Tag: 2016

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 2 March 2016 to Question 28759, whether the mental health needs of children with epilepsy and other long-term conditions will be considered by the expert group convened by his Department and the Department for Education.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Expert Working Group announced in the Department for Education and the Department of Health’s oral evidence to the Education Committee on 3 February 2016 as part of their Inquiry into the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children will not be considering the mental health needs of children with epilepsy and other long-term conditions. The Working Group will look specifically at the mental health needs of looked after children and young people, adopted children and care leavers. The aim of the Group is to develop care pathways for children in these particular circumstances, including any who might also have long term conditions or disabilities. Further work will be carried out during the implementation of the Five Year Forward View and of the transformation programme for children and young people’s mental health which is set out in Future In Mind which will lead to improvements for all children and young people experiencing mental health problems.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ban the manufacture, sale, possession and use of animal snares.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government has no plans to ban the use of all animal snares. The Government has sought to improve the welfare of snared animals through research to improve snare deployment and design and by working with users who are producing new guidance on best practice.

    The Animal Welfare Act 2006 contains protection for animals under the control of man to help prevent unnecessary suffering and covers any animal held in a snare. Any suspected cases of illegal use should be reported to the Police.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to co-ordinate steps to enhance public transport and accelerate the transition to ultra-low emission vehicles.

    Andrew Jones

    We have an ambitious programme of improvement for public transport. The Government is investing more than £38 billion in Network Rail to deliver the biggest programme of railway modernisation since the Victorian times, and backing Transport for the North and Midlands Connect to enable cities and regions. We are also supporting technology upgrades on transport networks to meet the expectations of the digital age and to deliver extra capacity.

    We want nearly all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050 and have committed more than £600 million between 2015 and 2020 to this goal, which is itself a substantial increase in funding compared to the previous Parliament. This investment will bring improvements to public transport as well. We have allocated £30m to support low emission buses, which will improve urban air quality, reduce running costs, and provide smoother more reliable journeys for passengers. We are supporting the installation of electric vehicle chargepoints at public transport hubs. 80 chargepoints have already been installed at train stations, and the £40m Go Ultra Low City Scheme includes plans for many more at strategic urban locations, such as park-and-ride sites, as well as measures to encourage EV car clubs. The low emission vehicle industry already supports over 18,000 UK jobs and it is a key element of our ambitions for a low carbon, high tech, high skills economy.

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

    Lord Addington – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Addington on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the percentage of pupils in an average class who will have some form of special educational need.

    Lord Nash

    The percentage of children with special educational needs is collected in the January schools census.

    In January 2015, 14.4% of pupils attending state funded primary schools and 14.3% attending state funded secondary schools were identified as having some form of special educational need. These figures include pupils with a statement of special educational needs, an Education, Health and Care plan, or children who receive SEN support. This figure does not include pupils who attend special schools or pupils who attend independent schools. Nationally, 15.4% of all pupils were identified as having special educational needs in January 2015.

    There has been a decline in the proportion of children with SEN since 2010 when 21.1% of pupils had SEN. This has occurred because the number of pupils with SEN without statements/ EHC plans has declined, due to more accurate identification of those with SEN following implementation of the SEND reforms.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-03-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the BBC new board members should (1) be appointed without ministerial influence, and (2) include audience and staff representatives.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    These issues are being considered as part of Charter Review. The Government will set out its proposals in the forthcoming White Paper.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to commence Section 154 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, on fixed penalty notices for leaving litter.

    Rory Stewart

    No timetable has been set for when Section 154 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 will be commenced.

    Defra has announced plans for a new litter strategy and we are working with industry, experts and councils across England to improve the way we all tackle the scourge of litter. The litter strategy will promote affordable and replicable ways to influence littering behaviour and reduce littering. This will include work on ways to deal with littering from vehicles.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the utilisation rate was for Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyors in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The averaged utilisation rate for marine surveyors for 2013-14 was 65%.

    In December 2014 a new system was implemented within MCA and no figures are available yet through the replacement system.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to correspondence with her from the hon. Member for West Lancashire, for what reasons the Disclosure and Barring Service took from 8 October 2015 to 18 April 2016 to process the certificate application of a West Lancashire constituent.

    Mike Penning

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is responsible for issuing criminal record certificates and the maintenance of children’s and adults’ barred lists. The Disclosure and Barring Service has a target of processing 85% of all disclosure applications within 21 days. In the vast majority of cases (95%), disclosure certificates are issued within 8 weeks (2015/16).

    Criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service do not expire after a specific period of time and do not include a renewal date. A certificate has no set period of validity. Information revealed through a Disclosure and Barring Service check reflects the information that was available at the time of its issue. Disclosure certificates are primarily designed to be used by an employer at the point of recruitment for a particular position.

    Some roles and some employers require the person concerned to “renew” their Disclosure and Barring Service check at specific intervals. The person can do that either by applying for a new certificate or by using the Disclosure and Barring Service Update Service.

    It would not be appropriate to comment on specific cases, but there are a number of factors which can affect the timely completion of checks. These include the length of time if can take for an employer to deal with the initial application, the accurate completion of the application form, the clarity of the information provided, the existence of conviction or non-conviction information, legal challenges and the operational effectiveness of the disclosure units of the police forces involved, if any, in the enhanced process. In some cases, forces will ask Disclosure and Barring Service to clarify some details provided by the applicant which requires further investigation and this can cause further delays.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many animals died during transportation to slaughterhouses in each of the last six years.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The new legislation Welfare at Time of Killing implemented in Wales in 2014 and in England in 2015 introduced new welfare reporting requirements. In addition, during 2015/16 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) introduced new animal welfare measures in slaughterhouses which included increased consistency of reporting of transport related breaches. Both these factors are likely to have contributed to the increased instances recorded in the previous two years.

    The FSA does not record the numbers of individual animals which died as a result of transportation to slaughterhouses. The FSA records the number of instances that animals were found to be Dead on Arrival (DOA). The number of DOA instances for the last six years are set out in the following table:

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    144

    64

    5

    16

    28

    265

    The FSA does not record the number of individual animals involved in a welfare breaches in slaughterhouses or during transportation. The FSA records the number of instances of breaches. The number of critical welfare breaches in slaughterhouses and transportation for the last six years are set out in the following tables:

    Slaughterhouses

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    158

    132

    65

    113

    217

    234

    Transportation

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    394

    342

    308

    535

    1,488

    2,097

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Bourne Report on the incidence of bovine TB in badger cull areas been updated since 2014.

    George Eustice

    Cull zone results published in the Independent Scientific Report on the Randomised Badger Culling Trials (RBCT) (chaired by Professor John Bourne) were last updated with data up to March 2013. There are no plans to do any further analysis of TB incidence in the RBCT areas