The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many key lock incidents there have been in each month since May 2010; how many such incidents related to doors of gates left unlocked; and in which establishments those incidents took place.
Andrew Selous
The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential merits of the Children’s House model for children who are victims of abuse.
Mike Penning
This government has made tackling child abuse a priority. We set up the first ever cross-government Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling this abhorrent crime. We have also invested an extra £100m to support vulnerable children and we are providing £7m for services supporting child abuse survivors.
We have not had any ministerial discussions about the Children’s House model, but more widely the Government is committed to improving the experience of child witnesses in the criminal justice system. We have increased the number of intermediaries to support them to give their best evidence. In addition, vulnerable witnesses can give evidence away from the courtroom and away from the court building at remote sites set up nationally in each criminal justice region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
The number of women who were diagnosed with fibroadenomas in each of the last five years, and the proportion of women with fribroadenomas who went on to develop breast cancer in 2015, is not held.
In addition, information on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years is not held.
There are several types of benign breast lump, including fibroadenomas. Although most lumps are not breast cancer, any unusual changes to the breasts should be checked by a general practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. If a GP finds a lump on examination, they will routinely refer the patient to be seen by a hospital specialist.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his policies are of the findings in The Lancet Series on breastfeeding, published in January 2016; and what steps his Department is taking to increase breastfeeding rates.
Ben Gummer
Following the discontinuation of the Infant Feeding Survey, the Department has been exploring with Public Health England (PHE) and other key stakeholders alternative methods and sources of information to monitor the impact of its policy on infant feeding.
In future, the Maternity and Children’s Dataset will regularly capture data on breastfeeding initiation and prevalence from all women using NHS services rather than using a survey sample. This means that local service providers and commissioners can have up-to-date (e.g. quarterly) information about outcomes for their local populations, enabling service provision to be more agile, responsive and targeted.
The Government is committed to supporting breastfeeding through the Healthy Child Programme. Breastfeeding is also included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so that the improvements can be tracked, and action taken as needed.
Since 2010, we have recruited more than 2,100 additional midwives who will provide women with the information, advice and support they need with breastfeeding. A further 6,000 midwives are in training. There are also 3,400 more health visitors than in 2010.
The Department is working with PHE, NHS England and UNICEF to try and encourage women to breastfeed for the first six months, although we recognise that not all mothers choose to or are able to breastfeed.
Support and information is currently available to health professionals and parents through NHS Choices, the National Breastfeeding Helpline, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, the Start4Life Information Service for Parents and local peer support programmes.
The Department has not retained a record of how many full-time equivalent staff there were with a specific focus on breastfeeding between 2010 and 2016; breastfeeding policy has always formed part of the larger maternity policy for which the Department has the policy lead. Resources to cover this policy area would have fluctuated according the level of work required at any one time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-07-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 12 July (HL921), what changes the Red Arrows offered to make to their original programme; and what, if any, safety advice was received by the Red Arrows and from whom.
Earl Howe
The Red Arrows did not offer to make any changes to their original, approved routine or display sequence. However, they did liaise with the event organisers, who are responsible for mitigating risks to those on the ground and those in boats in the local estuary, on where best to locate the display. To avoid flying over anyone in the estuary, the Red Arrows were prepared to display over the sea.
The Red Arrows did not receive any safety advice specifically relating to a display at Fowey Regatta.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government is closely monitoring global migration developments, including the number of Mediterranean crossings, working in partnership with the EU and in source and transit countries, to address the mass movements of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This includes tackling criminal gangs who facilitate journeys and exploit migrants.
We have not made an estimate of the number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017. Determining refugee status is at the discretion of EU Member States and we do not estimate the number of illegal migrants that will be granted refugee status.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 November (HL3563), what provision was made in the 2015 Spending Review in the Department for Communities and Local Government allocation for local authorities in 2016–17, and in each subsequent year, for the introduction of the National Living Wage.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Spending Review decisions took the National Living Wage into account along with a range of other financial and economic factors. I refer the noble Lord to the provisional local government finance settlement, published on 17 December, which builds on the Spending Review outcome and also took account of pressures on adult social care. Policies to provide funding for social care include:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department’s aid policy of the research on global income distribution published by Oxfam on 19 January 2016.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Eradicating extreme poverty is central to DFID’s mission and the Sustainable Development Goals. Oxfam say inequality affects the politics around growth. Our economic development strategy takes account of this by supporting inclusive growth and tackling inequality by creating opportunities, widening access to them (including through education and health), economically empowering women and leaving no-one behind.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the planned availability of toilet facilities is (a) on Crossrail trains and (b) at Crossrail train stations.
Claire Perry
The Elizabeth line, being constructed by Crossrail, will be a high-frequency metro-style train service, and will carry an estimated 200 million passengers a year.
The vast majority of journeys will be of a short duration and on board toilets would take up a significant amount of space.
It is therefore not intended that toilets will be provided on the new trains as these would displace approximately 600 passengers per hour. 80 per cent of stations on the Elizabeth line will have toilet facilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards are in place to ensure that private hire vehicle operators remain responsible for journeys sub-contracted to other licensed operators across licensing authority boundaries.
Andrew Jones
Whilst private hire vehicle operators have the freedom to subcontract bookings, the operator that originally accepted a sub-contracted booking remains ultimately responsible for that booking.
Both the initial operator who accepts the booking and the operator who fulfils the booking by providing a driver and vehicle are under a duty to keep records of the booking. The relevant enforcement authorities are able to check those records.
All bookings, including those subcontracted, have to be fulfilled by operators, drivers and vehicles all of whom have been licensed by their local authority.