Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to increase the retention rate of doctors working in general practice.

    Alistair Burt

    The number of full time equivalent doctors working in general practice has increased by 1,677 since September 2010.

    The Department has committed to further increasing the primary and community care workforce by 10,000 by 2020, including an additional 5,000 doctors working in general practice. In January 2015, NHS England, Health Education England, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee published Building the Workforce, a ten point plan to address general practitioner (GP) workforce issues.

    The ten point plan includes actions to improve retention, as well as to increase recruitment and support GPs to return to practice. As part of this work, NHS England has commissioned a detailed review to identify the most effective measures to encourage experienced GPs to remain in practice.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases of alleged malpractice by directors of companies the Insolvency Service investigated in each year since 2009; and in each of those years how many directors of such companies were disqualified from practising on account of offences committed (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

    Anna Soubry

    When a company enters into formal insolvency proceedings, the insolvency practitioner (IP) has to file a report on the conduct of the directors unless an official receiver is in office; and each of those reports is assessed by the Insolvency Service to determine if a more detailed investigation is appropriate. When a company enters into compulsory liquidation, although this is not itself an indication of misconduct, the official receiver will in all cases make enquiries to determine the cause of insolvency and the conduct of the directors of the company.

    The number of reports of misconduct submitted by IPs is detailed in the table below, alongside the total number of compulsory liquidations each year.

    Reporting year

    IP reports of misconduct

    Compulsory liquidations

    Total disqualifications

    09/10

    7,030

    5,418

    1,386

    10/11

    5,373

    4,573

    1,453

    11/12

    5,401

    5,125

    1,165

    12/13

    5,335

    4,001

    1,034

    13/14

    4,671

    3,734

    1,282

    14/15

    4,620

    3,588

    1,210

    15/16

    4,277

    2,778

    *810

    *Disqualifications in the period from April 2015 to December 2015, the latest period for which official statistics are available.

    All of these cases relate to companies based in and trading in the UK. In many cases, a disqualification will be obtained in a period subsequent to the submission of a report or the insolvency of the company. Each case may encompass a number of directors.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from Calderdale Council on the construction of a new rail station at Elland.

    Claire Perry

    We are aware of aspirations for a new station at Elland but have not received any representations about it from Calderdale Council. The promotion of any new station is a matter for the relevant local transport authority, in this case West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the change in defence spending has been since May 2015.

    Michael Fallon

    The Spending Review 2015 set out the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) budget for the rest of this Parliament reflecting the Government’s commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence. The MOD budget will increase by 0.5% above inflation each year from 2016-17 to 2020-21, during which time the Department will have access to the new Joint Security Fund.

    The Defence Budget for 2016-17 is £35 billion.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 44873, in what month he expects the cycling and walking investment strategy to be published.

    Andrew Jones

    We have previously said we would publish the Strategy in the summer of 2016. Due to the very large number of consultation responses covering a wide range of issues, there has been a need to assess these and make any necessary revisions to the Strategy. We hope to publish the Strategy shortly but we are not able to specify a precise month.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2015-11-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to communicate to local authorities and developers of onshore wind renewables projects the effect of the time taken to upgrade air defence radars at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    In respect of the upgrade of the Air Defence radar at Remote Radar Head (RRH) Buchan, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is in contact with the developers who proposed the upgrade as mitigation for their wind farm proposal.

    At RRH Benbecula, the MOD is in contact with the Western Isles Council and developers via the Council’s Working Group. In addition, the MOD provided an Air Defence update at the Aviation Management Board meeting on 5 November 2015 at which Scottish Government, the wind industry and RenewableUK representatives were present.

    The MOD continues to undertake full technical and operational assessments of all site specific Air Defence radar mitigation proposals, including those to the upgraded TPS-77 radar systems at RRH Benbecula and RRH Buchan. It remains the responsibility of developers to submit site specific mitigation proposals. The MOD will determine whether the impact upon the radar is of a permissible level.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2015 to Question 19474, in what circumstances her Department plans to recompense spousal visa applicants whose application is not determined within the eight-week postal service standard.

    James Brokenshire

    Generally, the Home Office will not recompense a customer whose spousal application is not considered within the eight week postal service standard.

    The Home Office aims to process all straightforward applications, that is those that have complied with the application process including provision of mandatory information, evidence and biometrics, within eight weeks of receipt.

    There are a variety of reasons why a spousal application may take longer than the publicised service standard. As such the Home Office service standard reflects that and does not allow for all cases to be decided within that publicised standard.

    If the Home Office cannot make a decision within the service standard, the Home Office will write to customers to inform them of the next steps and when they are likely to receive a decision.

    It is open to a customer to submit a complaint if their application is not considered within the service standard. These claims are considered on an ex-gratia basis under the complaints procedure. Any compensation would be handled based on individual customers’ exceptional circumstances, and as such these are considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken to increase the number of BAME (a) executive and (b) non-executive staff of (i) NHS trusts, (ii) clinical commissioning groups and (iii) related arms length bodies since 2012.

    Jane Ellison

    In 2014, NHS England, in partnership with the National Health Service and arm’s length bodies, developed a Workforce Race Equality Standard which requires NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against a number of indicators of workforce race equality, including a specific indicator to address the low levels of Black and Minority Ethnic representation at Board level.

    Since April 2015, the Standard has been included in the NHS contract for providers, and it will feature in the new assessment framework for clinical commissioning groups for 2016/17. The Standard has also been included in the Care Quality Commission’s inspections of provider organisations.

    In addition to supporting the implementation of the Standard, the arm’s length bodies are also applying it to their own workforces. Further information on the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard can be found at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/equality-standard/

    The Department keeps diversity in focus throughout the appointments process for non-executives of arm’s length bodies. The Department’s “Non-Executive Appointments Diversity Action Plan” is published annually which outlines progress and actions to improve the diversity of public appointments and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445660/Diversity_Action_Plan_14_15.pdf

    Cabinet Office publishes annual diversity statistics on new public appointments made by United Kingdom Ministers at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-in-public-appointments#history

    “

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what meetings (a) she and (b) Ministers of her Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in the Cabinet Office’s most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.

    Andrea Leadsom

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by my rt. hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 26th February 2016 to Question 27634:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-02-22/27634/.

    “

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary school places in Romford.

    Edward Timpson

    Supporting local authorities in their responsibility to ensure sufficient school places in their area is one of this Government’s top priorities. That’s why we’ve committed to spending £7 billion on new school places up to 2021, which, along with our investment in the free schools programme, we expect to create 600,000 new places.

    Havering local authority, which is responsible for school places in Romford, received £23 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create 2,583 new primary places and 1,960 new secondary places between 2010 and 2015.

    Havering has also been allocated a further £58 million to create the places required by the 2019/20 academic year.