Tag: Caroline Lucas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the legal status of NHS Improvement is; how and to whom that body is accountable; and what functions he has in relation to that body.

Ben Gummer

NHS Improvement has brought together two distinct legal entities: Monitor, a non-departmental public body and the NHS Trust Development Authority, a special health authority, under a single leadership and operating model. It is a combination of the continuing statutory functions and legal powers vested in these organisations.

They will continue to maintain their current legal underpinnings as two separate bodies, although they will function as a single organisation to manage NHS trusts and foundation trusts more effectively in the interests of patients and taxpayers.

NHS Improvement will be accountable directly to Parliament, the Secretary of State and the Department’s Principal Accounting Officer for discharge of Monitor’s statutory and regulatory functions and to the Secretary of State and Principal Accounting Officer for the specific functions of the Trust Development Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent representations the Government has made to the Ethiopian government on the Integrated Development Master Plan; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Government of Ethiopia withdrew the Addis Ababa Master Plan in January 2016 in response to the wave of protests it had triggered in Oromia. The UK government has raised concerns about the unrest in Oromia, and particularly the reports of a large number of deaths, with the Ethiopian Government on a number of occasions. The Secretary of State raised our concerns directly with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister at Davos in January 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answers of 1 June 2016 to Questions 38139 and 38140, how much of the £10.3 million of minimum wage arrears recovered in 2015-16 was recovered from the 85 employers who did not respond to the National Minimum Wage campaign announced by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 July 2015 but were not issued with a Notice of Underpayment and did not have to pay a penalty; and how many workers were identified as having been underpaid by those 85 employers.

Margot James

In 2015/16 a total of 145 employers found to be non-compliant with National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation were not issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) or a financial penalty for any of the arrears they owed.

56 of these employers voluntarily disclosed arrears of £742,587 owed to 4875 workers through the campaign announced by HM Revenue & Customs on 29 July 2015.

83 of these employers, owing a combined total of £841,282 to 8768 workers, were not issued with an NoU or penalty for other reasons. For instance, HMRC will not issue a notice of underpayment where complainant workers have entered into a compromise agreement with the employer, or in cases where pay liabilities have been transferred to a new employer under the terms of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (1981).

In addition, HMRC were also notified in 2015/16 of a further 6 employers who owed £482,005 of arrears to 412 workers. These were additional arrears related to cases originally closed in 2014/15.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2016 to Question 40384, on Govia Thameslink Railway, whether Ministers requested a copy of the modelling analysis after those discussions; whether minutes were taken of those discussions; what questions Ministers asked during those discussions; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

Following the disruption to rail services at London Bridge early in 2015 I held discussions with Network Rail to understand the root cause and seek reassurance as to how to prevent similar occurrences. My officials subsequently discussed my concerns about the modelling analysis with Network Rail.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when she plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK’s sixth periodic report in relation to legal aid and access to justice; and if she will make a statement.

Sir Oliver Heald

The UN requested that the UK submits its next periodic report under the Covenant (inclusive of a response to all the recommendations from this year’s examination) by 30 June 2021; it would therefore not be appropriate for me to pre-empt this report by anticipating what we, or indeed a future UK Government in 2021, might say.

We regularly monitor the operation of the legal aid scheme on an ongoing basis. The Legal Aid Agency routinely collects data on the age, sex, disability status and ethnicity of recipients of legal aid and publishes statistics on this topic annually. We have committed to carrying out a Post Implementation Review, which will consider the impact of the legal aid provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on access to justice. The UK Government is also currently undertaking a review of the introduction of fees into the Employment Tribunals and will publish its findings in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2016 to Question 41361, on NHS Professionals, which potential options his Department has been exploring.

Mr Philip Dunne

No decisions have yet been taken by Ministers on the future of NHS Professionals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have applied for asylum on the basis of sexual orientation; how many of these claims have been unsuccessful; on what grounds those unsuccessful applications were refused in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office is currently undertaking a process to quality assure information on its Case Information Database relating to sexuality based asylum claims.

Until this exercise has concluded it is not possible to provide an accurate picture of the number of asylum claims based solely, or partly on sexuality.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on (a) opportunity for students and (b) universities in general of not having access to the (i) Erasmus and (ii) Interreg programmes after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Robin Walker

We have been clear that we want to create an environment in which the UK as a whole can continue to be a world leader in research, science and the tertiary education sector more broadly. The government has already announced that UK researchers can still apply for Horizon 2020 funding projects while the UK is a member of the EU and the Treasury will underwrite the payment of such awards, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU. The Treasury will also guarantee funding for European Territorial Cooperation projects signed before we leave the EU and which continue after we have left, where they provide strong value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities. Horizon 2020 funding supports collaboration between EU Member States or Associated countries.

Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. We will consult with stakeholders to review all EU funding schemes in the round, to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best serve the UK‘s national interest, while ensuring appropriate investor certainty.

The UK remains a member of the EU until our withdrawal is completed. There is no change to those currently participating in, or about to start, programmes such as Erasmus+ exchanges. Erasmus+ is open to a number of countries across Europe and beyond. We are not going to provide a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiations, but we will work hard to get the best deal for Britain, its universities, and the wider research sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the qualifying threshold for baseline assessment providers was set at 10 per cent of primary schools.

Nick Gibb

The reception baseline contracts contained a number of criteria for approving suppliers.

The 10 per cent threshold was set to ensure a statistically reliable sample size for each supplier when determining the relative progress measure for each pupil.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 November to Question 14860, whether all of the providers approved by her Department to provide baseline assessment for primary schools reached the qualifying 10 per cent threshold for providers by the 30 April 2015 deadline.

Nick Gibb

The contractual acceptance criteria for reception baseline suppliers had two levels related to the volume of schools recruited. If fewer than four suppliers met the 10% threshold, suppliers were still accepted if they had recruited more than 1,000 schools. All approved suppliers met the minimum volume criteria.

The reception baseline contract is published online at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive/contract/1656259/

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