Tag: Karl McCartney

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with (a) his ministerial colleagues and (b) external organisations on the provision of free prescriptions for those over the age of 60 who are in full-time employment.

Alistair Burt

We have had not had recent discussions at Ministerial level or with external organisations on changing the entitlement to free prescriptions for those age 60 and over who are in full time employment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what change there was in the amount the EU Commission proposed to make available in structural funds to Northern Ireland for the period 2014 to 2020 from the period 2007 to 2013; what steps her Department took to limit such change; and if she will estimate the level of such funding that Northern Ireland will be allocated after 2020.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The UK’s 2014-20 allocation for Structural Funds was 5 per cent less than for the 2007-13 period. The Government therefore allocated the UK’s nations an equivalent 5 per cent less for 2014-20 than in the previous period. Northern Ireland’s allocation for 2014-20 is €513.4m.

The post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has not been proposed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps his Department plans to take in the remainder of 2016.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Department is working closely with all interested stakeholders to ensure their views are properly captured. I am working with colleagues across government to make sure we understand all of the potential risks and opportunities across the economy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Robert Buckland

The number of sentences considered by my office has increased by over 108% since 2010 from 342 to 713 requests in 2015.

Of those, 136 were referred by my office to the Court of Appeal as potentially unduly lenient, with the Court agreeing to increase the original sentence for 102 offenders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that local authorities which find a dog dead or injured scan the dog’s microchip and contact its owners.

George Eustice

Following a debate in the Westminster Hall on 2 March 2015, the then Minister of State, for the Department of Transport undertook to instruct the Highways Agency to make it their policy to ensure that it collects and identifies every animal that is killed on the strategic road network and to contact the owners by whatever practicable means. The Minister also wrote to all local highway authorities and Transport for London to draw attention to the Government’s policy and reflect on their own policy. It is established good practice for all authorities, including local authorities and dog rescue centres that come into contact with a stray, injured or deceased dog to scan it for a microchip so that the dog’s keeper can be traced. To assist this process, the Kennel Club has donated microchip scanners to every local authority in England and Wales. The compulsory microchipping of all dogs in Great Britain comes into force on 6 April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment the Government made of the effect on (a) high streets, (b) small businesses and (c) post offices of the temporary changes to Sunday trading laws during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Anna Soubry

The Office for National Statistics analysed the impact of the short term Olympic relaxation of the Sunday trading rules and found that it was not possible to make any inference from the data. They found no definite pattern amongst the growth rates of retail sales and noted that other factors, such as the weather and time of year, will have impacted sales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with motor vehicle insurance companies on reducing the number of uninsured drivers.

Andrew Jones

Officials in my Department have regular contact with the insurance industry to discuss measures to reduce uninsured driving.

I last met with representatives from the insurance industry in January to discuss a range of issues related to motor insurance including measures which can reduce the cost of insurance and thereby reduce the incentive to drive without insurance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what modelling her Department has undertaken on the demand for school places in each year from 2016 to 2030.

Edward Timpson

Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places remains one of this Government’s top priorities. Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections, which include migration, have been published up to 2024.

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new places are needed in their area. We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities based on their own projections of local pupil numbers. These projections reflect all drivers of increased pupil numbers: rising birth rates, housing development and migration from within the UK and overseas. Any increase in need for places should be reflected in the local authority’s final basic need allocation – there is no shortfall between the number of places we fund and the number of places local authorities say they will need to create.

We have already committed to invest £7 billion on school places, which along with our investment in 500 new free schools we expect to deliver 600,000 new places by 2021. We have also protected the schools budget so that as pupil numbers increase, so will the amount of money in our schools. Revenue allocations to local authorities are calculated by reference to pupil numbers and do not differentiate on the basis of immigration from other EEA member states or countries from outside the EEA.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government spent on prescriptions for people over the age of 60 in full-time employment in each of the last five years that figures are available.

Alistair Burt

The information is not available as the employment status of patients is not collected.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will estimate the amount of structural funding that the EU Commission will allocate to Northern Ireland in the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework.

Mrs Theresa Villiers

The UK’s 2014-20 allocation for Structural Funds was 5 per cent less than for the 2007-13 period. The Government therefore allocated the UK’s nations an equivalent 5 per cent less for 2014-20 than in the previous period. Northern Ireland’s allocation for 2014-20 is €513.4m.

The post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework has not been proposed.