Tag: 2016

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which (a) ministers attended and (b) departments are represented on the Government’s working group on drones; when that group was formed; and what its schedule of meetings is.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Cross Government Working Group on Drones is a group of officials tasked with developing policy on drones. Ministers do not attend. Participation is from the following Departments and agencies:

    Department for Transport

    Home Office

    Ministry of Defence

    Department of Energy and Climate Change

    Cabinet Office

    Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs

    Business Innovation and Skills

    Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure

    Civil Aviation Authority

    Information Commissioner’s Office

    Maritime and Coastguard Agency

    Department for Communities and Local Government

    The group was formed in March 2013 and it meets quarterly. The schedule of meetings for 2016 is February; May; September and December.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24265, what criteria colleges and post-16 educational institutions will have to meet in order to access the transitional funding facility allocated by his Department.

    Nick Boles

    Further details of the purpose and availability of the transitional funding facility will be available in due course.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Honours Committee has made of the potential merits of granting an honorary knighthood to Muhammad Ali.

    James Duddridge

    Honours nominations are treated on a confidential basis to maintain the integrity of the honours system and the privacy of the individuals nominated. Honours Committees and Secretariats therefore do not comment on nominations. Anyone can nominate someone for an honour. Nominations are considered twice a year by a series of honours committees which consist of independent and official members.

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

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-04-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take to prevent mental health services from turning away children who seek help.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH) is a priority area for this Government. It is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind, the previous Government’s report on the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce. This report established a clear and powerful consensus about change across the whole system, including health, social care and education. To support this transformation programme the Government is committed to making an additional £1.4 billion available over the course of this Parliament.

    As a first step in this transformation programme all clinical commissioning groups working with their partners, have developed Local Transformation Plans to transform their offer for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and improving access, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services.

    Whilst the intention is to prevent mental health problems from arising in the first place, improving access for those who have developed problems as early as possible is essential. By 2020, at least 70,000 more children and young people each year will have access to high quality mental health care when they need it. This will require systems for rapid identification of children in need of specialised services, and improved links between different agencies so that children and young people are referred to the most appropriate service. £28 million is being spent on extending and expanding the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that by 2018 all children and young people across England will have access to evidence-based and appropriate interventions. The Government has also invested nearly £3 million into the Mental Health Services and Schools Links Pilots to jointly train designated leads in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and schools to improve access to mental health services for children and young people. This should reduce the number of children being turned away from services and lead to the ‘no wrong door’ approach that is integral to the transformation programme.

  • Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Argar on 2016-05-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department’s contracts for projects overseas were competitively tendered in each of the last three years.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    90% of contracts awarded during 2013-14, 86% of contracts awarded during 2014-15 and 94% of contracts awarded during 2015-16 were competitively tendered. During this time-frame there were a number of contracts which are not deemed as competitively tendered.

    Any programmes not competitively tendered are subject to Procurement management review.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39847, on travel, when he plans to update the National Transport Model estimates given in that Answer to take account of the potential effects of the cycling and walking investment strategy.

    Andrew Jones

    We plan to update the National Transport Model with the impacts of the cycling and walking investment strategy once we have more complete information on the national impact of local cycling and walking strategies later in the year.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the prospects of talks on North Korea under the Six Party talks format.

    Alok Sharma

    The UK is not a member of the Six Party talks, but we maintain a close dialogue with all participants, including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Through our bilateral engagement with DPRK we have made clear to the regime that their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes are in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions and that the DPRK should return to credible and authentic multilateral talks on denuclearisation. We assess that the resumption of Six Party talks is unlikely given the current situation and only if the DPRK agrees to discuss denuclearisation.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average change in income for an individual as of the result of the delay in qualifying for pension credit resulting from the introduction of the revised state pension age timetable in the Pensions Act 2011.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Pension Credit was designed to provide income related support for people without sufficient provision for their retirement and as such the qualifying age for both men and women has been linked to women’s State Pension age since its introduction.

    The information requested is not available. Any change in an individual’s income would be dependent on their specific circumstances.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has established a group or unit to deal with the Government approach to the forthcoming EU referendum.

    John Penrose

    There is a long established secretariat in the Cabinet Office that deals with all European matters, including the renegotiation. This has been expanded in recent weeks to reflect the increased workload resulting from the renegotiation.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to modernise the HM Revenue and Customs payment system to allow people to make payments via BACS bank transfers.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) payment systems allow customers to make payments via BACS or Faster Payment bank transfers for the vast majority of taxes and regimes. In 2014/15, HMRC received just under 16 million BACS and Faster Payments, totalling £186 billion, which equates to almost a quarter of all payments made to HMRC in that year. Customers can also pay electronically using HMRC’s Online Payment Service, by Direct Debit or CHAPS.