Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether hospitals will incur financial penalties if they breach performance standards as a result of the suspended industrial action on 1 December 2015.

    Ben Gummer

    In the normal course of events, a hospital which misses a key national standard (such as the 18-week referral to treatment waiting time standard or the six-week diagnostic wait standard) will incur a mandatory financial sanction applied by its commissioners, as set out in the NHS Standard Contract.

    However, the Contract also includes a ‘Force Majeure’ clause (General Condition 28) which would, in principle, apply to planned industrial action. Under this clause, a provider is able to claim relief from its liabilities under the Contract, to the extent that an event outside of its reasonable control has directly caused it to fail to meet its contractual obligations.

    Therefore, if a hospital were to breach an operational standard for the month, but could demonstrate to the commissioner that:

    * this was solely and directly due to the action it had reasonably taken in anticipation of the industrial action proceeding; and

    * it had done everything reasonable to mitigate the impact of its actions on achievement of the standard in that month

    then the commissioner could set aside the sanction for that month.

    If the breach of the standard was only partly due to the impact of the planned industrial action, only the relevant proportion of the sanction would be set aside.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure children receive education and protection in conflict zones.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID supports international efforts in conflict-affected and fragile countries to assist children and reduce their risks of violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. This work is in partnership with mandated protection agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and UNICEF, as well as non-governmental organisations.

    DFID aims to improve learning outcomes, to reach all children in fragile states, and to keep girls in school. DFID supports children overseas to go to school and continue learning even when they are forced from their homes and this includes our flagship £355 million Girls’ Education Challenge that will enable up to 1 million more of the world’s most marginalised girls to benefit from an education of sufficient quality and transform their lives. In addition, DFID is supporting improvements to how the international community provides education in emergencies, including support for the ‘No Lost Generation’ Initiative to provide over 251,000 Syrian children with formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region, allowing them to catch up on lost learning time and sit public school examinations.

    Education and protection will be key themes of the Syria Conference co-hosted by the UK in early February and the protection and education of children affected by natural disasters and conflicts will be addressed at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016.

  • Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kinnock on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authority areas in the UK have been identified through official statistics as having public services that are under excessive pressure as a consequence of migration from other EU member states; which official statistics show such pressures; and in each case, what is the usual time lapse between the collection and publication of those statistics.

    Lord Bates

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a report based on 2011 census data, on the changing levels of the non-UK born population in every local area, available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rpt-international-migrants.html#tab-Local-geography-of-non-UK-born-and-non-UK-nationals.

    The Home Office also published a research report ‘The Social and Public Service Impacts of International Migration at the Local Level’ (July 2013) which shows the local authorities that have been particularly affected by international migration, including migration from the European Union member states (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210324/horr72.pdf).

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to protect customers from the practice of telephone slamming.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom, as the independent telecommunications regulator, introduced rules in May 2005 to protect consumers against slamming. Its most recent rules, updated in June 2015, prohibits all telephone companies from engaging in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct, and oblige providers to ensure consumers fully understand and consent to a contract before it is agreed.

    Ofcom’s most recent complaints data shows that slamming complaints have reduced significantly to an average of 140 complaints per month, compared with an average of over 700 in 2010. Ofcom can take action if companies repeatedly breach these rules and has the power to fine companies up to 10% of their annual turnover and to require them to remedy any issues that have arisen, including repaying affected customers who have lost money. In addition, safeguards have been built into the landline/broadband switching process on the Openreach network that are designed to protect consumers from being slammed. Consumers are required to receive a letter informing them that a switch is scheduled and that there is a 10-day switchover period, during which the order can be stopped if a customer has been inadvertently signed up.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) his Department and (b) Highways England are improving their assessments of user satisfaction in relation to the strategic road network.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department appointed Transport Focus (TF) as the road user watchdog and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) as the Highways Monitor on the formation of Highways England on 1 April 2015. In addition to reporting from TF and ORR, officials regularly meet with Highways England to discuss all aspects of their performance, including customer satisfaction.

    TF is developing a new Strategic Roads User Survey to measure satisfaction among those using Highways England’s network with input from the Department. It is intended to pilot this throughout 2016 and then launch the new survey during 2017. This will run in parallel with Highways England’s existing National Road User Satisfaction Survey until that ceases in March 2018.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many successful applicants to the Schools Direct scheme there were in each of the last five years; and what the cost of that scheme was to her Department in each such year.

    Nick Gibb

    The School Direct scheme began as a pilot tuition fee based programme in the 2012/13 academic year. The programme was extended to include School Direct (salaried) programmes from the 2013/14 academic year.

    The number of successful applicants (trainees who secured and took up a place) on School Direct programmes, and the associated cost (where available), from 2012/13 to 2014/15 are given in table 1:

    Academic year

    Number of School Direct (tuition fee) trainees

    Number of School Direct (salaried) trainees

    Cost of training bursaries for SD (fee) trainees

    Cost of salary grants for SD (salaried) trainees

    2012/13

    349

    N/A

    Unavailable

    N/A

    2013/14

    4,203

    2,473

    Unavailable

    £40,320,214

    2014/15

    6,311[1]

    2,759

    £36,539,000

    £43,031,709

    Table 1: Number of School Direct trainees and associated costs from 2012/13 to 2014/15.

    We are unable to provide the training bursary costs specific to School Direct only for trainees for 2012/13 and 2013/14, as the data captured did not make a distinction between core and school direct tuition fee places for the purpose of bursary funding.

    Data for the 2015/16 academic year will not be available until after the end of the academic year when data submissions will be finalised and subsequently validated.

    [1] Of the 6,311 tuition fee trainees in AY 2014/15, 4,264 received a bursary.

  • Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rachael Maskell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the outcome of the EU referendum on future levels of migrant labour from other EU countries in the farming industry.

    George Eustice

    Workers from other EU countries are an important and valued part of our workforce. Over the next two years whilst we negotiate a new relationship with the EU, nothing changes.

    This will be one of the issues that will have to be resolved as part of our exit negotiation and future relationship with the EU.

  • Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jessica Morden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the current value is of Farepak unclaimed funds.

    Margot James

    The current value of Farepak unclaimed funds is £1,007,267.41.

    The agency will hold the funds for the next six years, people can however continue to claim indefinitely. The Insolvency Service has liaised with media outlets and the matter has been covered by BBC Moneybox, MoneySaving Expert and BBC Watchdog, to draw attention to any unpaid creditor or has yet to come forward.

  • 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 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to help establish an international agreement on surrogacy arrangements and harmonisation of the law and practice on surrogacy overseas.

    Jane Ellison

    The Hague Conference on Private International Law, of which the United Kingdom is a Member State, has set up an Experts’ Group to examine whether there is a realistic prospect of progress in this area. The Experts’ Group will report in March 2016.

  • David Burrowes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Burrowes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to lay before Parliament a report on the steps the Government proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates, pursuant to section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

    Karen Bradley

    Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act requires the Government to lay before Parliament a report setting out the steps it proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates within nine months of Royal Assent of the Modern Slavery Act. The Government will publish this report by 16 December, whilst Parliament is sitting.