The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.
Harriett Baldwin
The cost of Employment Tribunals can be found within the HMCTS annual accounts published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433948/hmcts-annual-report-accounts-2014-15.pdf.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether an impact assessment has been carried out on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals to reduce the number of marine offices in the UK.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Guidance from Cabinet Office indicates that there is no requirement to complete a Business Engagement Assessment on this activity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is offering advice to African countries on desertification.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID supports the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which has had a strong impact on raising awareness of land degradation in Africa. The UK will hold the EU Presidency during the next UNCCD Conference of Parties and will champion the achievement of the land degradation targets agreed within the 2015 Global Goals.
DFID supports countries on desertification through our forestry and resilience work. For example the Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) programme works with farmers in the Sahel on better natural resource management and regeneration. DFID also provides support to the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, through the International Forestry Knowledge programme (KNOWFOR), to help operationalise the ambitious targets of the Bonn Challenge. KNOWFOR helps countries assess the potential for restoration in their countries, developing tools and carrying out a range of analyses to support decision making, planning and attracting financing. 11 countries in Africa have so far pledged restoration targets (including Niger, Rwanda, Uganda, DRC and Ethiopia); the demand is growing as countries see the potential adaptation as well as mitigation benefits of restoring degraded land.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many job vacancies in his Department have been reserved as internal posts in the last 12 months.
Matthew Hancock
For the 12 month period between 8/6/15 and 7/6/16, Cabinet Office advertised 26 vacancies for internal applicants on its intranet site. In the same period, 469 Cabinet Office vacancies were advertised on the Civil Service Jobs search internet page.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to remove international students from the Government’s migration targets following the decision to leave the EU.
Mr Robert Goodwill
International students are included in net migration statistics that are produced by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). In line with the internationally agreed UN definition, these statistics define a migrant as someone changing their normal place of residence for more than a year. Students are therefore included in the same way as other migrants. Other countries, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia also include students in their net migration figures.
Like other migrants, students who stay for longer than 12 months have an impact on communities, infrastructure and services while they are here, so it is right that they are included in the net migration count.
We are committed to reducing non-EU migration across all visa routes in order to bring net migration down to sustainable levels as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-10-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is (1) their policy, or (2) the policy of NHS England, that primary care centres should be amalgamated into larger units.
Lord Prior of Brampton
As part of the New Care Models Programme, NHS England is supporting local health and care commissioners and providers to come together to improve the health and care they provide. This includes the development of population-based care models known as integrated Primary and Acute Care Systems and Multispecialty Community Providers (MCPs). Where and how to develop new care models are decisions taken by local partnerships, in response to local conditions. The Programme is not directing or requiring the amalgamation of primary care centres.
There are 14 MCP vanguards, with a single organisation accountable for joined-up General Practitioner (GP) and community services and some specialist care, mental health services, and social care for a defined population. The building blocks of a MCP are the ‘care hubs’ of integrated teams. Each typically serves a community of around 30,000-50,000 people. These hubs are the practical, operational level of any model of accountable care provision. The wider the scope of services included in the MCP, the more hubs you may need to connect together to create sufficient scale. All 14 MCP vanguards now serve a minimum population of around 100,000.
The majority of GP practices are already working in practice groups or federations. This provides opportunities to expand services, stabilise practice income and work at scale, which has benefits for patients, practices and the wider system. These include economies of scale, quality improvement, workforce development, enhanced care and new services, resilience and system partnerships.
A new voluntary MCP contract will be introduced from April 2017, to integrate general practice services with community services and wider healthcare services. Measures from the GP Access Fund and vanguard sites that are currently piloting this approach, will be learned from to support mainstreaming of proven service improvements across all practices, and funding will be provided for local collaborations to support practices to implement new ways of working.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether training in celestial navigation is provided for new recruits to the Royal Navy.
Penny Mordaunt
For new recruits, celestial navigational training is only undertaken by Royal Marine recruits in weeks eight and 10 of their training as part of the Royal School of Military Survey lessons. However, celestial navigational training (referred to as Astro(navigational) training within the Service) is taught to Naval Officers as part of targeted career training courses at the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood. These include: Initial Warfare Officers, the Fleet Navigation Officers Course and in a Specialist Navigation Course (for those officers undertaking specialist training in navigation at Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander rank with a view to navigating larger vessels such as carriers and amphibious assault ships).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who is responsible for ensuring that, in discussions under the Belfast Agreement 1998 with the government of the Republic of Ireland, only those entitled to attend the appropriate strands do so.
Lord Dunlop
Discussions with the Irish Government in matters relating to the Belfast Agreement are in accordance with the established three-stranded approach to Northern Ireland affairs. A commitment to continue to uphold the three-stranded approach was also contained in the Government’s Northern Ireland manifesto at the General Election.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department uses to determine the level of supplementary funding provided to local authorities as part of the local government finance settlement.
Mr Marcus Jones
The local government finance settlement distributed revenue support grant by looking at the main resources that are available to local councils. The Local Government Finance Report (England) 2016/2017 sets out the basis of this distribution and the results can be found at;
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of seafarers that would be affected by the proposal in Question 35 of the Department for Health consultation on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England.
Mr Robert Goodwill
UK regulations implementing Regulation 4.1. of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC) make the shipowner responsible for meeting the cost of medical care for seafarers working on their ships, in order to ensure that such care is provided at no cost to the seafarer. Since the Department of Health’s proposal does not affect seafarers’ access to medical care at the point of need, no seafarers should be affected by the proposal, and there should be no impact on the welfare of seafarers. I am satisfied that the proposal in Question 35 of the Department of Health consultation is not contrary to the requirements of the Convention.