Tag: Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which ongoing operations are funded by the core defence budget; and what the expenditure on each such operation was in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Michael Fallon

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The costs of military operations are compiled in terms of the net additional costs incurred, which are defined as those which the Department would not have incurred had the operation not taken place. The Department’s estimate of the net additional cost of military operations are recorded annually, and can be found in Table 2.3.1 in the Departments’ Annual Report and Accounts 2014-15 which is available at the following link;

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/462966/MOD_ARAc_combined_23_Sep_2015_web.pdf

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) Grade I listed buildings, (b) Grade II* listed buildings, (c) Grade II listed buildings and (d) scheduled monuments his Department owns; under which top level budget those buildings and monuments fall; and what plans he has for their disposal.

Mark Lancaster

Details of all Grade I listed buildings, Grade II* listed buildings, Grade II listed buildings and scheduled monuments the Department owns, including those which are located on sites that are currently in disposal are shown in the attached tables.

Details of the top level budget for these Monuments and Buildings could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of additional schools that will be needed to accommodate the predicted population rise over the next 25 years; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections have been made out to 2024 and they suggest that pupil numbers are due to rise significantly over that period. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient schools to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new schools are needed in their area.

We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities three years in advance in order to balance the need for robust forecasts and to ensure certainty for local authorities over their future funding allocations.

Providing this funding to support local authorities in creating additional school places is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is signalled by the £7 billion that this Government has committed to spend on new places over the course of this Parliament; as well as the £5 billion that the previous Coalition Government invested in school places between 2011 and 2015 (more than double the £1.9 billion spent between 2007 and 2011).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what datasets are collected under the provisions of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what timetable he has set for the implementation of the Horserace Betting Right; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch

Work is continuing on the detailed policy design of the replacement for the existing levy. We will make a further announcement in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what alterations were made to the pulsion system of the Type 45 destroyer between the launch of the first and the sixth such destroyers.

Mr Philip Dunne

The decision to procure the Rolls Royce WR21 was taken in November 2000 by the then Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon. In announcing the decision, he accepted this decision "presents a greater degree of risk to the programme."

Following that decision a number of issues with the Type 45 Integrated Electrical Propulsion (IEP) system were identified when the First of Class, HMS Daring was launched in 2006.

From 2006 to the launch of the sixth and final Type 45 in October 2010, the Type 45 Destroyer class had around fifty minor design alterations directly attributable to the development of the Type 45 IEP system identified. The subsequent implementation process for acceptance of these alterations is necessarily rigorous to maintain safety and system design intent. As a result, the majority of Type 45 IEP alterations were implemented after the launch of the last of class.

A report was commissioned in 2011 to examine the reliability of the power and propulsion system in greater detail. This work was re-assessed in 2013 to examine the extent to which the issues identified in the report had been dealt with, (by changes to operating procedures and training) and establish which were not simply the problems associated with a new complex system.

As part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 the Government is committed to improving the Type 45’s power and propulsion system an ongoing Equipment Improvement Plan is successfully making further alterations to the existing power and propulsion system.

Over the last two years, Type 45 Destroyers have been routinely deployed to the Gulf to maintain a destroyer presence in the region, including HMS Defender’s support to US Carrier operations against Daesh.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to promote collaboration between farmers by setting up producer organisations in the dairy sector.

George Eustice

Collaboration is a powerful way for groups of farmers to share knowledge and expertise, market information and good farming practice, exercise joint purchasing power and strengthen their negotiating position within the supply chain.

We have put in place the legal framework that allows dairy producer organisations (DPOs) to form and provided some initial funding through the launch of the £5m Dairy Fund in 2013. The first domestic DPO, Dairy Crest Direct, was formally recognised by the Rural Payments Agency in May 2015, bringing together 1,050 dairy farmers across England and Wales.

In 2015, AHDB Llaeth/Dairy commissioned Promar International to carry out a study into ‘The Feasibility of a Dairy Producer Organisation in Wales’ on behalf of a group of Welsh dairy farmers. A report is available at: http://dairy.ahdb.org.uk/resources-library/market-information/adhoc-reports/the-feasibility-of-a-dairy-producer-organisation-in-wales-report/

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are registered at each GP surgery in Mid Sussex constituency; what the capacity of each such surgery is; and how many such surgeries are over-subscribed.

Alistair Burt

NHS England advises that surgeries do not have a specific maximum number of patients allowed to register at a general practitioner (GP) surgery. If a practice considers that it has too many patients registered, or wishing to register, then it may request a temporary list closure, try and recruit more GPs/nurses, or may extend its premises.

NHS England confirms that in Horsham and Mid Sussex there is currently one surgery which has a capped list and has made a formal application to NHS England to close its list which is under consideration. This practice is Ship Street Surgery in East Grinstead.

NHS England has provided the information as shown in the following tables.

GP practices in the Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group area, with current list sizes (number of registered patients):

Meadows Surgery	9,643
Cowfold Surgery	4,575
Cuckfield Medical Centre	8,624
Ship Street Surgery	11,811
Judges Close Surgery	7,857
Park Surgery Horsham	24,397
Rudgwick Medical Centre	3,488
Courtyard Surgery	8,786
Lindfield Medical Centre	11,150
Orchard Surgery Horsham	9,418
Health Centre at Bowers Place	8,099
Dolphins Health Centre	11,955
Newtons Health Centre	13,839
Mid Sussex Health Care	19,322
Moatfield Surgery	13,713
Silverdale Practice	11,694
Brow Medical Centre	6,366
Riverside Surgery	7,622
The Village Surgery	8,188
Northlands Wood Surgery	6,621
Ouse Valley Practice	6,675
Park View Health Partnership	5,509
Holbrook Surgery	15,240

Source: NHS England. Validated but unpublished information on GP practice list sizes from an approved statistical collection.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to (a) better identify visitors to the UK from other EEA countries who are being treated in NHS hospitals and (b) ensure that such visitors’ home countries are charged for their treatment.

Alistair Burt

Since its inception in 2013, the Department of Health’s Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme has been working to design and implement key improvements to ensure that those people who should pay for National Health Service care in England are identified and charged. The Department has also been working closely with the NHS to improve rates of recovery where these healthcare costs are the responsibility of other member states of the European Economic Area (EEA) via the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), S1 and S2 mechanisms.

Achievements include:

– the revision of the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations that came into force on 6 April 2015, reducing the number of exemption from charge categories and realigning the Regulations to the principle that the NHS is a residency-based healthcare system;

– support of and engagement with NHS providers through meetings with senior trust employees, plus the launch of a Cost Recovery Support Team to provide bespoke assistance to trusts to support them in improving their processes for identifying chargeable patients and recovering funds owed, including those from Europe;

– the launch of the European Health Insurance Card reporting incentive on 1 October 2014. Through this, all EHIC activity correctly reported by NHS secondary providers that enables the UK to make appropriate reimbursement claims from other member states attracts an additional 25% funding of the costs of providing treatment for the benefit of the reporting organisation.

The Department has recently concluded a consultation on the extension of charging overseas visitors and migrants using the NHS in England. Part of the consultation proposes to amend the residence definition for EEA nationals, by which they qualify for free NHS treatment in England. The Government will set out its response to the consultation in due course.

EEA countries and Switzerland reimburse the UK for the cost of the NHS providing treatment to people they are responsible for under EU law, including UK nationals insured in another EEA country or Switzerland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who is responsible for litter clearance on the A1.

Andrew Jones

Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Highways England is responsible for litter clearance on all England’s motorways and a few selected A roads or trunk roads for specific operational reasons. Local authorities are responsible for litter on all local roads, including the vast majority A roads on the strategic road network.

Highways England is responsible for litter clearance on all sections of the A1(M). All sections of the A1 in England are cleared by the relevant local authorities, with the exception being of a short section of the A1 from the A1(M) junction 1 to the boundary between the Borough of Hertsmere and the London Borough of Barnet.

Litter clearance of the A1 within the Greater London Authority boundary is the responsibility of Transport for London or the relevant London Boroughs. Litter clearance of the A1 in Scotland is a matter for the devolved administration.