Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Lingfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lingfield on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the review of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, charities in receipt of less than £25,000 per annum in grants from public funds will be subject to freedom of information requests.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government will announce its intentions about the development of the Freedom of Information Act once it has received and considered the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information’s recommendations.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the post-construction obligations on large volume housing developers in enforcing compliance with building regulations.

    James Wharton

    It is the responsibility of the housing developer to ensure that work is compliant with the building regulations both during construction and post-construction. During the construction period, the building control body would be responsible for checking compliance. Post-construction, where there is a new home warranty in place, the warranty provider provides cover for up to ten years after construction and can include compliance with aspects of the building regulations.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on (a) new IT equipment, (b) new furniture, (c) new artwork, (d) catering and events, (e) renovating its buildings and facilities, (f) new plants and shrubs and (g) special advisers’ travel expenses since May 2015.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education has spent the amounts shown in the table below on the following list of categories from 1 May 2015 to 31 January 2016.

    a) New IT equipment

    £868,312

    b) New furniture

    £11,861

    c) New artwork

    No Expenditure

    d) Catering and events

    £326,575

    e) Renovating buildings and facilities [1]

    £9,862,679

    f) New plants and shrubs

    No Expenditure

    g) Special Advisers’ travel expenses (including rail journeys)

    £1,555

    [1] The figure for renovating buildings and facilities is for DfE and its Agencies and does not include expenditure on school buildings.

    The figures are for the Department, its Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Government Equalities Office, Equality and Human Rights Commission and Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claimants have had their claim re-assessed more than six months before the end of their initial award period in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department does hold the requested information and it could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

    For all PIP claimants with a fixed term award, except where the claimant would be expected to have little or no functional limitation within a two year period, a review date is set when the award is made. This review date is based on advice from a health professional and is communicated to the claimant when the award is made. A review process is then initiated on this date. In all such cases the review process is initiated a year in advance of the award end date.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2016 to Question 38323, whether an annual record is kept by his Department of locations visited by Ministers and officials of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Mark Francois

    No separate annual record of locations visited by Ministers and officials is kept by this department. However, details of Ministers meetings with external organisations are published online as part of our transparency agenda. Details can be found at:

    http://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-communities-and-local-government&publication type=transparency-data

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to accelerate family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government began work to implement the ‘Dubs amendment’ immediately after the Immigration Bill gained Royal Assent. Over 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act have been accepted for transfer since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of these have already arrived in the UK.

    We continue to work with the French, Greek and Italian authorities and others to speed up existing family reunification processes or implement new processes where necessary for unaccompanied children. We have seconded a UK official to Greece, we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and will shortly be seconding another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts.

    We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children. Transfer requests under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days and children transferred within weeks. Over 120 children have been accepted for transfer this year from Europe. We also continue to consult local authorities about the transfer unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK, where it is in their best interests.

  • Biography information for Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Biography information for Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the 700 employers named and shamed” by them since October 2013 for failing to pay the minimum wage

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The National Minimum Wage naming and shaming scheme represents the end point of civil sanctions against employers who fail to pay at least the appropriate rate of minimum wage to their workers. Where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will always be considered for criminal investigation which may in turn result in prosecutions. But criminal investigations are reserved for the most serious cases of non-compliance.

    Our number one priority is getting workers the money they are owed and the civil route is more successful in achieving this. Criminal investigations by HM Revenue & Customs and prosecutions by the Crown Prosecution Service will not necessarily result in arrears of wages being paid back to the workers. This would require further civil prosecutions following the Courts’ ruling.

    Under the civil route, employers are not only faced with reputational consequences, but also face a financial penalty for breaking the law.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the amount of choice and quality of care people available to those with terminal illnesses, their families and carers; and what steps his Department is taking to increase the amount of choice for high quality care.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department commissioned an independently led Review of Choice in End of Life Care which provided advice to Ministers earlier this year. The Review set out a vision for enabling greater choice and improving quality at the end of life for every dying person. This includes enabling greater use of advance care planning and electronic care records to record people’s choices and preferences, and building services around people’s needs and preferences.

    We want to ensure that patients have greater choice about the care they receive at the end of their life and we are working with NHS England to see how this can best be achieved. We will set out our full response to the Choice Review in the coming months.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with hepatitis C in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England only receives laboratory reports of hepatitis C cases from England and Wales.

    Laboratory reports of hepatitis C, England and Wales, 2010 to 2014

    Year

    2010 (i)

    2011 (ii)

    2012 (iii)

    2013 (iv)

    2014 (v)

    Total

    8,147

    1,0382

    11,353

    11,692

    11,997

    Across the United Kingdom, more individuals are being tested for hepatitis C and over the last five years particular improvements have been seen in primary care where surveillance indicates that testing has risen by 21% in England (vi).

    Citations

    (i) Health Protection Report Vol 5. No. 29 22 July 2011

    (ii) Health Protection Report Vol 6. No. 30 27 July 2012

    (iii) Health Protection Report Vol.7 No. 30 26 July 2013

    (iv) Health Protection Report Vol 98 No. 29 25 July 2014

    (v) Health Protection Report Vol 9 No. 26 24 July 2015

    (vi) Hepatitis C in the UK; 2015 report. Public Health England

  • Lord Wallace of Saltaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Wallace of Saltaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Bolton on 7 July 2009 (WA 122), why the Background briefing on the Crown Dependencies on the Ministry of Justice website indicates that the maintenance costs of the Alderney breakwater form part of Guernsey’s annual voluntary contribution towards the cost of its defence and international representation by the UK” when the Ministry of Defence ceded responsibility for the maintenance of that anchorage in 1950.”

    Lord Faulks

    The background briefing paper to which the noble Lord refers correctly represents the current position. The United Kingdom is responsible for the defence and international representation of the Crown Dependencies, including the Bailiwick of Guernsey of which Alderney forms part. The Alderney breakwater was completed in 1865 to shelter Royal Navy vessels. In 1950 responsibility for its maintenance was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the Home Office. The maintenance costs continued to be met by HM Government until 1 April 1987, when Guernsey assumed responsibility for maintaining the breakwater as part of its annual voluntary contribution towards the costs of defence and international representation undertaken by the UK.