The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much was spent on e-borders before April 2006; and how much has been spent on e-borders and its successor programmes since April 2006.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office has spent £860 million on the e-Borders and successor programmes since April 2006. Information prior to April 2006 is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the Government Equalities Office has invited contact from the public for people working to support equality for men who deserve an honour.
Caroline Dinenage
The Government Equalities Office liaises with stakeholders to seek nominations for honours that fall within their remit. This includes men as well as women, equalities and LGB&T.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-10-14.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing Government tax incentives in the tech start-up sector in order to reduce the number of companies potentially unable to attract private investment after tax reliefs expire.
Jane Ellison
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts scheme provide tax reliefs to encourage individuals to invest in early stage, higher risk companies that would otherwise struggle to access finance. The government has no plans to withdraw these tax reliefs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many delays of over 12 hours there were in each A&E department in London in each year since 2010.
Jane Ellison
The information is not available in the format requested. Information is available on the number of patients spending more than 12 hours from decision to admit to admission in each accident and emergency department in London by year. This can be found at the following website:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Prime Minister has seen a draft childhood obesity strategy document.
Jane Ellison
As part of the development of the Childhood Obesity Strategy, the Secretary of State has regular meetings to discuss its content. The Childhood Obesity Strategy will be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2016-02-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the World Bank’s methodology for producing its Resolving Insolvency rankings.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
It is not simple to compare different insolvency regimes. The World Bank methodology for ‘Resolving Insolvency’ uses principally an assessment of speed and amount of returns to creditors but also has introduced more subjective tests of the strength of the framework. In the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business Report, the UK continues to be 7th in the world for returns to creditors, and is quicker and costs less than the US, Germany and France, but does somewhat less well on the subjective factors, which may understate the strengths of our regime. We keep the UK’s insolvency regime under review to ensure it remains at the forefront of best practice and that possible new features are properly considered.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the EU is taking to counter extremism and radicalisation in (a) the Middle East, (b) South Asia and (c) Africa; and in what way the Government is contributing to those steps.
Mr David Lidington
The EU invests significantly in counter-extremism and -radicalisation. The UK supports and is actively involved in shaping the EU’s comprehensive approach which includes political dialogue led by HRVP Mogherini, wider development assistance, CSDP missions, human rights-based security sector reform, conflict prevention and resolution, support for research and analysis, and support to national efforts to develop Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) strategies. The UK also works with the EU through the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) Working Group, with the EU co-chairing the Horn of Africa Working Group and UK co-chairing the CVE Working Group. A key joint effort here is addressing the whole lifecycle of radicalisation through capacity-building in priority countries.
It is not possible here exhaustively to list every step the EU is taking to counter extremism and radicalisation in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, but examples include:
On (a) the Middle East, the EU is establishing CT Action Plans (including CVE) with priority countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.
On (b) South Asia, the EU seconds a security/CT expert to assist in Pakistan.
On (c) Africa, the EU is supporting the development of a Somali national CVE strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS agencies have changed their name or merged in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months; and what the cost was to the public purse of such mergers and name changes.
Ben Gummer
No National Health Service arm’s length bodies have merged or changed their name in the last 24 months. As of 1 April 2016, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) have been working under a shared leadership and operating framework as NHS Improvement. However, Monitor and the TDA have not formally merged. They continue to operate in line with their current legal underpinnings as two separate entities. In order to ensure that all NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts have access to the same kinds of support and interventions there will be much more alignment between the two organisations so that they can deliver what patients and taxpayers have a right to expect. As at the end of March, the cost associated with the recruitment of NHS Improvement’s Chief Executive and designing and supporting NHS Improvement’s new structure and operating model has been £655,190. There may have been other costs associated with the alignment of the two organisations but these have been absorbed in their baseline funding allocations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Ministers in his Department have visited Wales in an official capacity since the last UK general election.
Mike Penning
Details of all ministerial meetings are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/moj-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Skills Funding Agency on the potential effect of its proposal to introduce a register of apprenticeship providers on the ability of lead providers to sub-contract to smaller providers.
Robert Halfon
We have engaged with the Skills Funding Agency on the proposals to create a Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers in England. The intention of the proposals is to support a significant increase in the quality of apprenticeships and to create an employer-led apprenticeship system.
The Skills Funding Agency published their proposal on the Register on 12 August https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-of-apprenticeship-training-providers. Training providers and interested organisations were given the opportunity to comment on the proposals in a survey which closed on Monday 5 September. The Skills Funding Agency is now considering feedback on the consultation.
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