Tag: Parliamentary Question

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35165, on Personal Independence Payments, what steps his Department is taking better to understand why sufficient documentary evidence is not being sought during the assessment and mandatory reconsideration stages.

Justin Tomlinson

The 75% can be broken down as follows:

Cogent oral evidence – 66%

Cogent documentary evidence supplied at the appeal – 9%

These figures are from internal DWP systems, where only one of possible multiple reasons can be recorded, and are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard.

The Department encourages claimants to provide as much relevant evidence as necessary to support their claim. The “How your disability affects you” form and accompanying guidance sets out the range of information that can help the Department reach a decision. The guidance for Health Professionals also sets out sources of further evidence which could help inform their advice to the Department.

At the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, again claimants are encouraged to provide any further evidence about their disability. Following the first independent review of Personal Independence by Paul Gray, the Department is reviewing all communications (including those used by Assessment Providers) it has with claimants throughout the claim, assessment and reconsideration process to ensure that claimants clearly understand the importance of providing sufficient evidence to support their claim and application.

Further, once a claimant has submitted their claim, the Department has created a new Standard Work Instructions (SWI) for its decision making staff to gain further evidence, where appropriate. For Mandatory Reconsideration, the SWI puts a process in place to establish what the areas for dispute are, consider any gaps in the evidence, ensure any expected further medical evidence is received and referring that to the Assessment Provider. “

01/01/2023
Baroness Doocey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Doocey on 2016-07-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many independent child trafficking advocates will be needed to fulfil the requirements under section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

As the Minister for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime set out on 28 June::

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-06-28/debates/16062854000001/IndependentAdvocatesForTraffickedChildren

The Government is committed to commencing section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act and developing the accompanying secondary legislation and statutory guidance. As part of the commencement process, we will work with interested parties, including Non-Governmental Organisations to determine the scale of the service.

01/01/2023
Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) stakeholders on reforming pesticide regulations from a precautionary principle to a risk-based principle.

George Eustice

As part of the preparation for EU exit, the Government is considering future arrangements for pesticide regulation. The Government remains of the view that decisions on the use of pesticides should be based on a careful scientific assessment of the risks, with the aim of achieving a high level of protection for people and the environment. An evidence-based approach to assessing risk is entirely consistent with the precautionary principle.

01/01/2023
Lord Wills – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the last five years, what proportion of the UK’s aid budget was allocated to research into mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

Baroness Verma

DFID has not supported any research into mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases in the last five years.

01/01/2023
Jack Dromey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed in (a) the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit and (b) each of the nine Regional Organised Crime Units for each year from 2010 to date.

Mr John Hayes

Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) provide capability to investigate serious and organised crime across police force boundaries, including but not limited to, cyber crime. At the end of September 2015, there were 1,626 full-time equivalent staff employed by forces in the nine Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), excluding London.

These figures have only been centrally collected by the police, and shared with the Home Office, since the beginning of this financial year. Details on the number of staff employed in individual ROCUs are operationally sensitive and have therefore not been provided. The most recent figures for the number of National Crime Agency (NCA) officers employed in the National Cyber Crime Unit will be available in the National Crime Agency’s Remuneration Review Body evidence to be published on the NCA’s website shortly.

01/01/2023
Liam Byrne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what forecast he has made of the number of young people that will participate in the National Citizen Service in each year from 2015 to 2020.

Mr Rob Wilson

Over 200,000 young people have benefitted from the National Citizen Service (NCS) since 2011. In 2014 57,789 young people took part. The figure for 2015 will be made available after an independent evaluation later this year.

The Prime Minister has announced the ambition to expand the programme to 60% of all 16 year olds by 2021 and this is the target we aim to deliver.

The funding for NCS was announced in the autumn statement and spending review. More than £1billion has been committed to the expansion of NCS in this parliament.

01/01/2023
Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to assist vulnerable Syrian minorities register with the UNHCR who have not done so due to fear of persecution.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference on 4 February more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict. This is the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees. Any person claiming refugee status is able to avail themselves of UNHCR’s global protection mandate where UNHCR has a presence. They can directly approach UNHCR and register with them, or be referred to UNHCR by a third organisation, or UNHCR can ask them to register. The UK has allocated £115 million to UNHCR’s operations in Syria and the surrounding region, of which a proportion is used for registration.

Over time, many previously unregistered refugees have sought UNHCR’s assistance and protection services as their resources have dwindled and coping mechanisms become stretched. Some minority groups may not see a need to register either due to their own resources or due to reliance on community/social networks.

DFID continues to work with the UN and the international community to ensure all minorities’ rights are protected and our aid reaches those in greatest need.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Le Bureau d’Enguetes et d’Analyses report into Andreas Lubitz, published on 13 March 2016, if his Department will bring forward proposals to enable airlines to access mental health records of pilots within their employment.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The UK has a long held, well-established and robust process for certifying the ‘fitness to fly’ of pilots.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has guidelines for doctors which give UK doctors an ethical duty to report concerns about a patient to the relevant authority if that condition presents a risk to public safety and the patient hasn’t reported it.

Medical requirements for commercial pilots are determined by European Legislation. In response to the Germanwings crash in March 2015, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is developing a European aeromedical data repository system which will be deployed by December 2016. This repository system will contain the current fitness to fly status of all European pilots. It is important that this repository is implemented on a European-wide basis, as many pilots who work in the UK or work for UK airlines are not resident in the UK, are not British nationals and have medical certificates that are overseen by other European States.

It is in the UK’s interests for all pilots flying in Europe to be subject to a high standard of medical fitness and common legislation, in the interests of aviation safety.

01/01/2023

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what contracts IBM currently holds with his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

Mr Robert Goodwill

My department has 4 contracts with IBM (UK) Ltd and details are contained in the table below

Agency	Purpose of contract
DfTc	Annual Software maintenance on IBM SPSS licensing for statistical analysis
DVLA	Q Radar Security Monitoring Tool
DVLA	IBM Software-Extended Support
DVLA	IBM Enterprise Licensing Agreement (ELA)

01/01/2023

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-05-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish all of the responses received by the review relating to secondary ticketing required by section 94 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government plans to publish responses to the Call for Evidence in due course.

01/01/2023