Tag: Julie Cooper

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many students in Lancashire studying a clinical pharmacy diploma are in receipt of a bursary.

Ben Gummer

Students undertaking clinical pharmacy diplomas are not eligible for NHS Bursary funding.

Health Education England (HEE), North West, provides a range of education support primarily focused around the required pre-registration year through the provision of salary support for hospital based trainees. HEE (North West) also supports access to funded continuing professional development for clinical pharmacists. The clinical pharmacy diploma, which is not a requirement in order to practice independently, is not funded in the North West by HEE in terms of either fees or bursaries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure an effective balance between its policies on tackling radicalisation and protecting people at risk of Islamaphobic attacks.

Sarah Newton

The Government is determined to tackle hate crime and extremism wherever it occurs.

The Government’s Prevent strategy, published in 2011, explicitly tackles all forms of terrorism. That includes protecting individuals who are at risk from far right and Neo-nazi extremism, as well as those vulnerable to Islamist extremism.

Prevent is about safeguarding people who are at risk of radicalisation. Prevent does not target a specific faith or ethnic group. Rather, Prevent protects those who are targeted by terrorist recruiters. Currently the greatest threat comes from terrorist recruiters inspired by Daesh. Our Prevent programme will necessarily reflect this by prioritising support for vulnerable British Muslims, and working in partnership with British Muslim communities and civil society groups.

The Prevent programme is implemented in a proportionate manner that takes into account the level of risk in any given area or institution. In some areas the risk of far right extremism may be significant and we would expect in those circumstances for Prevent activity to focus on the far right threat.

Far right extremism often brings with it the threat of anti-Muslim or antisemitic attacks. We have a strong record of action against Islamophobia and antisemitism and deplore all religious or racially motivated crimes.

We strongly condemn the increase in attacks on Muslims that have been seen in this country in recent years. We know the majority of people in United Kingdom join our condemnation, and we have seen great examples of individuals and communities standing together to tackle this hatred.

Muslims make an enormous contribution to British society. They are all too often the victims of hatred and intolerance in this country and overseas. This Government is determined to act to protect British Muslims.

The United Kingdom has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We will keep it under review to ensure it remains effective and appropriate in the face of new and emerging threats. We also published a new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan on 26 July which will drive forward action against all forms of hate crime, including anti-Muslim hatred. This will be taken forward in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many first-time house buyers there were in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in each of the last six years.

Brandon Lewis

Statistics on the numbers of first-time house buyers are published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and can be found at:

https://www.cml.org.uk/home/

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many lone parent households that are in receipt of housing benefit will be affected by changes to universal credit work allowances in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.

Priti Patel

The information requested is not available.

The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors. Because of this, the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of its delivery plan rather than numbers of claimants.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect UK businesses, the economy and the City from turbulence in Chinese stock markets.

Harriett Baldwin

The Treasury continuously monitors global economic developments, including those in China, and their impact on the UK as part of the normal process of policy development.

The Chancellor has warned that “last year was the worst for global growth since the crash and this year opens with a dangerous cocktail of new threats from around the world.” As one of the most open trading economies in the world with a large financial sector, we have to recognise that the UK is not immune to the continued problems being experienced in the world economy.

We should not let this put us off engaging with China. As the Chancellor said while leading the UK’s Economic and Financial Dialogue with China in September 2015, both countries: “have a shared commitment to laying the foundations for stronger, more productive economies that can weather periods of uncertainty. At the same time, we need to continue to pursue the longer-term reform challenges that both our governments are pursuing.”

The Bank of England’s 2015 stress tests modelled a severe slowdown in commodities and emerging markets. No banks were required to submit revised capital plans following the stress tests. This provides further reassurance that the UK’s banking system is capable of weathering future financial storms both at home and abroad.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British servicemen are serving in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan.

Penny Mordaunt

As of 22 January 2016, there were 287 British Service personnel serving in Iraq as part of Operation SHADER. This includes UK training teams providing training to the Iraq Security Forces and Kurdish Security Forces and UK support to various Coalition headquarters. Routine movements and minor changes in requirements mean that this number will vary over time.

For Afghanistan, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my noble Friend, the Minister of State in the House of Lords, the Rt Hon Earl Howe PC to the noble Lord, Lord Moonie, in the House of Lords to Question HL5150.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to cap the number of times a person in receipt of benefits can be sanctioned in a month.

Priti Patel

The Department has no plans to cap the number of times a sanction might apply to a claimant’s benefit in a month.

There are established safeguards to prevent the accrual of sanctions. This prevents the duration of a sanction escalating if the sanctionable failure occurs within two weeks of a previous similar failure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS 111 calls were made in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015 in (i) Lancashire and (ii) Burnley.

Jane Ellison

The data is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of increasing the state pension age on productivity.

Justin Tomlinson

The projected increase in the number of people working as a result of the rise in State Pension age provided for by the Pensions Act 2011 was estimated to generate a significant increase in gross employment earnings. Under this new timetable the peak increase compared to the previous timetable would be £5.0 billion in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices).

At an individual level, working longer and saving into a private pension will, on average, increase lifetime pension income. Taking into consideration the additional employment income, individuals’ lifetime income will be improved if they work longer. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the rise in women’s State Pension age from 60 to 62 has been accompanied by increases in employment rates for the women affected.

Research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in 2011 showed that an increase of one year in the average effective working life is estimated to result in additional annual national output worth up to one per cent of GDP. In the same research, it was estimated that real GDP would be six per cent lower than it otherwise would have been by 2030, if plans for raising the state pension age (according to the Pensions Act 2007) were not implemented.

The increase in labour supply as a result of the Pensions Act 2011 was also estimated to boost GDP above the projected baseline of the previous timetable. GDP could be between £7 billion and £9 billion higher in 2022/23 (in 2011/12 prices); in the period 2016 to 2026, the increase in labour supply due to the increase in State Pension age could boost national output by £70 billion (in 2011/12 prices).

More information on both impacts can be found in Annex A of the Pensions Act 2011 Impact Assessment at::

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-act-2011-impact-assessment

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will offer tax relief on home insurance payments for occupants of council housing.

Mr David Gauke

The Government’s preferred policy is to take people out of tax through higher personal allowances, and to lower tax rates when it is affordable to do so.

The Government has already pledged to raise the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of this parliament.