Tag: 2016

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to encourage the take up of organ donor cards among South Asian and other minority ethnic communities.

    Jane Ellison

    UK Government provides NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) with around £60 million a year to support organ donation. In 2013, NHSBT launched a UK – wide organ donation and transplantation strategy Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020, setting the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates. The Department has also established the National Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance with the aim of raising awareness about the need for stem cell and organ donation, and increasing the number of people from BAME communities who can benefit from either a stem cell or organ transplant.

    South Asian people are more likely to need a kidney transplant than a Caucasian person but families are less likely to consent to organ donation. The result is that patients from South Asian background wait much longer for organ transplants, particularly for a kidney transplant. Therefore, to support the wider 2020 strategy, the Department funded Kidney Research UK to undertake a Peer Educator Programme within the Pakistani Muslim community in Birmingham with the aim of raising awareness of the lack of donors and increasing the numbers on the bone marrow and organ donation registers. Lessons learnt will support the roll-out of the programme in other similar areas of work.

    NHSBT also has a wide range of leaflets promoting organ donation that are translated into a number of different South Asian languages including Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to increase cycling among (a) women and (b) older people.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government remains committed to its manifesto target to double the number of journeys made by bicycle. In order to achieve this, all potential cyclists’ needs must be considered, including women and older people.

    The Government recently reaffirmed its commitment to cycling and walking, with SR2015 announcing funding support of over £300m. In addition, Highways England has committed to provide a safer, integrated and more accessible strategic road network for cyclists and other vulnerable road users.

    By improving existing cycle provision and ensuring that cyclists are considered when designing and building new infrastructure then our roads will be more appealing to cyclists of all ages and ability.

    The Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, to be published in summer 2016, will fully explain the Government’s investment strategy for cycling and walking.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many full-time equivalent staff his Department provided to assist with (a) Home Office immigration and asylum cases and (b) other Home Office legal cases in reach year since 2009-10; and how much was spent by his Department on such cases in each of those years.

    Robert Buckland

    The Government Legal Department (GLD) conducts litigation for most government departments. GLD charges its government department clients for the litigation services it provides on an hourly fee basis. The remaining Law Officers’ Departments do not have any notable involvement in Home Office litigation.

    It is not possible to identify how many full time equivalent GLD staff were working on Home Office cases each year because this will inevitably change during the year and staff will also work on cases for other client departments.

    Any spending incurred by GLD is recovered by charges received from the Home Office for litigation services provided.

  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support the licensed hospitality sector to mitigate the effects of (a) wage rate inflation and (b) reduced demand for drink and food-led outlets.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is committed to supporting pubs and other licensed hospitality firms. The sector will benefit from the changes announced at Budget 2016. These include cutting business rates for all properties in England with Barnett consequentials for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to introduce equivalent measures if they so wish.

    Reforms to stamp duty land tax on non-residential property transactions will cut the tax for many small businesses purchasing property. Budget 2016 also announced the corporation tax rate will be cut to 17% in 2020 and that the duty rates on beer, spirits and most ciders will be frozen this year.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which EU schemes her Department administers; if she will estimate the annual cost of administering each such scheme in each of the (a) last and (b) next five years; if she will estimate the total value of each scheme in each of the (i) last and (ii) next five years; and for which schemes her Department has been subject to infraction proceedings from the EU Commission.

    George Eustice

    There are two EU funds under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Defra administers the CAP in England. The Devolved Administrations administer these EU schemes separately. The estimated value of these funds from 2011 to 2020 are set out in the table below, figures are for England.

    The current Multiple Financial Framework runs until 2020 so that is the last year where there is an estimate of the total value for both of the schemes.

    Year

    European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) €m

    European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) €m

    2011

    2,086

    447

    2012

    2,115

    469

    2013

    1,909

    531

    2014

    2,046

    442

    2015

    2,046

    333

    2016

    2,048

    590

    2017

    2,052

    590

    2018

    2,056

    590

    2019

    2,062

    590

    2020

    2,068

    591

    Decisions relating to the implementation of the CAP in England are integrated into numerous policy areas within the Department and the delivery of the CAP is carried out primarily by the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England and Forestry Commission, alongside other business. This arrangement allows the various objectives of the CAP to be delivered effectively. However, this integrated approach to delivery also makes it difficult to calculate the total annual cost of the CAP in isolation. This is something that was identified by the NAO in its recent report ‘Early Development of the CAP Delivery Programme’, and the Department is currently considering how to respond to this recommendation.

    In relation to these two schemes the Department has not been subject to any infraction proceedings from the EU in the last five years.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of which sectors have (1) increased, and (2) reduced, their percentage of IT spend on cyber security between 2014 and 2015.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government’s recently published Cyber Security Breaches Survey contains figures for average investment in cyber security by sector grouping.

    The full set of figures can be found in the table below and further detail can be found on pages 18-19 of the survey main report. There are no comparable figures for previous years.

    Average investment in cyber security in last financial year by sector grouping:

    Sector

    Average Investment

    Overall

    £4,060

    Financial/Insurance

    £12,200

    Information/Communications/Utilities

    £10,000

    Administration/Real Estate

    £8,900

    Retail/Wholesale/Transport

    £4,110

    Construction/Manufacturing

    £3,090

    Education/Health/Social Care

    £1,280

    Entertainment/Services/Membership

    £1,220

    Food/Hospitality

    £511

    The ful Cyber Secuirty Breaches Survey is attached.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that the review of fair funding for early years education includes steps to close the gender attainment gap at age five.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government published a consultation on an Early Years National Funding Formula and changes to funding for the three- and four-year old free entitlements to childcare on Thursday 11 August. The consultation focuses on a creating a fair and transparent way of distributing Government funding to childcare providers. Our proposals set out the means by which every child in receipt of the free entitlement attracts funding to meet their individual needs, regardless of their gender. We rely on the early years profession to spend the money appropriately to meet those needs.

    We are making a significant investment in early years education – the expenditure on the free entitlements alone will rise by 38% over this Parliament. Our investment supports the continued increase in the number of qualified staff and the number of providers rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. More than 80% of children are reaching the expected communication and language skills by age five, but we will continue working with the sector until every child gets the high quality education they deserve.

  • Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kevin Foster – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has plans to bring forward proposals to amend the legislation requiring statutory declarations to be dated within six months of the date of the Gender Recognition Certificate application.

    Dr Phillip Lee

    I refer the hon. Member to my answer to PQ 44155.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much is available to each NHS trust to fund new drugs and treatments assessed and recommended by NICE.

    George Freeman

    The Government believes that National Health Service commissioners and providers are best placed to decide how to allocate their budgets to deliver improvements in the outcomes for patients.

    There is no separately identified ring-fenced funding stream associated with drugs and treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NHS commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended by NICE.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses in Brighton and Hove which received a loan from the Start-up loans scheme are still in operation.

    Anna Soubry

    The Start Up Loans Company tracks the repayment performance of each loan rather than the status of each business created. However, it does undertake regular research and evaluation which shows that, for the programme as a whole, 80% of the businesses created continue to trade into the second year following their founder’s receipt of a Start-Up Loan.