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Tag: 2016

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the government of Bangladesh to improve (a) working conditions, (b) safety standards and (c) pay in clothes factories used by international companies in Bangladesh.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK, through FCO and DFID is encouraging the government of Bangladesh to improve working conditions and safety standards in the garment sector in a number of ways.

    The UK actively lobbies the government on these issues through the 3 + 5 mechanism that was established as part of the Sustainability Compact.

    We are also working with the Government of Bangladesh to improve the framework within which factories operate. As part of our Garments sector programme, we are building the capacity of the government to significantly improve factory regulation and inspection by strengthening the Department for Inspection of Factories and Establishment. Through our support, this Department will have a 575 member cadre of professional labour inspectors, who among other things, will ensure that factories are safe and that they pay workers their salaries and overtime payments according to the law. The UK has also helped fund building, fire and electrical safety inspections in 1500 garment factories.

    In 2013, as a result of lobbying from major stakeholders including the UK, Bangladesh raised the minimum wage for the country’s garment workers by 77 percent to 5,300 taka (£42) per month.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to healthcare professionals involved with children with mental health problems on whether they have a responsibility to inform parents that their child may be eligible for disability living allowance.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department of Health has not issued guidance to healthcare professionals on informing parents of their children’s eligibility for disability living allowance.

    The Department for Work and Pensions provides information on benefits, including Disability Living Allowance (DLA), in a range of formats at:

    www.gov.uk

    This includes information relating to DLA for children and includes links to benefit eligibility calculators that will signpost the user to further information about DLA for children.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the retention of social workers in that profession.

    Edward Timpson

    This Government has invested over £700m in social worker training and improvement since 2010. Programmes like Step Up to Social Work, Frontline and the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment are all focussed on bringing high quality people into social work and supporting them in their first year. Early evidence suggest that this investment is paying off: the first findings from a three-year longitudinal evaluation of Step Up cohorts 1 and 2 indicate that 84% cohort 1 Step Up graduates identified in the study were still practising in child and family social work after three years (compared to 65% of all social work education graduates in 2013-14 who were employed as social workers six months after leaving their course).

    As well as supporting high quality training and development of social workers, we are developing a national, practice-focused, career pathway based on the skills and knowledge that social workers should display at all levels in their career and incentivising new teaching partnership arrangements between employers and higher education institutions to improve recruitment, retention and development of social workers.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33646, what conditions of access have been placed by (a) Jersey and (b) the Cayman Islands on their registers of beneficial ownership.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer the hon. Member to the text of the arrangements concluded between the UK and the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and to the Oral Statement given by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) on 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 23.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beneficial-ownership-uk-overseas-territories-and-crown-dependencies

    https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-04-11/debates/1604111000001/PanamaPapers#contribution-1604116000104

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what clinical outcomes data his Department holds for (a) sickle cell disease and (b) thalassaemia in each (i) clinical commissioning group area, (ii) trust area and (iii) national sickle cell and thalassaemia centre area.

    George Freeman

    NHS England requires commissioned providers to submit quality dashboard data on an annual basis. Key indicators include the percentage of patients on the National Haemoglobinopathy Register, those offered an annual review and the proportion of eligible patients offered and receiving neurological screening.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43316, which elements of the EU Nature Directive transposed into UK law her Department is considering for repeal.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU including for existing legislation.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-01-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will list all the occasions they discussed parity of esteem, as outlined in the Belfast Agreement 1998, with the government of Ireland; who attended; on what date; what was discussed; and what action, if any, was taken.

    Lord Dunlop

    As has been explained previously to the Noble Lord, the UK and Irish Governments meet regularly at ministerial and official level to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. These include matters relating to the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25396, if she will place in the Library a copy of the formal monthly performance reports provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each of the last six months.

    Karen Bradley

    The operational performance plans of police disclosure units are matters for Chief Constables in association with Police and Crime Commissioners.

    The DBS regularly publishes detailed datasets showing statistics against internal performance standards which form the basis of its monthly reports to the Home Office. This includes performance against their target to issue 95% of all disclosures within 56 days and the number of disclosure applications in progress each month. This can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-1-disclosure-progress-information-disclosed-and-update-service-subscriptions.

    DBS also publishes datasets showing statistics against service level agreements with police forces. These apply to the performance of police disclosure units and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dbs-dataset-5-police-disclosure-unit-performance.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much central Government funding has been allocated to how many community pharmacies in (a) London and (b) Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16; and what proportion of the total revenue of community pharmacies that funding represents.

    Alistair Burt

    No central Government funding has been allocated to community pharmacies either in London or the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency. NHS pharmaceutical services are commissioned by NHS England, which funds service fees and allowances. Public health services, including from community pharmacies, are commissioned and funded by local authorities.

    Community pharmacies can derive revenue from a range of sources, including from the National Health Service, non-NHS and local authorities. The total revenue of community pharmacies is not held centrally.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to encourage large businesses to switch to carbon neutral energy sources.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has taken significant steps to encourage large businesses to switch to carbon neutral energy sources. With regard to heat, the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) supports households, businesses, public bodies and charities in transitioning from conventional forms of heating to renewable sources of heat. In November, the Government renewed its commitment to the transition to a low carbon economy by confirming a continued budget for the RHI. The overall budget for the RHI is to rise from £430m in 2015/16 to £1.15bn in 2020/21.

    With regard to electricity, our policies secured an estimated £42 billion of investment in low carbon generation between 2010 and 2014 alone, with more in the pipeline for the future.

    Large and energy intensive businesses are incentivised to reduce their emissions – including through use of low-carbon energy sources – through the EU Emissions Trading System. The Government is also working with the eight most energy intensive sectors to produce decarbonisation action plans, drawing on a set of roadmaps published last year.

    Of course, the lowest carbon energy is the energy that isn’t used and the Department also has a number of initiatives to encourage energy efficiency in business, including the announcements concerning a new carbon and energy reporting regime made by my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Budget.

    With regard to large businesses switching to carbon neutral energy sources for transport, that is ably supported by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.