Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that new interconnector capacity is supported by robust cost analyses.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem, through the regulatory regime introduced in summer last year, have in place a thorough eligibility assessment of individual interconnector projects which provides robust cost analysis, ensuring the interconnectors are in the interest of consumers. The Government is confident that Ofgem’s cost analysis process for interconnectors is appropriate.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps her Department is taking to consult people in Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies which will be affected by proposed changes in polling station locations.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    The design and publication of polling station schemes for elections in Northern Ireland is an operational matter for the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland.

    The Chief Electoral Officer published a consultation on a proposed polling station scheme for use at the May 2016 Assembly elections on 19 November with a closing date of 11 February 2016. The Chief Electoral Officer intends to publish the final scheme in the first week of March. Details of the consultation may be found on the Electoral Office website at: http://www.eoni.org.uk/News/Publication-of-Proposed-Amendments-to-the-Poll-(1).

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  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in England and Wales are on long-term prescriptions of more than four weeks for benzodiazepines.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Health Service Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) has advised that, in December 2015, it initiated a project to improve the storage of transaction level prescription data, including the age of patients and to enhance reporting capability against this data. The NHS BSA anticipates having the capability to provide patient level prescription information towards the end of the 2016-17 financial year. This should contain primary care prescribing information for the full range of medicines, including anti-depressants.

    This should also allow the reporting on long-term prescriptions for medicines, including benzodiazepines, which is not currently possible.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many care leavers in part or full-time education other than higher education aged between 19 and 21 in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015 were former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children looked after by the local authority.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is shown in the table below. This information is for England only.

    Care leaver activity [2]

    Number of former unaccompanied asylum seeking children [1]

    2014

    2015

    Higher education

    20

    40

    Education other than higher education

    100

    260

    Training or employment

    40

    130

    Source: SSDA903

    Information on the activity of all care leavers in England has been published in tables F1 of the Statistical First Release on looked after children[3].

    [1] This includes young people who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children in their final period of care.

    [2] Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015

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  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children aged (a) up to 12, (b) 12 to 15 and (c) 16 to 18 were prescribed (i) fluoxetine, (ii) fluvoxamine, (iii) sertraline, (iv) paroxetine, (v) escitalopram and (vi) citalopra by the NHS in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not collected centrally. Prescribing information is not linked to the patient receiving the prescription so it is not possible to supply prescribing information by patient age.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, by which body he plans that the Construction Commissioner for High Speed 2 will be paid; and to whom it is planned that that Commission will report.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Terms of reference for the Construction Commissioner will be agreed by an independent steering group following Royal Assent. The group will monitor performance and review funding arrangements. An interim commissioner will be appointed this summer and the role will initially be paid for by HS2 Ltd.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what level of funding was allocated to Department for Transport Incident Support Units serving the M56 between junctions 12 and 14 in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

    Andrew Jones

    There is no available data on the historical level of funding allocated specifically to the Incident Support Unit service in the geographical operational area for trunk roads motorways in the North West, where the M56 Motorway is located.

    This Incident Support Unit was provided to Highways England’s predecessor organisation, the Highways Agency, by a contractor until 2012. There was a lump sum payment for various duties and it is not possible to disaggregate the cost of the Incident Support Unit service from the overall payments.

    A new Asset Support Contract replaced the previous approach in November 2012, and this no longer requires the contractor to provide a dedicated Incident Support Unit team. Incident response is now handled by the trained operatives in the general workforce, who are already working on the road network. This has proved to be a more flexible and cost-effective way of managing incidents.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the reasons for the decline in Short Term Benefit Advance applications in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK between February 2015 and March 2016.

    Damian Hinds

    Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) are payments on account of benefit. The majority of STBAs are awarded to people in the period before their benefit is first due to be paid, but STBAs can also be paid where a change of circumstances significantly increases the amount of benefit due. STBAs are predominately paid to people claiming Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance. They are not available to people claiming Universal Credit.

    Between April 2015 and March 2016, there were 218,592 STBA applications in Great Britain as a whole, with monthly variations ranging from 17,188 in September 2015 to 21,529 in February 2016, but with no downward trend at the year end. In Scotland, there were 26,322 applications over the same period, with monthly variations ranging from 1,462 in November 2015 to 3,022 in April 2015, with a clear downward trend at the year end.

    As the roll-out of Universal Credit to all new claimants progresses, we anticipate a corresponding decline in the number of STBA applications.

    The Department for Work and Pensions continues to advertise the availability of STBAs through the gov.uk website, with information posters and leaflets in Jobcentres nationwide.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will ensure that the sex and relationships education curriculum includes (a) LGBT issues and (b) supporting young people’s long-term physical health, mental health and general wellbeing.

    Edward Timpson

    We are clear that as part of schools’ duty to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, all young people should be provided with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life. We have made it clear in the introduction to the national curriculum that all schools should make provision for high-quality, age appropriate personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, which includes sex and relationships education (SRE).

    When teaching SRE, all schools, including academies through their funding agreement, must have regard to the Secretary of State’s Sex and Relationship Education guidance. The guidance sets out that young people, whatever their developing sexuality, need to feel that their school’s SRE is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs, and that teachers should be able to deal honestly and sensitively with sexual orientation, answer appropriate questions and offer support. Schools are also bound by the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011, to ensure that teaching is accessible to all children and young people, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

    When delivering PSHE, schools and teachers have the freedom to design lessons that meet their pupils’ needs, taking account of pupil and parent views. PSHE lessons can provide knowledge to support young people’s long-term physical health, mental health and general wellbeing.

    Teachers are encouraged to develop their practice with the support of specialist organisations and expert professionals. Many of these specialist organisations have produced resources, including the issues you identify, which can be used and adapted by schools.

    As the Secretary of State said at the Education Select Committee hearing in September 2016, we need to look again at how schools deliver high quality PSHE including SRE. We are considering all the options and will come to a view soon.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what average time his Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

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