The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many rating assessment appeals are outstanding with the Valuation Office Agency.
Mr David Gauke
The information requested can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-challenges-and-changes-experimental
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-12-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.70 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, whether it is his policy that the new rate of stamp duty land tax on second homes will apply to foreign investors and people not domiciled in the UK.
Mr David Gauke
Foreign investors and people not domiciled in the UK will be treated in exactly the same way as UK residents under these new rates. If purchasers own another property anywhere else in the world and are purchasing an additional property in England, Wales or Northern Ireland they will be charged under the new rates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of how much fresh water will be used during each exploratory fracking operation.
Andrea Leadsom
The volume of water used will depend on the site, but estimates suggest that the amount needed to operate a fracked well for a decade may be equivalent to the amount needed to water a golf course for a month, or the amount needed to run a 1,000 MW coal-fired power plant for 12 hours.
In order to carry out hydraulic fracturing activities, an operator is required to seek an abstraction permit from the Environment Agency if more than 20 cubic metres per day of water is to be abstracted from surface or groundwater bodies. If water is instead sourced from a mains supply, the water company will need to ensure it can still meet the conditions of the abstraction permit that it will already be operating under. Whichever source an operator chooses to use, a thorough assessment will be made considering the existing water users’ needs and the environmental impact before permission is granted.
The Infrastructure Act 2015 states that the Secretary of State will only be able to issue hydraulic fracturing consent if satisfied that planning authorities have consulted the relevant water company.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average patient waiting times for A&E departments at hospital sites that have introduced a (a) co-located urgent care centre and (b) model that integrates primary care staff within the A&E department in the last 12 months.
Jane Ellison
The location and structure of urgent and emergency care services is a matter for local commissioners, taking account of guidance issued by NHS England. This guidance includes Safer, faster better: good practice in delivering urgent and emergency care, which was published in August 2015, to support frontline providers and commissioners in re-designing urgent and emergency care services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27610, for what reasons the technical solution offered by VW was accepted in the EU but not in the US.
Andrew Jones
Manufacturers are required to comply with different technical standards between the EU market and the USA market. The engineering solution proposed by VW will bring its diesel cars into compliance with the EU emissions limits and testing is underway to confirm that this solution works for all model types. We do not have information regarding VW’s technical solutions in the USA.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to paragraph 2.256 of Budget 2016, when he plans to announce further details of the Government’s support for a bid to host the 2021 Rugby League World Cup.
David Evennett
My officials are holding regular discussions with the Rugby Football League (RFL) and UK Sport about establishing the support the RFL requires for a successful bid. The government will make a further announcement ahead of the bid deadline in June.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hannah Bardell on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to raise awareness of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
George Freeman
The Department has taken steps to increase public awareness of all rare diseases including conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, through the implementation of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases. The Strategy includes specific commitments to raise awareness of rare diseases.
The Strategy is currently being implemented across all four countries of the United Kingdom with progress monitored by the UK Rare Disease Forum. The first progress report by the Forum was published in February 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the standard of treatment in North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust’s emergency department.
Ben Gummer
NHS England is the responsible organisation for emergency planning and resilience in London. As such, it has well-established contingency plans in place which take effect in the event of emergency departments (EDs) having to temporarily reduce their scope of operations in order to ensure the best standards of patient care, our central concern.
As the Rt. hon. Member is aware, following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, the CQC issued a Warning Notice. The Warning Notice, published on 6 June 2016, requires the trust to significantly improve the treatment of patients attending its emergency department.
The CQC is responsible for assessing whether the Trust is providing the right standard of care and ensuring that improvement plans meet the level of improvement required.
NHS Improvement is working alongside NHS England and the local health and care system to ensure that the Trust has the resources it needs to ensure that patients receive safe, high quality care.
We are informed by NHS Improvement that, in order to address the poor performance at the Trust’s ED, it has devised a plan titled Safer, Faster, Better. This is a whole system programme with the primary objective of improving performance, patient experience and outcomes for patients.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the numbers of staff at Pinderfields Hospital; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
This is a matter for Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust, which operates Pinderfields Hospital. Staffing levels are the responsibility of trust boards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of public-access defibrillators located in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and if he will make a statement.
David Mowat
No estimate has been made of the number of public-access defibrillators located in Coventry, the West Midlands and England or of the number of people who have taken part in coronary pulmonary resuscitation training delivered by the National Health Service.
We recognise that better provision of defibrillators and increasing the number of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation could help save more lives of those who have a cardiac arrest outside a hospital setting.
That is why the Chancellor announced in the budget in March that the Government is making available another £1 million to make public access defibrillators and coronary pulmonary resuscitation training more widely available in communities across England. This builds on last year’s funding of £1 million, which provided almost 700 more publicly accessible defibrillators in communities across England and increased the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Details on how this second tranche of the funding can be accessed will be available in due course.