Tag: Mike Kane

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the status is of the Healthier Together programme in Greater Manchester.

Mr Philip Dunne

These are matters for the local National Health Service.

We are advised by NHS England that the Healthier Together programme has now moved into implementation and is part of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. The recently appointed Chief Officer for the Partnership has assumed the role of Programme Sponsor to oversee the implementation phase.

All areas of Greater Manchester are developing detailed plans and business cases for the transfer of care for high risk elective general surgery patients to the hub sites from 1 April 2017. This is a new way of working whereby current teams from different hospitals will work under single governance and leadership to achieve the required quality and safety standards for patients.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with HM Treasury Ministers on the implementation by UK Overseas Territories of public registers of beneficial ownership.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK continues to lead the way on beneficial ownership disclosure and to encourage others to do the same. We are having discussions at both Ministerial and official level with the Overseas Territories to emphasise the importance of this agenda. Any system should meet the following criteria: UK and domestic law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards; these competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in, without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is under way.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of UK aid spending in reducing levels of illiteracy in Pakistan.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Pakistan programme is DFID’s largest bilateral investment in education worldwide. More than 6.3 million primary school children and 3.7 million secondary school children have benefited since 2011. Working in partnership with provincial governments and the private sector, we aim to get more children into school, staying longer, and learning more.

DFID has funded the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for the last three years. The report includes a wide range of data on education, including pupil enrolment, provision of facilities, and learning outcomes. In their 2015 report, published on 17 December 2015, ASER reports on national progress on literacy in rural areas for example it shows that grade 5 literacy levels in English have improved by 7 per cent. DFID interventions in the education sector since 2011 are likely to have had a positive impact on literacy levels in Punjab and Khyber Phaktunkhwa, given the focus on improved facilities and teaching, and pupil and teacher attendance. It is not however possible to claim a direct correlation between the ASER data and DFID’s investment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms her Department has in place to determine the geographic distribution of asylum seekers awaiting decisions on asylum applications.

Mike Penning

The Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 introduced the policy of national dispersal, designed to share the impact of asylum seekers across the whole of the UK. Asylum seekers are housed across the UK under voluntary agreements between national government and local authorities that have been in place since 2000.

We work to a maximum agreed dispersal ratio of 1:200 asylum seekers per head of total population. We are proactively engaging with all areas that to date have not participated in asylum dispersal with a view to negotiating voluntary agreements to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-04-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made in the renegotiation of the 1955 UK-Malawi taxation treaty and what matters have yet to be agreed during that renegotiation.

Mr David Gauke

Discussions with Malawi over a new tax treaty began some years ago, and substantive agreement has been reached at official level. The Malawian government have stated that they hope to be in a position to sign the new treaty in the near future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on the Healthier Together programme in Greater Manchester since that programme was introduced.

Mr Philip Dunne

Costs associated with the Healthier Together Programme are a matter for the local National Health Service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure its programme of work contributes to Goal 10 of the Sustainable Development Goals on reduced inequalities.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK welcomes, and is committed to championing, the Global Goals. Through our commitment to global development, and by honouring our 0.7% aid commitments, we will play a key role in helping countries to achieve these goals – especially on eradicating extreme poverty, hunger and disease. The UK has played a key role in creating a set of goals that are universal and inclusive, and underpinned by a commitment to leave no one behind.

Given the focus of DFID’s work and interventions on those living in extreme poverty, DFID programmes contribute to reducing within country inequality. The new UK Aid strategy commits the government to being a world leader in implementing the Leave No One Behind Promise agreed by the Prime Minister and other world leaders in September 2015. To deliver the new strategy, the government will focus on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, the most excluded, those caught in crises, and those most at risk of violence and discrimination.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2015-12-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the current proportion of air passenger duty revenues which are raised from Manchester Airport and (b) the potential effect on that proportion of air passenger duty in Scotland being reduced by 50 per cent.

Damian Hinds

Air Passenger Duty is payable by airlines and not on a per airport basis. Therefore HMRC does not collect the data to produce a reliable estimate.

The government is currently undertaking a consultation into options to support regional airports from the impacts of air passenger duty devolution. We are carefully considering the evidence we have received from stakeholders and will respond in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of asylum seekers placed in hotels while awaiting decisions on asylum applications.

Mike Penning

We have continued to make clear to our providers that the use of hotels is only acceptable as a short-term contingency arrangement and we are supporting all measures being pursued by providers to increase procurement to provide sufficient accommodation as a matter of urgency.

With the support of local authorities we, and our housing providers, are engaging with areas that to date have not participated in asylum dispersal with a view to negotiating voluntary agreements to do so. We are also working through a range of other options for accommodating asylum seekers safely and securely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with (a) UK companies and (b) the Malawian government on oil exploration around Lake Malawi.

James Duddridge

Our High Commissioner to Malawi met a representative of UK oil exploration firm Surestream, who are now a minority shareholder of an exploration licence for one of the oil exploration blocks in Lake Malawi, on 29 February. Last month the High Commissioner also discussed with the Malawi Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining his desire for assistance to develop legislation and agreements that would conform to global good governance standards and protect Malawi’s national interests.