Tag: Alex Chalk

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-21.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the budget is for the Cyber Innovation Centre in Cheltenham.

Greg Hands

The Chancellor announced the Cyber Innovation Centre for Cheltenham in November 2015, helping to ensure Cheltenham remains a world leader in cyber excellence. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be running a competitive tender process to invite providers to run the centre to ensure that this initiative delivers the best possible value for money. We will disclose the budget when the tender exercise has completed, which we anticipate will be this autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve coordination of bed allocation for adult in-patient treatment for patients with eating disorders.

Nicola Blackwood

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health report published in February 2016 set out the start of a 10 year journey for the transformation of the National Health Service care and a shift towards prevention. The proposed mental health pathway and infrastructure development programme in the report envisages a referral to treatment pathway for eating disorders (adult mental health) being published in 2018/19.

In the Autumn Statement 2014 increased funding of £150 million over the next five years was announced to improve services for children and young people with mental health problems in England. Particular emphasis was placed on improving services for people with eating disorders.

As part of the planning processes, specialised commissioning teams review the needs of service for patients and where possible reflect provision. There is currently significant attention on eating disorders, primarily focussing on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service but this will extend to the adult pathway of care shortly with the expectation of revised National Institute for health and Care Excellence Guidelines in April 2017. A prime focus of the work on eating disorders is about the improved provision of out of hospital care so patients are only admitted to a bed when clinically required.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to limit the use of accessible toilets solely for disabled people.

Gavin Barwell

The Department for Communities and Local Government has commissioned research into existing guidance in Approved Document M (Access to and use of buildings) of the Building Regulations, including on the use of accessible toilets, and that research will help to guide the way forward where any change to existing legislation is needed. Legislating to restrict use of accessible toilets raises many complex issues including in defining who would, and who would not, be entitled to use such facilities and whether this would be enforceable. Government takes the view that current arrangements are practicable without the need for further legislation and, as a result, does not intend to pursue this further at this time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the security services in tackling terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The PSNI do an outstanding and vital job keeping people safe from violent dissident republicans.

That is why they will receive £160 million extra security funding over the next five years from the UK Government to tackle this threat.

This builds on £231 million additional security funding we have provided since 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department expects that all of Cheltenham will have access to superfast broadband of over 24 megabits per second.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Superfast broadband of at least 24 Mbps is available to 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the UK – up from 45 per cent in 2010. We currently estimate that 94% of homes and businesses in the Cheltenham constituency will have access to superfast broadband by December 2017. Government is also working with major broadband suppliers to encourage them to further extend commercial coverage, particularly in urban areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to tackle selective breeding of dogs for aesthetic reasons which cause health defects.

George Eustice

We have consulted on proposals to modernise dog breeding licensing legislation, including helping promote schemes which are accredited by the UK Accreditation Service. One scheme is the Kennel Club’s Assured Breeder Scheme which involves the Kennel Club working with breed societies in the development and application of tests to identify dogs that have genetic defects that can cause health problems.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the rise in online misogyny.

Caroline Dinenage

Abusive or threatening behaviour – whoever the target – is totally unacceptable. As set out in the Violence Against Women and Girls prevention strategy, my department, with the Home Office, has established a cross-government working group to develop proactive responses to online misogyny. We have also provided new funding for the Revenge Porn Helpline.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department is providing for the development of (a) technologies for the improved storage of electricity and (b) locally-based smart grids.

Andrea Leadsom

More than £80m UK public sector support (including Ofgem innovation funding) has been committed to energy storage research, development and demonstration activities since 2012, which is helping to drive down the costs of storage and bring new technologies closer to market. The Department has provided more than £18m of innovation funding for development and demonstration storage technologies; including funding for four technology demonstration projects.

We are facilitating the deployment of a smart grid through:

• Rolling out smart meters which are an integral part of a smart grid;
• The DECC-Ofgem Smart Grid Forum with a range of active workstreams to remove barriers to smart grid deployment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support the Government is providing to GPs to help them with the cost of insuring work carried out outside normal hours.

Ben Gummer

The Department and NHS England are working on proposals for discussion with the profession, medical defence organisations, the commercial insurance industry and the NHS Litigation Authority.

This will consider:

― how personal costs of indemnity and clinical insurance can be contained – provided certain clinical governance standards are met, with the objective of reducing the overall costs to the individual;

― the funding routes for indemnity in different models of care; and

― with a specific focus on new models of care such as Primary and Acute Community Services and Multi-Speciality Community Providers and the scope for corporate indemnity, freeing up individuals working in those new models from the burden of personal indemnity costs.

NHS England created the Winter Indemnity Scheme which ran from December 2015 until March 2016, making £2 million available to cover the cost of additional indemnity premiums for doctors to undertake additional out of hours sessions. This was in response to increased demand for appointments during the winter period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to grant local authorities greater powers to resolve neighbour disputes arising from the reservation of parking spaces using traffic cones, refuse bins or other items.

Andrew Jones

It is an offence under Section 148(c) of the Highways Act 1980 for a person to deposit anything on the highway to interrupt the use of a highway. Local authorities have powers under Section 149 of the Highways Act 1980 to notify the person who deposited the item or items to remove them, or refer the matter to a Magistrates’ Court if he or she fails to comply. The Government believes that the current powers are adequate to deal with such matters.