Tag: 2016

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department takes to ensure that its policies do not encourage discrimination of religion or belief.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office carefully assesses the probable impact of all policy decisions and actions, and avoids taking any decision or action likely to encourage discrimination of any kind, including on grounds of religion or belief.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations he has received from the heritage and archaeological communities on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on those communities; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Prime Minister has been clear that the negotiation for Britain’s future relationship with Europe will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and we have now got to look at all the detailed arrangements. In the meantime, Departments continue working to deliver the Government agenda.

  • Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their most recent estimate of the number of individual employers at risk of personal bankruptcy as a result of the increased costs of supporting defined benefit pension liabilities in non-associated multi-employer pension schemes.

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not held by Government or the Pensions Regulator.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make support available to trainee nurses unable to complete their courses because of delays in the processing of their applications for Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) aims to process all applications within the shortest time possible. The vast majority of applicants do receive their certificates in a timely manner and in December the average processing time for DBS applications was 15.3 days.

    It is important that checks undertaken are thorough and sometimes the DBS needs to refer an application to one or more local police forces as part of the enhanced certificate checking process. Unfortunately, a small number of forces have been experiencing difficulties in completing their checks within expected timescales.

    Where delays occur in the processing of DBS certificates, prospective employers of trainee nurses and other healthcare employees who will be working with adults only are able to use a service known as Adult First. Adult First is an online facility provided for healthcare workers by the DBS that can be used in cases where, exceptionally, and in accordance with the terms of Department of Health guidance, a person is permitted to start work with adults before a DBS Certificate has been obtained.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress the Government has made on reforming the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as a result of discussions with her EU counterparts and the recent COP21 climate conference.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government strongly supports reform to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Ministers and officials have discussed this recently with counterparts in other Member States, as well as with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and industry representatives. At the recent COP21 climate conference in Paris in December 2015 Ministers also participated in a session to promote the EU ETS and strengthen links to other national and international ETS. Whilst the Commission has not indicated an intention to change its proposals for the next phase of the EU ETS in light of Paris, the global climate deal means robust reforms of the EU ETS are now even more important.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of clinical commissioning groups that commission mental health services specifically for older adults.

    Alistair Burt

    No estimate has been made of the number and proportion of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that commission mental health services specifically for older adults. All CCGs will have a cohort of older adults for whom there is mental health services provision. In recent years there has been a trend towards ageless mental health services.

    However, one of the recommendations in the Mental Health Taskforce report The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health published by NHS England in February this year is that bespoke older adult services should be the preferred model until such time that general adult mental health services can be shown to provide age-appropriate care.

  • Baroness Wilcox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Wilcox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Wilcox on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the change in real earnings, calculated as nominal earnings growth minus inflation, over the last two years; and what was the change in 2008–10.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    In the two years to Q4 2010, real total pay fell by 2.8%. In the last two years, real wages have now grown by 3.6%. Wage growth has outstripped inflation for 16 consecutive months, the longest period of real wage growth since 2008. The OBR forecast real wage growth to continue over the entire forecast period.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals were employed by the European Commission in each year since 2010.

    Mr David Lidington

    Whilst the European Commission provides staffing numbers by nationality they do not break them down between permanent and temporary agents. In total the numbers of UK nationals employed by the European Commission in each year since 2010 is:

    April 2010: 1284
    April 2011: 1162
    April 2012: 1134
    April 2013: 1079
    April 2014: 1053
    April 2015: 1008

    The latest figure available is for Feb 2016 and is 982.

    UK representation has been falling across EU institutions as UK officials retire and are not replaced by the same number of new UK entrants. The Government is committed to reversing this picture, recognising that this will require a sustained effort. The EU Staffing Unit, established in April 2013, promotes EU careers across the UK and supports candidates through the application process. It has increased secondments in positions of strategic importance to the UK. The European Fast Stream within the Civil Service has also been re-launched.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve access to consultant-led maternity services in (a) Cumbria, (b) Devon and (c) Essex.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government is clear the configuration of services should be tailored to meet the needs of the local population.

    As of June 2015, three local health economies, Mid and South Essex, Northern, Eastern and Western Devon and West, North and East Cumbria entered the Success Regime. The purpose of the regime is to improve and promote health and care services for patients in local health and care systems that are struggling with financial or quality problems, or sometimes both. The regime is tailored to local circumstances, and will develop and implement plans to ensure that the people of these regions are able to access high quality, sustainable services. The provision of maternity services will be considered as part of the work of the Success Regime.

    No decisions have yet been made and the input of local communities will remain important throughout the process. Any significant service change proposals will go through formal public consultation.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to combat metal theft.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Through the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, the Government created a robust licensing regime to support legitimate dealers whilst providing local authorities and the police with the powers needed to tackle rogue dealers and reduce metal theft. The legislation is supported by co-ordinated enforcement action by police, local authorities and other partners. Latest available statistics for 2014/15 show that 27,512 metal theft offences were recorded by police compared with 62,348 offences in 2012/13.