Tag: Parliamentary Question

Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the Housing and Planning Bill on housing associations that manage properties on behalf of councils.

Brandon Lewis

The Housing and Planning Bill intends to reduce the regulatory controls for private registered providers of social housing with the aim to reclassify housing associations as private organisations.

Through the Bill, the Secretary of State will have the power by affirmative regulations, to make provision for the purpose of limiting or removing the ability of local authorities to exert influence over private registered providers of social housing, through the nomination of board members and acting as shareholders. We will be discussing the potential impact of these regulations with some housing associations and local authorities, in advance of regulations being introduced later in 2016.

01/01/2023
Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve the standard of housing for service personnel.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence is committed to improving the quality of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) provided to our Service personnel. 88% of SFA currently meet or exceed the decent homes standard. If a property fails to meet the standard, it will either be upgraded or disposed of.

Since financial year 2010-11 investment in housing has resulted in:

The separate installation of some 12,000 kitchens, bathrooms, or central heating systems and the insulation of 16,692 lofts.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to ask energy suppliers to reconsider the use of income-differential tariffs.

Jesse Norman

Energy supply companies are required to ensure customers are on the cheapest tariff that is in line with their preferences and specifically, as to their chosen payment method and to the type of tariff (fixed term or variable) they prefer.

01/01/2023
Baroness Uddin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current availability of qualified speech therapists at the point of assessment throughout the NHS and community healthcare provision.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Health and Social Care Information Centre annual census data shows that as at 30 September 2014, there were 6,207 full time equivalent speech and language therapists working in the National Health Service in England, this is a rise of 2% since May 2010.

Health Education England (HEE) and the Department of Health commissioned the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI) to undertake a stock take of the speech and language therapists workforce in England. The CfWI published Securing the future workforce supply – Speech and language therapy stocktake, in December 2014. A copy of this is attached. The stocktake investigated the current balance of demand and supply for speech and language therapists and explored how this is expected to change by 2025, including those working in the public and private sector.

HEE has increased the number of speech and language therapist training places in 2015-16 to 668, an increase of 3.7% over 2014-15. HEE will take the content of the CfWI speech and language therapy stocktake into account in their workforce planning and future commissioning decisions.

01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the New Medicine Service is not available to mental health patients.

George Freeman

The conditions/therapy areas selected for the New Medicine Service (NMS) are those where community pharmacies are best able to demonstrate the value of the service and could provide the greatest benefit to patients. The conditions/therapy areas are currently asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy and hypertension.

As the commissioners of National Health Service pharmaceutical services it is for NHS England to consider, in light of the best available evidence, whether to negotiate changes to the NMS including whether the NMS should be offered to mental health patients.

01/01/2023
Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of ticket machines were fitted with labels advertising ticket offices of each train operating company on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Claire Perry

Under the terms of the Ticketing Settlement Agreement

“the opening hours of each Ticket Office must be prominently displayed at a location nearby that is accessible to members of the public at all times unless the Authority agrees otherwise” (s6-16, p.144).

It is for the operator to decide where the times are displayed. Therefore, the Department has no information as to how many would be on ticket machines.

01/01/2023
Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated radiological dose uptake was in terms of (a) individual whole equivalent dose in milli-Sievert and (b) collective dose in man-Sievert for (i) Services and his Department’s civilian personnel involved in and responding to the incident, (ii) civilian emergency services personnel responders attending and (iii) members of the public during each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

Penny Mordaunt

The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

01/01/2023
Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that refugees arriving in other EU member-states who have family in the UK are identified and supported in being reunited with their relatives.

James Brokenshire

All migrants arriving in other EU Member States who wish to seek asylum should do so in those States and provide information to the asylum authorities about any family members in the UK or other Member States so that the family unity provisions in the Dublin Regulation can be applied.

We are providing further resources to the European Asylum Support Office, including help in border “hotspots” in Greece and Italy, to identify and register asylum applicants, including children at risk on first arrival in the EU.

We will consider any request made to us by other Member States to take responsibility for asylum applicants because they have close family who are legally in the UK in accordance with the terms of the Dublin Regulation.

If not claiming asylum, individuals outside the UK are entitled to apply under the Immigration Rules to join relatives in the UK by making the appropriate visa application.

01/01/2023

Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools have been found to have failed to keep records of eligibility for free school meals in each of the last three years.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) undertakes academy trust funding audit visits as part of its assurance regime, which includes free school meals. It has found the following instances where full records have not been kept:

Assurance plan year	Total trusts where instances of pupil ineligibility were identified
1 July 2015 – present	Currently underway, therefore no information
1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015	0
1 July 2013 – 30 June 2014	9

In addition we have received one instance where we have confirmed ineligibility of funding and are taking swift action to resolve issues.

01/01/2023

Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on progress in the Eastern African mediation process in relation to the crisis in Burundi; and if he will make a statement.

James Duddridge

As I stated in the adjournment debate on Human Rights in Burundi on 5 May 2016, I spoke to former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on 4 May. We agreed that the only route to a lasting solution lies in an inclusive political process. I gave him the UK’s full support in his role as the facilitator of the dialogue established by the East African Community. I am encouraged by indications that talks will begin on 21 May. President Mkapa is using the intervening period to bring more people to the table and to have more bilateral discussions before the talks themselves happen. I will keep the house updated.

It is essential that all parties, including those who have now left Burundi, are part of the engagement and peace process. I intend to phone and write to the Burundian Foreign Minister before 21 May to call on the Government of Burundi to come together with all participants and to allow them to come to Arusha so that the talks can commence.

01/01/2023