The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reintroduce charges for museum entry in the next year.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
This Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in the 2015 Conservative Party general election manifesto.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what safeguards he plans to put in place to ensure that the proposed £22 billion NHS efficiency savings do not adversely affect the quality of services to people with Parkinson’s disease.
Jane Ellison
The Government has committed to invest an additional £10 billion in the National Health Service over this Parliament. Efficiency and high quality care go hand-in-hand; cutting waste and safer care are integral to ensuring better outcomes at a lower cost. The efficiencies the NHS needs to find are linked to the challenge of continued improvements in care across all services, including for people with Parkinson’s disease.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what arrangements his Department has in place to monitor the performance of MTCNovo’s delivery of the custodial service at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre.
Andrew Selous
The contract with MTCnovo at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre (STC) will begin on 5th May 2016. During the transition of the new contract, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) will work alongside MTCnovo and the current contract holder at Rainsbrook STC to facilitate a safe and successful transition to the new contract.
The YJB has responsibility for commissioning and overseeing the youth secure estate through monitoring and reporting performance at each STC site against the contract and STC rules. The YJB has a full time on-site Monitor at Rainsbrook STC supported by a part time assistant and YJB managers, to ensure that MTCnovo’s service delivery is in accordance with the contract and the STC rules, which set out how STCs should be managed and run. The YJB conduct regular walk-rounds to monitor compliance, analyse data returns, review reports – including incidents of use of force – and review contractor’s declaration of performance awards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which guests have (a) visited and (b) stayed at Dorneywood House since 7 May 2015.
Harriett Baldwin
This Government regularly publishes more information on the use of official residences and ministerial meetings than under previous Governments.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and senior official meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/senior-officials-expenses
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Attorney General, if he will take steps to ensure that at the point of sentencing all available information on previous offences committed by the person to be sentenced is made available to the court.
Robert Buckland
It is vital that all relevant available information on previous convictions and sentences (antecedents) is made available to the court that passes sentence. This allows the court to pass a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of the offence taking account the offender’s previous convictions. There are already procedures in place to ensure this
The Crown Prosecution Service, or other prosecuting authority in the case, obtains relevant antecedents and previous convictions from the police so that it is available for service on the court, with further copies being served on the defence and Probation Services. It is the responsibility of the prosecution advocate to ensure that the information required is made available to the court at any sentencing hearing.
The Criminal Practice Directions [2013] EWCA Crim 1631 prescribe minimum standards for the provision of antecedent information in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. There is an additional requirement in the Crown Court for brief details of convictions likely to be of interest to the court to be made available prior to sentence being imposed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the use of administrative detention in that country.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We remain concerned about Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary. Officials regularly raise concerns about the treatment of administrative detainees with their Israeli counterparts.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to engage the private sector in sustainable investments in Africa and South Asia.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID is committed to supporting economic development in Africa and South Asia as it recognises the central importance of inclusive economic growth in eradicating poverty. One of DFID’s priorities is to partner with businesses investing in frontier markets in order to unlock economic opportunities that also have high development benefits.
DFID is working to create a business environment in Africa and South East Asia which is more conducive to attracting private sector capital; key to this is ensuring that investments are made in companies which have responsible business practices. Within DFID we ensure that investment vehicles like CDC and Private Infrastructure Development Group have investment codes with sustainability at their core. We also support internationally recognised Codes of Conduct like the UN Global Compact and organisations which aim to drive better reporting standards like the Global Reporting Initiative.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure nurses are consulted on his Department’s future policies after the proposed closure of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions policy unit in his Department.
Ben Gummer
The Department leads the health and care system in England, working closely with a range of organisations on whose expertise it draws, including the nursing and midwifery expertise in NHS England and Public Health England. The Department’s approach to ensuring that nurses are consulted about future policies is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arms-length bodies, regulators, stakeholders and professional bodies.
The Department’s policy teams will establish new networks and relationships with stakeholders and partners and collaborate with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to ensure systems are in place to secure advice when developing evidence based policy. These changes do not affect the role of the CNO, who as CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing and midwifery issues.
The Department is changing the way it works to deliver its essential work for the Government while achieving efficiency savings. All of the changes we are making through the resulting DH2020 programme are being done transparently and communicated to staff.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Janke on 2016-09-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that “structural and investment funds projects signed before the Autumn Statement and Horizon research funding granted before we leave the EU will be guaranteed by the Treasury after we leave”, whether they intend to publish the number and value of contracts signed for each funding stream approved between the Chancellor’s announcement and the Autumn Statement.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Treasury does not hold information about individual EU funded projects, so the detailed information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Information about EU funded projects in the UK is in the public domain, e.g. a list of European Structural and Investment Funds beneficiaries is available on Gov.uk.
In line with the Chief Secretary’s letter of 12th August, a copy of which has been deposited in the Libraries of the House, further details will be provided ahead of the Autumn Statement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken towards securing international agreement for the elimination of nuclear weapons in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty; and what plans he has for further steps towards such agreement in the next 12 months.
Sir Alan Duncan
As stated in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the UK is working with our international partners to tackle proliferation and to make progress on multilateral nuclear disarmament. The UK plays a leading role on disarmament verification with the US and Norway. In February 2016 the UK proposed a Programme of Work at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva with the aim of reinvigorating the Conference’s work. The P5 Process, initiated by the UK, brings together nuclear weapons states to build trust and confidence to help create the conditions which would enable disarmament. Over the coming year we will continue to press for key steps towards multilateral disarmament, including the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and successful negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty in the Conference on Disarmament.
The Government continues to work to deliver the Strategic Defence and Security Review commitment to reduce our stockpile of nuclear weapons to no more than 180 warheads by the mid 2020s.