Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the National Institute for Health Research has invested in research into (a) lung cancer, (b) adult asthma, (c) pneumonia, (d) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (e) idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, (f) mesothelioma and (g) childhood wheezing and childhood respiratory infection in each of the last five years.

George Freeman

The information requested is not available. Spend on research funded directly by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories including ‘cancer’ and ‘respiratory’. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, such as for specific cancer sites or respiratory diseases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Attorney General, if he will estimate the costs attributed to the Department for Education in cases relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by the Government Legal Department since 2010.

Robert Buckland

The Treasury Solicitor’s Department was renamed the Government Legal Department (GLD) on 1 April 2015. It is primarily funded through the fees it charges for its legal services. It provides Litigation, Employment, Commercial and Advisory legal services to the Department for Education (DfE). The fees charged to DfE for this work, including the cost of disbursements, are as follows:

Financial year	Fees (excluding VAT) £
2010-11	4,208,845
2011-12	4,499,546
2012-13	4,805,840
2013-14	4,409,976
2014-15	4,098,629

Providing information on the costs attributed to cases relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would incur disproportionate cost as it would involve a manual exercise to identify those historical cases that relate to FOI.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations he has received from charities on the adequacy of employment and support allowance payments; and if he will make a statement.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many freedom of information requests were (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr David Lidington

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) submits statistics on freedom of information performance to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. These statistics, along with those of other departments of state, are published in a quarterly statistics bulletin (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics). The quarter four bulletin includes annual figures.

The FCO annual figures for 2010-2014 are shown in the attached table.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on meningitis vaccine stocks in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

Vaccine prices are commercially confidential, and so we are unable to provide this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people aged under 18 who have been (a) involved in gang violence and (b) a member of a gang in each year since 2010.

Karen Bradley

There are no centrally held estimates of the numbers of under 18s involved in gang violence or numbers of gang members and we cannot provide a breakdown for each year since 2010. However some police forces collect data locally. The Metropolitan Police Service, for example, state that there were 201 active gangs in London involving 3,628 gang members as of 1 January 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received from (a) consumer groups and (b) railway franchise holders on the level of staffing at small railway stations; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

Whilst we regulate Ticket Office opening times through the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, station staffing levels are primarily a matter for operators as we believe that they themselves are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their passengers.

Since February 2015, 3 ticket offices have reduced their opening hours after train companies followed the procedure as set out in the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement, which includes making representation to the Department.

Passenger Focus (as was) and London TravelWatch provided responses to the East Anglia franchise public consultation with regard to staffing.

More recently, both Transport Focus and London TravelWatch have made representations to the Department with regard to the South Western franchise consultation and staffing.

Representatives from Govia Thameslink Railway have also briefed officials at the Department on their plans to carry out a consultation on proposals to change ticket office opening hours at some stations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of freedom of information requests (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of processing these applications was in each such year.

Mr David Lidington

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 25 February 2016 (PQ 26939).

https://wqa.parliament.uk/Questions/Details/34348

The processing of Freedom of Information requests is part of staff responsibilities across the Department. The number of hours spent on this activity, and therefore the total cost of processing applications, is not recorded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spent on research into brain tumours in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The information requested is not available. Spend on research funded directly by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories including ‘cancer’. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, such as for brain tumours or other cancer sites.

Investment in cancer research by the NIHR has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £135 million in 2014/15. The NIHR works closely with patients, charities and our world-leading life sciences industry to support further research into brain tumours.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) cost of running and (b) number of full-time equivalent employees based within the Cities and Local Growth Unit in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Mark Francois

The Cities and Local Growth Unit is a joint BIS-DCLG team that supports a range of local growth activity. It was established in December 2013 to support policy areas including Growth Deals and City Deals. Its allocated headcount in the past three years has been 123 in 2013/14 and 2014/15, rising to 161.9 by the end of 2015/16, during which time it took on work in additional areas, including Devolution Deals, Enterprise Zones, and High Streets, Town Centres and Coastal Communities.

The Department has estimated the running costs of the unit for 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 as £2.52m, £6.88m and £9.57m respectively. The figure is low in 2013-14 as the Unit was established three months before the end of the financial year. This estimate includes pay and non-pay costs.