Tag: 2016

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of ticket machines were fitted with labels advertising ticket offices of each train operating company on the most recent date for which figures are available.

    Claire Perry

    Under the terms of the Ticketing Settlement Agreement

    “the opening hours of each Ticket Office must be prominently displayed at a location nearby that is accessible to members of the public at all times unless the Authority agrees otherwise” (s6-16, p.144).

    It is for the operator to decide where the times are displayed. Therefore, the Department has no information as to how many would be on ticket machines.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated radiological dose uptake was in terms of (a) individual whole equivalent dose in milli-Sievert and (b) collective dose in man-Sievert for (i) Services and his Department’s civilian personnel involved in and responding to the incident, (ii) civilian emergency services personnel responders attending and (iii) members of the public during each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that refugees arriving in other EU member-states who have family in the UK are identified and supported in being reunited with their relatives.

    James Brokenshire

    All migrants arriving in other EU Member States who wish to seek asylum should do so in those States and provide information to the asylum authorities about any family members in the UK or other Member States so that the family unity provisions in the Dublin Regulation can be applied.

    We are providing further resources to the European Asylum Support Office, including help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy, to identify and register asylum applicants, including children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

    We will consider any request made to us by other Member States to take responsibility for asylum applicants because they have close family who are legally in the UK in accordance with the terms of the Dublin Regulation.

    If not claiming asylum, individuals outside the UK are entitled to apply under the Immigration Rules to join relatives in the UK by making the appropriate visa application.

  • Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Tracey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy for palliative care funding to provide universal access to bereavement services for bereaved families of children and young people.

    Ben Gummer

    A review of the allocation methodology of the annual children’s hospice grant is being considered to support an equitable, transparent and evidence based formula making use of data from all children’s hospices in 2016/17. The aim is to provide clear advice to hospices on the grant for 2016/17 and a proposed way forward to review the formula and how hospices can contribute to that process.

    Adult hospices, including voluntary sector hospices, receive on average around a third of their funding from the National Health Service and it is for local commissioners to ensure that the services they commission meet the needs of their local populations, including in end of life care.

    Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting the needs of those requiring children’s palliative care services, considering the full range of local provision, both statutory and voluntary sectors, and the wishes of children and young people and their families. CCGs will need to make sure that they provide information on the support available locally for children with palliative care needs and their families.

    Many maternity units have specialist bereavement midwives and dedicated bereavement suites to support parents but we know that this support is not available in every unit and we are currently considering the actions that we can take to improve bereavement services further. For families of older children and young people chaplaincy services may be able to provide support.

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. It is the responsibility of employers to ensure staff receive appropriate development to deliver safe and effective healthcare. This includes training in providing care to children and young people with life-shortening conditions.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to address installation issues arising from the satellite broadband subsidy scheme.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Customers can report any installation issues to the supplier, BT or BDUK. BT and BDUK work with suppliers to ensure that any customer issues are addressed.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-06-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people diagnosed with lung diseases.

    George Freeman

    Data on the number of people diagnosed with lung diseases in not available. However, the British Lung Foundation estimates that more than 12 million people in the United Kingdom are affected by lung disease, (of which eight million people have asthma, just over a million have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and more than 150,000 have interstitial lung disease.)

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Saudi Arabia about foreign workers now unemployed and owed pay; and whether they plan to consult the governments of Pakistan, India and the Philippines on that issue.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of reports of some third country migrant workers not receiving payments. This is a matter for the parties involved in each situation to find a solution.

  • Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Hannah Bardell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hannah Bardell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps he is taking to provide crèche services for the children of hon. Members.

    Tom Brake

    Following consultation with Members, a nursery model of childcare was determined as best fulfilling their needs and the needs of the children. The Nursery opened in 2010. A crèche would need to be separate from the nursery, and would require appropriate accommodation. The Nursery Governance Committee discussed this at its meeting in October 2015 and was not persuaded of the case for a crèche.

    However, I am sure that the Commission would welcome fuller consideration of the case for such services, and of an appropriate funding model.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions the Clean Growth Committee has met to discuss air quality to date; and who attended each such meeting.

    Rory Stewart

    The inter-ministerial group on Clean Growth meets as and when required and its members include ministers and officials from the relevant departments, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

  • 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 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to apply for an extension to the exemption to the European Regulation 181/2011/EU for drivers from the requirement for disability awareness training for personnel of carriers and terminal managing bodies after March 2017.

    Andrew Jones

    Positive interaction between drivers and disabled passengers can be key to giving many people the confidence to travel by bus, and so I welcome the industry’s continuing efforts to deliver effective disability awareness training within the Certificate of Professional Competence.

    Regulation 181/2011 will make such training compulsory for all drivers when the present five year exemption ends in February 2018. The exemption cannot be renewed beyond this date but we are working with bus operators to ensure they have the tools to deliver meaningful training, meeting the needs of drivers and disabled passengers alike.