Tag: 2016

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what fee his Department agreed with Learndirect in connection with its negotiated exit from the Drive and Vehicle Standards Agency contract for provision of the UK Driving Theory Test.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and learndirect Ltd have concluded an exit from the contract for the provision of the UK Driving Theory Test, which was due to transfer to learndirect Ltd in September 2016.

The supplementary agreement to that exit is subject to commercial confidentiality. The agreement with Pearson Vue, the current provider of the theory test, to extend their contract is expected to lead to overall net benefits of more than £8million over four years to the theory test service and its customers.

01/01/2023

David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations in each of the last three years was mined in the UK.

Andrea Leadsom

This can be estimated by subtracting the amount of steam coal imports (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) by the total amount of coal used in electricity generation. Please see the table below:

	Imports of steam coal (thousand tonnes)	Coal used in generation (thousand tonnes)	*UK produced coal used for generation (thousand tonnes)**	Proportion of UK produced coal used for generation %
2013	42,995	50,041	7,046	14.0%
2014	35,294	38,400	3,106	8.0%
2015 (provisional)	20,631	29,342	8,711	29.6%

* This includes stocks from earlier years.

Source:

Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends.

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01/01/2023

Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the results of the sentencing review of motoring offences and penalties will be published.

Dr Phillip Lee

Both the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Transport are aware of concerns about a number of issues relating to serious driving offences and the maximum penalties those offences carry. The Government are committed to making sure that the courts have sufficient powers to deal with driving offences appropriately and proportionately within the context of our wider sentencing framework. It is our intention to commence a consultation before the end of the year which will look at driving offences and penalties.

The new Justice Secretary will meet the new Transport Secretary to discuss further in due course.

01/01/2023
Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistency of provision in the quality of care in mental health services across England.

Nicola Blackwood

Mental health is one of the six core clinical areas to be covered by NHS England’s new CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. NHS England is working to ensure that this will provide as broad a view as possible of how well commissioners are supporting and driving improvement in mental health.

A dashboard for mental health will be published this autumn, containing a set of standard indicators to articulate progress in mental health services at a national level and allow benchmarking of services across the country.

NHS England will continue to ensure that mental health is represented within the full suite of levers and incentives at its disposal including Commissioning for Quality and Innovation payment framework (CQUINs), Quality Premium, the NHS Standard Contract and within the design of new models of care. The Technical Guidance for NHS planning covering 2017/18 and 2018/19 that accompanied the publication of the main NHS Planning Guidance earlier this autumn included a number of draft proposals for specific mental health CQUINs:

– Improving services for people with Mental Health needs who present to A&E;

– Improving physical health care for people with Severe Mental Illnesses; and

– Improving transitions for children and young people.

The Quality Premium is based on measures that cover a combination of national and local priorities, and on delivery of the fundamentals of commissioning. The Premium is paid to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2018/19 and 2019/20 reflects the quality of the health services commissioned by them in 2017/18 and 2018/19. There will be six mandated indicators including a mental health indicator.

Mental health service providers are responsible for the consistency and quality in the services that they provide. Services in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission which introduced a new regulation and inspection regime in 2014. CCGs are expected to increase their spending on mental health in line with overall growth in their baseline allocations.

01/01/2023
Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information he has about the individual who currently holds the position of UN Special Advisor on Genocide; what recent representations to that individual about the killings by Daesh of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq; and what plans he has to meet the Special Advisor to discuss the crisis in those countries.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Adama Dieng was appointed UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide on 17 July 2012. His role is to: raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide; to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide; and to advocate and mobilise for appropriate action. The Office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect has made a number of statements in relation to the situation in Iraq and Syria. These statements can be found on the UN website, and cover a range of issues including: incitement to violence in Syria on religious grounds; expressing concern about the on-going threat to the safety of minority groups in Syria; and expressing alarm at reports of the abduction of 1,500 Yezidi, Christian and Shabak women and girls.

Any judgement on whether genocide has occurred is a matter for judicial decision, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies. Our approach is to seek an end to all violations, and to prevent their further escalation, irrespective of whether these violations fit the definition of specific international crimes.

01/01/2023
Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the country of (a) origin and (b) destination was of each flight in a fixed wing aircraft or helicopter carrying or transporting Defence Nuclear Materials in the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt

In the last five years, 23 flights carrying Defence Nuclear Materials (DNM) were undertaken. All flights were between the UK and the United States on fixed wing aircraft under the control of UK Armed Forces. No such flights passed over Scotland, or involved the use of helicopters.

I am withholding details of the physical state, mass and radiological quantity of DNM transported as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

The transport of DNM is carried out to the highest standard in accordance with stringent safety regulations. In over 50 years of transporting DNM in the UK, there has never been an incident that has posed any radiation hazard to the public or to the environment.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what role Ministers played in the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

Anna Soubry

The process was conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies.

Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills took active involvement in overseeing the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise met the candidates judged by the panel as appointable. In accordance with the Code of Practice, a senior representative of OCPA was present at those meetings.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether concessionary travel passes are available for drivers prevented from driving whilst their medical condition is being assessed.

Andrew Jones

The national disabled person’s concessionary travel pass is evidence based. Assessment of a person’s eligibility for a disabled person’s bus pass is conducted by local Travel Concession Authorities. Unless they deem the applicant to be automatically eligible, a pass will not be granted until evidence has been provided and where necessary an assessment has been completed. The Government issues guidance to assist them in doing this.

01/01/2023
Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Camp Liberty, Iraq.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about the residents of Camp Liberty. Our Embassy in Baghdad regularly raises this issue with the Government of Iraq and we support the United Nations’ calls for more to be done to protect residents. We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to relocate all the residents to safe third countries.

That being said, Monitors from the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) regularly visit Camp Liberty and issue daily reports which provide an update on the situation there. Their assessment remains that the provision of life support systems such as water, electricity and food continue to be well in excess of basic humanitarian standards. They have reported that the relocation of protective bunkers and installation of additional protective concrete walls, to increase the security and safety of the residents, has been completed. Iraqi government officials have reported that diesel tankers and trucks containing food and other supplies continue to routinely enter the camp, that residents continue to be referred to hospitals and that the clinic remains in operation. Residents’ representatives have confirmed this to be accurate.

01/01/2023
Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure consistency in the length of intervals between awards of personal independence payments.

Penny Mordaunt

The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to treat people as individuals, considering the impact of their impairment or health condition on their everyday life and how each claimant has personally adapted to living with a disability. The length of an award for PIP is based on the needs of the individual claimant and whether these are likely to change in the future, as a result, for example, of treatment or changes in their health condition.

The Department monitors all aspects of the PIP application process including the performance of the assessment providers, Atos Healthcare and Capita. The reports of Health Professionals who carry out assessments are subject to quality audit, to ensure accurate advice on the best time to review a case based on a claimant’s individual circumstances.

The PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments includes guidance on how to determine the length of an award – Section 2.9 Prognosis (page 54) and 2.10 Review dates (page 56).

This guidance can be accessed on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449043/pip-assessment-guide.pdf

There is also guidance and information for DWP decision makers on how best to establish the length of an award.

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01/01/2023