Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many Civil Service employees of his Department were based in Coventry in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has 6 civil servants currently based in Coventry. Prior to that, some BIS employees were working on a multi-site basis. To establish which employees had worked in the Coventry office and the proportion of time they had spent in the Coventry office, over each of the past 5 years, would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Lord Temple-Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Temple-Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Temple-Morris on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to allow publicly owned museums and art galleries to impose charges for entry.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    The Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in ​the 2015 ​manifesto, and government funding to national museums is provided with this condition. ​​DCMS-sponsored museums can and do charge for temporary exhibitions and special events. Charging at other publicly owned museums is the responsibility of the organisations that operate them, for example local councils.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguards the Government plans to put in place to protect customers from fraud and cyber security risks if they use new products and services in an open banking environment.

    Simon Kirby

    Improving the resilience of the finance sector to risks such as cyber security is a priority for the Government. HM Treasury works closely with the financial regulators to drive this improvement; it is their responsibility to supervise banks’ operations. The Financial Conduct Authority has a specific objective on consumer protection.

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published the final report of its market investigation into retail banking on 9 August 2016. As part of this the CMA requires the nine largest UK banks to develop and adopt an open banking standard for application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow access to customer account information, as set out in the revised Payment Services Directive (PSDII) which will come into force in January 2018. These nine banks are required to deliver open data APIs by Q1 2017, and deliver the full open API banking standard by early 2018. Data protection and cyber security are key considerations in PSDII, and the Government will be consulting on the transposition of this directive shortly.

  • David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Hanson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that organic food producers are subsidised under the Common Agricultural Policy.

    George Eustice

    Organic farmers in England are eligible to claim Common Agricultural Policy support under the Basic Payments Scheme and are also eligible to apply for funding under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

  • Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total number of persons currently employed to deliver electoral services in Northern Ireland.

    Lord Dunlop

    The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland is currently considering a range of options for reforming his Office. This includes capitalising on new technology by introducing on-line registration.

    The Chief Electoral Officer will have regard to the continued effective delivery of elections in Northern Ireland and ensuring that his Office remains on a sustainable financial footing. The Northern Ireland Office fully supports him in this approach. I understand that work on some options is at an early stage.

    The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes provision for the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland to delegate returning officer functions to the clerk of a district council.

    Detailed questions on headcount and budget are operational matters for the Chief Electoral Officer who is independent of Government. The Chief Electoral Officer publishes all such information in his annual report which is presented to Parliament and copies are made available in the Library of the House.

    The headline budgets allocated to the Chief Electoral Office are:

    Financial Year

    Operational Funding

    Capital Funding

    2013/14

    £5.452m *

    £100k

    2014/15

    £2.336m

    £56.2k

    2015/16

    £2.296m

    £25k

    * includes £3m for the 2013 canvass

    The Northern Ireland Office has not agreed any budgets with the Chief Electoral Officer for future years pending receipt of the Department’s detailed Spending Review 2015 settlement letter from HM Treasury.

  • 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 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 22946, what action he will take to deal with clinical commissioning groups found not to have arrangements in place to offer mental health patients a choice of provider.

    Ben Gummer

    Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are required, as part of their statutory obligations, to ensure patients can exercise their legal rights to choice for a first elective referral, including for mental health services.

    Choice is an important feature of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans that CCGs have been asked to put in place through the recently-issued NHS Planning Guidance.NHS England is providing guidance and support to help them meet these requirements and will monitor and assure their implementation including through a new Assessment Framework.

    If providers or patients have concerns about CCGs ensuring that rights to choice are being appropriately upheld, Monitor as the sector regulator may investigate and specify improvement action by the CCGs, where necessary.

  • Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Corri Wilson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Corri Wilson on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress has been made on introducing a Europe-wide groceries adjudicator.

    Anna Soubry

    On 29 January, the European Commission published its report on the existing regulatory and voluntary frameworks for tackling unfair trading practices in the food supply chain. The Commission concluded that there would be no added value in a specific harmonised regulatory approach at EU level at this stage.

    The Commission will continue to monitor the situation and, before the end of its mandate, it will re-assess its position on harmonised regulation.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department plans to increase the understanding and use of social value in the design of healthcare services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department is reviewing its work with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and will consider how to enhance the understanding and use of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as part of this work. The Department also intends to develop guidance for procurers and non-procurers on how to make best use of the Act. In addition, the Sustainable Development Unit, funded by NHS England and Public Health England, has established a programme of work on social value which includes providing guidance to commissioners and embedding social value in the Sustainability and Transformation Planning process underway across the health and care system.

  • Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what statutory duty there is on individual general practitioners to provide notice of closure of a GP practice to NHS England or clinical commissioning group.

    Alistair Burt

    GP Contract regulations require a practice to give NHS England written notice of their intention to terminate their contract. Where the contract is with a partnership, the contract terminates six months from the date of the notice. In the case of a single handed practice, the contract terminates three months from the date of the notice.

    There is no specific statutory duty on NHS England to notify patients of the closure of a practice however the National Health Service Act 2006 requires NHS England to ensure the provision of primary medical services throughout England.

    However, NHS England take the closure of a practice very seriously and will look to engage with patients at the earliest opportunity.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when his Department plans to publish its Skills White Paper.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is implementing reforms to the skills system to ensure we have the technical skills that the economy needs. We are considering when and how to publish details of our plans for further reform of the skills strategy.