Tag: David Crausby

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the leaders of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on future provision of funding for the arts after the devolution agreement comes into effect.

Greg Hands

The Government is working closely with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on the implementation of the landmark agreement to introduce a metro-wide Mayor. Culture is a key element of building a Northern Powerhouse. The Government has committed to support arts and cultural projects in Greater Manchester, including £78 million towards a new theatre and exhibition space called The Factory Manchester, and £3 million for a new temporary exhibition space at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on improving access to specialist psychology support for people with muscle-wasting conditions.

Jane Ellison

With regards to the National Health Service in Scotland, as healthcare is a devolved issue, the Department cannot comment.

NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The neurosciences service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.

The specification further sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.

The specification can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

A separate specification covers services for children.

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf

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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 full-time equivalent staff UK Visas and Immigration employs on its North West MP Account Management Team.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The North West MP Account Management Team employs 9.8 full time equivalent (FTE). However, it relies on expertise and contributions from across the business to enable the service to provide comprehensive and helpful replies.

To try and quantify the full extent of UKVI work on Members’ immigration enquiries alone, staff costs to collate this information would exceed the £850 threshold for answering Parliamentary Questions.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of complaints against Arriva Transport Solutions over its level of service while running Greater Manchester’s non-emergency ambulance service; and what steps he is taking to ensure a better service in Greater Manchester in future.

Jane Ellison

The provision of local health services, including patient transport services, is a matter for the NHS locally. NHS Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group is the lead commissioner for non-emergency patient transport services in the North West.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 15641, what estimate he has made of the projected transport budget per capita in Greater Manchester after the devolution agreement comes into effect.

Andrew Jones

The devolution deal agreement with Greater Manchester will provide the city region with a devolved and consolidated local transport budget. The deal also provides Greater Manchester with other funding and flexibilities that it can use to invest in transport if it chooses. In addition, there are national investment programmes that will benefit Greater Manchester. Such an estimate is therefore dependent on decisions that are still to be taken locally and nationally.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a visitor’s visa application was in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Published data on visa processing times is available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the projected transport budget per capita in Greater Manchester after the devolution agreement comes into effect.

Andrew Jones

Government committed to provide Greater Manchester with a devolved, multi-year transport funding settlement in their Devolution Deal which was agreed in November 2014. The transport funding to be devolved to Greater Manchester will be agreed as part of the Spending Review to be announced later this month.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve food hygiene safety in schools, children’s clubs and nurseries that failed to meet satisfactory standards in inspections last year.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Local authorities are responsible for food hygiene inspections of schools, children’s clubs and nurseries at which food is served regularly to children. Food hygiene legislation requires these premises to be registered as food businesses. The Food Standards Agency, which sets policy for and monitors enforcement of food safety legislation by local authorities, has advised that approximately 99% of educational establishments and caring establishments, including schools, children’s clubs and nurseries, have satisfactory or better food hygiene standards.

Local authorities work with food businesses to make improvements in any premises that fail to meet satisfactory standards during inspections and may take a range of enforcement actions as considered appropriate in the circumstances of each case. The honourable member for Bolton North East or members of his constituency may contact the relevant local authority or the Food Standards Agency for detailed information about specific premises that are of concern to him.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a spouse visa application was in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The average processing time for resolving spouse visa applications in each of the last five years is contained in the attached table:

Year Resolved	Average Days to Resolved
2011	40.97
2012	41.47
2013	45.59
2014	60.41
2015	34.91

Visit visas defined as those endorsements in the endorsement categories Family Partner and Family Partner Immediate Settlement.

Data only includes applications with a destination of UK or UK(BIVS).

Data extracted on 19 October 2016.

These statistics have been taken from a live operational database. As such, numbers may change as information on that system is updated. The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

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).