The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many and what proportion of (a) existing trade deals and (b) trade deals under negotiation by the EU will be available to countries in the European Free Trade Area.
Greg Hands
Countries in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) are not party to any EU trade deals, either existing or under negotiation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 22 September 2016 to Question HL1788, how many outstanding family reunion applications there are for unaccompanied children from France; what steps are being taken to ensure those applications are processed quickly; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the UK remains in contact with children with outstanding applications in the event that they are moved away from Calais.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Home Office teams have been deployed to France to work with the French Authorities to speed up the identification and transfer of eligible cases under both the Dublin Regulation and Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
More children are arriving to join their family in the UK each day. It is therefore not possible to provide an exact number of outstanding family reunion applications.
The UK has made clear that the remaining children, including those who do not qualify for family reunion must be looked after in safe facilities. The UK Government is ready to help fund such facilities and provide resources to aid the decision-making.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-10-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it is his policy to require the new TransPennine Express franchise to include direct Hull, Leeds and Manchester services at the same frequency as is currently provided.
Andrew Jones
The Government recognises the value that passengers attach to direct services in preference to having to change trains.
The specification for the new TransPennine Express franchise, which starts in April 2016, requires the future franchisee to continue to operate through services between Hull and Manchester. The Government’s response to the consultation on the new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises, published in February, made clear that decisions on the post-electrification service pattern for Hull would be taken during the life of the new franchises. In the meantime, the specifications for the new franchises will provide Hull passengers with an improved weekday evening service back from Manchester, a full hourly all-day service to/from York, and additional trains to/from Scarborough.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of online child abuse were referred from the National Crime Agency to individual police forces in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.
Karen Bradley
The National Crime Agency (NCA) disseminates intelligence and information relating to child sexual exploitation for police forces to investigate on a regular basis.
The NCA made the following number of disseminations in relation to child sexual exploitation and abuse, which includes on-line abuse, to territorial police forces in the UK:
2014 – 3664
2015 (to 30 September) – 4071
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many press, communication and public relations staff are employed by (a) his Department, (b) Public Health England, (c) NHS England, (d) Monitor, (e) the Care Quality Commission, (f) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, (g) NHS Blood and Transplant, (h) the NHS Litigation Authority, (i) the Trust Development Authority, (j) the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, (k) the Human Tissue Authority, (l) the NHS Business Service Authority, (m) Health Education England and (n) the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and communication by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Jane Ellison
Below are details of communications headcount and spend for the organisations requested.
On headcount, to ensure consistency, all organisations have provided information according to the following criteria for public relations (PR) and communications staff:
– Press and PR
– Stakeholder relations
– Campaigns (including marketing and strategic communications)
– Digital Communications (not IT/digital service teams)
– Internal Communications
On communications spend, we have provided figures for 2014/15, which is the most recent year for which figures are available.
The figures on spend are split between major communications and marketing spend costs (submissions of above £100,000 which are assessed through the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Group process) and the remaining admin and minor programme spend costs. Major programme spend costs cover budgets for public information campaigns – such as smoking cessation, blood and organ donor recruitment, dementia friends, cancer diagnosis and immunisation campaigns.
The figures on major campaign programme spend (in column three below) reflect the amount of money requested in the Cabinet Office submission. In some instances, the final spend on communications was lower, as some of the budget was reappropriated for operational requirements or was unused and returned to central budgets.
|
Organisation |
Number of Communications Staff |
Major campaign programme spend (Activity over £100,000 approved in 2014/15) |
Admin (staff / non-staff) and minor programme spend 2014/15 (£) |
|
Department of Health |
106.5 |
1,129,507 |
6,968,643 |
|
Public Health England |
115.5 |
57,162,157* |
8,134,900 |
|
NHS England |
69 |
9,721,465 |
3,292,340 |
|
Monitor |
21 |
n/a |
1,697,000 |
|
Care Quality Commission |
34 |
650,000 |
6,671,635 |
|
NICE |
74 |
n/a |
2,427, 944 |
|
NHS Blood & Transplant |
124.59 |
4,862,257 |
8,689,004 |
|
NHS Litigation Authority |
3 |
n/a |
315,329 |
|
NHS Trust Development Authority |
12 |
n/a |
926,023 |
|
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority |
6.5 |
n/a |
381,443 |
|
Human Tissue Authority |
3.2 |
n/a |
291,454 |
|
NHS Business Services Authority |
17.6 |
1,028,800 |
823,586 |
|
Health Education England |
32 |
n/a |
2,219,301 |
|
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority |
28 |
n/a |
1,987,441 |
*See breakdown of Public Health England campaign spend in table below
|
Public Health England Campaign Spend in 2014/15 |
Cost |
|
Smokefree (tobacco control) includes Stoptober and January Health Harms campaigns |
£11,580,000 |
|
PHE Smokefree Cars |
£1,400,000 |
|
Be Clear on Cancer |
£11,685,000 |
|
Stroke- ACT Fast |
£975,000 |
|
Change4life |
£11,514,248 |
|
Start4life |
£3,200,000 |
|
Rise Above |
£1,970,000 |
|
DH PHE Dementia Friends Campaign |
£4,000,000 |
|
HIV Prevention England 14/15 |
£550,000 |
|
Sexual Health Information Family Planning Association |
£262,000 |
|
Care & Support Reforms Phase 1 |
£1,950,000 |
|
Dementia Friends Phase 2 |
£1,500,000 |
|
Seasonal Flu Campaign |
£1,868,000 |
|
PHE Alcohol Campaign |
£1,825,000 |
|
PHE, Seasonal Flu, respiratory and hand hygiene 2014/15 |
£500,000 |
|
TOTAL |
£54,779,248 |
We can provide information on staff paid in different salary bands. However, due to differing bands between organisations and differing geographical weighting, this does not allow us to provide figures for the number of employees paid more than £50,000 and £100,000.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) her Department, (b) Ofqual, (c) Ofsted, (d) the National College for Teaching and Leadership, (e) the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and (f) the Equalities Office; how many of those employees earn more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education communications group, which covers press and public relations work, employs 34.1 permanent members of staff. This includes 2.5 staff members for the Government Equalities Office. Nine of these staff members earn more than £50,000 and none more than £100,000.
With regard to Ofsted, these matters are for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. I have asked him to write to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.
With regard to Ofqual, these matters are for its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey. I have asked her to write to you and a copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many press and public relations staff are employed by her Department; how many of those employees are paid more than (a) £50,000 and (b) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by her Department in the most recent year for which figures are available.
George Eustice
Defra is in the midst of a transformation programme which is yielding significant reductions in communication staff.Defra currently employs 41 full time staff to deliver press and public relations. Nine staff are paid over £50,000 per annum. No staff are paid over £100,000 per annum.
Our controls on communication spending have saved over £1million in 2015/16. The total committed expenditure for Defra’s press and public relations programme for 2015/16 is £46,761.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the government of (a) Italy and (b) Egypt on the case of Giulio Regini.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of the tragic death of Mr Regini, an Italian national, following his disappearance on 25 January and pass our condolences to his friends and family at this difficult time. We support Italian and Egyptian efforts to investigate into the circumstances of his death.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government has made representations to the Egyptian government on the case of Giulio Regeni; whether those representations were made by Ministers or by HM Ambassador to Egypt; and which of those representations were made in person.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We regularly raise the case of Giulio Regeni with the Egyptian authorities. Most recently, I raised our concerns in a call to the Egyptian Ambassador on 11 April. These concerns have been reiterated by senior diplomats including the Permanent Under Secretary, Simon McDonald, who raised Mr Regeni’s case with the Egyptian Ambassador when they met on 11 April. Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Cairo raised the case directly with the Egyptian Prime Minister’s security advisor on 3 March; both he and officials in Cairo and London continue to raise the case on a regular basis, most recently in mid April.
The Government published a response to the petition regarding Mr Regeni on 25th April: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/120832
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to increase the number of driving test inspectors based at the Hull testing site so as to ensure a driving test at that site can be booked within one month.
Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency acknowledges that waiting times at Hull are unacceptable and that this test centre is in need of additional resource and there will be three extra examiners going into this test centre over coming months. This and new contractual overtime rates will reduce waiting times at Hull.