Tag: 2016

  • Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 3 July 2014 (HL280) about the expenses of former Prime Ministers, and in the light of the ruling of the Freedom of Information Tribunal in the case of Gabriel Webber v Information Commissioner (EA/2015/0194) that the disclosure of details of expenses paid to former Prime Ministers would not breach confidence nor invade privacy, whether they will commit to full transparency regarding former Prime Ministers’ allowances including the costs of providing security.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government is considering the Tribunal’s judgement in this matter, and will respond in due course.

  • Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) improve the provision of care for patients with lung disease and (b) increase funding for research into lung diseases.

    Jane Ellison

    Respiratory disease is specifically covered in the NHS Outcomes Framework and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published Quality Standards for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and lung cancer setting out the markers of high-quality, cost-effective care.

    Expenditure by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on research relating to respiratory disease has increased from £15.7 million in 2009/10 to £25.5 million in 2014/15 (the latest available figure).

    The NIHR has launched a new, open competition for biomedical research centre funding from April 2017 to March 2022. In this competition, a number of clinical areas of particular strategic importance to the health of patients are highlighted including respiratory disease.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was generated from VAT receipts in Greater Manchester in the last year for which information is available.

    Mr David Gauke

    This level of detail is not requested on VAT returns and therefore we do not have data available on how much revenue is raised from VAT receipts in Greater Manchester.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has allocated to schemes to encourage investment in solar energy in each of the last five years.

    Jesse Norman

    Over the past five years, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, wave and tidal electricity projects have received support from either the Renewables Obligation (RO) or the Feed-in Tariff (FITs).

    Expenditure through the Renewables Obligation in 2011/12 to 2015/16 can be broken down by power generation technology shown in the table (£million in nominal prices). Solar PV and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the Feed In Tariff scheme, but costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support is shown below (£million).

    RO (£million)

    11/12

    12/13

    13/14

    14/15

    15/16

    Onshore wind

    £482.6

    £557.1

    £755.6

    £786.8

    £803.0

    Offshore wind

    £371.1

    £698.5

    £988.7

    £1,108.0

    £1,429.7

    Solar PV

    £0.1

    £0.9

    £34.9

    £133.9

    £264.8

    Wave & Tidal

    £0.1

    £0.4

    £0.4

    £0.1

    £0.2

    TOTAL RO

    £1,457.7

    £1,991.3

    £2,599.3

    £3,114.2

    £3,743.2

    TOTAL FITs

    £151

    £506

    £691

    £866

    £1,110

    Renewables Obligations: Source Ofgem:

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/ro/contacts-publications-and-data/publications-library-renewables-obligation

    www.ofgem.gov.uk/publication-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2014-15

    www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0

    FITs: Source Ofgem:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/contacts-guidance-and-resources/public-reports-and-data-fit/levelisation-reports

    The Contracts for Difference Scheme opened for delivery from 2015/16 onwards. No projects started deploying in 2015/16 so no payments were made.

    “

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22143, for what reasons the Government has decided not to amend primary legislation to allow the number of private hire vehicles licensed in London or elsewhere to be restricted.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government supports choice for consumers, and wants to see both taxis and private hire vehicles prosper in London and elsewhere. The Government is prepared to continue discussing various options with the Mayor but does not believe legislation allowing him to cap the number of private hire vehicles is warranted. The Mayor has other ways of influencing the market that do not require new legislation.

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

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding his Department allocated to the Stroke/Act FAST campaign in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England took over all the public health campaigns formerly run by the Department on 1 April 2013, including Act FAST.

    In 2014-15, the media spend on the Act FAST campaign was £850,000. Spend in 2015/16 is provisional and will be available in full shortly.

    Spend on public health campaigns, over £25,000, are published routinely and available on gov.uk:

    www.gov.uk/government/collections/phe-spend-over-25000

    “

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Prime Minister, if he will issue guidance to civil servants on how to proceed in cases where departmental ministers have yet to declare a position on the referendum on the EU on their access to the upcoming departmental resources documentation relating to that referendum.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 7 March 2016, UIN 29278, and to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 1 March 2016, a transcript of which can be found on the Committee’s website.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to (a) notify recently bereaved spouses of the existence of bereavement benefits and (b) encourage those people to check their entitlement.

    Priti Patel

    Information about Bereavement Benefits is widely available through GOV.UK. We also work closely with third party organisations who the bereaved traditionally contact such as registrars, hospitals, funeral directors and voluntary groups ensuring that they have the correct information available to signpost the bereaved to the DWP Bereavement Service.

    Upon contacting the DWP Bereavement Service our staff will ensure that any benefits and pensions arrears are claimed and will also initiate a claim for Social Fund Funeral Payments and Bereavement Benefits if appropriate.

    .

    We continue to look for opportunities to improve the availability of advice about these particular benefits and as a result we have improved the information available on GOV.UK, and are currently exploring ways in which to to join up the Tell Us Once and Bereavement Service offers.

    Tell Us Once is a cross-government service delivered through Local Authorities whereby notification of the death is cascaded out to other agencies, thus reducing the number of contacts an individual has to make.

    The time limit for claiming Bereavement Allowance is three months from the date of death, which is consistent with the time limit for other welfare entitlements. We are currently developing the new Bereavement Support Payment due to be implemented for new claims from April 2017, and we will assess the merits of further flexibilities on backdating as part of this work.

    Information available on the number of people in receipt of Bereavement Allowance by duration of current claim can be found at:

    http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html

    Guidance for users can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

    “

  • 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the criteria is for which hospitals are listed as being supported by the Emergency Care Intensive Support Team.

    Ben Gummer

    In 2015/16, increased resources were provided to the Emergency Care Intensive Support Team (ECIST). This was to enable it to provide a programme of deeper support to 27 health communities in England selected on the basis of poor performance against the national 4-hour accident and emergency standard during 2014/15 and quarter one of 2015/16. ECIST is also resourced to provide expert input to the eight urgent and emergency care vanguards.

    Since April 2016, the team has offered limited improvement support to a small group of trusts at the request of NHS Improvement regional teams.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2016 to Question 41415, what assistance the Government provides for UK coal and gas producers seeking to export their fuels overseas to the (a) EU and (b) rest of the world.

    Amber Rudd

    In the case of gas, UK Trade and Investment is active in helping the UK oil and gas sector do more business internationally. In addition the remit of the new Oil & Gas Authority, established in 2015, is to work with government and industry to make sure that maximum economic benefit is derived from the UK’s oil and gas reserves.

    UK companies are freely able to export and import coal as part of normal market operators.

    UK demand for both coal and gas outweighs domestic supply, therefore the UK imports the vast majority of its coal needs and around half of its gas supply.