Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on reaching a settlement with Gurkha soldiers who retired before 2000.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    The Government and the people of the United Kingdom hold the Gurkhas in the highest esteem and have done so throughout their 200 years of service to the Crown. Successive Governments have taken steps to ensure that the service provided by Gurkhas is appropriately recognised and reflects the terms and nature of that service, including in relation to pensions.

    These sentiments were most recently confirmed in the previous Coalition Government’s response to the All Party Parliamentary Group report on historic Gurkha grievances and the statement made by my hon. Friend the former Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans (Ms Soubry) on 29 January 2015 HCWS234.

    This reaffirmed successive Governments’ long standing approach to public sector pension provisions which is that an individual qualifies for a pension according to the rules of that scheme at the time, and that improvements to public sector pension or compensation schemes should not be introduced retrospectively because of the burden such an approach would place on the Exchequer.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to allow NHS bodies to designate people other than midwives as the lead clinical practitioner for women in pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period.

    Ben Gummer

    There are no such plans. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has recently written to its external partners to provide reassurances about the proposed changes to midwifery supervision regulation and confirmed that there will be:

    ― No change to the protected title of ‘midwife’. Also the protected function of ‘attendance on a woman in childbirth’ will remain. Other than in an emergency or as part of training, only a midwife or medical practitioner can deliver a baby.

    ― No change to the scope of midwifery practice, which is much wider than the narrow protected function and is reflected in the standards of competence for registered midwives and their Code.

    On 21 April, the Department launched a consultation on the proposed changes to the NMC’s governing legislation to remove midwifery supervision from statute. The proposals do not suggest that midwifery supervision and the education and training to support this role will cease to exist, but that the additional tier of regulation for midwives will be removed resulting in a clear separation of the role and purpose of the supervision and regulation of midwives. The consultation closes on 17 June 2016.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016, on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what the evidential basis is for the decision to reduce the number of policy roles from 2,000 to 1,500 in his Department; and how many of those 1,500 staff will be allocated to which policy areas.

    Anna Soubry

    The decision was taken as part of our commitment to creating a department which is simpler, smaller, and better by 2020, including changing our business model and reducing our operating costs and associated headcount by 30 – 40%.

    The policy landscape will evolve over time and so we are unable to determine now exactly how the 1,500 policy staff we will have in 2020 will be deployed. What we do know is that as we get smaller, we need to become more flexible, more agile and more easily re-deployable to emerging priorities. Specifically, we will need to be able to move policy staff more flexibly between different policy areas (reflecting business demands) and to create more flexible responses to short term pressures.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, entitled Voices of the hungry, published in April 2016, whether tackling dietary inequality will be a focus of the forthcoming childhood obesity strategy.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Food insecurity is a global problem which the United Nations (UN) agreed to confront at the World Food Summit in 1996 and has framed subsequent sustainable development goals. Getting accurate and informative data was the motivation for the ‘Voices of the Hungry’ project. This project has established an annual universal metric to measure lack of access to food and the severity of this in over 150 countries, and help inform UN policy. The Department for International Development has provided financial support to enable the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to take this forward.

    The United Kingdom is committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and to the data the FAO commissions and manages. There are therefore no plans for the Department of Health to independently monitor food insecurity going forward, or determine a precise estimate on which to base action to reduce food poverty.

    The Government is committed to tackling childhood obesity and launched Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action on 18 August. A copy of the plan is attached and is also available at:

    www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546588/Childhood_obesity_2016__2__acc.pdf

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is on offer to apprentices who need help covering childcare costs and if she will take steps to extend such support to match that available to other workers.

    Robert Halfon

    Apprentices are employed from day one. They acquire skills much valued in the labour market without having to contribute to the costs of their learning. The benefits system treats an apprentice in the same way as any other employee.

    As an employee aged 18 or over, an apprentice may be entitled to the usual in-work benefits, such as Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credits.

    If an apprentice has children, or is aged 16 or over and does paid work of at least 16 hours a week, they could qualify for tax credits, unless they are already earning £25,000 or more per year. Further information can be found on the tax credit section of the HMRC website. Universal Credit will make it easier and less worrying for claimants to try out a job or work more hours because their benefits will not automatically stop if they do so.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to investigate companies which sell improperly trained dogs as special guide dogs for disabled children.

    Nick Boles

    The Department has no plans to investigate companies which sell improperly trained dogs for disabled children. However, where consumers believe a company is giving misleading information or is in breach of legislation regarding sales to consumers, they should contact the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06 (www.adviceguide.org.uk). The helpline offers a free service advising consumers on their rights and passes on details of complaints to Trading Standards Services where appropriate for further enforcement action.

    “

  • Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his departmental expenditure was on travel for (a) military staff, (b) civilian staff and (c) Ministers in each of the previous five years.

    Mark Lancaster

    This information is not available in the format requested. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) routinely distinguishes between military and civilian travel and subsistence costs only where these are reimbursed to the individual under our pay and claim arrangements.

    Overall departmental expenditure on travel and subsistence has, however, been as follows:

    Financial Year

    Expenditure

    2010-11

    £226 million

    2011-12

    £213 million

    2012-13

    £213 million

    2013-14

    £212 million

    2014-15

    £221 million

    Expenditure by the Defence Ministers on travel and subsistence has been as follows.

    Financial Year

    Expenditure

    2010-11

    £297,126

    2011-12

    £295,922

    2012-13

    £225,300

    2013-14

    £262,184

    2014-15

    £259,849

    Note: This expenditure includes road transport, rail travel, international and domestic flights and the notional costs of travel in RAF aircraft where they have been available.

    Travel by the Defence Ministers and all departmental staff makes a key contribution to achieving Defence objectives. The MOD has sites in many parts of the country, and internationally, and staff need to travel between them. For example, travel enables Ministers and senior leaders to visit troops on operations or to hold discussions with other governments aimed at reducing conflict.

    We have achieved savings of over £60 million a year in non-operational travel since 2009-10 and plan to make further savings of 10% over the rest of this Parliament. These savings will be delivered in a number of ways, including a reduction in travel where the business need can be met by alternative arrangements such as video or audio conferencing.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the official development assistance budget was given to the International Climate Fund in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Details of the International Climate Fund (ICF) as a proportion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) are set out below for 2012-2014. Figures for 2015 have not yet been published.

    total net ODA

    total ICF

    percentage

    2012

    8,802

    488.15

    5.5%

    2013

    11,424

    769.01

    6.7%

    2014

    11,726

    880.11

    7.5%

    NOTES:

    • Total Net ODA figures are as reported in Statistics on International Development 2015
    • Total ICF spend figures are as reported by the UK to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Union’s Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (EUMMR)
  • 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 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 23220, when he expects the project to which he referred to publish its recommendations.

    Jane Ellison

    We do not expect the recommendations to be available until early 2017.

    The mandatory recording of primary diagnosis within accident and emergency departments is expected to be considered within the scope of the work to develop an improved data set for urgent and emergency care. Given the scale and complexity of the project, the final report is not expected before 2017.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had on introducing new duties on local authorities to assess the level of need for wheelchair accessible homes and set appropriate targets in local development plans.

    Brandon Lewis

    Local authorities are best placed to understand the housing needs in their area. We expect them to work closely with key partners and their local communities in deciding what type of housing is needed.

    National policy sets out clearly the need for local authorities to plan for the housing needs of all members of the community and that planning should encourage accessibility. The introduction of optional requirements for accessibility in the Building Regulations provides local authorities with the tools needed to ensure that new homes are accessible and that in particular the needs of disabled people are met.

    Local authorities are held accountable for their housing delivery via their Local Plans which are tested by local independent planning inspectors and are scrutinised via yearly Authority Monitoring reports which set out progress on delivery against Local Plan targets. In addition local authorities must determine individual decisions in line with the development plan and other material considerations, such as the National Planning Policy Framework and having regard to viability considerations.