The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-12-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to retain or to return to the Consolidated Fund receipts from the sale of land and property assets over the Spending Review period.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence plans to retain all receipts from the sale of land and property assets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the performance of Capita in the recruitment programme to the Regular and the Reserve Forces; what progress has been made in such recruitment; and if he will make a statement.
Penny Mordaunt
Since March 2013 the Army has been delivering its recruiting operations with Capita through the Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP). Both the Army and Capita are investing to improve recruiting performance, and over 14,000 Regular and Reserve personnel have joined in the last 12 months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many domestic violence refuge places there were in (a) West Sussex and (b) Mid Sussex on 1 January (i) 2010 and (ii) 2016.
Mr Marcus Jones
Data on the number of domestic violence refuge places is not held centrally. It is for local areas to assess their needs for domestic abuse services and to make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation, including refuges and support for victims of domestic abuse.
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/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the gap is between the number of available and required trained doctors.
Ben Gummer
Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for advising the Government on the total number of medical school places and for commissioning postgraduate medical education. This aims to ensure that we have a National Health Service workforce in the right numbers, with the right skills, values and behaviour to respond to the current and future needs of patients. It takes around 5 years of medical school (undergraduate) and a year of training to become a registered doctor and a further 4 to 11 years of training to specialise in General Practice or hospital specialities.
There are currently over 50,000 doctors in training in England according to Health Education England’s Workforce Plan (2015/16) for England.
The latest monthly workforce statistics for November 2015 published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that there are 106,124 full-time equivalent doctors currently employed in the NHS in England which is an increase of 10,703 (11.2%) since May 2010.
The Department and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) share responsibility for determining the medical and dental school undergraduate intakes in England. The Department (via HEE) is responsible for determining overall numbers, and HEFCE has responsibility for the individual distribution to medical and dental schools. Historically places have broadly ben allocated for each institution the same as the previous year, so as to keep stability in recruitment, to help institutions to plan for their intake and in order to meet the national target.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has for the replacement of RFA (a) Diligence and (b) Argus after 2025.
Mr Philip Dunne
The consideration of options to deliver the capabilities provided by RFA Diligence and RFA Argus remains ongoing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the reliance of health services on the recruitment of overseas nurses.
Ben Gummer
We remain committed to moving forwards towards a self-sustaining workforce and to reduce the demand for migrant labour, including nurses. In addition to increasing the number of nurses training places, Health Education England are investing almost £5 million in the Return to Practice programme, aimed at encouraging and supporting nurses who are no longer working to gain relevant training to return to work.
We are also providing £40 million in leadership training to create a new generation of senior nurses and ensuring preceptorship is available to support newly qualified nurses in their first year of working.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the scale of Russian military presence in the Arctic.
Penny Mordaunt
Russia has a significant military presence in the Arctic, comprising land bases and airfields, together with both surface and sub-surface maritime forces, including strategic missile submarines. In recent times we have observed an increase in personnel and the re-development of military infrastructure in the region. Linked to this has been an increase in the number and scale of exercises by the Russian Armed Forces. A new Arctic Command has been developed to oversee this increased footprint and operational tempo. Together with allies, we will continue to monitor Russian activity in the region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 3.2 of his Department’s document, Implementing the replacement for the Horserace Betting Levy, published in March 2016, how his Department plans to use the independent report on the value of the common interest between betting and racing to inform the construct of the proposed levy replacement and recover revenues lost from remote offshore betting.
David Evennett
The rate payable by gambling operators will be informed by this independent economic analysis of the funding of horseracing and further discussion with the betting and racing industries. We will be consulting on the findings of the report with both industries within the next few weeks and intend to publish the report in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission research into the costs to the NHS of delayed discharges.
Alistair Burt
The Department and NHS Improvement are working together to implement Lord Carter’s recommendations on hospital productivity. As part of this the two organisations are working with providers to develop a richer dataset around all aspects of the patient pathway, including discharge.
At the same time, the Department continues to work closely with the National Health Service and local government to help local areas improve transfers out of hospital, share best practice, and reduce unnecessary delays.