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Tag: 2016

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has refused any request for a US administration flight to land on Diego Garcia.

    Sir Alan Duncan

    Use of the defence facility in Diego Garcia is governed by the Exchange of Notes between the UK and US, which places treaty obligations on both parties. No request for a US administration flight has been refused under existing procedures.

  • Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Liz McInnes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz McInnes on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to include proposals related to musculoskeletal conditions in the planned Green Paper on disability employment.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Green Paper will explore a range of ways to improve the prospects and transform the lives of disabled people and people with musculoskeletal conditions and other long term health conditions so that their health needs and employment aspirations are met in the best possible way.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take account of lower fuel costs in its reform of the Bus Service Operators Grant.

    Andrew Jones

    The Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) is paid to operators based in England on a fixed rate of £0.3457 per litre and is no longer directly linked to fuel duty. As a result, changes in fuel costs should not have any direct impact on the uptake of BSOG. We will be publishing more details of our plans to reform BSOG later this year.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effects of confidentiality agreements between employers not paying the national minimum wage and their employees challenging that non-payment on the numbers of people coming forward to make a complaint to ACAS.

    Nick Boles

    Final approved answer for 2016/02785

    No assessment has been made on the impact of confidentiality agreements on the identification of National Minimum Wage (NMW) non-compliance.

    Confidentiality is an important protection for workers who wish to make a NMW complaint. If any worker is concerned they have not received what they are entitled to they should contact the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 for free and confidential advice. HMRC follow up every complaint referred to them by Acas and compliance officers can investigate without knowledge of the complainant’s identity. In addition to complaint-led work HMRC investigate employers using third-party intelligence and risk-based targeted enforcement in sectors and areas where there is a higher risk of workers being paid below the NMW.

    The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break NMW law. Between April 2015 and November 2015 HMRC took action against over 500 businesses, identifying over £8 million for 46,000 workers. This is already the largest amount of arrears identified in any single year since the introduction of the NMW.

    Building on existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW including higher penalties, a dedicated HMRC team to tackle the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance and additional funding for HMRC from April 2016. We have also increased communications so that working people can access support to make complaints in confidence if needed

    Table 1: NMW enquiries to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline by trade sector, 2009/10 to 2014/15.

    Trade Sector

    2009/103

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Activities of households as employers

    20

    20

    40

    20

    20

    10

    Admin/Office work

    2,530

    4,410

    3,910

    2,950

    3,310

    2,390

    Agriculture and related activities

    140

    100

    120

    100

    110

    100

    Cleaning services

    440

    400

    350

    320

    420

    320

    Construction and related trades

    1,350

    1,290

    1,050

    760

    1,010

    810

    Education and teaching

    270

    370

    350

    300

    540

    450

    Food processing and packaging

    90

    40

    50

    20

    30

    30

    Hairdressing

    1,670

    1,520

    1,360

    930

    1,040

    730

    Health, social work and child care

    1,590

    1,750

    1,590

    1,430

    2,090

    1,930

    Hospitality

    1,880

    1,580

    1,560

    1,400

    1,780

    1,340

    Information technology and communication

    150

    170

    180

    120

    240

    150

    Modelling, entertainment, recreation

    90

    90

    110

    80

    160

    50

    Other manufacturing

    240

    200

    150

    140

    140

    120

    Security services

    240

    170

    140

    120

    150

    110

    Shellfish gathering

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    –

    Taxi/minicab services

    60

    40

    30

    30

    30

    20

    Textiles

    30

    10

    20

    20

    80

    30

    Training Provider

    –

    –

    –

    –

    70

    70

    Transport (other than Taxi/mini-cab)

    350

    380

    280

    270

    440

    260

    Warehousing, storage and distribution

    490

    440

    420

    340

    360

    310

    Wholesale and retail trade

    1,580

    1,560

    1,550

    1,150

    1,470

    930

    Other

    4,980

    3,880

    2,590

    1,980

    2,780

    2,210

    Not Known

    3,580

    2,190

    5,020

    5,350

    5,210

    7,180

    Total

    21,700

    20,600

    20,900

    17,800

    21,500

    19,500

    Source: Pay and Workers Rights Helpline and the Acas Helpline

    Notes:

    1. Calls to the helpline are in part driven by NMW policy announcements and communications activity.
    2. Sector level figures are rounded to the nearest 10, totals are rounded to the nearest 100.
    3. Reporting years are based on April to March, with the exception of 2009/10 as the Helpline opened in May 2009.

    Since the 1st April 2015, the Acas Helpline has, in addition to its usual services, been answering queries previously handled by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.

    Provisional in-year data for 2015/16 show there have been 9,800 queries relating to NMW legislation to the Acas Helpline and 3,700 queries relating to non-payment/deductions from NMW. Information on the number of NMW enquiries by trade sector is not collected on a comparable basis as Acas do not ask callers to disclose information about the sector worked in. Therefore, Acas only record this information when a caller chooses to provide it.

    Table 1: The number of NMW related calls received by Acas, 2011/12 to 2015/16.

    Query topic

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/164

    NMW

    4,400

    3,800

    3,800

    4,400

    9,800

    Non-Payment/Deductions from NMW

    2,000

    2,500

    2,900

    3,100

    3,700

    Source: Acas

    Notes

    1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
    2. One call may be counted as both a ‘NMW’ and ‘Non-payment/Deductions from NMW’ issue. A caller may enquire about the NMW rates and then raise a NMW underpayment issue therefore these categories should not be added together as it will involve double counting.
    3. For years earlier than 2015/16, a proportion of calls would have been referred to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline.
    4. Reporting years are based on April to March, with the exception of 2015/16 which covers April 2015 to January 2016, the latest period for which information is available.
  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with (a) NOMS and (b) the Prison Officers Association on evidence submitted to the Prison Service Pay Review Body on rates of pay for prison officers.

    Andrew Selous

    Each year the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) considers evidence from both NOMS and remit group trade unions (PCS, the POA and the PGA), then makes pay recommendations which are independent of all parties as well as wider Government. I have met with NOMS officials and POA officials separately and together on a number of occasions.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on treating people with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) the last 12 months and (b) each of the last five financial years.

    Jane Ellison

    The information is not available in the format requested.

    Such information as is available on the cost to the National Health Service of treating inflammatory bowel disease is from reference costs, which are the average unit cost to NHS hospital trusts of providing defined services to patients in a given financial year. Reference costs for acute care are collected by Healthcare Resource Group (HRG), a secondary classification system which groups similar treatments that use similar resources. Reference costs are published annually, most recently for 2014-15.

    The following table reflects the costs of treating patients who are admitted to hospital and does not include the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease in outpatient or other settings outside of hospital. The costs are not comparable between years because of changes to the HRG design and to the underlying primary classification system for diseases.

    Estimated total costs (£millions) to NHS hospitals of treating inflammatory bowel disease, 2010-11 to 2014-15

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Inflammatory bowel disease

    207.3

    147.1

    73.0

    78.8

    82.9

    Paediatric inflammatory bowel disease

    12.1

    8.4

    9.7

    10.6

    10.9

    Total

    219.4

    155.5

    82.6

    89.5

    93.8

    Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

    Notes:

    1. For each HRG or other currency in the reference cost collection, NHS hospital trusts submit a unit cost and amount of activity undertaken.
    2. Costs are not comparable between years:
      1. changes to the HRG design in 2011-12 resulted in the removal of HRGs specific to procedures for inflammatory bowel disease. These costs are included in other HRGs and are no longer separately identifiable.
      2. revised clinical coding guidance introduced in 2012-13 with the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10), fourth edition, resulted in the transfer of significant activity (and therefore costs) associated with infectious gastroenteritis and colitis to other HRGs.
    3. The following HRGs are included in the table:

    2010-11

    FZ37F Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 1 day or less

    FZ37G Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more with Major Complications and Comorbidities (CC) with Interventions

    FZ37H Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more with Major CC without Interventions

    FZ37I Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more without Major CC with Interventions

    FZ37J Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more without Major CC without Interventions

    FZ14Z Complex Procedures for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    FZ15Z Major Procedures for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    FZ28A Endoscopic or Intermediate Procedures for Inflammatory Bowel Disease 19 years and over with CC

    FZ28B Endoscopic or Intermediate Procedures for Inflammatory Bowel Disease 19 years and over without CC

    FZ28C Endoscopic or Intermediate Procedures for Inflammatory Bowel Disease 18 years and under

    PA27Z Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    2011-12

    FZ37F Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 1 day or less

    FZ37G Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more with Major CC with Interventions

    FZ37H Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more with Major CC without Interventions

    FZ37I Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more without Major CC with Interventions

    FZ37J Inflammatory Bowel Disease with length of stay 2 days or more without Major CC without Interventions

    PA27Z Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    2012-13

    FZ37K Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 3+

    FZ37L Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 0-2

    FZ37M Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Single Intervention, with CC Score 4+

    FZ37N Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-3

    FZ37P Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 5+

    FZ37Q Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 3-4

    FZ37R Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 1-2

    FZ37S Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 0

    PA27Z Inflammatory Bowel Disease

    2013-14 and 2014-15

    FZ37K Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 3+

    FZ37L Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Multiple Interventions, with CC Score 0-2

    FZ37M Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Single Intervention, with CC Score 4+

    FZ37N Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Single Intervention, with CC Score 0-3

    FZ37P Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 5+

    FZ37Q Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 3-4

    FZ37R Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 1-2

    FZ37S Inflammatory Bowel Disease without Interventions, with CC Score 0

    PF27A Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease with CC Score 1+

    PF27B Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease with CC Score 0

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to regulate unsolicited emails offering free online gambling opportunities.

    David Evennett

    The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 are clear that organisations may only send marketing emails to individuals if the individual has agreed to receive them, or where there is a clearly defined customer relationship and the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing the use of their contact details for the purposes of such marketing.

    The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds the rules and regulations governing unsolicited emails, and offers advice to consumers on reporting abuses. The Gambling Commission has been working with the Information Commissioner’s Office to raise awareness of the rules across the gambling industry.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people entering or leaving the UK by air had pre-boarding electronic checks in each of the last seven years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The total volumes of passengers and crew crossing the UK border via scheduled commercial air routes, along with the figures for the volumes that underwent electronic checks, are listed in the table below.

    The following table shows assessed number of passengers and crew travelling to and from the United Kingdom on commercial international aviation routes (excluding the Common Travel Area) and the percentage of those undergoing electronic checks, over the last five years. Full detail is not available for 2009/ 2010 given the events surrounding the termination of the Raytheon-led Trusted Borders contract.

    Year

    Number of passengers and crew on international scheduled commercial aviation routes (excluding Common Travel Area) travelling to and from the UK (Millions) *

    Percentage of passengers checked electronically on international scheduled commercial aviation routes (excluding Common Travel Area)

    2011

    190.4

    67%

    2012

    186.2

    69%

    2013

    182.3

    81%

    2014

    179.7

    96%

    2015

    211

    100%
  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the financial saving to the NHS of the policy to no longer routinely fund second stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients who have relapsed.

    David Mowat

    Decisions are taken by NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group that leads on the annual prioritisation process. The prioritisation process includes an impact assessment that compared the cost of a second transplant to alternative treatment pathways for relapsed disease.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to ensure that the rights of part-time and agency workers will be (a) protected in the long-term and (b) retained in primary legislation.

    Margot James

    As a Government, we have been clear that we will do nothing to undermine workers’ rights. All law in this area at the time of exit will be brought under UK law as part of the Great Repeal Bill, ensuring continuity.