Tag: Keith Vaz

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons only four of the 10 ePassport gates at Luton Airport were in operation between 7pm and 8pm on 26 February 2016.

James Brokenshire

The numbers of ePassport gates in use is an operational decision for Border Force and are flexed according to need. On the evening in question, there was a high proportion of arriving passengers using ID cards who were ineligible to use the gates. Officers were therefore redeployed to the manual immigration desks to assist with the majority of passengers requiring manual checks.

Waiting times between 19.00 and 20.00 were within agreed service level agreements, with queue measurements for passengers at the ePassport gates being no more than 8 minutes and those at the manual control being no more than 21 minutes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times Spirit Healthcare has been commissioned to deliver type 2 diabetes education to date.

Jane Ellison

The information requested is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made by the East Midlands Ambulance Service on reducing patient handover times to local hospitals.

Ben Gummer

NHS Improvement advises that East Midlands Ambulance Service is working with hospital trusts, clinical commissioning groups, NHS Improvement and NHS England to reduce handover delays. For example, since November 2015 at Leicester Royal Infirmary 1-2 hour delays have reduced by 67% and delays of more than two hours have been reduced by 76%. This has resulted in the average handover time reducing by 38% from 39 minutes to 24 minutes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will estimate the number of (a) refugees, (b) internally displaced persons and (c) persons of concern resulting from conflict in Yemen.

Rory Stewart

Since March 2015, the United Nations (UN) estimates that:

1. 179,654 people have arrived in Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Oman from Yemen, including Yemeni refugees and asylum-seekers;
2. 2,205,102 people are internally displaced within Yemen; and
3. 21.2 million people are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the UK is taking to prevent a refugee crisis in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK is the 4th largest donor to the crisis in Yemen and has committed £85 million. We have so far helped more than 1.3 million Yemenis, providing food, medical supplies, water and emergency shelter to those most in need. A political solution is the best way to bring long-term stability to Yemen and end the current conflict. We are actively supporting the UN facilitated peace process and are working closely with the UN to encourage parties to engage in good faith and without preconditions in future talks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government has taken to relieve food insecurity in (a) Taiz and (b) elsewhere in Yemen.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK has more than doubled its humanitarian commitment to Yemen over the last year to £85 million for 2015/16. This includes funding to the World Food Programme (WFP) and International Non-Governmental Organisations who provide emergency food to over 570,000 people, either through direct delivery of food or providing cash or vouchers to enable people to buy food. These distributions are prioritised to the areas of greatest need including the hardest to reach districts of Taiz. Just last week, UK funding helped WFP to deliver a month’s supply of food to 21,000 people in Taiz. UK funding to UNICEF is also treating over 150,000 children for severe acute malnutrition and we are funding the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to improve the supply of essential commercial goods, including food, into Yemen.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost is of the (a) DESMOND and (b) Empower structured education programmes in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Jane Ellison

NHS England advises that information about the average cost of the DESMOND and Empower structured diabetes education programmes in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is not collected centrally.

NHS England also advises that the evaluation panel for the new contract for the type 2 diabetes education programme comprised a range of clinicians and commissioning officers, including a patient representative, an equality lead, a specialist general practitioner and a nurse. The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Groups’ Governing Bodies considered the breadth of experience and skills of the panel was acceptable. A 12-week consultation with patients, which ended on 12 June 2015, informed the development of the contract specification.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many contracts with the NHS for diabetes education Spirit Healthcare holds.

Jane Ellison

The information requested is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to improve staff morale at the East Midlands Ambulance Service.

Ben Gummer

Staff morale is measured using staff engagement scores in the NHS Staff Survey. Employers are best placed to decide how they most effectively improve engagement locally. The Department commissions NHS Employers to support trusts in improving staff engagement through a wide range of advice, guidance and good practice.

The score for East Midlands Ambulance Service for 2015 has increased to 3.39 from the previous year’s score of 3.27. Possible scores range from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating that staff are poorly engaged with their work, their team, and their trusts; and 5 indicating that staff are highly engaged.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff of his Department work on (a) the Yemen Desk and directly on Yemen and (b) all matters which directly or indirectly relate to Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

It is not possible to identify a precise figure for full time equivalent staff working on Yemen directly and indirectly because a range of staff are involved across various Foreign and Commonwealth Office departments and the proportion of their time devoted varies depending on need. That said, the UK remains committed to de-escalating the conflict by encouraging all parties to participate in negotiations to find a peaceful solution, as well as working with other government departments to address Yemen’s urgent humanitarian and economic needs and reduce the terrorist threat emanating from Yemen.