Tag: Parliamentary Question

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the NHS England Five Year Forward View on Mental Health, published in February 2016, what progress has been made on Recommendation 35 on staff awareness and confidence in dealing with mental health.

Alistair Burt

The Government is working with delivery partners to carefully consider the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations and aims to publish a strategic implementation plan in the autumn that will set out how Government and partners will deliver the recommendations.

01/01/2023
Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Commonwealth Secretary General on the situation in Kashmir.

Alok Sharma

I have not discussed Kashmir with the Commonwealth Secretary General. The long standing position of the United Kingdom is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people. It is not for the UK to prescribe a solution or to act as a mediator.

01/01/2023
Drew Hendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to reduce the gender pay gap.

Caroline Dinenage

Tackling the gender pay gap is an absolute priority for this Government. We will lay regulations requiring large employers to publish the difference between the average earnings of their male and female employees at the earliest opportunity. Our consultation on how gender pay gap reporting will be extended to public sector organisations closed on 30 September and we are currently analysing responses.

We are making sure that women are given the opportunity to progress from the classroom to the boardroom. As well as encouraging girls to consider a range of careers through the ‘Your Life’ campaign, we have extended the right to request flexible working to all employees; introduced a new system of flexible parental leave; and committed to providing 30 hours of free childcare a week for working families. Nearly two-thirds of the people benefitting from the National Living Wage are women.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of North Korea about the comments by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea that each year more than 50,000 North Koreans are sent abroad to work in conditions that amount to slavery.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We fully support the work of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). On 29 October, we delivered a statement in the UN which welcomed his efforts to improve the lives of ordinary North Koreans while also urging the DPRK authorities to grant him immediate and unhindered access to their country. We will continue to deliver these messages.

The Special Rapporteur’s comments on forced labour are deeply concerning and, if accurate, appear to provide further evidence of the DPRK’s lack of respect for international norms. It is important that any country hosting North Korean workers respect their rights. We continue to press the DPRK to make tangible progress on improving its appalling human rights record, most recently in meetings in October between senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and DPRK counterparts in London and Pyongyang.

01/01/2023
Martyn Day – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the standard of living of those military veterans who retired with fewer than 22 years’ service before 5 April 1975 of the provisions of the Social Security Acts 1973 and 1975.

Mark Lancaster

No estimate has been made of the cost of resolving legacy pension issues although it would likely cost the tax-payer billions of pounds; the issue of pre-1975 pensions does not just affect the Armed Forces, but is common to all other public service schemes in existence prior to the Social Security Act 1973.

01/01/2023
Lord Sharkey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Migration Advisory Committee to publish the findings of the review of the Tier 2 route of the Points Based System, including their recommendations on the application of a skills levy to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA.

Lord Bates

In June last year, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on how to restrict Tier 2 to roles where there are genuine skills shortages or which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers.

As part of that commission, the MAC was asked for advice on applying an immigration skills charge to businesses recruiting from outside the EEA. The MAC published its report on 19 January 2016.

01/01/2023

Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2016 to Question 24171, what funding the Illegal Money Lending Team received in each of the last five years; and how much it will receive in each year until it becomes funded through a levy.

Nick Boles

Annual funding for the Illegal Money Lending Teams as reported to the Department by National Trading Standards was:

Year	England	Wales
2015/16 *	£3,097,822	£546,674
2014/15	£3,605,286	£634,016
2013/14	£3,716,789	£673,625
2012/13	£3,716,789	£595,670
2011/12**	£3,716,789	£653,625

* * Additionally, for 2015/16 the FCA agreed to outsource work to a maximum of £880,000, split £748,000 to the England Team and £132,000 to the Wales Team. The FCA will outsource work to a maximum of £500,000 for 2016/17.

** Until the creation of NTS in April 2012, the teams were funded directly by BIS.

BIS has committed to maintaining its funding of the teams at 2015/16 year levels for 2016/17. It is anticipated that levy funding will be in place from 2017/18.

01/01/2023

Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that people who have been convicted of a child sex offence cannot serve as a local authority or parish councillor.

Mr Marcus Jones

During the passage of the then Cities and Devolution Bill we undertook to review the legislation on the disqualification of local authority members and to consult on proposals for change to bring the legislative rules into line with modern sentencing guidelines. Our intention is to launch the consultation as soon as practicable this year.

01/01/2023
Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to support recommendation 17 of the Mental Health Taskforce report of February 2016, on 24/7 access to mental health services by 2020-21.

Alistair Burt

The Department welcomed the publication of the independent Mental Health Taskforce report and we are working with our delivery partners to develop a programme of work to embed its recommendations in our policies. We will provide further details in the summer.

To support this programme, we announced in January that an additional £1 billion investment will help to transform mental health services by 2020. This investment includes over £400 million for crisis resolution and home treatment teams to deliver 24/7 treatment in communities and homes as a safe and effective alternative to hospitals and £247 million for liaison mental health services in every hospital emergency department.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the total cost to his Department of taxi journeys made by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois

Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives and other departmental business. Travel and subsistence costs are published annually in the departmental accounts. We do not hold figures for the estimated costs for taxi journeys undertaken, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023