Tag: 2016

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many staff in her Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Andrea Leadsom

    There are no staff in core DECC in receipt of a home to work travel allowance, a car allowance or subsidised health insurance.

    There are no staff in DECC’s Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) in receipt of a home to work travel allowance or subsidised health insurance.

    Across DECC’s ALBs, 87 people are in receipt of a car allowance.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department’s evaluation of the Be Clear on Cancer campaign for oesophago-gastric cancers will be published.

    Jane Ellison

    There will be two national ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns in 2016-17. The decision on which cancers these campaigns will focus on will be informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, analysts and key voluntary sector organisations. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to run, including all available evaluation data. A second national oesophago-gastric campaign will be considered alongside the other existing campaigns.

    PHE is analysing cancer waiting times data and campaign tracking research and it is expected that the first national oesophago-gastric cancer (1st wave) interim report will be published this summer.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 March (HL6981), whether they can confirm that the date by which all six destroyers will be fully operational is still unknown.

    Earl Howe

    All Type 45 Destroyers remain in the operational cycle and continue to be routinely deployed. The Type 45 power and propulsion improvement programme is currently considering a number of technical options and delivery models with competing industrial partners. The programme is not yet mature enough to confirm when the equipment upgrade will be completed.

    Funding for the Type 45 power and propulsion improvement programme is to be contained within the budget allocated to Navy Command.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of China on the case of the disabled rights lawyer Ni Yulan who has recently been placed under house arrest in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office monitors the human rights situation in China closely, and we are concerned by the treatment of Ni Yulan, both her house arrest and the credible reports of harassment of her and her family. A senior British diplomat met Ni Yulan in March. Five diplomats from other countries were prevented from visiting Ni at her home last month. We will continue to press the Chinese authorities for access. We plan to raise Ni’s case at the next round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.

    More widely, I remain concerned by the harassment and detention of human rights defenders in China. We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to respect and protect freedom of expression and association, in line with its constitution and the international frameworks to which China is a party.

  • 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, how many NHS maternity units have been closed in each of the last six years.

    Ben Gummer

    This information is not held centrally.

    The Government is clear that the redesign of front-line health services, including maternity services, is a matter for the local National Health Service, where clinicians are best-placed to make the decisions in the best interests of their patients.

    All such decisions are locally led and any proposed changes to services are subject to meeting the four tests for service change: they must have support from general practitioner commissioners, be based on clinical evidence, demonstrate public and patient engagement, and consider patient choice.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 12 May (HL8175), what steps they are taking to make country of origin labelling mandatory for all milk and dairy products.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    At present, most milk and dairy products are labelled with their origin on a voluntary basis.

    We are continuing to work with the food industry to explore what more can be done to make it easier for consumers and food businesses to know when they are buying British.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees from the Syrian conflict resettled in the UK to date have been relocated from (a) refugee camps in Turkey, (b) refugee camps in Jordan, (c) refugee camps in Lebanon, (d) refugee camps in Syria, (e) other refugee camps and (f) a site that is not a refugee camp.

    Richard Harrington

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies and proposes refugees for resettlement under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme from among the whole of the registered refugee population in the region. This includes people in formal refugee camps, informal settlements and host communities.

    The Home Office is committed to publishing data as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 25 February 2016 and will cover the period October-December 2015. This information will not include details of where refugees have been resettled from.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support the Marrakesh Declaration, signed on 27 January 2016.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government welcomes the Marrakech Declaration, which issued from a gathering of Muslim scholars and intellectuals from over 120 countries in January 2016. In particular we welcome its call for cooperation among all religious groups to go beyond mutual tolerance and respect, and instead to provide full protection for the rights and liberties of all. We also welcome the call for Muslim scholars and intellectuals around the world to develop a jurisprudence which is inclusive of diverse groups; for governments to review educational curricula that instigate aggression and extremism and to support initiatives to fortify relations and understanding among the various religious groups in the Islamic World. We stand ready to help governments and civil society in Muslim majority countries in whatever way we can, and encourage them to put the words of the Declaration into action.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) has been spent on health care in (a) England and (b) the UK in each year since 1997; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of GDP that will be spent on health care over the next five years.

    Alistair Burt

    Spend as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is usually reported on a United Kingdom basis. HM Treasury publishes UK health spend figures as a percentage of GDP which are shown below. Note this excludes private health expenditure.

    Spend on health in UK as % of GDP –

    1996/97 – 5.0%

    1997/98 – 5.0%

    1998/99 – 5.0%

    1999/00 – 5.0%

    2000/01 – 5.2%

    2001/02 – 5.6%

    2002/03 – 5.8%

    2003/04 – 6.2%

    2004/05 – 6.5%

    2005/06 – 6.7%

    2006/07 – 6.6%

    2007/08 – 6.7%

    2008/09 – 7.2%

    2009/10 – 7.8%

    2010/11 – 7.6%

    2011/12 – 7.4%

    2012/13 – 7.5%

    2013/14 – 7.5%

    2014/15 – 7.4%

    Source: Table 4.4 HMT, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2015.

    The Spending Review settlement, delivered by the Chancellor on 25 November, set the Department’s overall budget for the remaining years of the parliament and the level of funding that will be available to the National Health Service. It set absolute spending totals, not spending as a percentage of GDP, providing certainty for financial planning over the period. The Department has not therefore made forecasts for health spending as a share of GDP for future years.

    GDP figures are calculated on an economy wide basis, so GDP figures for England are not available to calculate spend on health care in England as a share of English GDP.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Commissioners have been appointed to run local authority children’s services since January 2015.

    Lord Nash

    Commissioners are appointed where Ofsted find persistent or systemic failure by a council to deliver children’s services to an acceptable quality.

    Persistent failure is defined as a council being rated inadequate more than once within a five year period. Systemic failure is defined as a council being rated inadequate across the board on all key Ofsted judgements.

    Commissioners are appointed to direct the improvement of children’s social care services; the Council’s leadership and management of them; and, increasingly, to review whether these services should be removed from council control in order to secure more rapid and sustainable improvement.

    Since January 2015 the Secretary of State has appointed five Children’s Services Commissioners.