Tag: 2016

David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time taken for the transfer of documents between GP surgeries when a patient move to a different health area was in each of the last five years.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not collect information on the time taken to transfer documents between general practitioner (GP) surgeries.

The GP contract requires GP practices to use the electronic facility known as “GP2GP” for the safe and effective transfer of any computerised patient records where they have access to this system. As at end September 2015, 97.2% of GP practices were using GP2GP. 5,859,890 patient electronic health records have been transferred by GP2GP to the patient’s new GP since 2007.

01/01/2023
Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to support the Humber region’s biomass projects.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC officials have met with local biomass generators and developers. There are several biomass projects at different stages of development around Immingham, Hull and Stallingborough. The £162million investment at the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, a 40 MW straw fired biomass plant, has recently opened.

Biomass generation is contributing jobs to Humberside. As a result of £100million in investment, the Humber International Terminal (HIT) at the Port of Immingham is already receiving some of the world’s largest shipments of biomass, destined for Drax, in the adjacent county of North Yorkshire. Drax is supported by the Renewables Obligation and has secured a Contract for Difference to convert another unit to biomass (under the Final Investment Decision enabling Renewables programme). If State Aid approval for the contract is obtained, the Humber will see some 6 million tonnes per annum of pellets imported into the UK. This will enhance its position for future business, including in the heat sector. The UK government continue to support Drax with the State Aid case.

01/01/2023
Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of interviews for a first-time adult passport application was conducted on a face-to-face basis in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales.

James Brokenshire

In 2015, Her Majesty’s Passport Office interviewed 222,264 adult customers applying for their first passport. Of these 218,742 (98.41%) were face-to-face interviews in person. The remainder were carried out using our Video Interview Service, typically used in the more remote parts of the country. The interview is undertaken by Her Majesty’s Passport Office staff over a video link, and the customer is accompanied at all times by one of our partner organisations.

This is broken down by country to:

England: 189,252 (99.99%) in person interviews

Northern Ireland: 3,965 (100%) in person interviews

Scotland: 15,496 (85.83%) in person interviews

Wales: 10,029 (91.24%) in person interviews

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average level of funding for GPs in (a) Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group, (b) comparator clinical commissioning groups and (c) England was in each of the last 3 years.

Alistair Burt

Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that the funding for general practitioners (GPs) in Southampton City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was £31,892,320 in 2013/14 and £33,578,245 in 2014/15.

The comparator CCGs fall into the area of Wessex. The average level of funding for GPs in comparator CCGs was £40,243,811 in 2013/14 and £43,300,640 in 2014/15.

The average level of funding for GPs in England was £36,169,099 in 2013/14 and £37,868,835 in 2014/15.

Data is not available for earlier years.

01/01/2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance he has given to HM Revenue and Customs on the use of powers in the Finance Act 2014 to issue accelerated payment notices for seeking retrospective tax payments.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has the power to seek upfront payment of disputed tax in certain avoidance cases.

The legislation is not retrospective. It does not create any new tax liability; it simply alters where the tax sits while the liability is being disputed.

The taxpayer can continue to dispute the case and will be repaid with interest should they win.

At 31 March 2016 HMRC had issued over 46,000 accelerated payments notices, representing over £4.8bn of tax in dispute; and over £2.5bn had been received.

01/01/2023
Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support he has provided to local authorities and the construction industry to encourage the promotion of self-build schemes for constructing new homes.

Gavin Barwell

We have a strong commitment to supporting and encouraging the growth of self- and custom build homes.

The Government has implemented new legislation requiring most local planning authorities to hold and have regard to registers for those seeking to build their own home in a local authority area. Subject to Parliamentary processes, in the Autumn we will also introduce secondary legislation flowing from the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which will require local planning authorities to find and give permission to suitable land reflecting the demand demonstrated by the registers. We have made available £32 million in new burdens funding over the Spending Review period in order to support local planning authorities in meeting these new requirements.

In the 2015 Spending Review, the Government also announced a £3 billion loan fund of which £1 billion is specifically earmarked for short term loans to support small and medium builders and custom build projects and is designed to provide further support for the legislation that we have introduced.

01/01/2023
Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to what forms of hostel accommodation he plans to apply the housing benefit cap.

Caroline Nokes

The Secretary of State announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 15 September 2016 that we would be deferring the application of Local Housing Allowance Rates in the social sector for all those living in supported accommodation until 2019/20.

At this point we will bring in a new funding model which will ensure that the sector continues to be funded at current levels, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

The Secretary of State also announced that a formal consultation would be published shortly.

01/01/2023
Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reduce the rate of VAT on tourism.

Mr David Gauke

The Government currently has no plans to alter the rates of VAT relating to the tourist industry.

I refer the Rt Hon gentleman to my comments during the Westminster Hall debate on 17th March 2015.

01/01/2023

Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Advice Note: 05/2015, paragraph 9 of the Harm-Benefit Analysis Process, how many project licences applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were recommended by the Animals and Science Regulation Unit in each year since 2012.

Mr John Hayes

The Harm-Benefit Analysis (HBA) is undertaken, on behalf of the Secretary of State, by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors, all of whom are veterinary or medically qualified and trained in assessing research proposals. The HBA is the process of considering a research proposal to make a judgement whether the likely harms that the animals will experience are justified by the likely benefits. Under section 18 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, inspectors advise the Secretary of State who decides whether and on what terms a project licence should be granted.

The number of project licences which were recommended for grant by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors between 2012 and 2015 are shown in table 1, column (c).

The Secretary of State has not rejected any of the recommendations for granting project licences made by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors between 2012 and 2015.

The Home Office does not keep records of applications that have been rejected or withdrawn at the concept or drafting stage [24507]. The Home Office does not keep records of which applications were withdrawn as a result of advice from the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors.

The Home Office refers project licence applications to both the Animals in Science Committee and external independent assessors for critical review. The number of project licences referred to both is given in Table 1 columns (a) and (b) respectively for the years 2012-15.

Year	(a) Project licence applications referred to the Animals in Science Committee[1]	(b) Project licence applications referred to independent assessors	(c) Project licences granted
2012	9	4	626
2013	3	0	604
2014	4	1	474
2015	3	0	577

[1] Prior to 2013 the independent advisory body was entitled the ‘Animals Procedures Committee’

01/01/2023

Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effects of proposed changes to the way in which drugs are assessed for inclusion in the Cancer Drugs Fund on cancer drug patients.

George Freeman

NHS England has advised that it envisages, under the new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund, that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

01/01/2023