Tag: 2016

Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the outcome of the last round of the UK-China human rights dialogue; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

The 22nd round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue was held in Beijing on 21-22 April 2015. It provided for detailed, expert engagement on a wide range of human rights concerns, resulting in a frank exchange of views. Our current assessment of the human rights situation in China can be seen in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

January 1, 2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-06-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the distributional effect of the exclusion from National Insurance contributions of property, dividends, pensions and other forms of non-employment income.

Mr David Gauke

National Insurance contributions (NICs) are not intended to tax all forms of income. As a system of social security, the purpose of NICs is that individuals contribute when they are working, in order to build entitlement to contributory benefits such as the State Pension.

Taxes are levied on non-employment income through the rest of the tax system, and the government’s policies since 2010 have repeatedly increased the contribution of the wealthy. The richest fifth of households will contribute more than half (52%) of UK household tax receipts in 2019-20; under the 2010-11 tax system, they would have paid 49%.

January 1, 2023
Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether any military equipment exported from the UK to India is being used against the civilians of Kashmir.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are concerned to see reports of excessive violence against protesters in Kashmir.

The UK Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world.

In light of media reports on the situation in Indian Administered Kashmir (IaK), we have undertaken checks regarding shotguns being licensed to the Indian Security Forces (ISF) in IaK covering the last 10 years. We are confident from these checks undertaken that no such weapon has been licensed to this specific force in IaK.

All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant information available at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued, for any country, including India, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that the items might be used to facilitate internal repression.

The Government is confident in our case by case assessment and routinely keeps factors relevant to the licensing of arms exports under active review. Ministers are consulted as necessary in the event of any significant changes in the circumstances relating to UK-licensed exports.

Our export licensing system allows us to respond quickly to changed circumstances, with the option to suspend or revoke any licence where we consider this a necessary step.

January 1, 2023
Lord Rennard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rennard on 2016-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 20 October (HL Deb, col 2484–90), how much of the Pharmacy Access Fund will come from existing funds to support community pharmacies, and how much of the Pharmacy Access Fund will be additional money to support community pharmacies.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) will be paid for from the funding for the community pharmacy contractual framework. The PhAS will be an additional monthly payment, made to all small and medium sized pharmacies that are a mile or more from another pharmacy. The PhAS has been designed to capture the pharmacies that are most important for patient access, specifically those pharmacies where patient and public access would be materially affected should they close. The PhAS takes isolation and need levels into account.

The scheme also includes a review process, and reviews of eligibility will also be granted for pharmacies that may have narrowly missed out on the scheme through the distance criteria, but are in areas of high deprivation. This will cover pharmacies that are located in the top 20% most deprived areas in England, and are located 0.8 miles or more from another pharmacy. Additional funding for successful reviews under this criterion will be made available as required.

January 1, 2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) homes and (b) businesses have (i) received and (ii) redeemed rural satellite broadband vouchers.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Since the launch of the scheme 2 months ago, 1265 eligible applications have been received and are being processed, and 126 households and businesses have placed orders for installations.

January 1, 2023

Harriet Harman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Camberwell and Peckham constituency have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months.

Karen Bradley

The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Camberwell and Peckham constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months is listed in the table below.

Month	Total Applications Issued to Applicants from the Constituency of Camberwell and Peckham	Applications that took longer than 60 days
Feb-15	1,106	211
Mar-15	1,355	204
Apr-15	1,181	179
May-15	1,213	185
Jun-15	1,286	184
Jul-15	1,364	263
Aug-15	1,041	154
Sep-15	1,241	185
Oct-15	1,311	215
Nov-15	1,099	216
Dec-15	954	165
Jan-16	1,023	210
14,174	2,371

January 1, 2023

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department’s South East Flexible Ticketing Programme Definition Document was last updated; and if he will place a copy of the latest version of that document in the Library.

Claire Perry

The South East Flexible Ticketing Programme Definition Documents were last updated in June 2015. Some of these documents contain commercially sensitive information. The release of the documents could also prejudice current policy making, so they will not be placed into the Library at this stage.

January 1, 2023
Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP appointments were available in Enfield North constituency in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

The attached table shows the total general practitioner (GP) headcount and headcount per head of population in Enfield and London between 2010-14.

Information on the availability of GP appointments in Enfield North is not collected centrally.

We have invested in the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. Across the two waves of the Fund, there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and over 18 million patients have benefited from improved access and transformational change at a local level. A wide variety of approaches are being tested through the Access Fund, including: evening and weekend appointments and better use of telecare and health apps; more innovative ways to access services by video call, email or telephone; and developing more integrated services with a single point of contact to co-ordinate patient services.

January 1, 2023

Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many claims the NHS Litigation Authority has defended in cases in which (a) the claim has been resolved in favour of the claimant and (b) judgement has been given in favour of the claimant in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The Department does not hold the information requested. This data has been supplied by the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHS LA).

The NHS LA aims to resolve claims promptly and fairly without court proceedings or going to trial wherever possible. It does not record cases which resolve within one week of trial separately.

The table below shows the number of claims the NHS LA has defended where (a) the claim has been resolved in favour of the claimant and (b) judgement has been given in favour of the claimant in each of the last five years.

Year of trial	Number of claims resolved in favour of claimant	Number of claims resolved in favour of defendant
2011-12	11	22
2012-13	9	32
2013-14	9	34
2014-15	21	39
Total	50	127

Source: NHS LA

Date: May 2016

We understand that the hon. Member maybe asking for the number claims in which liability is admitted before trial.

The table below shows the number of cases in which liability is admitted before trial.

Year resolved for damages payment	Pre trial
2011-12	5,306
2012-13	5,262
2013-14	5,354
2014-15	5,801

Source: NHS LA

Date: May 2016

January 1, 2023

Lord Empey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any requests have been received from the devolved administrations to raise their borrowing limits; and if so, what increases were requested, when such requests were made, and whether any have been agreed to.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Treasury Ministers are in regular contact with Devolved Administration Ministers on a variety of matters.

Each of the Devolved Administrations has a range of capital and resource borrowing powers set out in legislation.

In addition to these, the Stormont House Agreement provided flexibility to use £700m of capital borrowing to fund a voluntary exit scheme over a period of 4 years with £200m in 2015-16, £200m in 2016-17, £200m in 2017-18 and £100m in 2018-19 as well as up to an additional £350m borrowing for infrastructure projects with a profile over four years with £100m in 2015-16, £100m in 2016-17, £100m in 2017-18 and £50m in 2018-19.

The Fresh Start Agreement and Implementation Plan provided assurances that the NI Executive could access the full amount of additional borrowing provided by the Stormont House Agreement even if it is able to realise agreed efficiency savings from Voluntary Exit Scheme without switching the full amount of existing borrowing for that purpose.

The Government is working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to implement the Fresh Start Agreement.

In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has provided early access to the capital borrowing powers in the Wales Act 2014 in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

Again, the Government is working closely with the Welsh Government on this matter.

January 1, 2023