Tag: Jamie Reed

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review to provide ring fenced funding for a feasibility study into the trunk road section of the A595.

Greg Hands

Highways England will soon start a new programme of Route Strategies, aiming to develop an investment programme for the years 2020-25. These will be the forum where MPs and members of the public can make the case for improvements in their area. If improvements to the A595 are proposed through this process, they will be considered carefully for investment in the next Road Investment Strategy.

Further details of Spending Review decisions will be announced on 25 November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the skills gap in Cumbria.

Nick Boles

It is not for central government to assess local skills needs. Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are working in collaboration with local authorities, colleges and providers in the area to jointly agree key local skill needs and develop a local skills offer that is responsive to local labour market conditions and contributes to improving our productivity.

Cumbria LEP and the Cumbria Employment and Skills Commission are currently refreshing the area skills strategy and this will be finalised in December 2015. It will include a review of the skills needs of the four key sectors denoted in the Cumbria Strategic Economic Plan: Nuclear and Energy; Advanced Manufacturing; Rural and Visitor Economy; and, Infrastructure Improvements. The Skills Commission has noted that the future skills needs of the nuclear sector and BAE Systems Submarine will create significant pressure for skilled labour, particularly in advanced manufacturing and engineering. This will create displacement challenges in other manufacturing businesses in the area.

In September the government announced a programme of area reviews, which will be locally led and will involve key stakeholders. They will be based on the best available evidence of skills requirements and establish a local post-16 education and training offer which is high quality and responsive to employer need. The reviews will support local involvement in the ongoing commissioning of provision, putting responsibility in the hands of people who are best placed to tailor provision to local economic needs. Cumbria will be included in the area review process, due to be completed by March 2017 and an announcement on the date for the review will be announced in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many official visits he has made to (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Greg Hands

Last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in Manchester, Newcastle and Teesside and would hope to visit Cumbria in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-19.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people in receipt of tax credits who will have their income reduced as a result of the proposed government changes to tax credits.

Damian Hinds

The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20^th July 2015. Taken together, the introduction of the National Living Wage, increases in the personal allowance and welfare changes mean that 8 out of 10 working households will be better off as a result of the Summer Budget.

The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. It means Britain moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society.

A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.

To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what investment in the road network the Government plans to make in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Andrew Jones

The Government is working with Transport for the North to determine future transport investment priorities for the next road and rail investment periods in the North of England. This work builds on the “Northern Powerhouse: one Agenda, One economy, One North” report published in March this year with a further report focussing on investment priorities due in March 2016.

In the meantime, Government is undertaking a Northern Trans-Pennine strategic study to examine the case for improving or dualling one or both of the A66 and A69 between the A1(M) and M6.Improvements to either of these routes would benefit the economy of Cumbria and further help the development of a northern powerhouse.

Government is also providing £7.638m for integrated transport improvements and £75.981m for highways maintenance to Cumbria council for the three years 2015/16 to 2017/18, both of which can be used to invest in the road network in Cumbria and Copeland. Over £8m of Local Growth Funding has been provided to the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership for three local road projects in Kendal, Ulverston and Workington, although none of these are in the Copeland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many officials in (a) his Department and (b) NHS England are working on the transition to a new system following the implementation of the Health and Social Care Act 2012; and what the cost was of employing such officials in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

The Health and Social Care Transition Programme (HSCTP) was set up to implement the changes introduced under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The programme was led by the Department and closed on 31 March 2013. All of the organisations in the new health and care system assumed full responsibilities and powers as set out in the Act from 1 April 2013.

Any enduring responsibilities that transferred to the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), or NHS England from 1 April 2013 are being discharged as part of business as usual arrangements in each organisation. As the HSCTP has closed and the new organisations are in place, there are no longer any officials working on the transition to a new system.

Further information on the overall cost of transition is available in the National Audit Office report ‘Managing the transition to the reformed health system’ available at the following link:

www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/10175-001-Managing-the-transition-to-the-reformed-health-system.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the openness and transparency of the proceedings and accountability of Family Court decisions.

Simon Hughes

The Government recognises the need for greater openness in the family justice system. The challenge is to open the system up to greater scrutiny while protecting those involved especially the welfare of children. Last year, the President of the Family Division issued practice guidance in relation to committal of individuals found in contempt of court to ensure that these proceedings should be held in open court. In January this year, the President issued guidance aimed at increasing the number of judgments in family proceedings which are published. We are grateful to the President for his work in this area.

The guidance is available at the following link:

http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Guidance/transparency-in-the-family-courts-jan2014.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-05-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that fathers have appropriate access to or custody of their children following separation or divorce in cases where there is no risk to the child.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Government recognises that a father’s role in his child’s life is a very important one and legislation in the Children and Families Act 2014 reflects the importance of children having a continuing relationship with both of their parents following family separation, as long as it is safe and in the child’s best interests.

We are also strengthening the way in which breaches of child arrangement orders are handled. Cases which are breached within the first 12 months of an order being made will in future return to court quickly and, wherever possible, to the judge who made the original order. Courts will also be able to make full use of powers to direct a parent who is in breach of an order to participate in an activity, for example a parenting programme, to address their behaviour.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS England spent on tendering for clinical services in 2013-14.

Dr Daniel Poulter

NHS England has advised that it does not hold information on spend on tendering for clinical services. Staff payroll costs will form the majority of the cost of any tendering process and it is not possible to determine what proportion of each individual staff member’s time is spent on this work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much (a) NHS England, (b) Clinical Commissioning Groups, (c) Commissioning Support Units and (d) Monitor spent on consultancy workers in the last financial year.

Dr Daniel Poulter

As final year accounts have not yet been produced for Monitor or for NHS England, it is not at this time possible to give actual spend figures for 2013-14.