Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce variation across the UK in access to surgical and transcatheter interventions for heart valve disease.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is working with professionals across the healthcare system to look at ways in which services and outcomes for patients with heart valve disease can be improved further, for example, by encouraging practitioners to follow clinical guidelines.

    Service specifications and policy for the surgical and interventional treatment of heart valve disease are published by NHS England’s Cardiothoracic Clinical Reference Group. These define what NHS England expects to be in place in order for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England is working on the next iteration of the specifications, which will include important standards relating to mitral valve surgery.

    In addition, NHS England is holding a clinical summit on 15 June 2016, which will bring together cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to examine the issues relating to heart valve disease, including variation. Outputs from discussions will be used to inform the future commissioning approach within specialised commissioning.

    Information on the number of people with an undiagnosed heart valve condition is not collected centrally.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of housing association tenants who will take up the option of right-to-buy in each year until 2019-20.

    Brandon Lewis

    Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an agreement with housing associations to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million tenants.

    More details will be announced in due course.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether statutory safeguards are in place to ensure that new unitary authorities created as a result of councils seeking to abolish themselves in favour of new unitary structures must set the same band D council tax for all households from their inception; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Where an area has plans for its governance arrangements to be changed and proposes this to the Secretary of State, it must provide evidence as to how its proposals are likely to result in the provision of better local public services, significant cost savings, greater value for money, stronger and more accountable local leadership, and sustainability in the medium to long term. It is of course open to any body or person to make representations to the Secretary of State either in support of or in opposition to such proposals.

    As we have made clear during discussions with areas, whilst size is an important consideration for areas considering governance changes, there are no maximum or minimum permitted sizes.

    The level of council tax of any new authority is a matter for the local councils concerned. The government will however maintain council tax referendum thresholds at a modest level in order to help keep bills down for hardworking people. This is always the case including in cases of governance change.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of money saved for the public purse as a result of the Government’s policies on tackling international tax avoidance.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK has been at the forefront of international action to tackle corporate tax avoidance through the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The first phase of the BEPS project was delivered in 2014 and the UK committed to introduce country-by-country reporting from 1 January 2016 and rules to deal with hybrid mismatch arrangements from 1 January 2017.

    In line with the objectives of the BEPS project, the Government also introduced the Diverted Profits Tax from 1 April 2015 to target contrived arrangements used by large multinational companies to divert profits away from the UK.

    As set out in Autumn Statement 2014, together these measures addressing are estimated to yield around £1.6 billion over the next five years. The policy costings were certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

    The final BEPS project reports were published by the OECD on 5 October 2015 and endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting in Lima on 8 October. The UK welcomes the outcomes of the BEPS project and will give full consideration to the OECD’s recommendations.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) quantity and (b) quality of mental health services available to children and young people in the care system.

    Edward Timpson

    The Ofsted Single Inspection Framework provides the basis for the inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, looked-after children, and care leavers in England. The Framework includes judgments on whether child and adolescent mental health services are available when needed. The evidence from inspection reports indicates that local provision to meet the mental health needs of looked-after children is variable.

    In May 2015, NHS England asked all Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to work with other local agencies to develop Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children’s mental health services. LTPs are expected to cover the full spectrum of mental health issues and address the needs of the most vulnerable children and young people, including looked-after children and care leavers. All CCGs have now submitted plans and these are currently being assured by NHS England. The plans will be published once that assurance process is complete and, taken together, will provide a comprehensive picture of how mental health services for looked-after children are being improved across the country.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 16 December 2015 to Questions 19325 and 19326, how many staff in his Department were employed on a contract basis to procure the (a) Northern and (b) TransPennine franchise agreements; and what the total cost to the public purse was of those staff.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department employed six individuals as contract staff at various times (sometimes covering the same role consecutively) for the Northern competition, and five for the TransPennine Competition. Costs of those staff were £1.203M and £1.275M respectively.

    These costs however need to be set against the context of the deals achieved, whereby for Northern the amount of annual subsidy will be reduced by £160million by the end of the 9-year contract and for TransPennine the Government will receive £400million in premiums over the life of the franchise, compared to the previous situation where the franchise was subsidised.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the effect on the number of teachers of the Government’s policy to consider for deportation after five years non-EU migrants earning less than £35,000 per annum.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department does not collect data on the nationality or immigration status of the school workforce.

    This is a local matter for schools and all schools must employ members of the school workforce in accordance with employment law.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional funding she plans to commit to tackling illegal immigration; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    The Chancellor the Exchequer announced the 2015 Spending Review to Parliament on 25th November 2015. Home Office ministers are in the process of allocating budgets for the next financial year to ensure that the department supports its key objectives of preventing terrorism, cutting crime and controlling immigration.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department received from the European Social Fund (a) between 2007 and 2014 and (b) from 2014 to the last month for which data is available.

    Andrew Selous

    Money received from the European Social Fund (ESF) by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Co-financing Programme is published in the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts on gov.uk. The latest accounts can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434548/NOMS_AR14_15_report_accounts_Final_WEB.pdf

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  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass asylum accommodation contract with Serco for the region of North West England, how many faults were reported or identified from Compass inspections for each contractual pay period in 2014-15 and 2015-16; and how many such faults were not resolved within the agreed contractual timescales.

    James Brokenshire

    Providers are contractually required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation to comply with the Housing Act 2004 and the Decent Homes Standard. Providers are monitored closely to ensure accommodation meets these standards and the contracts include measures to ensure any issues are quickly addressed. These performance standards are defined in the contract and are managed using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including those which measure whether an individual property is compliant with contractual obligations following an inspection and also the number of service users effected if a fault is not repaired within the contract timescales.

    The Home Office does not centrally record the number of individual faults reported or identified during accommodation inspections, or the number of individual faults not resolved within the agreed timescales. The requested information could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost.