Tag: 2016

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to bring forward proposals to ensure service level agreement requirements incorporated into broadband supplier contracts with their customers ensure a reasonable minimum speed of download is maintained and commensurate with the advertised product.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Ofcom Code of Pratice on Broadband Speeds, effective from October 2015, requires internet service providers (ISPs) to give customers clear and accurate information on home broadband speeds, including the maximum speeds they can achieve, the estimated speed on the customer’s line, and factors that may slow down the speed, such as any fair use or traffic management policies.

    ISPs must have systems in place to find the cause of speed problems, take steps to fix any issue they are responsible for, and explain to customers if they can do anything to improve the situation. As a result of the October 2015 revised code, customers can terminate contracts at any time without penalty if they receive speeds significantly below the ‘minimum guaranteed access line speed’; previously customers could only terminate within the first three months.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of the coverage of high-speed broadband in Gloucestershire; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The roll-out of superfast broadband in Gloucestershire is being delivered by Fastershire which is a partnership between Gloucestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council with funding from central government’s BDUK programme matched by the local authorities. Over 68,000 homes and businesses in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire have access to superfast broadband which will increase to over 119,000 by September 2017.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what his Department’s wellness strategy is.

    David Mundell

    The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly; all staff that join, do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, mainly the Scottish Government and the Ministry of Justice, who remain the employers. As staff stay on the terms and conditions of their parent employers, the wellness strategy that would normally apply would be that of the parent body. Both the Ministry of Justice and Scottish Government have wellness strategies to support their staff. Through these strategies, the staff that are based at the Scotland Office in either London or Edinburgh have access to health facilities, mental health support, and employee assistance programmes.

  • Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the proportion of people on zero-hours contracts who are seeking full-time employment with guaranteed pay and hours of work.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government has not made an assessment.

    ONS statistics published on 9 March 2016, for the fourth quarter of 2015, show that for those individuals on a zero hours contract in their main job, 63 per cent were not looking for more hours or a different job.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much government funding has been allocated to Cornish language schemes in the last five years.

    James Wharton

    The United Kingdom has recognised seven languages under the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Scots, Ulster Scots, Cornish and Manx. Cornish is the only language in England to have this status and since April 2010 the Department for Communities and Local Government has provided £650,000 to Cornwall Council for the development of the Cornish Language.

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, House of Lords Official Report, 27 April 2016, Column 1229, how many independent service police investigations have been carried out on allegations of civilian casualties during operations against Daesh in Iraq and Syria in the last five years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    None.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of skills within the NHS England workforce to deliver mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients.

    David Mowat

    NHS England’s National Clinical Director (NCD) for stroke is leading work to develop a full proposal which will consider the evidence and logistical issues involved in delivering mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients across the country. This includes working with the relevant specialist societies, Royal Colleges and Health Education England to consider the workforce implications. Once the proposal has been developed, NHS England will decide whether the procedure should be made widely available.

    The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) is now collecting data on patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy and the latest data shows that 124 patients were treated between October 2015 and March 2016. It should be noted, however, that this may not reflect all patients treated as some may not have had their data entered into SSNAP.

    The SSNAP team is addressing this issue with the relevant clinicians. SSNAP data is freely available at:

    https://www.strokeaudit.org/

    “

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Prime Minister, what overseas visits she has made since her appointment.

    Mrs Theresa May

    Details of Ministerial overseas travel is published quarterly and is available on the gov.uk website.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) enforcement action was taken and (b) warning letters were issue against the Atomic Weapons Establishment by regulatory authorities in 2014 and 2015; and which of those enforcement actions are ongoing.

    Michael Fallon

    The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) received a single Improvement Notice from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on 8 June 2015. This Improvement Notice remains open; the ONR and the AWE have agreed a set of actions that enable this to be closed by the due date of 30 September 2016.

    No regulatory authority has taken enforcement action against the AWE in 2014 and 2015, and no warning letters have been issued.

  • Graham Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Graham Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Evans on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homeowners have accessed (a) Help to Buy and (b) Right to Buy.

    Brandon Lewis

    Up to September 2015, over 128,000 homes had been purchased with assistance of Help to Buy Equity and Mortgage Guarantee Loans.

    Since 2010/11, over 53,000 thousand tenants have purchased their homes through Right to Buy (and preserved Right to Buy for housing association tenants). The voluntary scheme extending to housing associations will give 1.3 million more families the opportunity to do this.

    The Department publishes statistics on Help to Buy and Right to Buy at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/about/statistics

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