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Tag: 2016

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the decline in the broadcast of free-to-air sport on the accessibility of sport to young people.

    Tracey Crouch

    Our ‘Sporting Future’ strategy, published in December, 2015 highlighted the importance of sport being available for the public to enjoy, whether live or on television, radio or online. We encourage National Governing Bodies and other rights holders to sign up to the accessibility principle of the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Broadcasting of Major Sporting Events, which ensures as wide access as possible to free to air sport.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House of Lords

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Leader of the House when was the most recent time that she gave guidance to the Northern Ireland Office on the importance of answering parliamentary written questions in full, providing all the information requested.

    Baroness Stowell of Beeston

    As Leader of the House, I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving full and timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. The content of each answer is a matter for the Minister concerned, and each Minister is responsible to the House for the answers they provide. That direct accountability is important: that is why Ministers in this House must provide personally signed answers to members.

    The Ministerial Code says that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”. It also makes clear that “Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest”. In addition, there is a longstanding rule of this House that all answers should be complete and comprehensible. I shall continue to make this guidance clear to all Ministers.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the legal opinion by Michael Bowsher QC and Azeem Suterwalla on the potential effect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    We have recently been provided with legal advice commissioned by Unite the Union and are considering the points raised by it.

    Over several decades the UK and EU have signed numerous trade agreements. These treaties have helped both UK and EU businesses grow and create high quality jobs. They have also ensured that it remains for the UK to decide how our public services are run.

    The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be no different. Decisions on how to deliver public services for the best outcomes for UK citizens are and will be made by UK governments, not our trade partners. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, the European Commission and the US Government have all confirmed this. The NHS is not at risk from TTIP or any other trade and investment agreement.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what provisions his Department has put in place as part of the rail franchise package for the Calder Valley rail line to improve rolling stock on that line.

    Andrew Jones

    The new Northern franchise will introduce at least 140 additional new DMU vehicles by the start of 2020. The new trains will be capable of operating at 100mph, be fitted with CCTV, fully air conditioned and have Wi-Fi fitted. These trains will operate on Northern Connect services including those on the Calder Valley route. In addition, over 600 existing vehicles will be fully refurbished to include improved seating, repainted interiors, Wi-fi, real time passenger information screens and improved lighting.

  • 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 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any MOD personnel have been seconded to positions in Yemen since 2012.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There are currently no Ministry of Defence (MOD) personnel in Yemen. No MOD personnel have been seconded to the Yemeni government since 2012.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what interim milestones he has set for the armed forces to improve their response time to complaints to the target level of 90 per cent closed within 24 weeks.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Secretary of State for Defence has set no interim milestones. The single Services continually monitor and assess the performance of the service complaints system to learn lessons, and to understand what might be causing Service personnel to make complaints. Where it is identified that there are issues that are causing undue delay in the resolution of complaints, action can be taken to prevent this from occurring in the future.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he anticipates an increase in the uptake of medical thrombectomy for the treatment of acute stroke in NHS hospitals; and if he will make a statement.

    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.

    To ensure there is equitable access to high quality hyper acute stroke care regardless of time of stroke or where a patient has their stroke, NHS England’s NCD for stroke continues to work with Clinical Networks, Urgent and Emergency Care Networks, clinical commissioning groups and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints on how stroke care is best delivered to their local communities.

    In some places, this is ‘the London type model’ of focussing care in a small number of centres and equipping these to be able to deliver specialist care 24/7. In other parts of the country, centralisation of care into specialist centres is not feasible for geographical reasons. In these cases, alternative solutions (such as the use of telemedicine) have to be considered. Whatever the scenario, NHS England is fully committed to ensuring that all patients receive the best quality of care and the most up to date treatments.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the conclusion by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) that there was no consistent evidence that the Troubled Families Programme had any significant or systematic impact on those families which took part in the programme, what evidence they have for the statement by the Communities Minister, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, on 17 October that this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families”; and what is their response to the NIESR report National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme.”

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The NIESR Impact Study was just one of 6 reports comprising the independent evaluation of the first Troubled Families Programme. The evaluation found that the programme had many positive achievements. These include:

    • Families feeling more confident and optimistic about being able to cope in the future

    • Joining up local services for families by encouraging a single keyworker approach to work with the whole family on all of its problems

    • Raising the quality and capacity of local data systems

    • Better joint working with partners such as Jobcentre Plus

    The data shows that nearly 120,000 of the families on this programme saw their lives improve – more children attending school, youth crime and anti-social behaviour significantly cut and, in more than 18,000 families, an adult holding down a job. The evaluation does not dispute this fact.

    Unsurprisingly, the ambitious and innovative impact study which used national administrative datasets to track changes in families circumstances over comparatively short time periods, was unable to specifically attribute positive outcomes achieved in employment, youth crime or school attendance to the Troubled Families Programme.

    This was because at that time the level of change achieved was not significantly different from that seen in a group of families not on the programme with whom comparisons were made. This is not the same, however, as saying that the evaluation shows family outcomes did not improve, as some have wrongly inferred.

    Of course, we will continue to review all evidence of how the programme is working, to learn from it and see if there’s more we can do to help families facing such multiple problems. In fact, we have already adapted the new programme in a number of ways, including extending the length of time over which family outcomes will be tracked – from 12 months to 5 years.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support Indonesia in dealing with the terrorist bombings in Jakarta in January 2016.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The UK and Indonesia are already working closely together on a broad range of issues, including counter-terrorism and counter-extremism. We continue to provide support and assistance to the Indonesian government as it works to defeat those who plan and perpetrate acts of terror. Our collaboration in these areas includes an operational capacity-building programme, established in 2005, and incorporates training delivered through the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation. A bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on police cooperation was signed during the Prime Minister, my right hon Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) visit to Jakarta in July. Additionally, we co-operate on a range of issues including foreign terrorist fighters, crisis response and legal frameworks.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of students at university who are prescribed medical treatment for mental health issues.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We have made no assessment of the number of students at university who are prescribed medical treatment for mental health issues as this information is not collected centrally.