UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2016

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training is provided to staff in the UK Border Agency to help them deal with abuses of the Pet Travel Scheme by those involved in illegal puppy smuggling for commercial purposes.

    Lord Bates

    Core skills training provided to Border Force officers includes awareness training on controls on the movement of live animals into the UK. Specific guidance is also available to officers on the application of the Pet Travel Scheme. Border Force is also developing its targeting capability across all border related risks, including bio-security risks.

    Border Force is working closely with the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the lead government department with responsibility for imports of live animals, to ensure the effective enforcement of legislation governing the import of animals.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The number and proportion of staff (percentage of the FCO’s workforce for the relevant year) who took stress related absence for each of the last five years (1st January 2011 to 31st December 2015) is as follows:

    2011

    46 (0.79%)

    2012

    43 (0.89%)

    2013

    47 (0.99%)

    2014

    27 (0.59%)

    2015

    42 (0.97%)

    The proportion of stress related absence episodes against the total sick absence episodes for each of the last five years is as follows:

    2011

    1.96%

    2012

    2.12%

    2013

    2.41%

    2014

    1.51%

    2015

    2.15%
  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what preventative programmes, other than for HIV prevention, are funded by Public Health England.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) distributes the public health grant to local authorities; the grant funds a number of prevention programmes including NHS Health Checks, the national child measurement programme and sexual health services. PHE also provides social marketing campaigns such as Be Clear on Cancer, Stoptober and Act FAST.

    In addition PHE provides advice and evidence to local authorities and NHS England on what works best, including providing expert advice on the diabetes prevention programme.

    More information on PHE’s activities can be found in PHE’s Strategic Plan:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/516985/PHE_Strategic_plan_2016.pdf

    which sets out how the organisation intends to protect and improve the public’s health and reduce inequalities over the next four years and outlines actions PHE will take over the next year to achieve these aims and deliver its core functions.

    “

  • 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 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many services which have been approved by NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group are planned for discussion at the NHS England prioritisation round in June.

    George Freeman

    The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) will agree recommendations as to which proposals for new investments in specialised services should be considered by NHS England in the prioritisation round for 2016/17. CPAG is scheduled to meet between 6 and 9 June 2016.

    NHS England is currently considering the outcome of a public consultation that it held between April and May 2016 on a proposed method for the relative prioritisation of new investments in specialised services. The consultation guide that it published described the proposed method and the types of data that would be considered. Many detailed submissions were made by respondents to consultation, and they will all be carefully considered. NHS England is expecting to make a decision on the eventual method that will be adopted for 2016/17 in May 2016.

    The consultation guide can be found at the following address:

    https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/investment-decisions/supporting_documents/consultationguide.pdf

    “

  • Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Ramsbotham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ramsbotham on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Citizens Advice Bureau report Catching Up: improving council tax arrears collection published on 8 July, and of why that report does not refer to the guidance to local councils on good practice in the collection of council tax arrears in respect of vulnerable people published by the Department for Communities and Local Government in June 2013.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Government made its position clear in our ‘Guidance to Local Councils on Good Practice in the Collection of Council Tax Arrears’, June 2013. This highlights the importance of councils being sympathetic to those in genuine hardship and that they are proportionate in their enforcement action, as well as noting the support that should be provided to vulnerable people.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people are currently subject to immigration restrictions which require that they report to an immigration reporting centre.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The number of people with immigration restrictions required to report to an immigration reporting centre fluctuates on a daily basis. We therefore cannot produce a number which would accurately reflect the current population.

  • Lord Campbell-Savours – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Campbell-Savours – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell-Savours on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received evidence of VAT fraud in the London souvenir and gift trade, and if so, what action they have taken to combat it.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) receive a variety of data and intelligence from numerous sources. Everything from bulk data from third parties to information provided by individuals through the Tax and Customs Evasion Hotlines.

    Clamping down on those who try to cheat the system through evading taxes and over claiming benefits is a key priority for HMRC, and they are committed to ensuring the tax system operates fairly and efficiently. All the information HMRC receive is risk-assessed and a decision made on the most appropriate course of action.

    Data and intelligence received could include information relating to the London souvenir and gift trade. However, there is strict law of confidentiality covering all the work for which HMRC are responsible. The relevant law is Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue & Customs Act 2005, which strictly limits the circumstances under which they disclose information they hold and any action taken. This prohibits HMRC from giving specific details of any information received regarding any sector.

  • Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Hunt of Chesterton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to establish targets in the UK to reduce carbon emissions produced by road and rail transport by 2020.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government has already set stretching legally binding carbon budgets, which will see a 50% economy wide reduction in emissions in 2025 compared to 1990 levels, on a path towards an 80% reduction by 2050, and is committed to ensuring the transport sector plays a full part in delivering the emissions reductions needed.

    In December 2011, the Government published Carbon Plan: Delivering our low carbon future, setting out in a series of five-year carbon budget periods how we will meet the UK’s legally binding carbon reduction targets.

    The Government will set the level of the fifth carbon budget in June this year (for the period 2028 to 2032) and will publish the next Carbon Plan shortly afterwards.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of closing down the General Social Care Council.

    Alistair Burt

    The function for the regulation of social workers in England was transferred from the General Social Care Council (GSCC) to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) on 1 August 2012.

    The final set of accounts from the GSCC show that the total cost to the public purse of closing down the Council was £16.5 million. The HCPC also received £1.4 million to support it take on the functions for the regulation of social workers in England. Therefore, the total cost was £17.9 million.

    On the assumption that the costs of the GSCC remained broadly similar, the Department estimated that the closure of the GSCC saves £13.5 million each year.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many further submissions under rule 353 of the Immigration Rules were made in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

    James Brokenshire

    Our records indicate that 22,149 1 further submissions under rule 353 of the Immigration Rules were made from 2013 to 2015. The breakdown of applications received is 8,088 during 2013, 7,206 in 2014 and 6,855 for 2015.

    1 Relates to 18,143 people – due to a number of individuals making multiple further submissions.

    Notes:

    • The data only includes further submissions that are linked to an Asylum claim.

    • The data includes main applicants only and does not include dependants.

    • The data covers further submissions applications made between 01/01/2013 and 31/12/2015 (in line with data publications under the transparency agenda).

    The data provided is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.