Tag: 2016

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 8.18 of the Airports Commission Final Report, July 2015, what the estimated cost is of the tunnelling work required for the M25; and whether that cost would be incurred by the public purse or Heathrow Airport Limited.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Alongside its Final Report in July 2015, the Airports Commission published a range of supporting analysis and assessments. The Cost and Commercial Viability: Financial Modelling Input Costs Update report included estimated costs for the surface access proposals for each of the Commission’s three short-listed options for airport expansion.

    The report set out the estimated capital expenditure costs for the works associated with M25 tunnelling (south of junction 15) as £576m for the Heathrow Airport North West runway option and £864m for the Heathrow Airport Extended Northern runway option.

    The Airports Commission made clear in its Final Report (paragraph 16.33) that Government would need to agree the nature, scale and financing of the surface access transport improvements associated with expansion, and the Government has been clear that it expects the scheme promoter to meet the costs of any surface access proposals that are required as a direct result of airport expansion and from which they will directly benefit.

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tier 2 visas have been issued for pharmacists in each of the last three years.

    James Brokenshire

    The figures below show the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) assigned in support of visa applications for Pharmacists in each of the last three years. A Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) is required to support all visa applications and a sponsor is required to enter a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code on their CoS. There is a SoC code for Pharmacists.

    Assigning a CoS does not guarantee a visa will be issued.

    2013 380

    2014 380

    2015 400

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have been reassessed to remain in the support group of employment support allowance have medical conditions that are not expected to improve.

    Priti Patel

    Between October 2008 and September 2015 a total of 38,100 people in the Support Group have been reassessed and found to still be eligible for Employment and Support Allowance, and to remain in the Support Group, and were also found to either be terminally ill or had a prognosis of “in the longer term”, suggesting that their conditions are not expected to improve in the short term.

    Source: Data is derived from administrative data held by the DWP and assessment data provided by Atos and the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments.

    Notes:

    1. Please note that the figure supplied is derived from unpublished information and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.
    2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce costs incurred by schools which were built under the Private Finance Initiative.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities are responsible for their own Private Finance Initiative contracts and are encouraged to seek savings in the context of those contracts.

    The Department is working closely with Her Majesty’s Treasury to develop guidance to demonstrate how local authorities may make savings.

    The Department continues to work closely with local authorities to assist in identifying and securing savings.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities’ children’s social work services have been rated inadequate; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    The following local authorities are currently rated as ‘inadequate’ under Ofsted’s Single Inspection Framework:

    Birmingham, Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Coventry, Cumbria, Darlington, Doncaster, Dudley, Knowsley, Lambeth, Lancashire, Leicester City, Manchester, Norfolk, Reading, Rotherham, Sandwell, Slough, Somerset, Sunderland, Surrey, Torbay, Wandsworth, West Berkshire and Wirral.

    The Government does not use set criteria to require local authorities to contract out their statutory children’s social care services.

    The Department for Education has statutory powers to intervene in local authority children’s services under section 497A of the Education Act 1996. This legislation allows the Department to remove day-to-day operational control of children’s services from the local authority, for a period of time, if the Secretary of State believes that the local authority is failing to secure its relevant statutory functions by delivering children’s services to the required standard.

    As a matter of policy, the Government has decided that any authority rated by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ across all the key judgements in any one Ofsted inspection is deemed to be failing ‘systemically’, and any authority that is rated inadequate twice overall in any five year period is deemed to be failing persistently.

    In these circumstances the Secretary of State appoints a children’s services commissioner to review services and then provide advice to the Secretary of State on whether they should remain in local authority control.

    Once the Secretary of State has received the commissioner’s advice, she will decide whether to direct the authority to enter into a contract with a third party – for instance a Children’s Services Trust – to deliver those services on its behalf.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many tickets to the Thiepval Memorial event on 1 July 2016 have been allocated to applicants from (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

    Tracey Crouch

    Tickets to the Commemorative Event at the Thiepval Memorial were allocated in pairs to residents of the UK via a random ballot, which gave no weighting to residents of a particular area of the UK.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many child and adolescent mental health services Tier 4 beds per 100,000 population there were in each (a) region and (b) clinical commissioning group in England in each of the last 10 years.

    Alistair Burt

    Whilst we do not hold historical data centrally on the number of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Tier 4 beds per head of population, current year data broken down by the four NHS England Regions and the 10 Specialised Commissioning Areas is outlined below. We do not hold this data broken down by clinical commissioning group (CCG) as Tier 4 services are commissioned nationally by NHS England Specialised Commissioning, and one CAMHS inpatient centre may serve the area covered by several CCGs.

    Specialised Commissioning Area

    Beds/100,000 population

    East Midlands

    2.76

    East of England

    2.87

    London

    2.35

    North East

    3.03

    North West

    2.75

    South Central

    2.96

    South East Coast

    2.35

    South West

    1.10

    West Midlands

    2.87

    Yorkshire and Humber

    1.57

    AVERAGE

    2.50

    Region

    Beds/100,000 population

    London

    2.35

    Midlands and East

    2.84

    North

    2.39

    South

    2.15

    AVERAGE

    2.50
  • 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 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure NHS England is working with (a) clinical commissioning groups, (b) local authorities and (c) other partners to develop and trial a new model of acute in-patient care for young adults aged 16 to 25.

    Alistair Burt

    Trialling acute inpatient care models for 16-25 year olds was a specific recommendation from Five Year Forward View for Mental Health (FYFV for Mental Health), a report from the independent Mental Health Taskforce to the NHS in England, published in February 2016. NHS England has accepted in full the recommendations of the Taskforce and is considering how to take each of the recommendations forward.

    The FYFV for Mental Health states:

    “NHS England should work with CCGs, local authorities and other partners to develop and trial a new model of acute inpatient care for young adults aged 16–25 in 2016, working with Vanguard sites. This should evaluate: developmentally and age-appropriate inpatient services for this group; supporting young people in an environment that maximises opportunities for rehabilitation and return to education, training or employment; viewing the young person within their social context; and enlisting the support of families or carers. This should build on the existing trials of new models of ‘transitional’ services for those aged 0–25.”

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will withdraw the appointment of Paul Newby as the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

    Anna Soubry

    My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills does not intend to withdraw the appointment of Paul Newby as the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court buildings have been sold in (a) Lancashire and (b) Burnley.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Two court buildings in Lancashire have been sold since the creation of HM Court Service in 2005. Neither of these were in Burnley.

    Prior to 2005 magistrates’ courts were the responsibility of locally managed magistrates’ courts committees.