The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-07-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department made of the value of debts written off during HM Revenue and Customs’ switch from the Business Review of the Collection Service to the Real Time Information system.
Mr David Gauke
The transition from the Business Review of the Collection Service, more commonly known as BROCS, to the Real Time Information System did not cause the write off of debt.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government has taken to improve forensic pathology services in England and Wales other than those based on the Hutton review of forensic pathology since the General Election in 2015.
Brandon Lewis
The Home Office Forensic Pathology Unit has worked alongside the forensic pathology profession, National Police Chief’s Council, Chief Coroner, the Royal College of Pathologists and other senior stakeholders towards continuous improvement of the service. Improvements include the delivery of a robust system of annual appraisal and revalidation, an annual audit of pathology reports and ongoing oversight of standards through monitoring individual pathologist’s workload and quality.
Together this package of improvements ensures that forensic pathologists’ work is now quality assured in order to protect the Criminal Justice System. The Home Office continues to support and fund trainee forensic pathologists to maintain long-term capability.
Furthermore, the Home Office Pathology Unit identified a shortage of sub-speciality pathologists who support forensic pathologists in complex cases. To resolve the capability gap a recruitment and training programme has been established that has resulted in greater resilience in paediatric, bone, eye and neuro-pathology support to the service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the comments made by a spokesperson of his Department made in an article published in the Herald newspaper on 10 January 2016, and pursuant to his oral contribution of 18 January 2016, Official Report, column 1118, if his Department will retrospectively re-examine reports of civilian casualties received from September 2014 to January 2016 to see whether any credible reports of potential civilian casualties from UK strikes were overlooked.
Penny Mordaunt
There has been no change in Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy with regard to considering external reports when making an assessment of possible civilian casualties resulting from air strikes.
The MOD takes allegations of civilian casualties very seriously and we do an assessment after every British strike of the damage that has been caused, and check very carefully whether there are likely to have been civilian casualties. As has always been the case, we continue to consider all available credible evidence to support such assessments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-02-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which lobbying campaigns organised by charities have been funded by government grants since May 2010.
Lord Bridges of Headley
Information on lobbying campaigns organised by charities is not collected by government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February 2016 to Question 28610, which outsourced providers his Department uses for cleaning services; and if he will request information from those providers on the rate of pay for cleaners providing services for his Department.
Mike Penning
All employers are obligated to pay a minimum of the new National Living Wage from April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they propose to make in the new contract for doctors in training in the light of the equality analysis undertaken under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The contract published on 31 March is a huge step forward for achieving fairness for all trainee doctors. For the first time junior doctors will be paid and rewarded solely on the basis of their own hard work and achievement and pay progression will be linked to level of training rather than arbitrarily to time served.
All junior doctors should have the same terms and conditions – a level playing field – which is ultimately what employers and the British Medical Association (BMA) want and everyone deserves.
When the Secretary of State published the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS (“Doctors”) on the 31 March 2016 on the GOV.UK website he made it clear that, as a result of considering the Equality Analysis, in accordance with his duties and obligations, he had asked for a number of changes to the draft contract to address specific issues for certain groups with protected characteristics. This has been done and the contract has been duly amended. These changes included changes that benefited staff who work part time. The new contract is not discriminatory it ensures that all junior doctors receive equal pay for work of equal value. The BMA’s own lawyers have advised that nothing in the new contract is discriminatory. Nevertheless the equality duty is an ongoing duty and it is intended that monitoring will continue after the introduction of the new contract in accordance with the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010.
A copy of the Equality Analysis is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to better connect cycling and rail infrastructure to support more active travel.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Department is funding £14.3 in 16/17 to improve integration between cycle and rail through the provision of new cycle facilities at railway stations. This includes new high quality cycle parking, cycle hire and improved access to stations and will support more active travel.
In conjunction with this, a revised version of the Cycle Rail Toolkit was published on 19 May 2016 which will help those implementing cycle-rail facilities to ensure that high-quality infrastructure is in place to encourage new users and to ensure that cycling to stations becomes easy and convenient and the natural choice for short trips to the station.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-07-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the definition of statutory homelessness in preventing rough sleeping.
Mr Marcus Jones
The homelessness legislation (part 7 Housing Act 1996) provides a strong safety net for all those who are vulnerable and homeless through no fault of their own. Homelessness is defined at section 175 of the Act. Broadly speaking somebody is statutorily homeless if they do not have accommodation that they have a legal right to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) and which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in. It would not be reasonable for someone to continue to live in their home, for example, if that was likely to lead to violence against them (or a member of their family).
We have protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, totalling £315 million by 2020. In doing so, we expect local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide advice and assistance to all those that approach them for help. Since 2010, this funding has allowed local authorities to prevent more than a million households from becoming homeless. We are determined to ensure that we prevent more people from becoming homeless in the first place so we are working with local authorities, homelessness charities and across departments to consider options to prevent more people from becoming homeless.
We have also increased central funding to tackle homelessness to £139 million over the next four years, which will include targeted funding for rough sleeping. This includes a new £10 million fund to support and scale-up initiatives to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, and a £10 million Social Impact Bond to support the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with police forces and police and crime commissioners on heroin distributed in their areas in line with her Department’s policy set out on page 31 of the Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, published by her predecessor in March 2016.
Brandon Lewis
The Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, which highlighted the value of supervised injectable diamorphine/heroin in reducing crime, was launched by Home Office Ministers at the International Crime and Policing Conference on 23 March whose attendance included a large number of representatives from the criminal justice system. Police and Crime Commissioners and police forces wishing to explore issues relating to heroin assisted treatment are encouraged to engage with the relevant local authorities which commission drug and alcohol treatment in their areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) surplus and (b) shortfall in childcare places in each London borough on 1 January of each year from 2010 to 2016.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and make this report available and accessible to parents. The Department does not hold borough level estimates centrally.
The Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey[1] collects data on all registered childcare places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. However, data is only available at a national and regional level.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2013
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