The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many responses have been received to his Department’s consultation on business rate relief for local newspapers; and if he will extend that relief to local magazine publishers.
Mr Edward Vaizey
We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation with the Department forCommunities and Local Government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the potential effect of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market proposals on UK publishers; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The Digital Single Market is a stated priority for the Juncker Commission, which could deliver significant gains for both consumers and businesses. As such, Ministers across Government regularly hold discussions in Europe and the UK with our European counterparts on the Digital Single Market including its potential effects on UK’s creative industries and publishers in particular.
Currently there are no Digital Single Market legislative proposals on the table, but we are encouraging the Commission to ensure that future proposals are carefully assessed to ensure that they do not damage incentives to invest in the production of creative content.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will roll out a national breathlessness campaign to follow the pilots in the North and East of England.
Jane Ellison
The regional pilot of the breathlessness campaign was carried out in the East of England 2 February – 1 March 2015. The evaluation of the campaign is ongoing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that carers are able to give each patient an appropriate amount of time on visits.
Alistair Burt
In most cases, very short visits from care workers are incompatible with high quality care. However, short visits may be appropriate in certain circumstances. For instance, checking medication has been taken.
Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services, not the Government but both Government and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) agree that inappropriately short home care visits are unacceptable.The Care Act sends a clear message that commissioning services without properly considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable.
In September 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on homecare which state that homecare visits should not normally be less than 30 minutes long. The Department published statutory guidance to the Care Act which directs local authorities when commissioning to consider national standards including NICE guidelines.
Further, the Department worked with ADASS and the Local Government Association (LGA) to produce a framework of standards, ‘Commissioning for Better Outcomes’ which explicitly states that inappropriate use of short visits is not compatible with best practice. The framework is designed to support local authorities to improve their commissioning practices using self-assessment and peer challenge through the LGA’s programme of sector-led improvement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department intends to establish or encourage national training schemes for care providers to ensure consistency in care provision across the sector.
Ben Gummer
The introduction of the Care Certificate, a recommendation of the Cavendish Review, will help to improve the consistency of training in the sector. As of 1 April 2015, all new social care support workers and healthcare assistants are expected to attain the new Care Certificate within their first twelve weeks of employment.
The Department funds Skills for Care, the partner in the sector skills council for social care, to produce a range of resources for workers to develop the knowledge to support people who use the services. This includes the apprenticeships programme which is important in growing a consistently skilled workforce providing high quality care for the future.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the prevalence of giant hogweed.
George Eustice
Giant hogweed has been present in the UK for over a century and is widespread. Biocontrol methods have been considered in the past but suitable candidates from the plant’s native range have not been found.
Giant hogweed is, however, listed on schedule 9 and subject to section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to plant, or cause this species to grow, in the wild. In addition, Local Authorities and the Police now have powers to issue Community Protection Notices under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, requiring landowners to take action to control species like giant hogweed where they are having a detrimental effect on local people’s quality of life.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Iran.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Our assessment of human rights in Iran can be found in the FCO Human Rights Report, which was updated in July.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve air quality in order to assist people with lung diseases.
Rory Stewart
We are fully committed to complying with EU Air Quality Standards as soon as possible. We have already committed over £2 billion since 2011 in transport measures to improve air quality. On 12 September we launched a public consultation on our draft revised Air Quality plans for nitrogen dioxide, which set out a range of local, national and European actions to lower levels of harmful emissions. The consultation closes on 6 November 2015.
Government departments and agencies work together to prioritise action and offer the best advice to vulnerable groups to help mitigate the health effects of air pollution. Our daily air quality forecast includes accompanying health messages to the public based on advice provided by Public Health England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Summer Budget 2015 has an equal impact on men and women.
Damian Hinds
In line with both the Government’s commitment to fairness and its legal obligations, ministers carefully considered the policy implications for men and women when developing and deciding upon Summer Budget measures.
As with other public sector bodies, HM Treasury is required (under the Equality Act 2010) to pay due regard, in the course of fulfilling its functions, to the implications of its decisions for those with specified ‘protected characteristics’. ‘Sex’ is one of these protected characteristics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to prevent price-fixing in service charges by providers of retirement homes.
Brandon Lewis
The law provides a framework of rights and protections for residential leaseholders where service charges and the management of their property are concerned.
These rights allow leaseholders to hold their freeholder and managing agent to account. They include the right to be consulted about proposed major works and long term agreements, to challenge the reasonableness of service charge demands at an independent tribunal, to seek the appointment of a new manager and, in some cases. to take over the management of the block of flats where they live.
Price-fixing is a serious matter and any evidence of this should be reported to the Competition and Markets Authority for consideration.