Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time taken for the transfer of documents between GP surgeries when a patient move to a different health area was in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not collect information on the time taken to transfer documents between general practitioner (GP) surgeries.

    The GP contract requires GP practices to use the electronic facility known as “GP2GP” for the safe and effective transfer of any computerised patient records where they have access to this system. As at end September 2015, 97.2% of GP practices were using GP2GP. 5,859,890 patient electronic health records have been transferred by GP2GP to the patient’s new GP since 2007.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to support the Humber region’s biomass projects.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC officials have met with local biomass generators and developers. There are several biomass projects at different stages of development around Immingham, Hull and Stallingborough. The £162million investment at the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, a 40 MW straw fired biomass plant, has recently opened.

    Biomass generation is contributing jobs to Humberside. As a result of £100million in investment, the Humber International Terminal (HIT) at the Port of Immingham is already receiving some of the world’s largest shipments of biomass, destined for Drax, in the adjacent county of North Yorkshire. Drax is supported by the Renewables Obligation and has secured a Contract for Difference to convert another unit to biomass (under the Final Investment Decision enabling Renewables programme). If State Aid approval for the contract is obtained, the Humber will see some 6 million tonnes per annum of pellets imported into the UK. This will enhance its position for future business, including in the heat sector. The UK government continue to support Drax with the State Aid case.

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of interviews for a first-time adult passport application was conducted on a face-to-face basis in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales.

    James Brokenshire

    In 2015, Her Majesty’s Passport Office interviewed 222,264 adult customers applying for their first passport. Of these 218,742 (98.41%) were face-to-face interviews in person. The remainder were carried out using our Video Interview Service, typically used in the more remote parts of the country. The interview is undertaken by Her Majesty’s Passport Office staff over a video link, and the customer is accompanied at all times by one of our partner organisations.

    This is broken down by country to:

    England: 189,252 (99.99%) in person interviews

    Northern Ireland: 3,965 (100%) in person interviews

    Scotland: 15,496 (85.83%) in person interviews

    Wales: 10,029 (91.24%) in person interviews

  • Lord Luce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Luce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Luce on 2016-04-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of which Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, if any, fall short of the required standards for the regulation of their financial services.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The regulation of financial services are domestic responsibilities of the governments of the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories. The Crown Dependencies and other British Overseas Territories are encouraged by the UK to meet internationally agreed standards and assessed according to the relevant international practice.

  • Nigel Mills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Mills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Mills on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department is implementing to emphasise the importance of hand hygiene in the prevention of infection in hospitals.

    Ben Gummer

    Tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use. Hand hygiene is an important component and we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example hand hygiene references in The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for prevention and control of infections and related guidance, were strengthened when it was revised in 2015. It will also form part of forthcoming guidance on reducing Gram negative infections such as E. coli.

    Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility and information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Therefore, no national assessment has been made of the potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels and the above infections.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to protect the access of UK farmers to European markets.

    George Eustice

    Until we leave the EU, current arrangements for farming, food and drink and our environment remain in place.

    We are now preparing to negotiate our exit. Defra will be working with the Department for Exiting the EU on the UK’s withdrawal and future relationship, liaising closely with other key departments on future support for farmers, the food and drink industry and the environment. The Government will work with industry and the public to develop these new arrangements.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on the death penalty in that country.

    Alok Sharma

    The UK remains firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. Abolitionist work is high on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) agenda and is part of the day-to-day work of all diplomatic missions to countries that retain the death penalty. The FCO human rights and democracy report 2015 makes clear our views on the death penalty and the resumption of executions in Pakistan.

    The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Philip Hammond), raised the issue of the death penalty with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Tobias Ellwood), wrote subsequently to the Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK expressing deep concern about ongoing executions. Together with our EU partners, we continue to raise our concerns about the death penalty with the Government of Pakistan and urge compliance with its international obligations.

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes were completed in Bristol South constituency in each year from 2010 to 2014.

    Brandon Lewis

    Statistics on house building starts and completions are not available by parliamentary constituency.

    These statistics for England and for each local authority district, including Bristol, are published in the Department’s live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link:

    http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

    The house building statistics exclude other sources of housing supply such as conversions.

    “

  • Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2015 to Question 14206, when he first saw draft copies of his Department’s accounts for (a) July to September 2014, (b) October to December 2014 and (c) January to March 2015.

    David Mundell

    This Government publishes an unprecedented range of data. This represents a significant task for Departments. We remain committed to publishing data in a timely fashion, and further transparency data will be published in due course.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reduce the rate of VAT on tourism.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government currently has no plans to alter the rates of VAT relating to the tourist industry.

    I refer the Rt Hon gentleman to my comments during the Westminster Hall debate on 17th March 2015.