Tag: 2016

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Disabled Facilities Grants were not progressed as a result of families not being able to afford adaptations in cases in which the cost of adaptation exceeded the grant amount in 2014 and 2015; and if he will estimate the number of such grants that will not be progressed in 2016 for that reason.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect data on the number of Disabled Facilities Grants which are not progressed where the cost of the adaptations exceed the grant limit of £30,000 per applicant. Local authorities can provide additional top-up funding which can be used to fund adaptations where the cost exceeds the grant limit per applicant.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many officials of her Department have applied for special leave to carry out work for non-governmental departments in the last 12 months.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    DFID’s policy on special leave is specific and does not extend to working for other organisations. There has only been one exception to this policy in the last 12 months. As this relates to a single individual any further information is being withheld because releasing these details could lead to the individual being identified and would therefore breach the legitimate expectation of an individual’s right to protection of their personal information.

  • Siobhain McDonagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Siobhain McDonagh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times her Department has been made aware of people from Pakistan using a false identity to obtain entry clearance to the UK in the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office does not hold the specific information in relation to people from Pakistan using false identity, in the format requested. To obtain it would involve interrogating individual case records, at disproportionate cost.

    All out of country entry clearance applications are subject to an extensive range of mandatory and discretionary checks.

    These include, but are not limited to, identity, travel document verification, searches against national and international police records and against previous Immigration history.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many legally trained staff are contracted to his Department for the purposes of their legal expertise; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robin Walker

    The Department for Exiting the European Union has a dedicated legal team that is provided by the Government Legal Department. That team includes 28 qualified lawyers.

  • Lord Glenarthur – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Glenarthur – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Glenarthur on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government at what date they expect the new rolling stock for the Caledonian Sleeper operated under franchise by Serco Group to be brought into service.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Responsibility for the Caledonian Sleeper service is devolved to the Scottish Government.

    At Autumn Statement 2011 the government committed to invest £50m in the Caledonian Sleeper service, conditional on co-funding from the Scottish Government, to support this valuable cross-border service. This funding was transferred as part of the 2012 Supplementary Estimates round.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the small schools taskforce’s report on the support needed for small schools for universal infant free school meals provision.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The majority of the findings from the small schools taskforce report are already in the public domain following the publication of the toolkit for small schools which is available at http://www.thegreatschoollunch.co.uk/media/169570/CFT-SmallSchoolToolkit.pdf

    “

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department’s records relating to the data requested are not comprehensive. Obtaining data that does exist would take the costs of responding to the question over the disproportionate cost threshold.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the top five reasons were for imposing sanctions on jobseeker’s allowance claimants in each year for which data is available.

    Priti Patel

    The available information for the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance sanction decisions, by referral reason, is published and can be found at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

    Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:

    https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html

    “

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department and NHS England plan to take to improve birth outcomes for women (a) from ethnic minority groups, (b) of lower socio-economic status and (c) from other groups who experience poorer birth outcomes.

    Ben Gummer

    In November, the Government announced a national ambition to halve the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth by 2030. To help meet these aims the Government established a capital fund of £2.24 million to support trusts to buy equipment to improve safety. More than 90 trusts were successful in sharing this funding. In addition, the Government is investing £500,000 to develop a new web-based system to be used consistently across the National Health Service so staff can review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death, and over £1 millon in multi-disciplinary training programmes to ensure staff have the skills they need to deliver world-leading safe care.

    In February 2016, the report of the National Maternity Review ‘Better Births’ was published. It sets out a vision for the future of maternity care in England and puts forward a series of recommendations to ensure that services become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family-friendly. Additionally, in March, NHS England launched the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle designed to support providers and commissioners of maternity care to take action to reduce stillbirths and early neonatal deaths.

    There is evidence to suggest that when implemented the proposals outlined in Better Births will lead to a reduction in inequality of outcomes from maternity services. In particular, more continuity of carer and greater personalisation of care should result in improvements in services to groups of women who tend to experience poorer outcomes, and in turn lead to improved outcomes for women and their babies.

    Later this year the Department will begin a targeted campaign to raise awareness of stillbirth, neonatal death and maternal death risk factors which will be aimed at 16-21 year olds, lower socio-economic groups and ethnic minority groups.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to recommendation 5 on page 251 of the Report of the Macur Review, published in March 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a police investigation to consider whether there is sufficient evidence and public interest relating to matters of malfeasance in public office in the Welsh Office in relation to the abuse of children in care in North Wales.

    Caroline Dinenage

    As the then Secretary of State for Wales said in his statement to the House on 17 March, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service are aware of the specifics of this matter and it is for them to consider further.