Tag: David Lammy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her Department’s officials are working on processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests; and what plans her Department has to increase the number of such staff.

James Brokenshire

We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.

We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.

Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.

The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.

As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England’s announcement, NHS England backs general practice with a multi-billion transformation plan, published on 21 April 2016, what formula his Department plans to use to determine the allocation of the £2.4 billion a year funding.

Alistair Burt

In December 2015, the NHS England Board published Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2016/17 to 2020/21, which set firm allocations for the years 2016/17 to 2018/19 and indicative allocations, to assist with planning, for the years 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Part B of that paper is entitled Distribution of funds within each commissioning stream and paragraphs 34 to 38 describe the primary care allocation formula that was used to calculate the published allocations. Further details on the formula, including recent revisions and improvements to it, are outlined in annex E.

Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2016/17 to 2020/21 is on the NHS England website at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/04.PB_.17.12.15-Allocations.pdf

In January 2016, the detailed NHS England Allocations Primary Care (medical) figures for 2016/17 to 2020/21 were published for clinical commissioning group (CCG) areas. These show firm allocations for 2016/17 to 2018/19 and indicative allocations, to help with planning, for 2019/20 and 2020/21. The paper is available on the NHS England website at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/pc-medical-allocations.pdf

In addition, the 44 Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) areas have received indicative allocations, which include: CCG expenditure on general practice, which is funded from CCG allocations; shares of general practice access funding; and also the mental health allocation, which will fund the additional therapists mentioned in the General Practice Forward View.

Together the above account for around £2.1 billion of the £2.4 billion increase.

There are a number of elements not included in the commissioning or STP allocations, including the Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (formerly the Primary Care Transformation Fund), capital funding and funding for general practitioner (GP) trainers and GP trainees. These other elements account for around £0.3 billion of the £2.4 billion increase, and it is yet to be determined how this funding will be allocated across the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to implement a diesel scrappage scheme to tackle air pollution.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Current plans for improving air quality are set out in our national plan for nitrogen dioxide, published on 17 December last year. The plan sets out a comprehensive approach to improving UK air quality. The priority measure in the plan is the introduction of new Clean Air Zones to tackle the most polluting vehicles in air pollution hotspots. Clean Air Zones will be introduced in five cities in England (Birmingham, Leeds, Southampton, Nottingham and Derby), along with the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London.

The plan sets out a range of other measures. For example, we are also planning to consult in the Autumn on proposals to control emissions from generators, which have the potential to cause breaches in air quality limits for nitrogen dioxide. The proposed controls will apply from 2019.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many additional staff have been deployed to the UK’s mission to the UN in Geneva to work on World Trade Organisation (WTO) policy and to renegotiate the UK’s membership of the WTO since the EU referendum.

Alok Sharma

A Deputy Permanent Representative to cover the WTO is being appointed. Further decisions will be taken in due course to provide the additional staff required in Geneva to work on the UK’s evolving status in the WTO, and in the longer term to cover all WTO business.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people under the age of 18 were dependants of adults who had been granted leave to remain in the UK and had also had a no recourse to public funds condition attached to their leave in the financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15.

James Brokenshire

Home Office Systems cannot be interrogated in a way that will provide any meaningful response to the question. A manual review of all applications submitted with dependants within the stipulated timeframe would be needed in order to provide an accurate response and this would incur a disproportionate cost to the public purse.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children were refused chemotherapy on the basis of their immigration status in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.

Alistair Burt

The Department does not hold this information.

National Health Service hospital treatment is free to those people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, or those exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended. Anyone else should present a European Health Insurance Card, S1 or S2 form or pay direct for their NHS care. Those who need care and treatment urgently will still receive it even if they are chargeable and cannot pay straight away.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 34579, what plans his Department has to publish information on the performance of the Defence Diversity and Inclusion Programme in increasing the diversity of the armed forces since that programme was established.

Penny Mordaunt

The Defence Diversity and Inclusion Programme (DDIP) is driving change in the core areas of leadership and culture; recruitment; retention and progression; and outreach by ensuring diversity and inclusion considerations as part of normal business across the whole Department. This involves staff and funding across all areas of the Department, to define how this should be done and ensure delivery as part of people’s existing roles wherever they work.

The Ministry of Defence is dedicated to achieving a more diverse workforce and is undertaking various activities to increase the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) recruits into the Armed Forces to 10% by 2020 and has allocated resources for this purpose.

The cost of funding the DDIP is disaggregated amongst budgets across the Department; therefore a response could only be provided at disproportionate cost. As part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review we dedicated additional resources to recruitment activity in order to help generate a more diverse workforce and reach all parts of the UK’s Armed Forces community.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to increase the resources available for the processing of Dublin III asylum transfer requests.

James Brokenshire

We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.

We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.

Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.

The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.

As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to NHS England’s announcement, NHS England backs general practice with a multi-billion transformation plan, published on 21 April 2016, how much of the £2.4 billion a year funding will be allocated to GPs in (a) Tottenham constituency and (b) the London Borough of Haringey.

Alistair Burt

Primary care, dental, optometry and pharmacy services are commissioned by NHS England on a London-wide basis, therefore there is no figure available for borough-level funding.

Primary care medical (general practitioner (GP) services) allocations have been published for the next five years on a clinical commissioning group (CCG) -basis, the uplifts for Haringey are in the attached table.

The practice-level budgets for the GPs located within the Tottenham constituency total £18.4 million in 2016/17. These budgets are not set for future years but will be based on the practice-specific services and registered populations, as well as the national contract terms agreed in future years. They will benefit from the growth within the Haringey allocation as indicated in the table.

There is a development under way for a new practice at Tottenham Hale for which the capital cost is £558,000 which will expand capacity within Tottenham. CCGs also commission additional medical services from GP practices from their own resources.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to tackle air pollution and the associated health effects.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

The Government is committed to improving the UK’s air quality and reducing health impacts. Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and we are working at local, national and international levels to continue those improvements. The UK currently meets legal limits for almost all pollutants; however, reducing levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) remains the most challenging.

In December last year, the Government published the national air quality plan for NO₂. This is an ambitious plan combining national and local measures. It includes targeted measures, for example, the implementation of a new programme of Clean Air Zones, alongside wider approaches including continued investment in clean technologies, such as electric and ultra low emission vehicles. Our approach also includes working closely with the Mayor on improvements to air quality in London. The Plan sets out that we intend to meet legal limits for NO₂ in all areas outside London by 2020 and in London by 2025.

The Plan also sets out a range of action by local authorities across the UK. Alongside national action, local authorities have a crucial role to play in improving air quality. They are required to review and assess air quality in their areas and to designate Air Quality Management Areas and put in place Air Quality Action Plans to address air pollution issues where national air quality objectives are not being met.

Later this year, we will also consult on proposals to reduce pollution from electricity generating plants with high emissions of nitrogen oxides that are not currently regulated. The proposals would set emission limit values on relevant air pollutants, with a view to having legislation in force no later than January 2019 and possibly sooner.