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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is able to take to redistribute funding from clinical commissioning groups that are over their target allocation.

    Alistair Burt

    Responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations rests with NHS England rather than the Department, as set out in The Mandate. These decisions have been taken independently of Government, in order that such an important issue as funding is made objectively and free from perceived political considerations.

    The funding allocated to all CCGs is based on the CCG allocations formula. This is based on advice provided by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA). ACRA is an independent committee and reports jointly to the Secretary of State for Health (in regard to public health allocations) and NHS England in regard to CCG and primary care allocations.

    In regards to determining how quickly to move CCGs from their current allocation to the target allocation determined by the allocations formula, NHS England’s objective is to reduce the ‘distance from target’ so that areas furthest below their target allocation receive the biggest increases, and areas above their target consequently receive smaller increases. This difference in the size of increases is a judgement – it is important to ensure service stability for those areas above target, and that increases for under target areas are not so large that resources are not used efficiently. The approach also takes account of the distance from target in each area for primary care and specialised services so that the overall funding position for the area is taken into account.

    NHS England recently published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/#

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  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme were granted in each year from 2008 to 2016; and how many apprentices are currently on the NHS Low Income Scheme.

    David Mowat

    The table below shows the number of applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme, and the certificates which were granted, in each year from 2008 to 2016:

    Year

    HC1s Received

    HC2s Issued

    HC3s Issued

    2007/08

    422,652

    240,288

    140,501

    2008/09

    445,608

    252,037

    148,018

    2009/10

    431,129

    243,350

    142,135

    2010/11

    433,075

    249,193

    139,375

    2011/12

    422,591

    246,808

    134,276

    2012/13

    399,375

    229,618

    122,580

    2013/14

    389,324

    225,275

    120,391

    2014/15

    385,131

    214,975

    113,964

    2015/16

    383,487

    225,239

    112,414

    A HC2 certificate entitles the person (and their family) to full remission of the charge, whereas a HC3 certificate provides partial remission and indicates how much of the charge the person must pay.

    Figures for apprentices who hold NHS Low Income Scheme certificates are not available, as information on who is an apprentice is not collected.

    The overall cost to administer the NHS Low Income Scheme in the last three financial years are set out below. These figures represent the direct costs of the NHS Low Income Scheme service in England, Scotland and Wales. The figures do not include overheads associated with the wider infrastructure of the NHS Business Services Authority:

    Year

    Cost (£)

    2015/16

    1,469,034

    2014/15

    1,566,587

    2013/14

    1,594,957

  • Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gill Furniss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gill Furniss on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what circumstances documents associated with (a) asylum applications and (b) other forms of visa application are retained by her Department after verification.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Documents associated with an asylum claim will be retained when :-

    1. The claim is ongoing, if a claimant is subsequently granted leave their passports or identifying documents will be returned to them at that point.

    2. When a negative decision is made we will retain documents that may be required to facilitate removal, the power to do this comes from Section17 of the Asylum and Immigration (treatment of claimants Act, etc) 2004.

    3. Any documents verified as being non genuine will be retained for disposal by the National Document Fraud Unit.

    4. In EEA/EU asylum claims if removal, deportation or extradition is being pursued, any documents must be retained until a decision is taken. If removal is not being pursued, for example if the claimant is exercising their free movement rights, any documents should be returned.

    A document that has been submitted with a visa application will be retained for 10 years if the document has been verified as being false and has been relied upon in a refusal decision. If it has been verified as being genuine, copies will be kept for up to 2 years. A copy of the application form is retained electronically with the case record.

  • Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on the number of gastroenterology appointments specifically related to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis that have been cancelled or postponed at the request of the Grimsby and Goole Hospital Trust in the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    The information is not held centrally.

  • 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, pursuant to the oral statement of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, what estimate he has made of the number of operations that were cancelled prior to the proposed industrial action on 1 December 2015 but could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once that proposed industrial action was postponed.

    Ben Gummer

    On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people in the UK on a tier 2 visa who will not have their visa renewed when new rules requiring them to be paid at least £35,000 per annum or the going rate in the relevant UK Border Agency Code of Practice, whichever is higher.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

    Applicants who are not paid the appropriate rate for their occupation, as set out in UK Visas and Immigration codes of practice, cannot be granted an initial Tier 2 visa. The appropriate rate test has applied to settlement applications since 2011.

    The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This is available on the gov.uk website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf.

  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on community cohesion of the introduction of fixed-term local authority tenancies.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Continuing to provide lifetime tenancies to households that may only experience temporary need compounds the situation that sees 1.2 million households on social housing waiting lists, and 236,000 social tenants forced to live in overcrowded conditions due to lack of suitably sized properties, while 380,000 households occupy social housing with two or more spare bedrooms. This is not a good use of scarce social housing and it is not likely to lead to strong and cohesive communities.

    The provisions in the Housing and Planning Bill require that towards the end of the fixed term the landlord must review the tenant’s circumstances. Where they are broadly unchanged, the landlord will be able to grant a further tenancy in the same home.

  • Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chuka Umunna – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chuka Umunna on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many children were housed in temporary accommodation for longer than the six-week legal limit in (a) the London Borough of Lambeth, (b) London and (c) England and Wales in each year since 2010-11.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We do not collect data on the numbers of children in temporary bed and breakfast style accommodation for longer than 6 weeks.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what evidence her Department holds on the relationship between the A-level grades achieved by prospective teachers and their later performance in the classroom.

    Nick Gibb

    Evidence, including a seminal McKinsey study from 2007 (How the world’s best-performing schools come out on top), shows that teacher quality and impact cannot be predicted by a single factor such as A-Level grades, but result from a complex combination of factors including academic achievement combined with characteristics and attributes such as communication skills, willingness to learn and motivation to teach.

    The Teachers’ Standards, developed by a group of leading teachers and heads, clearly define the core elements of effective teaching – including strong subject knowledge and the promotion of scholarship, as well as skills such as classroom management. All new teachers must demonstrate that they are meeting the standards at the end of their initial training.

    It is important that providers of initial teacher training are able to select and recruit candidates on the basis of their potential and their academic achievement to date; this is why we are giving schools much greater say in recruiting and training candidates who can be successful in the classroom. This year, over half of all postgraduate trainees are coming through school-led routes.

  • 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 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what annual reserves the Maritime and Coastguard Agency accrued in fees from ship survey and inspection work in each year since 2000-01.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The income the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has received for marine surveys in each year since 2000-01 is shown below:

    Financial Year

    £’000

    2000/01

    3,685

    2001/02

    3,455

    2002/03

    3,663

    2003/04

    3,708

    2004/05

    3,953

    2005/06

    4,115

    2006/07

    4,634

    2007/08

    4,669

    2008/09

    5,193

    2009/10

    5,513

    2010/11

    5,537

    2011/12

    5,260

    2012/13

    5,046

    2013/14

    5,519

    2014/15

    4,322

    2015/16*

    5,085

    * Draft Figure (Subject to Audit)

    Note that the income earned through fees is used to cover the costs of the work and surpluses are not accrued. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, as a Government Agency, does not hold annual reserves.