Tag: Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the work plan of the National Resilience Review is; and how often the Review team plans to meet.

Rory Stewart

Work has already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure.

The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer. It will be led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Letwin, and include the Government’s Chief Scientist, Defra, DECC, DCLG, HM Treasury and the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises in (a) West Sussex and (b) Mid Sussex that will have access to superfast broadband by completion of phase two of the superfast broadband programme.

Mr Edward Vaizey

By the end of phase two of the Superfast Broadband Programme approximately 95% of homes and businesses in West Sussex will have access to superfast broadband. For the Mid Sussex constituency over 96% of premises will have access to superfast broadband by the end of the project.

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 encourage more milk processors to comply with the voluntary code on milk contracts.

George Eustice

The dairy industry code of best practice on contractual arrangements was created in Great Britain in 2012 in response to concern about fluctuating milk prices. About 85% of producers have signed up to it. There is general acceptance that the code’s introduction has led to some improvement for milk producers.

Ultimately, the code is voluntary and owned by the industry. However, this is something that I regularly discuss with the NFU and Dairy UK with a view to encouraging other, primarily smaller processors to sign up.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses commenced training in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The following table shows the number of pre-registration nurses who commenced training each year since 2010. The 2015/16 actual data is not yet available; the figure given is for planned.

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

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 Future Solid Support Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

As announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we plan to procure three Fleet Solid Support (FSS) logistic ships to begin entering service from the mid-2020s.

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 increase the number of new entrants to nursing over the next five years.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for workforce planning in the National Health Service and their recently published HEE commissioning and investment plan 16/17 forecasts an additional supply of 40,000 nurses by 2020. Moving new nursing students on to the student loans system in August 2017 will allow universities to offer up to a further 10,000 nursing, midwifery and allied health degree places by 2020/21.

The HEE commissioning and investment plan 16/17 forecasts demands for additional nurses and midwives in the health and care sector in the next five years will rise by around 16,800.

The Department does not collect data on the numbers of applicants who were not successful in gaining a nurse training place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK’s commitment is to NATO’s Standing Naval Forces for 2016-17.

Mr Julian Brazier

We have increased our commitment to NATO’s Standing Naval Forces this year.

HMS IRON DUKE (a Type 23 frigate) is deployed on a six month assignment with the Standing NATO Maritime Group (SNMG) 1, the Task Group focussed towards the North Atlantic and Baltic. A Type 45 destroyer will join this Group for a further two months later in the year. Since March, we have also provided a Royal Fleet Auxiliary unit to SNMG2 to support the NATO monitoring and surveillance task in the Aegean.

The Royal Navy (RN) will maintain a continuous presence in the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group (SNMCMG) 1, the mine clearance vessels which operate in the North Atlantic and Baltic, with a minehunter assigned throughout. This deployment is conducted by three minehunters in rotation for four months each: currently, HMS PEMBROKE is on task.

In addition, this year the RN is providing the Commander UK Maritime Forces as the NATO Response Force 2 star Maritime Component Commander, with his flagship HMS OCEAN. The RN also contributes personnel to the multinational staffs of the Standing Naval Forces on a rotational basis.

In 2017 the RN will assume command of two of the Standing Groups; providing the Commander and flagship for both SNMG2 and SNMCMG2 prioritised to the Mediterranean. The Command rotation will commence in July 2017 and run until June 2018. Additionally, the RN plans to provide a minehunter to SNMCMG1 throughout 2017, thereby providing UK presence in three of the four NATO Task Groups at some point during the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had about the future of the Knightsbridge Barracks.

Mark Lancaster

The Secretary of State for Defence holds regular reviews of the Ministry of Defence estate, including the wider London Estate, in the context of the emerging Estate Optimisation work.

There have been no recent discussions between the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about moving Hyde Park Barracks (located in Knightsbridge) to an alternative location in the Royal Parks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance he has issued to NHS Property Services on charging clinical commissioning groups for void space in any NHS Property Services’ properties.

George Freeman

Since NHS Property Services (NHS PS) was set up in April 2013, the full cost of running the Company’s properties and the services it provides has been recovered from the tenants, or in the case of any space that is unoccupied, the relevant commissioner for the property, either the local clinical commissioning group (CCG ) or NHS England.

Alongside the introduction of more rational charging arrangements in April 2016, NHS PS are implementing a new approach to charges levied for vacant space, moving the risk of vacant space from sitting solely with commissioners to being shared between commissioners and NHS PS. This is to align the incentives for resolving issues of vacant space with those best able to take action.

Under this policy, agreed with the Department and NHS England, charges to commissioners for “realisable” vacant space will come in the form of a fixed “vacating” fee, and will be paid when the tenant leaves. Following the payment of the vacating charge, all costs will revert to NHS PS. This will incentivise the Company to dispose of the property or sublet a lease as quickly as possible in order to minimise any costs not covered by the fixed fee.

To facilitate this policy it is essential that CCGs have a clear, shared understanding of vacant and realisable space between themselves and local NHS PS representatives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to expand the Royal Naval Reserve.

Mark Lancaster

The plan to expand the Maritime Reserve is set down in Future Reserves 2020, published on the Government website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210470/Cm8655-web_FINAL.pdf