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Tag: 2016

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has held with the Chief Electoral Officer on steps to ensure that the count of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in May 2016 is carried out efficiently and is not subject to undue delays.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The Northern Ireland Office is in regular contact with the Chief Electoral Officer. I am confident that he is taking all necessary steps to ensure the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, including the count, are delivered as efficiently as possible. Single Transferable Vote counts by their nature take longer than those in “first past the post” elections, and the Chief Electoral Officer’s primary consideration has to be the accuracy of the count. However, he has put in place a number of measures to improve the speed of the count, including testing for count staff and modifications to the process for verifying ballot papers.

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 19143, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the administration of disability exemptions on vehicle excise duty and the effect on parking charges in local authority car parks.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport has not issued guidance to local authorities on the administration of disability exemptions on vehicle excise duty. The issue of guidance to local authorities on off-street car parking charges would be a matter for the Department for Communities and Local Government, which has policy responsibility for this matter. It is for local authorities to decide what factors to take into account when considering how to apply concessions and exemptions from parking charges.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2016 to Question 26146, on what programmes has contingency funding for the Defence Equipment Plan been spent in each year since 2012; and how much was spent on each programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Centrally held contingency funding for the Defence Equipment Plan was introduced for the first time in 2012. During the 2014 Annual Budget Cycle, it was re-profiled into the later years to reflect better the level of risk in the equipment plan. As a result we have not spent any of the contingency in the years to date. However, we have allocated funding from it in future years to support specific programmes (Rotary Wing Flying Training System and Ajax Vehicles).

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

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) demographic factors, (b) deprivation level factors and (c) factors of difference in distance from target market forces he took into account when determining the funding allocated for (i) Vale of York CCG, (ii) NHS West Cheshire, (iii) NHS North East Essex, (iv) NHS South Warwickshire, (v) NHS Canterbury and Coastal, (vi) NHS Lincolnshire West and (vii) NHE East Riding of Yorkshire.

    Alistair Burt

    Responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations rests with NHS England and the funding allocated to all CCGs is based on the CCG allocations formula. This is based on advice provided by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA). ACRA is an independent committee and reports jointly to the Secretary of State for Health (in regard to public health allocations) and NHS England in regard to CCG and primary care allocations. The formula was initially approved by NHS England in 2013 and they have now reviewed and updated the formula for 2016-17 onwards.

    The formula is based on the size of the population of each CCG and adjustments, or weights, per head for relative need for health care services and unavoidable costs between CCGs. The weights per head are based on the following:

    ― need due to age (typically, the more elderly the population, the higher the need per head, all else being equal);

    ― additional need over and above that due to age (this includes measures of health status and a number of proxies for health status such as deprivation);

    ― an adjustment for unmet need and health inequalities;

    ― unavoidable higher costs of delivering health care due to location alone, known as the Market Forces Factor (this reflects that staff, land and building costs are higher in for example London than other parts of the country); and

    ― an adjustment for the higher costs of providing emergency ambulance services in sparsely populated areas, and an adjustment for the higher costs of unavoidably small hospitals with 24 hour accident and emergency services in remote areas.

    The final step of the allocations process is to determine how quickly to move CCGs from their current allocation to the target allocation determined by the formula. The objective is to reduce the ‘distance from target’ so that areas furthest below their target allocation receive the biggest increases. This needs to balance against the need to ensure service stability for those areas above target, and that increases are not so large that resources are not used efficiently. The approach also takes account of the distance from target in each area for primary care and specialised services so that the overall funding position for the area is taken into account.

    NHS England recently published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/#

    “

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of what the likely change in the level of social housing stock will be if the proposed extension of right-to-buy to housing association properties is agreed in (a) Tottenham, (b) Enfield, (c) Haringey, (d) Barnet, (e) Islington and (f) London in (i) 2016 and (ii) each of the next three years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations, every home sold to tenants will result in an additional affordable home being provided. At least two new affordable homes will be provided for each high value vacant property that is expected to be sold in London. This will lead to an increase in overall housing supply.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of check by the Disclosure and Barring Service is required for someone to work in a school as a non-teaching staff member.

    Lord Nash

    The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009, The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2014 and The Non-maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2011 require schools to carry out specific checks before they may appoint an individual to work in a school.

    For non-teaching staff members, the school must obtain an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate and where relevant a check of the children’s barred list. A check of the barred list is required for staff engaging in regulated activity if as a result of their work they:

    • Will be responsible, on a regular basis in a school or college, for teaching, training instructing, caring for or supervising children; or

    • Will carry out paid, or unsupervised unpaid, work regularly in a school or college where that work provides an opportunity for contact with children; or

    • Engage in intimate or personal care or overnight activity, even if this happens only once.

  • The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Durham on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what contingency plans are in place to provide humanitarian aid in the event of a poor harvest in Burundi.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK Government is very concerned by the ongoing political unrest in Burundi and its humanitarian consequences. Burundi had high levels of food insecurity before the political crisis. However, the increase in market prices, the impact of late and heavy El-Nino rains, and the loss of livelihoods could result in further food insecurity and malnutrition.

    DFID Ministers have already committed £3 million for humanitarian preparedness and early response within Burundi. We have further set aside contingency funds of up to £4 million should the situation deteriorate. DFID will monitor the humanitarian and food security situation and ensure appropriate support is provided if the situation warrants it.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21059, on universal credit: domestic violence, for what reasons that information is not currently available; and whether his Department plans to collect such information in the future.

    Priti Patel

    The Department published a strategy for releasing official statistics on Universal Credit. As outlined in the strategy, officials are currently quality assuring a range of data for Universal Credit. It is for this reason that the information requested is not currently available.

    During 2016 we will be increasing the range of statistics on Universal Credit, which will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the level of funding was for coroners in the coroner areas of (a) Birmingham and Solihull, (b) the Black Country and (c) Coventry in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2015-16; and what assessment he has made of the implications for such funding of trends in the number of cases dealt with by coroners between those two years.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services, as they are funded and run by local authorities. The level of funding for the Birmingham and Solihull, Black Country and Coventry coroner services is a matter for the relevant local authorities and the Ministry of Justice holds no information on this.

    Statistics for deaths reported to coroners, including deaths in state detention and those subject to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coroners-and-burials-statistics.

    We do not have information on the number of deaths in state detention reported to coroners in 2010 as this information has only been gathered centrally since 2012. The statistics for 2015 will be published in due course.

    “

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that prison officers complete Prevent awareness training.

    Andrew Selous

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has a range of Prevent awareness training and briefing packages available for staff.

    Prevent awareness training forms part of the Prison Officer Entry Level training for new prison officers. By the end of this month, over 1800 prison officers will have completed this training in 2015-16.

    In addition NOMS regularly reviews the extremism based training provision available to all staff in prisoner facing roles, adapting it to meet the need of the audience and the changing threat.

    During 2015/2016 over 12,000 directly employed and non-directly employed staff attended such training and briefing events.