Tag: David Crausby

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the per capita spending was on transport projects in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) London in each of the last five years.

Andrew Jones

a) Data on spend per head on transport projects is not available at the level of Greater Manchester.

However, Greater Manchester has benefitted from significant transport investment over the last five years, for example, £140.8 million of Integrated Transport Block funding, £143.2 million for Highways Maintenance (2010-11 to 2014-15), £32.5 million from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund for the ‘Let’s Get to Work’ scheme, £32.49 million for the Manchester Cross City Bus Package (due for completion in November 2016) and £44m announced in July 2014 as part of the Local Growth Fund for 12 new light rail vehicles on Metrolink.

(b) Spend per head on transport in London for the last five available years was as follows:

Identifiable expenditure on transport in London 2009-10 to 2013-14

Type of expenditure	2009-10 outturn	2010-11 outturn	2011-12 outturn	2012-13 outturn	2013-14 outturn
Total expenditure
Per head (£)	747	660	597	479	511
Capital expenditure
Per head (£)	448	413	362	301	332
Current expenditure
Per head (£)	300	247	235	178	180

Source: HM Treasury Country and Regional Analysis, 2014

Spending on London’s transport networks benefits not just London residents but commuters and others travelling into London. London is the biggest city in the UK and a global capital. 850,000 commuters come into London per working day, and there are about 4 billion passenger journeys every year.

The figures in recent years can be skewed by capital projects with uneven patterns of expenditure such as Crossrail and Thameslink (which also create jobs elsewhere).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the overall quality of (a) primary health, (b) hospital and (c) community services for older people.

Alistair Burt

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.

The CQC published its State of Care 2014-15 report in October 2015. It reported that 85% of the general practitioner (GP) practices CQC have rated are good or outstanding. The CQC inspects GP practices against six population areas, which includes older people.

The latest results of the GP Patient Survey, published on 7 January 2016, indicate that patients over 75 have consistently higher rates of satisfaction with their GP services than other age groups.

Overall care quality of providers is assessed regularly by Monitor and the CQC. And there are large scale national audits reporting on specific areas that are likely to be more relevant to older people for example the National Hip Fracture Data Base and the National Audit of Intermediate Care.

The CQC’s State of Care 2014-15 report (October 2015) reported that 35% of acute hospitals were rated as good or outstanding.

NHS England published in 2014 “Safe, compassionate care for frail older people using an integrated care pathway: Practical guidance for commissioners, providers and nursing, medical and allied health professional leaders”. This document summarises the evidence of the effects of an integrated pathway of care for older people and suggests how a pathway can be commissioned effectively using levers and incentives across providers.

The CQC registers and inspects community providers and community trusts to ensure that they follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. 59% of adult social care providers were rated as good or outstanding in the CQC’s October report.

The trends in patient satisfaction for community services are tracked and reported monthly through the Friends and Family Test (FFT). FFT is an important feedback tool that gives patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience and helps the National Health Service to drive improvement in the services it provides.

The latest FFT results from September until November 2015 showed that 95% of respondents would recommend the services they have used in the community services settings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a spouse visa have been (a) received and (b) refused in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information requested for the last 5 calendar years is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April – June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables#visas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate the effects of provisions of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

Justin Tomlinson

The Government will not be revisiting the State Pension age arrangements for women affected by the Pensions Act 1995 and Pensions Act 2011. These women will receive their State Pension either at the same age as men or earlier as we remove current gender timetable inequality.

The equalisation of State Pension age was necessary to meet the UK’s obligations under EU law to eliminate gender inequalities in social security provision. The Pensions Act 1995 contained legislation to equalise women’s State Pension age and, since April 2010, women’s State Pension age has been gradually increasing. Following sharp increases in life expectancy projections, and therefore the increase in the number of people living longer in retirement, this timetable was accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.

A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession benefited almost a quarter of a million women, who would otherwise have experienced delays of up to two years. A similar number of men also benefited from a reduced increase, and the concession was worth around £1 billion in total.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was owed to the UK by which countries in the last year for which figures are available.

Harriett Baldwin

Information on the stock of UK assets, or money owed by other countries to the UK, is captured in the UK’s International Investment Position. A country by country breakdown is available in table 10.2 of the 2015 ONS Pink Book which can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-382775

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a visitor’s visa have been (a) received and (b) refused in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information requested for the last 5 calendar years is published in table vi_01_q (visa data tables volume 1) in ‘Immigration Statistics, April – June 2016’, available from the Home Office website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2016/list-of-tables#visas

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the cumulative effect of the Pensions Act 1995 and the Pensions Act 2011 on women born in the 1950s.

Justin Tomlinson

An overview of the evidence considered when developing the policy for equalisation of the State Pension age, is provided in the 1993 White Paper, ‘Equality in State Pension age’, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.

Estimates of the effect of the increase in State Pension age in the Pensions Act 2011 are presented in the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment, published in November 2011, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf

The latter assessment is a comparison of the impact of the Pensions Act 2011 timetable against the baseline of the 1995 Pensions Act timetable.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on removing from local authorities powers to veto planning applications for fracking.

James Wharton

Mineral planning authorities have a responsibility to consider planning applications for shale gas exploration under the Town and Country Planning regime. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the local authority area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Government has taken steps to ensure this locally led regime is effective, as set out in Written Ministerial Statements of 16 September, HCWS201 and HCWS202. This includes making available £1.2 million to ensure mineral planning authorities have adequate resource to reach timely decisions.

Community involvement in planning applications and people’s safety and the environment will remain paramount. No decision has been made to take shale gas exploration out of this local authority led process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for a spouse visa have been refused by UK Visas and Immigration only to be overturned by appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The information on appeals is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to deal with overcrowding on Bolton’s commuter trains.

Andrew Jones

Northern Rail is required to use all of its train fleet (allowing for maintenance) at peak times and best match capacity to passenger demand across the franchise. It is for Northern to allocate rolling stock to best fit expected passenger numbers on a day-to-day basis. As you may be aware, we have increased Northern’s train fleet this year, including the introduction of 20 refreshed four coach electric trains in the year to December 2015.

In the longer term, unlike the last Northern franchise let under the previous Labour administration in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, the next Northern Franchise will see the removal of the existing Pacer trains, the ordering at least 120 new-build carriages, the modernising of every train operating on the Northern franchise, more frequent services on many routes on the Northern franchise, and will be providing more services for commuters, during off-peak times and on Sundays. The electrification of Manchester to Preston via Bolton route, for which preparatory work began this year, will also provide the opportunity for greater capacity electric powered trains to provide services for Bolton commuters. By the end of 2019, services into central Manchester will have seen a 49% increase in passenger-carrying capacity during the morning peak compared to five years earlier, and this will help ease the crowding affecting your constituents.