Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in Easington constituency who will be affected by the reduction of the income rise disregard for tax credits to £2,500.

    Damian Hinds

    This information is not held and statistically reliable projections at constituency level could only be provided at disproportionate cost. From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

    The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

    In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed

  • Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what help is available to people with hepatitis C infection from contaminated blood.

    Jane Ellison

    Under the current support arrangements, people infected with hepatitis C through the use of National Health Service blood products are offered a lump sum payment of £20,000 on registering and the option to apply for certain discretionary support: both financial and non-financial. Should they develop “Stage 2” hepatitis C, the later stage of the disease, patients are then offered an additional lump sum of £50,000 and a regular annual payment of £14,749. Those people co-infected with hepatitis C stage 2 and HIV are offered a regular annual payment of £29,498. Currently 595 people are receiving these regular annual payments. In addition, 242 people are receiving regular payments for HIV infection.

    However, the Department is consulting on options for a future support scheme which aims to ensure all of those infected with hepatitis C and registered with the payment schemes would receive regular annual payments, up to £15,000. There are currently 2,424 people with “stage 1” hepatitis C currently registered with the payment schemes who would benefit additionally from this proposed change.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects Louise Casey’s review of opportunity and integration in isolated and deprived communities to be (a) completed and (b) published.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The review is expected to be completed and published shortly.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the difference between the academic performance of adopted children and that of their peers in (1) GCSEs, and (2) A-levels, over the last five years.

    Lord Nash

    Estimates of GCSE attainment of former looked after children who have been adopted were published for the first time this year. The statistics were published as experimental statistics because we estimate that they are based on around 30% of all children adopted from care[1]. The estimates show that 22.8% of former looked after children who have been adopted achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, including English and mathematics in 2015. This information is published on GOV.UK in the statistical first release “Outcomes for looked after children by local authorities in England: 31 March 2015”[2].

    Nationally, 57.1% of children in state funded schools achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, including English and mathematics in 2015. These figures are published on GOV.UK in the statistical first release “Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England, 2014 to 2015”[3].

    Information on attainment at Key Stage 5 for former looked after children who have been adopted is not available.

    [1] These figures were based on children who are identified as adopted (requiring declaration by the parents) in the school census, matched to key stage 4 data

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/outcomes-for-children-looked-after-by-las-31-march-2015

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2014-to-2015

    “

  • The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Lord Bishop of Durham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Durham on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what diplomatic and financial assistance they are providing to the governments of Rwanda and Burundi to establish confidence-building measures that improve relations between those governments.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK remains deeply concerned about the ongoing political crisis in Burundi. The sharp deterioration in Burundi’s relationships with the region, including Rwanda, is particularly worrying. The recent restrictions imposed by Burundi on cross-border trade will further exacerbate the serious negative economic impact of the crisis on the lives of Rwandans and Burundians.

    The UK is supporting a range of efforts to generate dialogue and ease tension in the region. We have worked with EU and UN Security Council partners to deliver strong and coherent international messaging to the government of Burundi. We have imposed EU sanctions on key individuals responsible for the violence; suspended direct EU aid to the government; and delivered robust strong Security Council Resolutions including July’s UNSCR 2303.

    The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), visited Rwanda and Burundi in December 2015 and urged all parties to act responsibly to reduce violence. The UK Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, Danae Dholakia, visits the region regularly to reinforce these messages. We have been clear in all our public and private dialogue with Rwanda on the need for neighbours to play a stabilising role in Burundi. The UK is also providing £6.85 million of DFID funding to support Burundian refugees in Rwanda.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether General Sir Nicholas Houghton sought permission under departmental directive 2014DIN03-024 on Contact with the media and communicating in public to discuss the Trident nuclear weapons system in advance of the recent television interview on the Andrew Marr on Sunday programme.

    Michael Fallon

    General Sir Nicholas Houghton sought prior clearance to be interviewed on the Andrew Marr Show on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2015: as with previous Remembrance Sunday appearances a number of military issues were covered.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding is sufficient to meet patient demand in (a) community mental healthcare and (b) inpatient mental healthcare; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England’s Planning Guidance for 2015/16, Forward View into action: planning for 2015-16, sets out the expectation that clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) spending on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s allocation increase to support the ambition of parity between mental and physical health. Compliance with the Planning Guidance is being assured at national and Area Team level.

  • Simon Danczuk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Simon Danczuk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Danczuk on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the press release of 10 January 2016 entitled, Prime Minister pledges to transform sink estates, if he will make an assessment of the value of house prices on those estates planned for removal or regeneration.

    Brandon Lewis

    The new Estate Regeneration Advisory Panel will be starting its work shortly, and will be seeking representations from as many estates as possible. The Panel will evaluate the potential for the regeneration of particular estates over the coming months, and will report by this year’s Autumn Statement. Any estates proposed for regeneration will need to take into account the value of properties and development viability considerations.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when a vaccine will be procured for the human papilloma virus vaccination programme for men who have sex with men.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department and Public Health England are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to secure vaccine to support the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for girls. The procurement will take account of the costs and benefits of all vaccines offered to establish which provides best value for money for the National Health Service.

    In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted HPV vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price. The JCVI acknowledged that finding a way to implement its advice would be challenging and made clear that work was needed by the Department and others to consider commissioning and delivery routes for this programme. This work is already underway and we will announce our plans as soon as we can.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2016 to Question 27312, what steps she has taken to reduce the proportion of children and young people entering the care system who have not had their Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire score submitted.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department for Education and Department of Health strengthened the statutory guidance Promoting the health and wellbeing of looked after children[1] in March 2015 to include information on how Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) should be used. The Department wrote to local authorities in 2014 and 2015 to remind them about the purpose and importance of SDQs. Ahead of this year’s data collection (published in September 2016), the Department will also write to Virtual School Heads and Independent Reviewing Officers about the use of SDQs for looked-after children. In addition we are considering how to utilise best practice from local authorities that have had consistently good return rates for SDQ scores in their annual children looked after data returns to the Department.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-looked-after-children–2

    “