Tag: Greg Mulholland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Russian government following the Russian airstrike in Hazzano, Syria, which damaged the bakery funded by the Department for International Development.

Mr David Lidington

We have repeatedly made clear to the Russian Government our serious concerns about its bombing campaign in Syria. We have consistently called on Russia to focus its targeting on Daesh and to cease the targeting of moderate opposition groups. We have also expressed concern over the numbers of civilian casualties being reported as a result of Russian strikes.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has raised our concerns about Russia’s approach with Foreign Minister Lavrov, including at meetings of the International Syria Support Group. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), discussed Syria with President Putin at the G20 Summit in Antalya, and in a telephone conversation on 9 December following Parliament’s vote to support military action against Daesh in Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding his Department is providing to museums in each region and nation of the UK.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Department does not hold information on museums spending broken down by region or nation. Museums funding is devolved to the respective administrations. The total spend on DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries (including the British Library) was £389.7m in 2014-15. The 2015 Spending Review announced DCMS spend on museums and galleries will be maintained in cash terms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many names were provided to Ministers to enable them to take a formal decision on the appointment of the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

Anna Soubry

I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Hove on 10 March, Official Report, Vol 607, Col 426.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the availability in the UK of clinical expertise to treat scarlet fever and Kawasaki disease.

George Freeman

The Government published the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in November 2013. The strategy contains over 50 commitments to ensure people living with a rare disease, such as Kawasaki disease, have access to the best evidence-based care and treatment that health and social services, working with charities, researchers and industry can provide.

It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training in both scarlet fever and Kawasaki disease.

Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the Royal Colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not published any specific guidance on the similarities between Kawasaki disease and scarlet fever.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the assessment and initial management of fever in under 5s sets out the circumstances in which a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease should be considered, and Public Health England (PHE) has endeavoured to keep healthcare professionals, schools and the general public informed of the increased incidence of scarlet fever through timely information, news stories and updates on the PHE website and by using social and other media. These awareness raising measures assist general practitioners and other frontline healthcare professionals in reaching a correct diagnosis more quickly and encourage patients to seek medical advice early so that suspected cases receive prompt antibiotic treatment to reduce the risk of complications and limit further transmission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what methodology the Pubs Code Adjudicator appointment panel employed in order to ensure the appointed Pubs Code Adjudicator had no conflicts of interest.

Anna Soubry

Mr Newby was appointed in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ (OCPA) Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies. As is standard practice, Mr Newby was asked during this appointments process to declare any potential conflicts of interest. The appointment panel discussed conflicts of interest with him at interview. The Panel was satisfied there were no conflicts of interest, and put this advice to ministers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to apply the agent of change principle to pubs which play live music.

Brandon Lewis

Elements of the agent of change principle already exist within planning policies and guidance. The planning guidance supporting the Framework is clear that the potential effect of a new residential development being located close to an existing business giving rise to noise should be carefully considered. The guidance underlines planning’s contribution to avoiding future complaints and risks to local business like live music venues from resulting enforcement action. To help avoid such situations, local councils are encouraged to consider appropriate mitigation including designing the new development to reduce the impact of noise from the local environment and optimising the sound insulation provided by the building envelope.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to extend the cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse to include people under 16 years old.

Karen Bradley

The Government takes domestic violence and abuse extremely seriously and recognises that young people can be victims in both the home and their relationships. In March 2013, the non-statutory definition of domestic violence and abuse was extended to include 16 and 17-year-olds.

In doing so the Government hopes to encourage young people to come forward and get the support they need, through a helpline or specialist service. Whilst domestic abuse against under 16s is captured by child abuse and existing child protection systems we continue to keep the non-statutory definition of domestic abuse under constant review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Justin Tomlinson

The Department for Work and Pensions pays employees an annual salary and does not pay an hourly rate.

The Department uses a grade structure to determine salary rates. The grade structure is underpinned by Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), an analytical job evaluation tool which meets all requirements of legislation and EHRC statutory codes of practice on Equal Pay. The use of JEGS and its application in determining the appropriate grade for a role enables us to determine where employees are doing equal work based on “work rated as equivalent”.

DWP Equality data is published on an annual basis on https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/equality-and-diversity this includes the average pay by indicated ethnicity each year up to 2015.

The main factor influencing the DWP pay gap is the difference in distribution of staff within each of these groups across the grades. DWP continues to regularly review ways to address the pay gap.

This report is usually published in July each year and looks at data over the previous financial year. The report for 2016 is not yet available.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many public procurement contracts were won by small and medium-sized businesses in each region in the last five years.

Ben Gummer

In 2014-15, Central Government spent over £12 billion (27.1%) with small and medium sized businesses, which shows a continued year on year increase in SMEs winning public procurements.

The Government is determined to deliver its new target of one third of spend with SMEs by the end of this Parliament and we have appointed Emma Jones as the new Crown Representative for SMEs to help us achieve that.

We do not hold information on the number of public sector contracts won by small businesses or on the number of companies bidding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on the electrification of the Leeds-Harrogate-York railway line.

Paul Maynard

Later this year the rail industry will present its initial advice to Government on investment needs for the national network in the next Control Period (2019-2024), drawing on the outputs of Network Rail’s long term planning process, including its review of the national electrification strategy. Taking account of this advice and other inputs – including from Transport for the North – the Government intends to articulate its emerging priorities for improvement to the national network during 2017.