Tag: 2016

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the additional £1.25 billion made available in the March 2015 budget for child and adolescent mental health services (1) was actually spent, and (2) was spent in addition to 2014–15 spending levels.

Lord Prior of Brampton

£143 million of additional funding was allocated in 2015-2016 for child and adolescent mental health services. Of this £143 million, £126.2 million was spent. The Government has committed to making available the full £1.25 billion announced in the March 2015 budget to transform children and young people’s mental health services over the lifetime of this Parliament. From 2016-2017, NHS England are establishing a baseline spend for specific programme areas such as children and young people’s mental health and will be able to track increase in spend on an annual basis.

01/01/2023
Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on the transportation of nuclear warheads between RNAD Coulport and AWE Burghfield in each of the last three years.

Harriett Baldwin

All vehicles involved in the transportation of nuclear warheads are subject to a rigorous maintenance and inspection regime, carried out by highly skilled and experienced technicians. Inspections are made prior to each use, as well as six monthly safety and annual mandatory inspections.

The costs of the transportation of nuclear warheads between RNAD Coulport and AWE Burghfield are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The security of the nuclear warhead convoy was assessed by Ministry of Defence Security Advisors in September 2016 as overall ‘satisfactory’, demonstrating that ‘performance meets the required policy standard’.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 1.86 of the Autumn Statement 2014, how much of the planned annual £30 million additional budget for services for young people with eating disorders has been spent; and for what purposes that budget has been spent.

Alistair Burt

The whole £30 million for 2015/16 has been allocated directly to clinical commissioning groups. It is being spent on setting up new specialist community-based eating disorder teams. NHS England, in partnership with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services, developed the Children and Young People’s Eating Disorder Access and Waits Commissioning Guide, which was issued in August 2015 alongside the first tranche of money. The commissioning guide included detailed specifications on how to set up, train and support the teams.

The aims of these new services are to support quicker access to evidence based treatment in the community and a reduction in the rate of relapse. In time, this should decrease the need for hospital stays and reduce the need for transition to adult services, although where there is still a need, the transitioning arrangements should be improved.

This service will enable the introduction of an eating disorder standard for children and young people who are aged 18 and under, for treatment to be received within four weeks, from first contact with a designated health professional for routine cases and within one week for urgent cases.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times the Digital Accessibility Alliance has met in each quarter since it was formed.

Mr Edward Vaizey

This Government recognises the importance of Digital Inclusion, and remains committed to seeing an improvement in the provision of digital information services for disabled people. Annual correspondence with the FTSE 100 companies has indicated that from 2013 to present there has been a steady increase in the number of companies that provide video relay. We welcome this positive progress, and public facing Government departments will continue to work with interested parties to ensure this continues.

We have also been monitoring progress of the provision of access services for Video on Demand (VoD) content since 2013 through engagement with the Authority for Television on Demand (ATVOD), platform operators content providers and broadcasters.

The Alliance for Digital Accessibility (formerly the Digital Accessibility Alliance), which has met twice since its formation, has created the environment for members to engage and discuss Accessibility issues.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take in the forthcoming Charter Review to ensure that the BBC provides greater value for money.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Value for money is one of many issues we are looking at as part of Charter Review.

01/01/2023
Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what information his Department holds on the powers of appointment of university vice-chancellors for staff working in Confucius Institutes on their university campus.

Joseph Johnson

Universities are autonomous from Government and responsible, by law, for all decisions about who they appoint as staff.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the legal advice given by the Attorney General in Northern Ireland that genocide is being committed against Christian and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

This Government condemns Daesh atrocities against Christians, other minorities, and the majority Muslim populations of Iraq and Syria. As the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has said, the Government’s position remains that although there is a very strong case to answer, ultimately it should be a matter for judicial authorities.

We are supporting the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account. And we continue to deliver our comprehensive strategy to defeat Daesh, and thereby stop them from preventing more atrocities.

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in which reporting periods the performance of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise has (a) met and (b) exceeded its breach performance level for the (i) train operating company minute delay, (ii) cancellation and (iii) short-formation benchmark.

Claire Perry

Since Rail Industry period 7 in financial year 2015/16 (ending mid October 2015), GTR have exceeded the breach level for the Cancellations benchmark. The Secretary of State issued GTR with a Remedial Plan Notice last year requiring them to set out in a Remedial Plan the measures they will take in order to improve their performance and included benchmarks against which GTR are measured for the duration of the Remedial Plan. GTR has not breached the remedial plan cancellations benchmark and are under the breach benchmark for train operating company minute delays and peak short formations.

01/01/2023

Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Attorney General, what plans he has to extend the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Jeremy Wright

The Government has committed to extending the scope of the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and is carefully considering its approach.

The number of offenders who have had their sentence increased under the unduly lenient sentence scheme in each of the last five years is set out below.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Offenders who have had their sentence increased by the Court of Appeal	95	62	61	106	102

Some cases attract multiple referrals from various sources and we do not record how many referrals each case has received. The total number of cases where requests were received by the Attorney General’s Office for sentences to be reviewed in each of the last five years is set out below.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Total number of referrals received by the Attorney General’s Office for sentences to be reviewed under the scheme	377	435	498	674	713

The number of sentences referred to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme that were (a) increased and (b) kept the same in each of the last five years is set out below.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Total number of sentences referred to the Court of Appeal	117	82	70	122	136
Total number of sentences that were increased	95	62	61	106	102
Total number of sentences that remained unchanged	22	20	9	16	34

The number of referrals under the unduly lenient sentence scheme that have been rejected due to falling outside the remit of the scheme in each of the last five years is set out below.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Number of referrals that have been rejected due to the offence falling outside the remit of the scheme	62	75	131	194	228
Number of referrals received out of time	3	12	9	10	16

01/01/2023

Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what consultation took place between the Government and hon. Members prior to the UK disarmament ambassador to the UN speaking against the UN resolution to start negotiations in 2017 on a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Sir Alan Duncan

There have been no consultations between the Government and Parliament specifically on the UN General Assembly resolution on the nuclear weapons ban treaty. However on 18 July 2016, Parliament debated the successor submarine programme to maintain the UK’s independent, minimum, credible nuclear deterrent, during which the issue of the ban treaty was raised.

01/01/2023