The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many NHS doctors qualified in each of the last 10 years, broken down by gender.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department does not collect the data requested.
The General Medical Council, as the independent regulator of doctors in the United Kingdom, will hold information on doctors currently registered with them which may include their gender and what year they qualified.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-04-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which plant protection products are banned for use in the UK but are currently being used in other member states of the EU.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There is a two-step process before a plant protection product can be placed on the market and used. First, the active substance or active substances contained in the product must be approved EU-wide by the European Commission. Second, the product itself must be authorised by the Member State. Authorisations are determined on the basis of an assessment of the risks to people and to the environment. The approach to the assessment is harmonised across the EU, but the outcomes of applications for the same product may differ because of variations in national conditions.
Companies will decide the Member States from which they wish to seek authorisation and authorisation holders may, at any time, instruct that authorisations are withdrawn.
Product authorisations may therefore vary between Member States. At present, there is no central database of authorisations which records these differences.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many doctors currently employed by the NHS qualified outside the UK.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The latest data on the number of doctors who qualified outside the United Kingdom is in the following table. This is taken from the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s annual workforce census, which shows the data as at 30 September 2014. The next census will be published in March 2016.
Headcount Data at 30 September 2014
|
Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) Drs |
General Practitioners (GP)(excluding registrars and retainers) |
GP registrars |
|
|
Qualified in the UK |
70,470 |
27,807 |
3,585 |
|
Qualified in other European Economic Area (EEA) Country |
8,307 |
1,600 |
124 |
|
Qualified outside EEA |
27,398 |
6,403 |
803 |
|
Unknown |
463 |
9 |
0 |
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre annual workforce census
Notes: The figures for HCHS doctors includes doctors in training
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-05-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 1,103 claims to the Flood Recovery Fund made by farmers in Cumbria, Northumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, County Durham and Greater Manchester, (1) who is responsible for approving those claims, (2) how many have been paid, and (3) what is the total value of those claims.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Whilst the Farming Recovery Fund is not competitive, farmers wishing to apply to the Fund have to submit a formal application with evidence to support their need for a grant to contribute to the restoration of farmland badly affected by Storms Desmond or Eva. Payments are made to farmers once the work has been carried out and a claim has been submitted.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is responsible for determining the eligibility of Farming Recovery Fund applications, issuing grant funding agreements to eligible applicants, and receiving, processing and paying claims for costs incurred under those grant funding agreements.
The RPA received 1,103 applications for a total value of grant of £11,429,194 by the closing dates for the scheme. As of 5 May 2016, 209 applications have been approved with a total value of £1,947,738. A further 20 applications, with a value of £265,440, have been either rejected as ineligible or withdrawn by the applicant.
Of the projects approved, 29 have been completed and have submitted claims with a value of £202,268. 13 of these claims have been paid with a total value of £78,504.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many veterinarians qualified in each of the last 10 years, broken down by gender.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the regulatory body for the veterinary profession in the UK, has confirmed that the breakdown of new UK registrants for the each of the last 10 years is as follows:-
|
Year |
Gender |
Count |
Total per year |
|
2005 |
F |
828 |
|
|
2005 |
M |
490 |
=1318 |
|
2006 |
F |
910 |
|
|
2006 |
M |
458 |
=1368 |
|
2007 |
F |
913 |
|
|
2007 |
M |
488 |
=1401 |
|
2008 |
F |
920 |
|
|
2008 |
M |
391 |
=1311 |
|
2009 |
F |
921 |
|
|
2009 |
M |
351 |
=1272 |
|
2010 |
F |
963 |
|
|
2010 |
M |
358 |
=1321 |
|
2011 |
F |
1041 |
|
|
2011 |
M |
425 |
=1466 |
|
2012 |
F |
1084 |
|
|
2012 |
M |
461 |
=1545 |
|
2013 |
F |
1103 |
|
|
2013 |
M |
499 |
=1602 |
|
2014 |
F |
1166 |
|
|
2014 |
M |
504 |
=1670 |
|
2015 |
F |
1442 |
|
|
2015 |
M |
632 |
=2074 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-05-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why processing claims to the Flood Recovery Fund have been delayed, and when they estimate that the processing of such claims will be completed.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Farming Recovery Fund closed on 1 April in all areas except Greater Manchester, where it closed on 15 April. Of the total 1,103 applications received by 15 April, 515 were received in the week 28 March to 1 April and a further 18 were received by 15 April.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is taking measures to assess all the remaining applications received, including more staff resources and a review of the administrative checks required before approval. The RPA expects to process most applications by the end of May 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the results from the latest Blueprint for Water Scorecard as launched on 6 November 2012.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Blueprint for Water is an ongoing campaign of Non-Government Organisations that make an assessment against the scorecard they have produced.
Government has already taken substantive action to protect and improve the water environment. For example, through reducing phosphate pollution in rivers from sewage works by a fifth and ammonia by a sixth compared to 2010 through investment at almost 500 sewage treatment works. Also, £87 million invested in local actions to restore our rivers and this has supported projects to improve over nearly 10,000 miles of rivers
Looking ahead, £900 million has been made available under Countryside Stewardship for environmental action by farmers and there are plans by water companies to invest £3.5 billion.
These investments, together with other actions, are drawn together in River Basin Management Plans which contain a comprehensive programme for the water environment up to 2021 and which will be published soon.
Since the Water Scorecard of 2012, Blueprint for Water published a further report ‘Water Matters’ in September 2015. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs accepted an invitation from the group to speak at the launch of this report in the Palace of Westminster, hosted by the hon. Member for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith.
In her speech the Secretary of State made it clear that Government shares many of the long-term outcomes put forward by the Blueprint for Water and went on to explain how Government intends to pursue them through the 25 Year Plan for the Environment. Blueprint and its constituent organisations will have an opportunity to contribute to this plan as it is refined further over summer and autumn 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-06-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the next BBC Charter will include a requirement for public service notices to be broadcast over (1) BBC radio, and (2) BBC television.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
There are provisions in the current BBC Framework Agreement for the broadcast of an announcement in an emergency. There are no plans to change this. The new BBC Framework Agreement will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-02-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to shorten the teacher training period for graduates in life science subjects by allowing them to qualify in a single subject, such as physics, where there are shortages in qualified teacher numbers.
Lord Nash
It is for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) providers to use their professional judgement to determine how to structure the course. However, ITT courses must be designed so that teacher trainees can demonstrate by the end of their training that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. The Teachers’ Standards, revised in September 2012, set out the key elements of effective teaching and the minimum expectations for the professional practice and conduct of teachers. The Teachers’ Standards have been attached to this answer.
Although it is already possible within existing flexibilities for schools and ITT providers to offer shorter or longer courses, the majority of postgraduate courses are one year in length. The National College for Teaching and Leadership is working with nine School Direct lead schools to pilot a shortened School Direct (salaried) route for physics and mathematics trainees. Findings from these pilots will be shared with the ITT sector to encourage other schools and ITT providers to use the existing flexibilities to meet their recruitment needs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-06-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of the three-day interval between the notification and arrival of forest reproductive material in preventing damage to, or infection of, existing forestry.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forest Reproductive Material (Great Britain) Regulations 2002 regulate the marketing of forest reproductive material (FRM). There is no notification period for the introduction of FRM so no such assessment has been carried out.
The Plant and Tree Notification System requirements relates to the movement of certain tree species from other EU member states and extends to oak, plane, sweet chestnut, pine, elm, prunus and ash trees (although no movements of ash trees are permitted at present, due to ash dieback restrictions).
The scheme is intended to help the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate build intelligence about particular trades, particularly those where there is a risk of introducing harmful organisms, and to help arrange targeted inspections of such trees. The information is also valuable in the event of an outbreak, to facilitate tracing of trees which may be implicated, and to help inform the development of Defra policy. The scheme is not restricted to trees intended for forestry purposes.
Notification of importation of plants and trees should be before or within 5 days of the arrival of the consignment, detailing the planned destination in England or Wales.