Tag: 2016

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to continue to participate in the European Railways Agency after the UK leaves the EU.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government is considering carefully all the potential implications arising from the UK’s exit from the EU, including the implications for our future relationship with agencies such as the European Railways Agency and the European Maritime Safety Agency. Until we leave, EU law still applies, and current arrangements will continue.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a universal credit applicant who does not receive the housing part in their first payment due to lack of evidence provided in their application will receive a backdated payment upon receipt of the correct document.

    Priti Patel

    Once all the relevant information is received, a backdated payment of the housing element can be made.

  • Jonathan Djanogly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jonathan Djanogly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Djanogly on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on Action 36 of the UK Anti-Corruption plan, published in December 2014, relating to corporate criminal liability.

    Mike Penning

    I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Gower on 28th September 2015, which can be found at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-09-09/9735/

    “

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will amend the terms of reference for the independent review of the state pension age to exclude the existing timetable up to 2028 from the scope of the review.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government has no plans to make changes for those reaching State Pension age before 2028.

    The State Pension age review will be forward looking and focussed on the longer term. It will not cover the existing State Pension age timetable up to April 2028 which is already legislated for.

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

    Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what basis, if any, the NHS Mandate requires that investment in NICE-recommended treatments for hepatitis C be limited to avoid disinvestment in other health services.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The NHS Mandate requires healthcare expenditure to be limited to the resources made available by the government. The range of potential treatments which could improve patients health exceeds the funding made available to the National Health Service, therefore increased investment in one area has an opportunity cost on the ability to invest in other areas. NHS England is investing in the rollout of Hepatitis C treatment in full accordance with National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidance, with an expected doubling of the number of patients benefiting from new treatment to 10,000s in the coming 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been reunited with their families in the UK in (a) the last five years and (b) the last year under (i) the EU Dublin III Regulation; (ii) part 11 of the UK immigration rules, (iii) any other parts of the UK immigration rules and (iv) under exceptional circumstances.

    James Brokenshire

    There are several routes for children to be reunited safely with their families in the UK. Applications for family reunion for individuals under the age of 18 years of age can be received both in country and out of country and are processed by a number of casework units within the Home Office including International Operations, Settlement, Complex Casework and Asylum Operations. Unfortunately the way these applications are processed and the method used to store the data on the main immigration database means that not all of the data is recorded in a format that can be reported on automatically and would therefore require a manual investigation of thousands of case records. As a result this data could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Since 2010 we have granted more than 21,000 family reunion visas and 175 visas for exceptional circumstances though we are not able to distinguish from the data how many of these applicants were under the age of 18. Internal Management information concerning applications from people under 18 processed by International Operations and Complex Casework are listed in the table below:

    Year

    Complex Casework

    2010

    14

    2011

    14

    2012

    8

    2013

    7

    2014

    24

    2015

    10

    Grand Total

    77

    Year

    International Operations

    2011

    2950

    2012

    2406

    2013

    2624

    2014

    2882

    2015

    3088

    Grand Total

    13950

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

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is required to consult (a) passenger groups, (b) trade unions and (c) Network Rail before the introduction of an emergency timetable on Govia Thameslink Railway services can take place.

    Claire Perry

    Emergency timetables are introduced by the rail industry in reaction to specific circumstances as they are responsible for operating the railway and do not need the prior approval of the Secretary of State. GTR has introduced a revised timetable which seeks to use the resources that are likely to be available in order to provide a service that passengers can rely on. It is for the operator, in conjunction with Network Rail, to manage the timetable effectively.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, approximately how many (a) British and (b) non-British nationals are employed cleaning the Westminster estate of his Department.

    Mr David Jones

    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.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people applied to join the Army Reserve in 2015; and how many such applications were successful.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Defence Statistics publish information on a regular basis showing intake figures for the Armed Forces, including the Army and Army Reserve. The most recent information is contained in ‘UK Armed Forces Monthly Service Personnel Statistics: December 2015’ and associated tables, which is available at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-monthly-service-personnel-statistics-index.

    The number of applications to the Army Reserve in the 12 months ending 30 September 2015 was 29,730. The intake of Army Reserve New Entrants in the 12 months ending 30 September 2015 was 3,750.

    There is not necessarily a direct correlation between the individual applicants who applied within the period above, and the individuals who were classed as new entrants within the same period: due to the time taken to process applications, not all new entrants would have been applicants during the period specified.

    New Entrants reflect intake into the initial phase of training only, and comprise new recruits, ex-Regulars and Reserve re-joiners that require training.

    ‘UK Armed Forces Monthly Service Personnel Statistics: 1 January 2016’ will be published on 11 February 2016.

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department’s policy is on increasing the autonomy of prison governors to make decisions about the day-to-day running of their prisons.

    Andrew Selous

    We intend to put the tools to drive improvements in how prisons are run in the hands of those at the frontline who know best what works. As the Prime Minister announced on 8 February, we will create 6 new reform prisons to spearhead this, with further change to follow.

    Reform prisons will give Prison Governors the freedom to find better ways of rehabilitating offenders. Reform prisons will have one resource budget and discretion over how they spend it, rather than the current system which means Governors cannot transfer money between different budgets. They will be able to opt out of national contracts and services and choose their own suppliers such as education providers – who they can then hold to account for the quality of the service provided. They will also have much more freedom to tailor their own regimes – for example, deciding on additional visits to support family ties, or the amount of time spend ‘out of cell’ doing purposeful activity.