Tag: 2016

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the risks posed by the legal sale of zombie knives in the UK.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government continues to work with the police and partners to ensure we reduce violence and knife crime, and in the year ending June 2015, knife crime recorded by the police was 17% lower than 2010. We are aware of concerns about zombie knives and we are currently considering representations including the letter of 13 January from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for the West Midlands and on 21 January from the prospective mayoral candidate for London Zac Goldsmith. A reply will be sent shortly and we will offer to meet with the PCC.

    We are currently considering what action to take against the prevalence of zombie knives on our streets. We are talking to retailers, including Amazon, about the action they can take. There are strict laws on the sale of knives to under 18s and on how knives can be marketed. We are concerned about any knives being carried in public especially if used to threaten and inflict violence. It is a criminal offence to possess a knife in public without good reason, and if a person is convicted a second time they now face a minimum mandatory custodial sentence following the introduction of this change by the Government in July 2015.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of self-harm and self-inflicted deaths among young people in custody.

    Andrew Selous

    The safety and welfare of young people in custody is vital and we are clear that reducing the level of self-inflicted deaths is of utmost importance.

    We have improved the assessment of young people’s risks and needs when they enter custody. We have also improved the specifications for Secure Training Centre and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) to place an increased emphasis on the management of self-harm and suicide including ensuring the appropriate skills and training of staff are in place to meet the needs of young people.

    In YOIs we have introduced new psychological services to better inform risk management and support those detained.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £35 million transferred to his Department from Libor fines has been spent on projects supporting the armed forces community.

    Mark Lancaster

    All £35 million of LIBOR funding has been allocated to projects which support the Armed Forces Community. For details of the organisations and projects which benefited from this money, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 June 2015 to Question 428 to the hon. Member for St Helens North (Mr McGinn). http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-05-28/428/

    Organisations that have received LIBOR funds are required to provide a monthly report of progress; these are reviewed and monitored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Armed Forces Covenant Team and, where appropriate, action taken to ensure that the project is on track. At the end of each project, recipients of LIBOR funding also complete a close of project report and an assessment is conducted against the original terms and conditions. This enables the MOD to confirm the closure and record lessons learnt for future grants. Where appropriate, the MOD Armed Forces Covenant Team have engaged with projects on a one-to-one basis.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many migrants from other EU countries work in the NHS in England.

    Ben Gummer

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre collects data on the number of staff working in National Health Service hospital and community health services (HCHS) in England.

    Nationality is a self-reported field within the electronic staff record system. The following table shows the number of HCHS staff from other European Union (EU) countries who declared their nationality who work in the NHS in England and in London.

    Information on the number of employees from other EU countries working in London is only available for those people working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups.

    England 30 September 2015

    Headcount

    All staff

    People from other EU countries working in England

    People from other EU countries working in London

    Employees in NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups

    1,151,138

    52,812

    17,735

    Employees in Central Bodies and Support Organisations

    36,456

    1,015

    n/a

    Total

    1,187,594

    53,827

    17,735

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, NHS Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics

    Information on how many employees working in the NHS have no recourse to public funds is not available.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of hotel bookings his Department made for its (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department implemented the Crown Commercial Services solution for travel awarded to Redfern Ltd on 1 July 2012 with all information taken from that system. Hotel bookings prior to that date were facilitated via an alternative provider with the information requested not being readily available. Total spend on hotel bookings by financial year broken down by Ministers, special advisers and all officials is in the table below split by overseas and United Kingdom arrangements.

    Table 1

    REDFERN TRAVEL LTD

    *July 2012-2013

    2013-2014

    2014-2015

    2015-2016

    Grand Total

    Hotels Accommodation (Overseas) Total of which:

    £19,771

    £36,941

    £86,181

    £72,738

    £215,631

    Minister

    £153

    £223

    £808

    £1,184

    Official

    £19,618

    £36,718

    £85,306

    £72,738

    £214,380

    Special Adviser

    £67

    £67

    Hotels Accommodation (UK) Total of which:

    £242,946

    £369,386

    £319,169

    £272,203

    £1,203,703

    Minister

    £118

    £1,491

    £747

    £312

    £2,667

    Official

    £242,828

    £367,895

    £318,337

    £271,785

    £1,200,845

    Special Adviser

    £85

    £107

    £192

    Grand Total -UK and Overseas

    £262,717

    £406,326

    £405,350

    £344,941

    £1,419,334

    Expenditure information taken from the Department’s I-Expenses system, Table 2, contains hotel costs incurred by officials that was later reimbursed. There are no hotel transactions relating to Ministers or special advisers within the system however additional information on expenses for Ministers and special advisers may exist where claimed via the manual expense claim form (EXP1). Investigation of this source to identify costs associated with hotels would incur disproportionate costs.

    Table 2

    I-EXPENSES

    This covers Accommodation UK and overseas for all staff. *No Ministers or Special Adviser costs

    Sum of Amount

    Financial Year

    Expense Type

    Total

    2012-13

    130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)

    £15,861

    131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)

    £14,128

    2012-13 Total

    £29,990

    2013-14

    £18,123

    2014-15

    130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)

    £8,252

    131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)

    £12,107

    2014-15 Total

    £20,358

    2015-16

    130 Hotels Accommodation (UK)

    £4,933

    131 Hotels Accommodation (Overseas)

    £6,918

    2015-16 Total

    £11,851

    Grand Total

    £80,322

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department publishes on its process of reviewing and revising the UK’s tax treaties with other countries.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have responsibility for negotiating the UK’s double taxation agreements, subject to oversight by HM Treasury. HMRC run a periodic consultation exercise to establish the negotiating priorities, which are then approved by ministers. As part of this exercise they consider representations made by UK businesses, non-governmental organisations and government departments, as well as the UK’s diplomatic missions throughout the world. The results of the last such review were published by HMRC on the gov.uk website in November 2015.

    Decisions on the negotiation or renegotiation of a tax treaty are taken on the basis of a range of factors including the results of HMRC’s periodic review of the tax treaty network, economic factors, the need to counter avoidance and evasion, and the role of treaties in promoting development. We also receive requests from countries to negotiate with us, and we will endeavour to accommodate them as time and negotiating resources permit. Given the number of treaties the UK already has, most of the programme will involve renegotiating existing agreements.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of youth centres planned for closure in 2016-17.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services, according to local need. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any youth centres that are planned for closure in their local area in 2016-17.

  • Mrs Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mrs Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Louise Ellman on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vehicles (a) underwent and (b) failed in-service emissions tests conducted by the (i) Vehicle Certification Agency and (ii) Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in each of the last 10 years.

    Andrew Jones

    The figures below show how many vehicles and models the VCA has tested for in-service emissions and those that failed those in-service emissions tests.

    (a) Number of vehicles tested (figures in brackets are the number of models tested)

    (b) Number of vehicles failed-in service emissions (figures in brackets are the number of model failures)

    2005 / 2006

    38 (13)

    18 (1)

    2006 / 2007

    35 (8)

    17 (0)

    2007 / 2008

    35 (10)

    7 (0)

    2008 / 2009

    45 (10)

    21 (1)

    2009 / 2010

    44 (10)

    17 (0)

    2010 / 2011

    30 (10)

    7 (0)

    Overall from 2005/06 to 2010/11, 227 individual tests were completed (76 Petrol, 151 Diesel) and 87 vehicles failed to achieve a pass for all pollutants (14 Petrol, 73 Diesel).However, it should be noted that the pass / fail criteria involved a statistical process looking at the average of the vehicle tests carried out. This generally involved a minimum of 3 tests, but any individual failures resulted in more vehicles being tested. Using this process, there were 2 Model Failures (1 Petrol and 1 Diesel).

    Following the work in 2010-2011, the focus of the VCA’s emissions testing changed to consider aftermarket alteration of vehicles, both light and heavy duty.

    The figures below show how many vehicles the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has tested and those that failed in-service emissions tests. In-service emissions testing is interpreted to refer to emissions testing through the MOT service. DVSA does not hold figures for 2005/06.

    Car and light Goods vehicles up to 3000kg – DVSA

    Financial Year

    Tests

    Emission Failures

    2006/07

    26,299,000

    771,696

    2007/08

    24,912,548

    809,498

    2008/09

    25,537,682

    791,818

    2009/10

    26,047,520

    766,371

    2010/11

    26,637,490

    734,246

    2011/12

    26,827,367

    710,877

    2012/13

    26,872,425

    656,279

    2013/14

    27,481,013

    641,477

    2014/15

    27,669,148

    607,400

    Light goods vehicles between 3000 up to 3500kg – DVSA

    Financial Year

    Tests

    Emission Failures

    2006/07

    522,875

    11,902

    2007/08

    520,682

    11,329

    2008/09

    541,307

    10,415

    2009/10

    563,829

    9,424

    2010/11

    602,080

    8,702

    2011/12

    608,144

    8,965

    2012/13

    587,779

    7,731

    2013/14

    601,942

    8,004

    2014/15

    616,126

    8,308

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints his Department received about the standard of its recent consultation document on court closures.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    There has been one complaint about the standard of the recent consultation on the provision of court and tribunal estate in England and Wales.

    The complaint, received by email, was from a member of the judiciary and related to St Alban’s County Court. It noted that the consultation document was inaccurate as it stated that no enabling work was required at the receiving court, Watford County Court. On investigation, it was determined that some enabling work would be required. The written response to the complaint corrected this inaccuracy. The published consultation response document was updated to present corrected information.

    During the consultation process we were notified about inaccuracies in the consultation documents. These have all been corrected in the published response documents. All decisions were based on correct information together with the careful consideration of the consultation responses.

    The consultation response is available online at www.gov.uk/moj.

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are able to access mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    No estimate has been made of the proportion of refugees and asylum seekers who require mental health treatment as this data is not routinely collected.

    Both refugees and asylum seekers are offered health assessments which include consideration of mental health issues, however we do not hold data on the outcome of these.

    NHS England and clinical commissioning groups are committed to ensuring fair and equitable mental health care services for all, which includes all Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, including vulnerable migrants, in particular, refugees and those seeking asylum.

    NHS England recently launched the Five Year Forward View Mental Health Task Force Report which clearly outlines action to be taken nationally, regionally, and locally to help improve mental health services for BME communities in England.

    The full report is available via the following link:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mental-Health-Taskforce-FYFV-final.pdf

    NHS England supported MIND to co-produce the Guidance for commissioners – ‘Commissioning mental health services for vulnerable adult migrants’ September 2015 launched February 2016. The Guidance aims to ensure National Health Service commissioners and providers provide timely and good quality mental health services for vulnerable migrants in particular refugees and those seeking asylum. The full report is available at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/migrants/

    “