Tag: 2016

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the financial effect of the provision of the Childcare Bill on primary schools with nursery provision.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    The Childcare Bill delivers the government’s election manifesto commitment to give families where parents are working an entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for their three- and four-year olds. Alongside other providers, primary schools, including free schools and academies, will play an important role in the delivery of this new entitlement from September 2017.

    Getting the funding right is essential for successful delivery. Together with the funding announced at Summer Budget, we will be investing over £1 billion per year by 2019-20 to fund this manifesto pledge. The funding includes £300 million for a significant uplift to the rate paid for the two-, three- and four-year old entitlements. We are also investing at least £50 million of capital funding to create additional places in nurseries and estimate a further 4,000 places will be created through new Free Schools.

    The government acknowledges that not all schools will be able to offer the full 30 hours entitlement themselves. Where that is the case, partnerships between schools and other providers, such as childminders, will allow parents to access their entitlement through their school. Partnerships like this already exist, and we will be drawing out lessons learned and good practice from them in order to help others to establish their own partnerships for the delivery of the 30 hours entitlement.

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

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to run a second Be Clear on Cancer campaign on oesophago-gastric cancers.

    Jane Ellison

    There will be two national ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns in 2016-17. The decision on which cancers these campaigns will focus on will be informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, analysts and key voluntary sector organisations. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to run, including all available evaluation data. A second national oesophago-gastric campaign will be considered alongside the other existing campaigns.

    PHE is analysing cancer waiting times data and campaign tracking research and it is expected that the first national oesophago-gastric cancer (1st wave) interim report will be published this summer.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 March (HL7168), whether they will now state whether there will be more or fewer Royal Navy ships in commission by 2025 than the 57 currently.

    Earl Howe

    On current planning assumptions there will be at least the same number of warships in service with the Royal Navy in 2025 as at present. However, the aggregate tonnage of the Royal Navy will have increased greatly due to the introduction of the aircraft carriers HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH and HMS PRINCE OF WALES. Due to the withdrawal from service of HMS GLEANER, an unarmed inshore survey vessel, the Royal Navy will have one fewer non-combat vessel that it does today.

  • Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Gavin Shuker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Shuker on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Iranian government on the imprisonment of Ebrahim Firouzi and other Christians in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I discuss many issues with my Iranian counterpart. Restriction of freedom of expression, religion and belief continue to cause concern. I have repeatedly called on the Iranian government to end all persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith, and to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians, regardless of belief

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of proposed insurance-based reimbursement funding models, including cap and collar models, on the UK’s ability to appropriately reward innovation whilst also tackling antimicrobial resistance.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The Department is in discussions with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry regarding possible future approaches to the pricing and reimbursement of new antimicrobial products, including insurance-based reimbursement arrangements such as ‘cap and collar’ models.

    These discussions are not yet at a point where an assessment of their effect can be made. However there is potential for such models to reconcile the current contradiction between conservation goals and industry revenue, facilitating appropriate stewardship of antibiotics.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 3 April (HL7210), how much surplus food is now being redistributed from supermarkets; and what action they are taking to increase the proportion of food redistributed to charities.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) published its Food Surplus and Waste Quantification report in May this year. This estimates that 5,000 tonnes of surplus food was redistributed by the UK retail sector last year.

    WRAP has established a Redistribution Working Group under Courtauld 2025 to share best practice and help identify and overcome barriers to redistributing food. This Working Group met for the first time in July this year. All of the major retailers are carrying out initiatives aimed at increasing store-level redistribution, or looking at how to maximise distribution from distribution centres or make it easier for their suppliers to redistribute surplus food.

  • Andy Burnham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andy Burnham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Burnham on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff there were in the UK Border Force and its predecessor in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13, (e) 2013-14, (f) 2014-15 and (g) 2015-16; and what the UK Border Force’s planned total staff complement is for 2016-17.

    Mrs Theresa May

    The Border Force workforce is drawn from two precursor organisations: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Immigration Service. Border Force was established in its current form in March 2012 and since that time the workforce has ranged from approximately 7800 – 8100 in full-time equivalents.

    The detailed breakdown requested is as follows (all figures are full-time equivalents):

    March 2010 4506 – UKBA

    4639 – HMRC (transferred to UKBA 1st April 2010)

    March 2011 8269 – UKBA

    March 2012 7846 – Border Force

    March 2013 8123 – Border Force

    March 2014 8044 – Border Force

    March 2015 8153 – Border Force

    Workforce numbers for FY16/17 have not yet been finalised.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There are no staff employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) who are in receipt of (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance. This is also the case for FCO Services, the British Council, Wilton Park Executive Agency, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Great Britain China Centre.

    To obtain information for local staff employed directly by our overseas embassies and missions would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will implement a treatment pathway for people who suffer from lipoedema to allow such people to receive liposuction on the NHS.

    Jane Ellison

    There are several different treatments available for the management of lipoedema such as compression therapy, exercise and massage. There is limited evidence on the efficacy of liposuction for the treatment of lipoedema, and it is not routinely available on the National Health Service.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they apply, and what circumstances they take into account, in deciding whether to appoint a Commissioner to take over the running of a local authority’s children’s service.

    Lord Nash

    Commissioners are appointed where Ofsted find persistent or systemic failure by a council to deliver children’s services to an acceptable quality.

    Persistent failure is defined as a council being rated inadequate more than once within a five year period. Systemic failure is defined as a council being rated inadequate across the board on all key Ofsted judgements.

    Commissioners are appointed to direct the improvement of children’s social care services; the Council’s leadership and management of them; and, increasingly, to review whether these services should be removed from council control in order to secure more rapid and sustainable improvement.

    Since January 2015 the Secretary of State has appointed five Children’s Services Commissioners.