Tag: Parliamentary Question

Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Sustainability and Transformation plans will be (a) made public and (b) fully consulted on before being implemented.

David Mowat

As set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance, published in December 2015, the success of Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) will depend on having an open, engaging, and iterative process that harnesses the energies of clinicians, patients, carers, citizens, and local community partners including the independent and voluntary sectors and local government. The national bodies responsible for the development of the programme have continued to ask for robust local plans for genuine engagement as part of the STP process.

STP proposals are currently at a draft stage, but it is expected that all local leaders will be talking to the public and stakeholders regularly as it is vital that people are able to shape the future of their local services. All local STP areas should therefore now be having conversations with local people and stakeholders – understanding what matters to them, and explaining how services might be improved. No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement, and if plans propose service changes that are agreed, then formal consultation will be followed in due course in line with good practice and legislative requirements. All footprints will submit an updated plan in October, with further formal public engagement and consultation taking place from this point, as appropriate. Many footprints are already publishing patient-facing summaries as part of their engagement programme.

January 1, 2023
Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect members of the public from unsolicited telephone calls.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Government is determined to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, and is considering implementing a number of legislative measures to provide better consumer protection, from unsolicited telephone calls. These measures include; extending the Information Commissioner’s powers of compulsory audit to organisations that generate nuisance calls and holding company directors to account for breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The Government introduced a new requirement for all direct marketing callers to provide caller line identification, which came into effect on 16 May. More recently we introduced a measure in the Digital Economy Bill, making it a requirement for the Information Commissioner to issue a statutory code of practice on direct marketing, which will support a reduction in the number of unwanted direct marketing calls.

January 1, 2023
Ian Lavery – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what diplomatic support British Embassies have provided to Rio Tinto in locations where Rio Tinto invests or plans to invest.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) mining sector team has regular and ongoing engagement with Rio Tinto both in market and in the UK as we seek to realise economic benefit for the UK through the involvement of the UK’s mining supply chain in Rio Tinto’s projects.

Rio Tinto closed its Lynemouth Aluminium facility in 2013. That same year UKTI was part of a Rapid Response taskforce (which included local Economic Development organisations and Rio Tinto), to explore redeployment and site re-marketing options.

UKTI support included:

– an audit of the unique characteristics and selling points of the site to determine the sectoral focus of Rio Tinto’s site marketing activity to potential investors.

– research to assess from where the strongest investor interest was likely to come from.

January 1, 2023
Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the process is for return of passenger baggage surrendered by passengers in Sharm el-Sheikh; how long he expects it to take for all such baggage to be returned; and under what conditions the transport of the baggage was agreed.

Mr Robert Goodwill

At the same time as passengers were brought home from Sharm el-Sheikh by UK airlines, their baggage was flown back to the UK by cargo aircraft, after having been subjected to security screening. The UK airlines then arranged for return of baggage to their passengers. Most bags were returned within a few days, and all within one week of the relevant flights.

January 1, 2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders were removed from Northern Ireland in the last three years.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office publishes data on removals and voluntary departures on a quarterly basis and annual basis. Although these figures are not disaggregated by constituent part of the United Kingdom, they do provide the requested data on a national level.

The latest publication provides quarterly data from January 2009 to September 2015 and can be found in the Library of the House and on the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2015-data-tables

The next release is scheduled for 25 February 2016 and will include data covering the period from October to December 2015.

January 1, 2023
Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the long term liabilities of the Risk Protection Arrangement; and how her Department has estimated the total funds needed to cover these liabilities.

Edward Timpson

The Secretary of State for Education has engaged with professional actuaries both from the private sector and Government, to provide an actuarial assessment of the long term liabilities applicable to the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA).

The estimated total funds needed to cover these liabilities are modelled on the current RPA membership and expected future pupil numbers of the academy trusts which are forecast to join the RPA.

January 1, 2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed as IT professionals who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

James Brokenshire

The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in recognised shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

Data of the number of people employed in specific regions of the United Kingdom is not available. The Home Office holds individual records showing the working location of Tier 2 (General) migrants, but centralised records show the registered address of the Tier 2 Sponsor, which is normally that organisation’s Head Office.

The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This includes the impact on the top ten occupations and is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf

January 1, 2023
Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions he had with President Obama on his recent visit to London in April 2016 on tackling the funding of ISIS/Daesh by people from Saudi Arabia.

Mr David Cameron

When I met President Obama in London last month as well as with the G5 in Hanover we discussed a range of issues including continuing coalition efforts to defeat and degrade Daesh.

The Global Coalition’s comprehensive strategy to defeat Daesh includes a focus on squeezing Daesh’s finances. Saudi Arabia is a founding member of the Global Coalition and is one of the co-leads of the Counter-ISIL Finance Group. The Coalition is therefore working closely with Saudi Arabia to combat funding to Daesh in all its forms.

January 1, 2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-06-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure people are not assigned incorrect tax codes.

Mr David Gauke

Each year HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) carry out rigorous assurance testing of the annual issue of tax codes to ensure a high level of accuracy. For 2016-17 the accuracy of annual PAYE coding notices, (based on information that HMRC receives during the year), is around 99 per cent.

HMRC have developed the new online Personal Tax Account which gives customers the ability to review their own personal tax status and encourages them to keep HMRC updated on changes in their personal circumstances to ensure even more customers are paying the correct tax at the right time.

January 1, 2023
Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many days of holiday, on average, were awarded to departmental employees living and working overseas in 2015-16.

Rory Stewart

DFID employees living and working overseas may utilise up to 30 days annual leave, with exception of those at A band (Grade 7 and above) who are eligible for 31.5 days, plus agreed local public holidays.

January 1, 2023