The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many deaths by suicide have been recorded in England among people within (a) seven days, (b) 14 days and (c) one month of being released from prison for each year since 2010.
Nicola Blackwood
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the opinions of e-cigarette users and people who use other reduced risk products are represented at the WHO conference on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in November 2016.
Nicola Blackwood
The Government has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to inform its negotiating position with other Parties attending the Conference of the Parties for the Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), including users of e-cigarette and other novel products. The Government recognises that e-cigarettes can help some smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. However, they are not risk free and it is essential that we do not encourage smoking and continue to protect children from the dangers of nicotine. This is a position firmly grounded on the evidence base.
The United Kingdom is a world leader in tobacco control and as such has already implemented the majority of the FCTC’s provisions and taken further action in line with its non-binding guidelines, for example introducing Standardised Packaging. There are few further guidelines being developed by the FCTC and the focus of the Convention is now on full and comprehensive implementation by all 180 Parties. We therefore do not expect the outcomes of the forthcoming Conference of the Parties to significantly alter our tobacco strategy, but will continue to offer our support and experience to help other countries fully implement the provisions of the Treaty, especially low and middle income countries.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Financial Conduct Authority’s thematic review Quality of debt management advice.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is concerned about problems in the debt management market, including the quality of advice which was highlighted by the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) thematic review.
This is why we reformed debt management regulation, transferring responsibility to the FCA’s more robust regime to better protect consumers. The FCA has put in place binding standards on firms and has a strong enforcement toolkit to take action against firms if these rules are broken.
The FCA is currently scrutinising debt management firms as part of its authorisation process. Firms which do not meet the required standards will not be able to continue to provide debt management services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which (a) Israeli and (b) Palestinian non-governmental organisations and projects receiving funding from the Conflict Stability and Security Fund.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We currently fund projects through twelve Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem); ten through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund and two through Bilateral Programme Budgets. All of these NGOs are registered as Israeli. We do not fund NGOs other than for specific projects that support Her Majesty’s Government’s objectives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Livermore on 2016-03-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to respond to the recommendations set out in the State of the Nation report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission published on 17 December 2015.
Lord Nash
The Government is grateful to the Commission for its wide-ranging and comprehensive report. We are committed to publishing a new Life Chances Strategy, and the Department for Work and Pensions is leading on this. That Strategy will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity. It will focus on the root causes and human dimensions of child poverty. Our proposals in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill introduce a new duty for the Government to report annually on children in workless households and children’s educational attainment in England. This is because the evidence shows that educational attainment and worklessness are the most significant factors driving children’s life chances. The Strategy will also include a wider set of measures that look at the root causes of poverty, including family breakdown, problem debt and drug and alcohol dependency. These will drive real action to transform the lives of the most disadvantaged children and families.
The Government looks forward to working with the reformed Social Mobility Commission, which will continue to play a very important role in the drive to promote and increase social mobility in the years to come.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many workers his Department estimates will be financially worse off as a result of the recent increase in the minimum wage.
Damian Hinds
The introduction of the National Living Wage on April 1st marked a pay rise for low paid workers across the UK. Our objective is for it to reach over £9 by 2020. This means an employee aged 25 or over working full-time on the National Minimum Wage will earn over £4,200 a year more by 2020 in cash terms, or £3,800 after taking into account inflation. 2.9m low wage workers are expected to benefit directly, and up to 6m could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that the NLW would have, in their words, only a “fractional” effect on unemployment. And taking into account the NLW, the OBR forecast that employment would rise by 1.1 million by 2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19060, if she will estimate how much quicker a Disclosure and Barring Service check will be as a result of the Transformation Programme.
Karen Bradley
The Disclosure and Barring Service is undertaking an IT-led transformation programme (Release 1) to reform the way it delivers its services. More information on R1, including its aims and costs can be found in DBS’ most recently published Annual Report and Accounts, link here:
The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and the average turnaround time for disclosure checks will continue to be dependent on the operational effectiveness of respective forces.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what awareness-raising activities his Department has undertaken in support of Diabetes Awareness Week 2016.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England’s (PHE) One You and Change4Life campaigns encourage people and families to make lifestyle changes to improve their health and reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes on an ongoing basis.
PHE had scheduled Facebook posts raising awareness of Diabetes Awareness Week 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Security Industry Authority has met its performance target of 80 per cent of applications being processed within 25 days in each month since January 2016.
Brandon Lewis
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) have an annual performance target to process 80% of applications (including renewals) within 25 working days. The SIA met this annual target in the 2015/16 financial year. Performance for 2016/17 to date is shown in the table below.
|
Apr |
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
|
|
Percentage processed in 25 working days |
86% |
81% |
80% |
46% |
72% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes have been made in 2016 to the level of data recorded and published on the nationality of NHS staff.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Department does not record or publish data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service. Data on nationality is published twice a year by NHS Digital and turnover data is published quarterly and available by nationality.
Nationality is a data item within the National Workforce Data set used with a range of other data items to support workforce planning, analysis of staff movement and equality monitoring. It is not mandatory, but self-declared.
In 2015 and 2016 requests for nationality data on NHS staff in England were published on the supplementary information part of the NHS Digital website, rather than as part of the routine Hospital and Community Health Services statistical publications. In 2016, following NHS Digital’s public consultation, NHS Digital now routinely publish tables showing the self-declared nationality of staff in staff groups and regions, bi-annually, together with quarterly turnover statistics which show the nationality of joiners and leavers to and from the NHS in England.
The latest nationality data was published in March 2016 and the next set will be published in December 2016 showing the position at September 2016.
The latest turnover data published in September 2016 covers the 12 month period to 30 June 2016.