Tag: Lord Birt

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to grow national road, rail and air infrastructure, and to invest in public sector capacity, to match the forecast growth in population to 73 million by 2035.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government’s transport investment strategy is summarised in the Department for Transport’s Single Departmental Plan, which aligns major upcoming infrastructure projects and policy decisions with the four key strategic objectives of economic growth; building a One Nation Britain; improving journeys; and creating a safe, secure, and sustainable transport network.

The current Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) provides details of the Strategic Road schemes in which the Government will be investing a total of £15.2 billion over the Parliament. It also outlines long-term aspirations for a smoother, smarter, and more sustainable road network by 2040. A number of strategic studies are currently underway to inform the second Roads Investment Strategy, which will cover the period 2020-2025.

The Government invests in the rail network as a means of meeting forecast demand, reducing operational costs, and stimulating wider economic growth. It does this by targeting the four key investment areas of electrification, port-to-city freight connections, intercity connectivity, and commuter travel. High Speed Two overlays this programme of investment and targets many of the same objectives. Details of specific projects can be found in the High Level Output Specification (HLOS), published in July 2012 and in Sir Peter Hendy’s report on the replanning of Network Rail’s Investment Programme.

Alongside a decision on additional runway capacity, the Government is also revising its Aviation Policy Framework, which will include work to consider infrastructure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the dynamism and capability of the UK business sector.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The UK is one of the most dynamic and competitive economies in the world, as borne out by measures of the effectiveness of UK competition policy and regulation, for example:

•The UK is ranked 2^nd in the OECD for the pro-competition stance of its regulatory policies

•The World Economic Forum rated the UK 3^rd (out of 138) for the intensity of local competition, 12^th for the extent of market dominance, and 10^th for the effectiveness of our anti-monopoly policies.

As a result, we are ranked 6th out of 189 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Index; and 7th out of 138 countries (improving our ranking from 10th last year) in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the public sector spend on health per head of population in real terms for each of the years from 1990–2015; and how in each of those years that compares with GDP per head.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The total UK Public Sector expenditure on health per head of population in real terms and GDP per head between the financial years 1990-91 and 2014-15 has been set out in the table below:

Real per capita (2015 £)	Health	GDP
1990-91	848	19,624
1991-92	911	19,368
1992-93	980	19,516
1993-94	1,023	20,050
1994-95	1,085	20,793
1995-96	1,104	21,248
1996-97	1,093	21,716
1997-98	1,116	22,421
1998-99	1,151	23,066
1999-00	1,198	23,780
2000-01	1,280	24,494
2001-02	1,388	25,047
2002-03	1,491	25,640
2003-04	1,637	26,358
2004-05	1,748	26,794
2005-06	1,825	27,521
2006-07	1,857	27,927
2007-08	1,912	28,449
2008-09	1,986	27,492
2009-10	2,072	26,605
2010-11	2,047	26,898
2011-12	2,021	27,158
2012-13	2,022	27,292
2013-14	2,049	27,801
2014-15	2,074	28,361

The expenditure figures set out in this table are drawn from the HM Treasury Public Spending Statistics (PSS) publications.

In addition to expenditure on services by the Department of Health, this includes health expenditure by other central departments, local government and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Please Note:

• UK government expenditure on the health function is only available on a financial year basis.

• Health expenditure recording switches from a cash basis to an accruals basis in 1998-99

• Population is taken from the mid-year figure for each calendar year that falls in the respective financial year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to raise the level of the maximum fine that can be imposed by the Information Commissioner.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into force in all EU Member States on 25 May 2018, establishes a tiered approach to penalties for breaches which enables Data Protection Authorities to impose fines for the most serious infringements of up to the higher of 4% of annual worldwide turnover or EUR20 million. Other specified infringements would attract a fine of up to the higher of 2% of annual worldwide turnover or EUR10m.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to match national and local capacity with demand for maternity services, and when they expect a balance to be achieved.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Maternity services are included in the key objectives set out in the Mandate between the Government and the NHS England. The Mandate states that women should receive better care during pregnancy and have a named midwife responsible for ensuring personalised, one-to-one care.

In its report Better Births: Improving Outcomes of maternity services in England, the National Maternity Review (which was sponsored by NHS England) set out a vision for future models of maternity services which provide safe, personalised, kind, professional and family friendly care. It recommends that providers and commissioners should come together as “local maternity systems” and develop a local vision for improved maternity services based on the principles contained within the report. A copy of Better Births is attached.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will now be expected to consider the conclusions of Better Births and what changes they may need to make to local services in light of those conclusions. CCGs are expected to understand local demand for maternity services, including listening to what women in their communities want, and consider their health needs in designing services. This should also be reflected in the development of five year Sustainability and Transformation Plans which cover wider geographical ‘footprints’.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what obligations they intend to place on companies to list their foreign workers.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

The Government will shortly be consulting on proposals to tighten the Resident Labour Market Test, which businesses have to undertake before sponsoring individuals under Tier 2 (General), the skilled work route for non-EEA nationals.

This is not about listing foreign workers or so-called “naming and shaming” of companies. This information will not be published. The proportion of international workers in a company is one of the pieces of information that we might decide to take into account, as part of our work to ensure that companies take reasonable steps to recruit at home before looking to bring in workers from abroad.

We will listen to businesses throughout the consultation and use that feedback to inform our decisions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times in the three years since 1 May 2013 the maternity unit at Peterborough City Hospital has closed its doors to women about to give birth.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This information is not available centrally. This information may be obtained from Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We have written to Robert Hughes, Chair of the Trust, informing him of the noble Lord’s enquiry. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to publish a consultation paper setting out and assessing the different routes to Brexit.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government is consulting widely through meetings all over the country with academics, think tanks, businesses, charities, universities and more to ensure that all views can be reflected in our analysis of the options for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many breaches of government websites occurred in 2014.

Lord Bridges of Headley

For security reasons we do not comment on specific details of cyber security attacks. The Government takes cyber security very seriously; from 2011 to 2016, we have invested £860 million in a National Cyber Security Programme. We plan to almost double investment in cyber security to £1.9bn over the next five years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many midwives are currently employed in NHS maternity services, and how many additional midwives will be needed in 2017 to enable the effective operation of the service.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The latest statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that as at 31 January 2016, there were 21,581 full-time equivalent midwives employed in the National Health Service in England, 21,398 of these work in NHS maternity services.

NHS organisations are best placed to decide how many staff they employ tailoring services to meet the needs of their patients and local communities, to deliver safe care.

The Department has set up Health Education England to deliver a better health and healthcare workforce for England. It is responsible for ensuring a secure workforce supply that reflects the needs of local service users, providers and commissioners of healthcare.