Tag: 2016

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many emergency landings there have been at Heathrow Airport in the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department does not collect data on how many emergency landings there have been at Heathrow Airport. However if serious enough, such incidents would be counted amongst data for safety related events. These are defined as an event which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person. They have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority as part of the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MORS).

    Occurrence reporting is now covered by (EU) Regulation No 376/2014. The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office of 26 April 2016, Official Report, column 1363, on the Policing and Crime Bill, what steps she is taking to ensure that cybercrime is included in the crime statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics.

    Mike Penning

    In April 2012, the Home Secretary transferred the responsibility for the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and the publication of crime statistics to the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) – to ensure the public had confidence in the statistics after years of poor data management.

    A major strength of the CSEW has been its ability to compare crime types over time back to the 1980s. As ONS have acknowledged, over a period of time, new technologies such as the internet have expanded the scope of existing crime types and developed new ones, particularly in fraud and cybercrime. Therefore, following a period of extensive development work, ONS introduced new questions to the CSEW in October 2015. ONS have said that they will release estimates of fraud and cyber crime based on the first six months data (October 2015 to March 2016) alongside the main statistical bulletin in July 2016 and will label them as experimental statistics.

    It is important to recognise that these data are not simply uncovering new crimes, but finding better ways of capturing existing crimes which were not measured as well in the past.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Health Education England will have a budget to commission training for clinical psychology, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and child psychotherapy in 2017-18 at the same levels as in 2016-17.

    Ben Gummer

    As with all arm’s length bodies, Health Education England’s (HEE) programme budget for 2017-18 is subject to business planning and cannot be confirmed at this stage. HEE will set out its plans for future workforce training commissions in its Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published by the end of December 2016.

  • Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to provide guidance to Clinical Commissioning Groups on working with charities to provide comprehensive palliative care services for patients of all ages; and if so, when.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In April 2016, NHS England updated its guidance Commissioning Person Centred End of Life Care: A Toolkit for Health and Social Care. This document highlighted that fundamental to any commissioning plan for end of life care is a local strategy, jointly developed with local people and key partners, clearly setting out a vision for end of life and palliative care. Included in this are examples of how working with third sector organisations can benefit service provision for palliative care services, as well as links to guidance from these organisations. A copy of the toolkit is attached.

    In addition, Our Commitment to you for end of life care published on 5 July 2016, highlighted that the Department will work with the National Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care and the End of Life Care Coalition of charities to promote the implementation of the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care Framework in local areas. A copy of the report is attached.

  • Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters of complaint to HM Revenue and Customs have been responded to within 28 days in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs uses a 15 working day response target for complaints. As at the beginning of October, for the year to date the Department’s 15 day response performance stands at 75%.

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on classification of capacity payments as an environmental levy.

    Damian Hinds

    The classification of transactions for National Account purposes is a decision for the independent Office for National Statistics.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Prime Minister, which department is responsible for bringing forward proposals to (a) revise a procurement policy note to public authorities on the relationship of their procurement policies to UK foreign policy and (b) change investment rights of the Local Government Pension Scheme; and what representations he has received on bringing forward such proposals.

    Mr David Cameron

    Responsibility for public procurement policy rests with the Crown Commercial Service, an executive agency of the Cabinet Office.

    Responsibility for the Local Government Pension Scheme rests with the Department of Communities and Local Government. Guidance will be issued to local authorities and other public bodies reminding them that their procurement and investment decisions should provide value for money and be consistent with UK Government policy.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-02-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of children living in fuel poverty.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We are investing close to £1 billion a year to help consumers through a reformed supplier obligation and Warm Home Discount, and plan to reform both schemes to focus that funding better on those that need it most.

    Our ability to do that is strengthened significantly by the introduction of an improved definition of fuel poverty which captures those in genuine need who are facing the overlapping problem of a low household income and high energy costs.

    This low income high costs indicator has meant a change in the demographic of who is considered to be fuel poor in England – with homes with at least one child now accounting for nearly half of the fuel poor population.

    We will be consulting on our proposals to reform the supplier obligation and the Warm Home Discount later this year.

  • Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote the participation of women in the Syrian peace negotiations.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK is committed to peace talks between the Syrian parties, under UN auspices in Geneva and continues to work closely with the International Syria Support Group. The UK encouraged the UN Special Envoy for Syria and the Syrian opposition to include women in the negotiations. The UN established a Women’s Advisory Board and the opposition’s negotiating team includes women.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to improve its ability to efficiently shift its involvement from providing short-term humanitarian assistance to long-term development projects in regions experiencing protracted crises.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We are increasing our capacity to deal with protracted and multiple crises. We have set up a new team to develop thinking on our overall approach to protracted crises, and are working across the department to share lessons and build on best practice.

    We are also working with international partners to develop solutions for protracted crises – and more appropriate medium term financing. The UK co-hosted the “Supporting Syria and the Region” conference in London on 4 February 2016 which raised over $12bn in pledges, of which $6.1 billion has been committed for 2017-20 to enable partners to plan ahead. We are approaching the UN World Humanitarian Summit 2016 with an ambitious set of objectives to secure commitment to implementing a new approach to protracted displacement.