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Tag: 2016

  • 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 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners took their own life in each month of (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015 to date.

    Andrew Selous

    Statistics for deaths in prison custody are not published monthly as they do not give a clear indication of trends.

    Statistics for deaths in prison custody are published quarterly, and the latest information is available in Table 5 of the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472712/Safety-in-custody-summary-q2-2015.xls

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  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has for call-in and scrutiny arrangements for the work of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

    James Wharton

    I refer the hon. member to my answer of 19 January, PQ 921796 and would add that the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill received Royal Assent on 28 January.

    The provisions of that Act, including those on overview and scrutiny, are now in force for the purposes of making secondary legislation and for all other purposes will come into force two months after Royal Assent. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark) intends to exercise his powers to make further provision about the membership and operation of overview and scrutiny committees as soon as practicable.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and which local authorities have notified her Department about plans to dispose of grant-funded assets through the (a) sale, (b) transfer and (c) change of use of children’s centres under the requirements of the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Where local authorities dispose of or change the use of buildings or other assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants, they must repay the money through the claw-back process.

    The Department for Education has a thorough set of monitoring arrangements in place regarding claw-back rules. Local authorities are required to notify the department of each and every proposed change of services and provide details about the level of early years services that are to continue. The department then considers if the local authority has continued to offer a sufficient level of early years services for children and their families from the building in question to meet the original aims of the grant.

    If the department is satisfied that the funding for the asset will continue to be used for purposes consistent with the grant, the department may defer claw-back. Deferring claw-back means that we accept the change of usage at that time, however, the department retains its interest in the asset and if in the future the asset has its usage changed, is transferred or otherwise disposed of, and does not continue to meet the purposes of the grant the local authority must inform the department and we will claw-back the funding. The department’s interest in an asset funded by Sure Start capital grants is 25 years from designation of the building. If the grant was used to purchase capital items or re-furbish an existing asset, the length of time and value of any claw-back depends on the depreciation value of the items, according to local authority depreciation rules.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which areas of the UK are covered by his Department’s application for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help communities affected by recent floods.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. The application included an estimate of eligible costs from Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and the City of York, West Yorkshire, and Northumberland.

    Having made this initial application, we are in the process of refining our cost estimations and figures, and will work with the Commission to finalise details.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the businesses and sectors which have failed to sign up to the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that such businesses sign up to that scheme; and what steps his Department is taking to exclude from the market those businesses suspected to be trading fraudulently and which did not register by the 31 March 2016 deadline.

    Damian Hinds

    From April 2017, HMRC will be making publicly available details of alcohol wholesalers who are approved. From then, retailers who buy from unapproved wholesalers will be liable to a fine.

    HMRC is now assessing the applications it has received against the scheme’s approval criteria. The number of applications received are lower than HMRCs initial estimate of 21,000 businesses that could be wholesaling alcohol. There could be a number of reasons for this, and HMRC is currently comparing the applications received with original expectations and encouraging businesses that have not applied to do so, to mitigate penalties and the likelihood of enforcement action.

    Where businesses have been purposefully fraudulently trading, HMRC will take action. It is too early to report outcomes of any investigations into illicit trading that HMRC are undertaking since the introduction of the scheme.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the potential number of short-term EU migrants who are expected to enter the UK to live and work in each of the next five years.

    James Brokenshire

    It has been the practice of this Government not to make such forecasts. There are numerous different factors that can affect migration flows. Projections of UK’s population are published by the independent Office for National Statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections

    As projections, these do not take account of the potential impact of Government policies or economic conditions. ONS produce estimates of short term migration for England and Wales https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/shorttermmigrationestimatesforenglandandwalesmid2014estimates

    The majority of those coming as ‘short term migrants’ were for the reason “other” (which includes activities such as: holidays and travelling; visiting family and friends; and working holidays).

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the timing of the announcement on the rate for NHS-funded nursing care for residents of care homes in 2016-17 on the management of those care homes.

    David Mowat

    The Department appreciates the importance of timely communication of the rate of National Health Service-funded Nursing Care for care homes.

    The new rate will be paid on an interim basis whilst further work is done to review the element of the rate for agency nursing staff (which could lead to a reduction to the rate from 1 January 2017) and to consult on introducing regional variation from April 2017.

    The rate for 2017/18 will be published following completion of work which is being done by the Department.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent measures the Government has undertaken to ensure that people with mental health conditions are properly supported into work.

    Penny Mordaunt

    We are investing significant resources in improving provision to help people with mental health conditions back to work. This includes funding to increase the coverage of the Talking Therapy services by 600,000 people per year to 1.5million by 2020 and investment in a number of voluntary initiatives and trials to test different types of support, with a view to taking forward those that have the most impact.

    In addition we will shortly be publishing a Green Paper on work and health to seek views on what will work to deliver real lasting change for disabled people and those with a health condition. Mental health will be a key focus of our Green Paper as we know that people with mental health conditions fare poorly in the labour market.

    Our aim is to help transform the lives and prospects of disabled people and those with a health condition and contribute to building a society and an economy that works for everyone.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Gospel Oak to Barking Line electrification programme includes electrification of that line’s freight links.

    Claire Perry

    The Gospel Oak–Barking electrification programme includes plans to electrify the freight links. The timing and funding for these links is being reviewed in conjunction with Sir Peter Hendy’s re-plan of Network Rail enhancements and the revised cost estimates of all electrification projects. The main scheme continues to be on target for completion in 2017.

  • 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 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel who have taken Mefloquine have been treated for psychiatric problems in the last 12 months.

    Mark Lancaster

    Between 1 April 2007 and 30 September 2015 a minimum of 17,623 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were prescribed mefloquine.

    For the year 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015 (the latest date for which information is available) a minimum of 354 (2%) with a history of mefloquine prescription subsequently were assessed as having a mental health disorder at their initial assessment at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Department for Community Mental Healthcare, or admission to the MOD in-patient provider.

    It must be noted that this numerical association does not prove direct causation. Further, a comparison of personnel prescribed other antimalarial chemoprophylactic agents with those prescribed mefloquine has shown no statistical difference between these groups in terms of the amount of time between antimalarial prescription and the presentation for mental healthcare.

    This emphasises it is not possible from centrally held data to identify whether a mental health episode is associated with being prescribed mefloquine, nor whether personnel have taken or continued to take mefloquine after they were prescribed it.