.

    Security standards are under continual review by each local court. In practice this comprises each court undertaking reviews of all significant incidents trends/lessons learned, findings from risk assessments, engagement with inter-agency partners, feedback following complaints and regular local inspections. This is to ensure adequate protection measures are in place to protect court users.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what mitigating actions they propose to take with regards to the new contract for doctors in training in the light of the equality analysis undertaken under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 showing that certain features of that contract will have an adverse impact on those who work part-time, who are predominantly women.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The contract published on 31 March is a huge step forward for achieving fairness for all trainee doctors. For the first time junior doctors will be paid and rewarded solely on the basis of their own hard work and achievement and pay progression will be linked to level of training rather than arbitrarily to time served.

    All junior doctors should have the same terms and conditions – a level playing field – which is ultimately what employers and the British Medical Association (BMA) want and everyone deserves.

    When the Secretary of State published the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS (“Doctors”) on the 31 March 2016 on the GOV.UK website he made it clear that, as a result of considering the Equality Analysis, in accordance with his duties and obligations, he had asked for a number of changes to the draft contract to address specific issues for certain groups with protected characteristics. This has been done and the contract has been duly amended. These changes included changes that benefited staff who work part time. The new contract is not discriminatory it ensures that all junior doctors receive equal pay for work of equal value. The BMA’s own lawyers have advised that nothing in the new contract is discriminatory. Nevertheless the equality duty is an ongoing duty and it is intended that monitoring will continue after the introduction of the new contract in accordance with the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010.

    A copy of the Equality Analysis is attached.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Highways England had agreed with Dartford Borough Council an up-to-date contingency plan for emergencies.

    Andrew Jones

    Highways England has a Dartford – Thurrock Crossing Emergency Response Plan which covers 11 major stakeholders. Version 9.0 was issued in September 2015, and the document is reviewed annually.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many works of art from public collections were loaned to institutions in Redcar and Cleveland in each year since 2010.

    Matt Hancock

    The Department does not hold information about loans made from public collections. The national museums and galleries have responsibility for their specific loan arrangements and information about their loans is not held centrally.

    All Government funded museums and galleries are encouraged to loan works from their collections to institutions across the UK.Sponsored National Museums actively support and partner regional museums, which includes touring and large scale loans. In 2014/15 the national museums and galleries loaned items to 1,629 venues, including regional museums and historic houses.

    A new tax relief for museums and galleries will be introduced from 1 April 2017 to encourage them to develop creative new exhibitions and display their collections across the country. The relief will be available on qualifying costs for temporary and touring exhibitions.

    An independent report by Lord Heseltine, published in June, makes recommendations to further develop the Tees Valley area. The report called Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited has strong arts and cultural content and says the area hosts public art of national significance. The report also highlights the strengths of museums and galleries in the region, which include the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MiMA), the MOD funded Museum of the Royal Navy’s HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool, the "Head of Steam" Railway Museum in Darlington and the Science Museum Group’s Locomotion branch at Shildon near Darlington.

    MiMa is a Tate Plus partner and has strong links with Tate Modern. It receives funding from Arts Council England as a Visual Arts Gallery. The Government is also funding £500k towards the development of a new Captain Cook exhibition resource at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Middlesbrough.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on providing heroin to heroin addicts in line with his Department’s policy set out on page 31 of the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published by his predecessor in March 2016.

    Nicola Blackwood

    As outlined in the Government’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, the use of injectable diamorphine as part of treatment for a small cohort of entrenched, long-term opiate users can be effective.

    On behalf of the Department, Public Health England managed a pilot programme of supervised injectable diamorphine prescribing at a cost of £2 million per annum. The pilot ran from 2012 to 2015 at: South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in Southwark, London; Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Brighton; and Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust in Easington, County Durham.

    Information about expenditure on diamorphine prescribing for the treatment of dependence, sites where it is available outside this pilot, and how much diamorphine has been prescribed to heroin addicts is not collected centrally. The decision to commission and fund the local provision of diamorphine prescribing is for local authorities.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of her Department’s budget has been spent on the Troops to Teachers scheme to date; and on what that budget was spent.

    Nick Gibb

    To date, £4.3m has been spent on the programme, the majority of which has been initial, one-off start-up costs. The funding has been allocated to trainee salaries in addition to programme costs to deliver the degree qualification and teacher training requirements.

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

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 4 February (HL5344) and on 11 February (HL5970), how many of the 8,000 expected clinical reports are in the cancer part of that project, as compared to the rare disease; and in the cancer part of that project, how many are planned for delivery by the end of (1) March, (2) June, and (3) September.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The 100,000 Genomes project cancer pipeline is still being evaluated and the precise proportion of the reports that will relate to cancer is not currently known.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Cross Government Working Group on Drones will conduct a detailed examination of the security threats posed by drones as part of its work.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cross Government Working Group is undertaking analysis of the potential use of drones for criminal and terrorist purposes, and the impacts of their negligent use near sensitive locations, such as airports.

    Guidance on tackling the risks of criminal drone use has been provided to constabularies across the UK.

  • Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws on 2016-04-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Bangladesh Law Commission’s proposed new law, now entitled Bangladesh Liberation War (Denial, Distortion, Opposition) Crime Law, and its implications for freedom of expression in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The proposed new Bangladesh Liberation War (Denial, Distortion, Opposition) Crime Law is in the initial consultation phase. We will continue to watch the development of its provisions closely, raising as appropriate any concerns that might arise.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Health and Safety Executive on pro-active inspection of the management of work-related psychosocial risk.

    Justin Tomlinson

    I have regular meetings with senior HSE officials where key priorities are discussed, including tackling work related ill-health.