Tag: 2016

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the evidential basis is for tax relief on pension contributions encouraging savings in pension schemes.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government launched a consultation on the future of pensions tax relief at the Summer Budget 2015. The Government has been consulting on whether there is a case for reforming pensions tax relief to strengthen incentives to save, and offer savers greater simplicity and transparency, or whether it would be best to keep with the current system. The Government will publish its response to the consultation at Budget 2016.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the statistics it produces on homelessness and rough sleeping comply with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in relation to each of the requirements identified by the UK Statistics Authority in its report, Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Statistics on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in England, published in December 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Departmental statisticians are currently using the report to help plan future developments in homelessness statistics.

    In 2010, we overhauled the way local authorities count rough sleepers, to provide a more accurate assessment of the scale of the problem and reflect the reality on the streets.

    Under the Labour Government, including when the rt hon Member was Housing Minister, the process did not actually require all local authorities to submit a return, meaning the number of rough sleepers was consistently under estimated.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) recent steps he has taken and (b) mechanisms he has introduced to increase the efficiency of work between government departments.

    Matthew Hancock

    Improving efficiency, both across Government and between government departments, is central to the work of the Cabinet Office. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform, and tackling fraud, error and uncollected debt (against a 2009/10 baseline). This includes saving:

    • £6.1bn by improving how government buys goods, and services.

    • Generating £1.8bn net capital receipts and saving £750 million from reducing the annual running cost of the estate.

    • £4.6bn by addressing waste and inefficiency in construction and reducing costs in major projects.

    • £700m through reducing losses from fraud and error.

    In autumn 2015 the Spending Review announced a range of additional measures to further improve effect and joint working between departments. These include co-locating Civil Servants though the Government Hubs programme, and introducing shared ICT though Common Technology Services and the Common Platforms Programme.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the new unnamed holding company to be created by the takeover of the London Stock Exchange by Deutsche Bourse will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    I refer the noble Lord to my written answers of 26 April (HL7583, HL7584, HL7585, and HL7586)

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to findings presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress on Lutathera, what assessment he has made of the reported benefits of that drug on treating patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

    George Freeman

    The clinical research findings on Lutathera, presented to the European Cancer Congress, have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been asked to develop technology appraisal guidance on lutetium-177 dotatate for the treatment of unresectable, somatostatin receptor-positive, gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. NICE’s guidance is based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and is developed through wide consultation with stakeholders.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he and his Department have discussed the position of the bedoon community with the Kuwaiti government.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We regularly raise the issue of the Bidoon at the highest levels of Kuwait’s Government. Human rights, including the status of the Bidoon, are also discussed bilaterally at the biannual UK-Kuwait Joint Steering Group meetings, the most recent of which was held in London at the end of May.

  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to replace or renew the National Stroke Strategy, published in December 2007.

    David Mowat

    The strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues. There are, therefore, no current plans to renew the national stroke strategy. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. This includes:

    – ongoing work in virtually all parts of the country to organise acute stroke care to ensure that all stroke patients, regardless of where they live or what time of the day or week they have their stroke, have access to high quality specialist care;

    – publication of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy in 2013, which includes many stroke specific strategic ambitions;

    – a CVD expert forum, hosted by NHS England, to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy; and

    – NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke works with the Strategic Clinical Networks, clinical commissioning groups, voluntary agencies and individual providers to support better commissioning and provision of stroke care.

    More generally, the NHS Five Year Forward View recognises that quality of care, including stroke care, can be variable and that patients’ needs are changing and new treatment options are emerging. The Five Year Forward View sets out high level objectives to address these issues.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of jury (a) intimidation and (b) tampering were recorded in each of the last five years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish the UK Digital Strategy.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    We plan to publish the Digital Strategy in early 2016. The Minister for the Digital Economy launched a public call for ideas on 29 December. We are now analysing these responses, and we continue to work closely with Whitehall departments on the Strategy.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting the deployment of ultra-super critical coal fired power stations similar to those planned by China and Germany; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    I have made no such assessment. Any new coal plant must demonstrate carbon capture and storage on at least 300 MW of its proposed generating capacity and comply with the Emissions Performance Standard.

    Coal fired power stations without abatement are not consistent with meeting our decarbonisation objectives. This is why the Government has committed to consulting on phasing out unabated coal by 2025 and to restricting the amount of coal generation in 2023.