Tag: Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on each international subscription in each financial year from 2000-01 to 2014-15.

Mr David Lidington

This information is already publically available. Our spend on international subscriptions has been listed under ‘Programme’ in our Annual Report and Accounts each financial year from 2000-01 to 2014-15. Our Accounts since 2004-05 are available on www.gov.uk; Accounts for earlier years are available in hard copy in the Parliamentary Library and can also be accessed on the FCO pages at webarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s global asset management plan.

Mr David Lidington

The Global Asset Management Plan is a commercially sensitive document which, if publicly available, would put the FCO and the UK taxpayer at a severe disadvantage in negotiating sales, purchases and leases. For that reason I will not place a copy of the plan in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) locally engaged and (b) UK-based staff worked in each overseas post in financial years (i) 2000-01, (ii) 2005-06, (iii) 2010-11 and (iv) 2014-15.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of UK based and Locally Engaged Staff prior to 2012/13.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided details of UK based staffing at posts in the Annual Accounts and Reports for 2014/2015. The latter can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015.

The number of locally engaged staff by post for 2014-15 is shown below [attached file].

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s consultation, Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services, whether firefighters employed by police and crime commissioners will retain the right to take part in industrial action; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark

The Department for Communities and Local Government, the Home Office and the Department of Health led joint consultation ‘Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services’ has made clear that should Police and Crime Commissioners assume responsibility for fire and rescue services, the important distinction between operational policing and firefighting will be maintained. The consultation did not propose to change the current rules around industrial action.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the NHS Standard Contract for acute services.

Ben Gummer

The NHS Standard Contract provides a mechanism through which providers of NHS-funded services, including acute services, can be held to account. The Contract includes detailed requirements in relation to the provision of safe, high-quality services and compliance with national policies and NHS Constitution standards. It includes mechanisms which commissioners can use to ensure that services to patients are of a high standard and that providers take prompt action to remedy any failings.

The Contract provides a national framework, but there is scope for commissioners to include local detail appropriate to the services being commissioned (service specifications, specific quality standards). Management of agreed contracts is undertaken not at a national level but by the local commissioner.

Commissioners, providers and representative bodies from all service sectors, as well as national stakeholder bodies including the Department of Health, have been invited to contribute to NHS England’s review of the NHS Standard Contract for 2016/17.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he next plans to review the NHS Standard Contract for acute services.

Ben Gummer

The NHS Standard Contract is reviewed annually by NHS England. NHS England intends to publish an updated version of the Contract for consultation during the coming winter, with the final 2016/17 Contract being published in the New Year for use from 1 April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many district nurses are (a) in training and (b) in service; and how many district nurses were (i) in training and (ii) in service in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for local decisions on services for patients, informed by a wide range of local clinicians. The shape of community nursing services is organised locally, following advice from clinicians. This commissioning process also takes into account the local authority’s views through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

NHS England is working with local CCGs to ensure that services are based on the need of the local population, within the resources available and on evidenced-based best practice.

The latest available data from June 2015 shows that there are 5,033 district nurses in service. The following table contains the number of district nurses that were in service in each of the last five years.

Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
District Nurses in service	7,813	7,132	6,611	5,877	5,590

Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics

The following table contains the number of district nurses in training in each of the last five completed financial years, with the exception of the 2013/14 data which was not collected centrally by Health Education England. Data is not yet available for the 2015/16 financial year.

Year	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15
District Nurses in training	236	177	186	n/a	381

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent progress has been made on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry

There continues to be good progress on the free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the EU and US, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), in particular on the technical work which would underpin the final deal.The next negotiating round is taking place 19-23 October in the US.

A trade and investment agreement between the EU and US offers an enormous economic benefit in jobs, investment and lower prices, worth potentially £10 billion a year to the UK Our ambition remains to reach political agreement during the Obama administration and this goal has been given renewed impetus by the completion of the Trans Pacific Partnership.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Israeli government on the planned demolition of the village of Umm al-Hiran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government is deeply concerned about the proposals to demolish Bedouin villages in Israel. I visited the Khan al Ahmer Bedouin during my visit in October 2014 and saw the devastating impact resettlement plans had on the communities. Officials at our Embassy in Tel Aviv are monitoring the situation of Umm al-Hiran closely. Embassy officials have also been in contact with the Adalah Legal Centre who continue to provide updates on the legal situation. They have also been in contact with organisations that work within the Bedouin community, such as Itach-Maaki and The Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation-Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, to help inform the UK’s lobbying of the Israeli authorities on this issue. On 10 September, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised their concerns about the Bedouin with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UN assesses that the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) is a protracted crisis with humanitarian consequences, driven by insufficient respect for international law by all sides. According to the UN, Palestinians in the OPTs face a range of serious threats including threats to life, liberty and security, destruction or damage to homes and other property, forced displacement, restrictions on freedom of movement and access to livelihoods, and lack of accountability and effective remedy. We are particularly concerned by the recent violent clashes across the OPTs and Israel, which underline the need for a just and lasting political settlement that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.