Tag: 2016

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints have been received about services at (a) Penarth and (b) Cardiff Jobcentre Plus in the last 12 months; and what the general subjects of those complaints were.

    Priti Patel

    In the last 12 months 8, 34 and 88 complaints have been received at Penarth Jobcentre, Alexander House Jobcentre, Cardiff and Charles Street Jobcentre, Cardiff, respectively.

    The general subjects of complaints were: the relevance of information provided; whether claimants were treated with respect; the fairness of DWP policies; accessibility of the Department’s systems and services; whether it took too long to deliver the service and whether the Department got it wrong.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups and local authorities are jointly commissioning children’s palliative care as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department does not collect information centrally on commissioning of children’s palliative care by clinical commissioning groups. Clinical commissioning groups 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.

    The Children and Families Act 2014 requires joint commissioning arrangements between local authorities in England and their partner commissioning bodies for children and young people with special educational need and disability. It does not require clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to jointly commission children’s palliative care.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In January the Prime Minister announced a package of new measures to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea. This included £20m of additional funding for seismic surveys, a £1m prize fund to maximise use of the 2015 seismic surveys and £700k funding for new 3D visualisation centre at Heriot Watt University.

    This builds upon previous fiscal measures and seismic funding made by this government to ensure the UK Continental Shelf remains an attractive destination for investment – safeguarding the future of this vital national asset.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training teachers preparing to work in prisons receive beyond their teaching qualification.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    In the majority of adult prisons in England education is delivered by Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) providers. Individuals wishing to be employed by OLASS providers to teach in prisons should meet the same standards as those preparing to teach SFA funded provision in the learning and skills sector in England.

    In addition, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills grant funds the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) to deliver a specific programme of work to support teaching and learning in prisons, this includes activity to support the professional development of OLASS teachers. In 2016-17 we made available £0.6m to the ETF.

    Training such as in health and safety is the responsibility of the Prison Governor and is arranged locally for OLASS staff by individual prisons.

    There are also a number of privately managed prisons where the operator is responsible for providing education under their contract with the National Offender Management Service. The Directors of those prisons ensure that, beyond their teaching qualifications, teachers will attend a training course varying between three days and one week, depending on which prison they work at. This training is aimed at preparing them to work in the prison environment. A number of these prisons operate a further period where the new starter will observe and shadow existing staff, usually lasting two weeks.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff he plans to recruit to oversee the audit to tackle racial disparities in public service outcomes.

    Ben Gummer

    Senior appointments to the new unit are currently being made from within the Civil Service. The size of the team will be determined over the coming weeks as the details of the work to undertake the Audit are completed.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 6.32 of his Department’s publication, Living Well for Longer: One year on, published in March 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of the time taken to publish the hepatitis improvement framework on (a) members of the South Asian population and (b) other people in England with hepatitis C.

    Jane Ellison

    No such assessment has been made.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that freedom of speech in universities is safeguarded; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the reported forced closure of an Israel Society event at King’s College London on his Department’s policies.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government strongly opposes any kind of violence or intimidation that curtails free speech in universities and leads to the closure of peaceful meetings.

    King’s College London has undertaken its own review of the protests at the Israeli Society event on 19th January and concluded that a number of individuals “intentionally disrupted the rights of others to exercise freedom of speech within the law”.

    Whilst the violent protests were deplorable, KCL has acted to reiterate its commitment to free speech and take disciplinary measures against individuals concerned.

    The Prevent duty introduced in September 2015 requires institutions to have robust policies and procedures in place to manage events such as this in order to protect students and staff and safeguard freedom of speech. As the designated monitoring body, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will be making an assessment of compliance with the requirements of the duty.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s current preferred bidder is for building complex warships.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The term ‘preferred bidder’ is used in the context of the supplier down-selection process following a commercial competition. There is presently no commercial competition for the building of complex warships.

  • MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    MiDavies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department and NHS England have had with the National Information Board on developing a digital maternity tool as recommended in the National Maternity Review.

    Ben Gummer

    To date there have been no formal discussions with the National Information Board (NIB) in relation to developing a maternity digital tool. Baroness Cumberlege, Chair of the National Maternity Review, has been a member of the NIB since December 2015. We understand that Baroness Cumberlege has had informal discussions with the NIB Chair regarding the Maternity Review.

    The digital technology workstream for the implementation of the maternity review will support the rollout of patient-held digital maternity records and the development of a digital tool to support expectant parents with access to improved information to support their pregnancy, choice and connection to peers.

    This work will embed the ambitions outlined by the NIB in relation to supporting greater self-care through digital services and tools, paper-free at the point of care.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the implications for his policies are of the position of the US State Department on Ethiopia’s use of anti-terror legislation to detain politicians and protestors, set out in its press release of 29 April 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    James Duddridge

    The UK Government is aware of both the European parliament’s Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia and the UN special rapporteurs’ report on Ethiopia’s alleged use of force against protestors in Oromia. We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.

    We will continue to work with our partners, including the US, in urging the Ethiopian government to use restraint in their handling of the protests in Oromia.