Tag: Baroness Byford

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why National Savings and Investments stopped the sale of Premium Bonds for cash in Post Offices and withdrew their brochures, forms and reply envelopes at the same time, and what assessment they have made of the effect of that decision on the sale of Premium Bonds.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

National Savings and Investments’ (NS&I) core remit is to provide cost effective financing for the Government. Over the past few years, NS&I has been moving its business to direct only channels – internet, phone and post – producing significant savings for the taxpayer.

The end of Premium Bond sales and wider NS&I services at the Post Office was a commercial decision made by NS&I. This decision reflects the way that their customers are choosing to do business with NS&I and also the growth of the Post Office’s own range of savings products. The change followed the success of 65+ Pensioner Bonds, which saw over one million pensioners from around the country invest via direct only channels.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with industry about the safety of tumble driers, in the light of recent reports by Which?.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

I am aware of the recent safety alert in relation to certain brands and models of tumble drier and understand that the manufacturer concerned is working with Trading Standards to take appropriate corrective action.

My officials are in regular contact with industry about the safety of electrical products, including tumble driers. Officials are also regularly in contact with their opposite numbers in other Member States to discuss safety issues and with those involved in standardisation, for example the British Standards Institution, where standards are updated to reflect advances in technology and problems identified with products in service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the average hourly rate, and (2) the range of charges, for official veterinary surgeons employed in abattoirs.

Lord Prior of Brampton

In 2014/15 the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) full cost normal time hourly charge rate for an Official Veterinarian (OV) in Great Britain was £37.30. Discounts are applied to FSA charges and as a consequence the average hourly rate of charge for an OV was £16.81.

The range of normal time hourly rates charged for FSA OVs in Great Britain in 2014/15 was £0.00 to £37.30.

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 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Pensions, Steve Webb MP, on 21 May 2012 (HC Deb, col 506W), how many of the targeted 700,000 Post Office card accounts have been migrated to mainstream bank accounts and how many Post Office account users have refused to give up their Post Office account.

Lord Freud

For reasons of financial inclusion the Post Office Ltd (POL) were financially incentivised to migrate 700,000 users of Post Office card accounts to mainstream bank accounts over the life of the current contract. As part of this contract Government is not responsible to pay for the upkeep of these 700,000 accounts. Through the life of the contract to date, customer volumes have reduced by approximately 1.1m, achieving a saving for the Government on these accounts. The extent to which POL has achieved this reduction through attrition or migration is a matter for POL.