Tag: Lord Bassam of Brighton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the full list of advisers assisting Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are guidelines in place outlining steps to be taken if main service providers of patient transport fail to deliver satisfactory services.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is the responsibility for individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to commission and performance manage patient transport services, in line with the national guidance Eligibility for Patient Transport Services. This guidance is attached.

CCGs will manage performance of patient transport providers through regular monitoring performance against Key Performance Indicators and have a range of interventions to improve performance, which are available through the NHS Standard Contract.

NHS England ultimately maintains oversight of CCG commissioning, and holds CCGs to account for their commissioning decisions. In addition, NHS Improvement has a role in ensuring that procurement, patient choice and competition operate in the best interests of patients, and to step in if anti-competitive behaviour by National Health Service commissioners or providers goes against patients’ interests.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what precedents there are in government for conducting a review of a similar nature to Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) GPs, and (2) GP practices, there were in Brighton and Hove in each year since 2010.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The information is shown in the following table.

Total general practitioners (GPs) and GP Practices in Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust (PCT) and NHS Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG):

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Brighton and Hove City PCT
Total GP Practices	48	48	47
Total GPs excluding locums	177	184	182
Total GPs excluding retainers, registrars and locums	161	169	170
NHS Brighton and Hove CCG
Total GP Practices				46	45	44
Total GPs excluding locums				177	180	191
Total GPs excluding retainers, registrars and locums				172	176	185

Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre

Notes:

– Data as at 30 September each year.

– NHS Workforce figures are not available by constituency. Brighton and Hove constituency was contained within and serviced by Brighton and Hove City PCT from 2009-2012 and NHS Brighton and Hove CCG from 2013 onwards. These trusts are not geographically co-terminus and thus the figures are not comparable over a time series.

– Prior to 2015 figures are sourced from NHAIS GP Payments (Exeter) System. From 2015 figures are sourced from the workforce Minimum Dataset (wMDS) and include estimates for missing data.

– GP Locums were collected for the first time in 2015. These have been omitted here for comparability purposes

– Brighton and Hove was serviced by Brighton and Hove PCT 2010-2012 and NHS Brighton and Hove CCG 2013-2015

– The Health and Social Care Information Centre no longer provides individual data for ‘GP Provider, GP Other, GP Registrar and GP Retainer’ from April 2015 onwards as the 2015 GP figures are not published with these four job roles any more.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether evidence sessions will be held in the course of Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords, and whether those sessions will be public.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they will take to prevent further deterioration of Southern Rail services.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Prior to the start of the industrial action by the RMT on Southern, the performance on this route was improving; we urge the union in the strongest terms to get round the table and end this unjustified action which is harming passengers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what their estimate is of the cost of Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords, and which department will cover those costs.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance the operator of Southern Rail services is given on the safe passenger loading capacity for Sussex Coastal services.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Transport safety is a key objective of the Government and the UK has one of the safest railways in Europe. Each operator is responsible for the safety of their staff, passengers and services. The Office of Rail and Road’s duty is to ensure that those responsible for keeping Britain’s railways safe for passengers, and providing a safe place for staff to work, do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received from bodies and organisations in support of fixed-term local authority tenancies.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

I refer the noble Lord to my answer to him to question HL5779.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to give guidance to the operator of Southern Rail services on ensuring passenger safety when short formation services are in use.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Each operator is responsible for the safety of their staff, passengers and services. The Office of Rail and Road’s duty is to ensure that those responsible for keeping Britain’s railways safe for passengers and providing a safe place for staff to work do so.