Tag: Maria Eagle

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the target strength is for the Royal Air Force Reserve.

Mr Julian Brazier

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by my right hon. Friend the previous Secretary of State for Defence (Philip Hammond) on 19 December 2013, (Official Report, column 124WS) on Future Reserves 2020, and the accompanying document that was placed in the Library of the House which sets out the planned growth of the trained strength of the Reserve Forces, together with the enlistment targets for the next five years.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2015 to the hon. Member for Strangford (Mr Shannon) to Question 11812 which explained the improvements we have made to ensure we reach our target strength of 35,000 trained volunteer Reservists by 31 March 2019.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department plans to spend on armed forces veterans’ mental health services in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20.

Alistair Burt

NHS England has £1.8 million per annum baseline (recurrent to 2019/20) funding for veterans mental health services. This funding is used to provide 10 veterans mental health teams across England to meet locally identified needs of veterans and manage the network of providers of National Health Service commissioned veterans mental health services.

The funding also provides access for veterans to on-line mental health counselling services provided by the Big White Wall.

In addition, NHS England provides £3.2 million a year to commission the Armed Forces service charity Combat Stress to provide specialised inpatient services for the treatment of complex post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In 2014/15 additional funding of £1.68 million was used to fund three pilots to develop and test enhanced models of care for veterans.

The pilots will:

• develop a joint substance misuse and mental health service model for veterans;
• an outpatient service for veterans with moderate to severe PTSD; and
• develop a modal of care to address the barriers that some veterans experience in accessing mental health services.

NHS England will soon commence a consultation to explore the future service needs for veterans mental health services. Future procurement will depend upon the outcome of this consultation as services will be commissioned to take account of revised needs assessments.

Veterans are also able to access the full range of NHS mental health services in the same way as the wider public.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the length of time it would take to deploy 10,000 armed forces personnel in the event of a civil emergency.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence has developed a comprehensive deployment plan for this force in cooperation with the police and Home Office; this includes timescales to deploy.

I am withholding information about response times for reasons of operational security.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department’s planned expenditure on grant-in-aid to Arts Council England is for (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19 and (d) 2019-20.

Mr Edward Vaizey

DCMS secured an excellent settlement in the latest Spending Round that highlights the important contributions our sectors make in job creation, helping grow our economy, and bringing arts and culture to communities across the UK. Arts Council England’s overall settlement over the Spending Review period maintains the current resource budget in cash terms – £354,042,000 in 2016/17; £350,724,000 in 2017/8; £357,593,000 in 2018/19 and £359,307,000 in 2019/20.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects the Clementi review into governance of the BBC to be published.

Mr Edward Vaizey

We expect the independent review of the governance and regulation of the BBC to conclude shortly, and we will publish it in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the total annual cost to the UK economy of broadband connections that do not reach Ofcom’s acceptable minimum speed of 10Mbit/s.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The economic benefits of broadband are clear – and that is why we have done and invested more that ever since 2010 than ever to ensure that 95% of homes and businesses right across the UK will have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. The benefits are supported by SQW Consulting’s UK Broadband impact study in 2013 estimated that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024.

In November, the Prime Minister announced our ambition to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) at 10 Mbps. This new broadband USO will give people the legal right to request an affordable broadband connection from a designated provider, up to a reasonable cost threshold, no matter where they live. We will be consulting on these proposals shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the UK leaving the EU on arts and culture in the UK.

Mr Edward Vaizey

At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds on the effect of schools having no sixth form provision on (a) their ability to attract high-quality teaching staff, (b) their ability to attract pupils to fill available places and (c) the likelihood of them being good or outstanding schools.

Nick Boles

There is no available evidence on the effect of schools having no sixth form provision on the likelihood of them being good or outstanding schools, attracting staff or pupils..

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 17 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, if he will provide details of how the more flexible payment plans for payment of television licence fees will help people on lower incomes.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The government intends to update legislation to allow clearer and more flexible payment schemes, especially for those facing difficulty in paying the licence fee. This will enable the BBC to trial alternative payment plans, including removing the requirement for individuals to pay the cost of a 12-month licence over six months. This would help those who struggle to make higher initial payments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2016-07-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the local discount scheme to residents across Merseyside to allow them to travel toll-free across the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges when they open in 2017.

Mr David Gauke

My officials continue to work with the Department for Transport on the financial and contractual implications of any further extension of user discounts. A decision will be made on this in due course.