The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what progress has been made on the proposals for a Cardiff City Deal.
Stephen Crabb
Cardiff is one of Europe’s youngest and most innovative capital cities. Last week the Government received Cardiff Capital Region’s latest proposals for the Cardiff City Deal. We are currently considering the submission and will continue to work with the Cardiff Capital Region to progress the Deal.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-02-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on developing effective management strategies for Marine Conservation Zones.
George Eustice
The Government is committed to delivering a ‘Blue Belt’ of well-managed Marine Protected Areas around our coasts. Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) are given legislative protection under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. Under this Act, a consent or licence can only be agreed where there is no significant risk to the conservation objectives of the MCZ, except in exceptional cases and subject to stringent conditions.
Where fishery management measures are required, Defra is working with the Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities and the Marine Management Organisation to identify appropriate fisheries management measures for all Tranche 1 MCZs by the end of this year and, as a result, those site features considered to be at “high risk” are already being protected. For Tranche 2 MCZ sites, appropriate fisheries management measures will be identified by the relevant authority within two years of designation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure that the workforce requirements for the delivery of the NHS England transformation plan can be met with qualified clinical psychologists within the five-year timescale of the plan.
Alistair Burt
As set out in the independent Mental Health Taskforce report, Health Education England is working with NHS England, Public Health England, the Local Government Association and local authorities, professional bodies, charities, experts-by-experience and others to develop a costed, multi-disciplinary, five-year workforce strategy. This will focus on the future shape and skill mix of the workforce required to deliver both the Taskforce’s recommendations and the workforce recommendations set out in the Future in Mind strategy for improving children and young people’s mental health.
Health Education England will also consider the future requirements for training new clinical psychologists and psychotherapists as part of its workforce strategy. Health Education England published its commissioning and investment plan for 2016/17 which sets out plans to commission 526 training places for clinical psychologists in 2016/17 and 43 child psychotherapist places.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department’s policy is on the inclusion of a broad definition of permanent establishment in the UK-Malawi tax treaty.
Jane Ellison
As is usual in any negotiation, the text of a tax treaty remains confidential between the two governments during the negotiations. It is not therefore possible to comment on the contents of a treaty before it is signed.
The majority of the UK’s double taxation treaties are based on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention. However, some developing countries prefer to follow the United Nations Model, whose provisions differ in some respects from the OECD Model, including in the “permanent establishment” article. Many of the UK’s treaties with developing countries contain at least some of these provisions. A treaty will be signed only when both governments are satisfied with its contents.
It has long been the UK’s policy to include robust anti-abuse provisions in its tax treaties to ensure that they operate as intended and in particular that residents of third countries cannot indirectly benefit from their provisions.
The text of the new treaty with Malawi was substantively agreed some time ago. However, in August 2016 Malawi raised some further points for consideration, which we will work together on. When that process is complete, and both countries are satisfied with contents of the new treaty, it will be signed and published. Parliament will scrutinise the revised agreement, as part of the affirmative Statutory Instruments procedures, before the treaty can enter into force.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on research on the production of diverse forage mixtures to optimise animal production.
George Eustice
Innovate UK, Defra and BBSRC are co-funding the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform (SAFIP), worth £90 million over five years with match funding by industry. There are a number of projects funded under SAFIP on the development of alternative and diverse forages to optimise the sustainability of animal production in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what geological assessment his Department has made to ensure the stability of (a) the sea wall at Dawlish, (b) the cliff at Teignmouth and (c) the line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth.
Claire Perry
Network Rail is carrying out a further study to look at options to increase the long term geo-environmental resilience of the existing main line from Exeter to Newton Abbot. The study looks at the coastal and sea wall elements and the cliffs. It is due to be fully complete in April 2016 with an options assessment report available by the end of 2015. There has been no geological assessment of the rail route from Newton Abbot to Plymouth.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote tenant management.
Brandon Lewis
We have allocated funding of £1million in 2015/16 (through the Tenant Empowerment Programme) to support social housing tenants’ involvement in their local communities. This includes support to those who wish to manage delivery of services to their homes and estates by taking up their Statutory Right To Manage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve signalling on the railway between (a) Exeter and Plymouth and (b) Reading and Exeter; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of improved signalling on those routes.
Claire Perry
Signal failures are one of the biggest causes of delays on the network. For that reason, Network Rail has an extensive programme underway to improve both the standard and reliability of signalling across the national network.
The Western Route is gradually benefitting from transfer of signalling to a single control centre in Didcot, and this process will eventually encompass the entire route, including those stretches mentioned by my Hon Friend. This will allow a faster and better coordinated response to delays across the route.
My Hon Friend will also be aware of the very large investment which is being made by Network Rail, Cornwall Council and others into the Totnes-Penzance resignalling scheme, which will radically improve the train flow and reliability. It will do this by allowing bidirectional running on the line, meaning that maintenance and disruption can be managed vastly more effectively.
Further details of Network Rail’s plans can be found at the links below. These documents also provide information on the benefits of improved signalling:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/strategic-business-plan-for cp5/
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/publications/delivery-plans/control-period-5/cp5-delivery-plan/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency have been diagnosed with chest infections in 2014.
Jane Ellison
There is no national system currently for collecting data relating to diagnoses of chest infections specifically. However, we are able to provide the latest data on patients admitted to hospital with two of the infections that are relevant, namely upper respiratory tract infections and lower respiratory tract infections. These are provided in the table below. The data do not include infections treated by general practitioner practices.
In terms of information on chest infections in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, data collections systems do not exist to provide the requested data at constituency level.
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for England. Inpatient Statistics 2012/13 for England.
|
Summary code |
Primary diagnosis and description |
Finished consultant episodes |
|
J00-J06 |
Acute upper respiratory infections |
138,673 |
|
J20-J22 |
Other acute lower respiratory infections |
192,271 |
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre. HES.
Note:
A “finished consultant episode” is an inpatient or day case episode where the patient has completed a period of care under a consultant and is either transferred to another consultant or discharged.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with chest infections in 2014.
Jane Ellison
There is no national system currently for collecting data relating to diagnoses of chest infections specifically. However, we are able to provide the latest data on patients admitted to hospital with two of the infections that are relevant, namely upper respiratory tract infections and lower respiratory tract infections. These are provided in the table below. The data do not include infections treated by general practitioner practices.
In terms of information on chest infections in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, data collections systems do not exist to provide the requested data at constituency level.
Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for England. Inpatient Statistics 2012/13 for England.
|
Summary code |
Primary diagnosis and description |
Finished consultant episodes |
|
J00-J06 |
Acute upper respiratory infections |
138,673 |
|
J20-J22 |
Other acute lower respiratory infections |
192,271 |
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre. HES.
Note:
A “finished consultant episode” is an inpatient or day case episode where the patient has completed a period of care under a consultant and is either transferred to another consultant or discharged.