Tag: 2016

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the funding for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services since 2010 has been spent on training and development of people working in such services.

Alistair Burt

All National Health Service trusts are required take account of and involve patients and the public in the way they plan and provide services. Transforming Participation in Health and Care, published September 2013, sets out the legal duties on NHS Commissioners to both involve patients in their own care and to involve the public in the way they commission services. The Commissioning organisation should ensure that providers they commission to provide services have suitable arrangements in place to involve patient and the public.

In addition NHS foundation trusts have specific responsibilities to involve their members and local communities usually through the appointment of Governing Body members. Trusts have their own arrangements as to how they make arrangements to involve their patients, carers and communities. Details of the arrangements would usually be available on the trust website.

Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for training new therapists and high intensity training. In 2015/16, the budget was £22.0 million to support 1,031 trainees. These trainees provide supervised practice alongside college attendance. There may also be some workforce development funding used to further develop people working in such services, however, HEE does not code its workforce development expenditure to the degree of detail to separately identify this.

Data is not collected centrally on the number of psychological therapists employed by the NHS who experienced workplace-related stress in each of the last five years.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to amend the meaning of consultant lobbying to include communications with special advisers, as allowed for in section 2(5) of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Register complements the existing government transparency regime whereby Ministers and Permanent Secretaries proactively publish quarterly details of their meetings with external organisations and individuals. The Government has no plans to increase the scope of the Register. It is usual practice to publish an updated Code of Conduct for Special Advisers after an election. The updated Code, published on 15 October, does not change the role and powers of special advisers.

January 1, 2023

John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many cases have been received by the Housing Ombudsman in each year since 2009-10.

Brandon Lewis

The Housing Ombudsman is an independent body whose objective it is to resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords and their voluntary members.

The levels of complaints and enquiries have increased year on year since 2006 and there was a 64% increase between 2012-13 and 2014-15, which is due to an extension of The Housing Ombudsman’s remit to cover local housing authorities. The total number of enquiries and complaints received by the Housing Ombudsman are provided in the table below:

2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
8,360	8,643	9,010	9,958	12,782	16,337	15,984

The majority of these cases are resolved informally but the following table shows the number of formal determinations made by the Housing Ombudsman each year.

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Within jurisdiction	458	559	501	543	520	579	976
Outside jurisdiction	108	73	104	100	160	240	125
Total	566	632	605	643	680	819	1101

January 1, 2023

Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of forced marriage the police investigated in England as that offence in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

Karen Bradley

We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice will not be tolerated in the UK.

The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) (a joint FCO and Home Office Unit) leads the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. It carries out a range of awareness raising work, including a comprehensive programme of outreach, new e-learning for professionals, and the launch of short film aimed at deterring potential perpetrators. For the financial years 2014-16, the Home Office has allocated £200,000 to the FMU.

Statistics on the number of cases of forced marriage investigated by the police are not collected centrally. The Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) most recent violence against women and girls report shows that the volume of referrals from the police to the CPS with a forced marriage element is going up: from 67 in 2013-14, to 82 in 2014-15. In addition, to date over 1,000 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been issued to prevent marriages from taking place and to assist in repatriating victims.

We are encouraged by the first conviction secured in June last year, but there is still work to be done. We want to see more victims having the confidence to come forward and being identified by the police. As part of the wider work to improve the police response to so-called ‘honour’ based violence, we will continue to work with the partners to review the implementation of the new legislation and lead efforts to tackle this barbaric crime.

January 1, 2023
Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, whether any pedestrian entry points to the Parliamentary Estate are restricted to particular categories of passholder, and if so what those restrictions are at each point.

Tom Brake

The main Parliamentary Estate has the following pedestrian entrances available to passholders (see exceptions to this below):

House of Commons
- Canon Row/Derby Gate
- 1 Parliament Street
- Carriage Gates Turnstiles
- Subway – Westminster Tube
- Cromwell Green Visitor Entrance
- St Stephen’s Entrance
- Portcullis House
- 53 Parliament Street
House of Lords
- Black Rod’s Garden
- Chancellor’s Gate
- Peers’ Entrance – By convention and practice, only Peers and their spouses or partners are allowed to use this entrance. Members of the House of Lords are allowed to invite up to six guests in via this route unless dispensation to bring in more is given by Black Rod. Guests must be booked in by name before they are allowed access.
Pedestrian entry points to outbuildings which form part of the Parliamentary Estate are not restricted to particular categories of passholder.

Holders of the following passes have restricted access to certain pedestrian entrances on the Estate:
- Former Member Passes – Subway, St Stephen’s, Portcullis House entrances only
- House of Commons Nursery Passes – 1 Parliament Street entrance only
- Westminster Gym Passes – Derby Gate entrance only
- MEP Passes – MEPs are only able to access the House of Lords via Black Rod’s Garden entrance and can only use readers within the House of Lords.
January 1, 2023
Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department have been seconded to the Department for Exiting the European Union; and what the grades are of those officials.

Rory Stewart

One member of DFID staff has taken up a Grade 6 role within the Department for Exiting the European Union on a loan basis. We expect that several DFID staff will be strong candidates for other roles in the new Department currently being advertised.

January 1, 2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the value to the economy of the curry industry.

Anna Soubry

The Government does not hold information on the value of the curry industry, the number of curry houses, trends in the number of curry houses or the number of curry chefs.

Official statistics carry figures on the value and number of restaurants, takeaways and other food service businesses in general, but do not detail specific types of food being served. Similarly while the number of chefs and catering staff will be estimated there is no consideration of their specialisation in terms of cuisine.

January 1, 2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential costs and benefits of reducing the mandatory retirement age of magistrates from 70 to 60; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Government position remains that a retirement age of 70 for all judicial office holders is appropriate.

A mandatory retirement age of 70 means both judges and magistrates can continue to make a contribution to society whilst allowing for regular recruitment of the judiciary.

It also enables the judiciary to have the correct number of judges and magistrates, while preventing them from retiring on an ad hoc basis, and ensuring judicial independence is protected.

January 1, 2023
Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming EU referendum; and for what reason he plans to exclude European citizens resident in the UK from voting in that referendum.

Mr David Lidington

The franchise for the EU referendum was debated and agreed by both Houses during the passing of the EU Referendum Act 2015. This has now received Royal Assent and is set in law.

The franchise for the EU referendum includes those enfranchised for UK parliamentary elections, with the addition of Members of the House of Lords and Commonwealth and Irish citizens in Gibraltar.

Amendments during the passage of the EU Referendum Bill, seeking to include EU citizens in the franchise for the EU referendum, were considered and overwhelmingly rejected by both Houses.

January 1, 2023
Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to work with the Football Association to raise awareness of doping issues at all levels of football.

David Evennett

The Football Association operates a sport-specific anti-doping education programme for players of all ages. UK Anti-Doping – the relevant Arm’s Length Body of DCMS – works closely with the Football Association on this programme.

January 1, 2023