Tag: 2016

  • Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvette Cooper on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many take charge requests under the Dublin III Regulation the UK has received from other EU member states for family reunification in the (a) unaccompanied minors, (b) family members, (c) dependent persons and (d) discretionary categories in the last 12 months; and how many such requests have been (i) approved, (ii) refused and (iii) remain under consideration.

    James Brokenshire

    Data on cases progressed under the Dublin Convention is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of damage caused to the gardens of urban and rural householders by badgers in England.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Defra is not aware of any studies that quantify the extent of garden damage by badgers. Where serious damage is, or is likely to be, caused by badgers or their setts, there is provision within the legislation for action to be taken under licence. Garden damage due to foraging alone is not normally considered sufficiently serious to warrant the issue of a licence.

    Natural England receives around 800 licence applications per year to interfere with badger setts. Of these, just over 50% relate to damage caused by badgers but not all involve residential properties or gardens. With regard to gardens, the usual action is to exclude badgers from the sett and proof the area against further damage. There is a presumption against licensing trapping and relocating badgers on disease and animal welfare grounds.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to ask NHS England to publish the initial Sustainability and Transformation plans submitted on 15 April 2016 to permit scrutiny of those plans.

    George Freeman

    The arm’s length bodies that developed the NHS Five Year Forward View – NHS England, NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, Public Health England, Health Education England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – plan to publish Sustainability and Transformation Plans once they are final. They do not plan to publish the April submissions, on the basis that they are not formal plans but set out only an interim position.

  • Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Mary Glindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans for the EU Unit to include voluntary sector representation or request input from that sector.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    The new Europe Unit will bring together officials with a wide range of policy expertise from across Government. Many interest groups have directly approached Government Ministers, and Departments will look to ensure stakeholders’ views are properly captured and considered.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of staff employed by his Department are non-UK nationals.

    Joseph Johnson

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

    Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

  • 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 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his most recent estimate is of the cost of tunnel boring for the High Speed 2 Chiltern tunnel.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The estimated cost of the Chiltern tunnel, as extended via Additional Provision 4, is £940m (based on Q2 2011 Prices). This figure, which includes the costs relating to tunnel boring and the construction of the tunnel portals and vent shafts, excludes risk and contingency.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of measures intended to curtail consumption of high sugar drinks on levels of consumption of drinks that require significant levels of added sugar to counteract their high acidity.

    Jane Ellison

    In its 2015 Carbohydrates and Health report the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommended that the consumption of sugary soft drinks should be minimised by children and adults. Such drinks do not need to contain added sugar; there are many alternatives on the market which contain artificial sweeteners instead.

    Public Health England’s (PHE) report Sugar reduction: The evidence for action (October 2015), outlined its assessment of a range of measures that could be implemented to reduce sugar intakes and improve diets overall. As part of their assessment of the evidence, PHE conducted an analysis of the impact on sugar intakes in adults and children of reducing the sugar content of eight food categories, including sugary soft drinks.

  • 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 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which family courts have a designated safe space for victims of domestic abuse and other vulnerable individuals.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Safe areas are available for vulnerable victims and witnesses at every venue where the Family Court routinely conducts hearings.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will (a) commission research to estimate the number of people from other EU member states who receive (i) in-work and (ii) out of work benefits in the UK; and if he will publish that information before 23 June 2016.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    There are no current plans to conduct the analyses listed.

  • 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures are in place to ensure that alternative accommodation is found for people evicted from a care home.

    Alistair Burt

    Should a person have to leave a care home, the Care Act requires the local authority to carry out an assessment of their needs. The local authority must decide if the person has eligible needs by considering the outcomes they wish to achieve, what their needs are and how these impact on their wellbeing.

    Where a person is assessed as having eligible care and support needs – for example, for care and support, public assistance with the cost of care, help with arranging care or information and advice – those needs must be met by their local authority.

    For a person placed in residential care by a local authority, the authority would continue to have a duty to meet their needs and to arrange alternative care services. Should a person be able to fund their own care but lack capacity to arrange it, the local authority has powers under the Act to meet their needs.

    Statutory guidance issued under the Care Act sets out when a local authority should use these powers.