The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2016-10-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) how many and (b) which food banks he has visited since taking office.
Damian Hinds
Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the increase in the amount paid in road user compensation claims by local authorities in England outside London from 2012-13 to 2013-14.
Andrew Jones
The management and defence of insurance claims on the local highway network is entirely a matter for local highway authorities.
The Department for Transport’s road condition statistics for 2013-14 suggest an improvement to the local road network, since 2012-13.
The Department supports local authorities to manage their road networks efficiently and effectively, with record funding of £6billion from 2015 to 2021. Also, from 2016-17, the Department is introducing a Local Highways Maintenance Incentive Fund, to reward those authorities who are demonstrating good practice in this regard. The assessment of local authorities’ eligibility for this Fund includes scoring of the effectiveness of their asset management and risk management approaches.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2015-12-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government for (1) England, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales, how much was spent per capita on cancer services, and what is the national one-year cancer survival rate as a percentage of new patients for the most recent year available.
Lord Prior of Brampton
As health is a devolved matter, we are unable to provide data for Scotland or Wales.
The National Audit Office estimated that the cost of cancer services to the National Health Service in England in 2012-13 was £6.7 billion, although precise figures are not available.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the most recent available one-year age-standardised, all cancer survival rate for England for patients diagnosed in 2012, and followed up to 2013, is 69.3%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21436, whether the UK will reconsider humanitarian assistance by air to Madaya in Syria if the Assad regime resumes its blockade; and if the Government will monitor the situation in order to take action if land access is blocked again.
Penny Mordaunt
The UK will consider any option compliant with international law that might save lives in Syria. However, the UK does not plan to drop aid to besieged and hard to reach areas inside Syria. This is not the most effective way to improve the humanitarian situation. It would also involve a considerable risk to slow, low-flying transport aircraft both from hostile air defence systems and even low-technology threats such as machine-gun and small-arms fire.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Woodcock on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy that police and crime commissioners be made aware of all Independent Police Complaints Commission investigations into appointments of chief constables and acting chief constables.
Mike Penning
It is a matter for police and crime commissioners to satisfy themselves that all pertinent facts are taken into consideration when appointing a chief constable. During any period when the chief constable is unable to exercise his or her duties, the current deputy chief constable is required to perform the functions of the chief constable.
The Police Reform Act 2002 sets out the requirements on the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to provide information about its investigations, including outcomes, to complainants and other parties. For investigations into matters relating chief constables, these requirements extend to Police and Crime Commissioners where they are the appropriate authority. The IPCC publishes its investigation reports subject to a harm test, including consideration of the risk of prejudicing any coronial, criminal or disciplinary proceedings. The IPCC is required by law to publish any learning recommendations it makes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the value to the economy of the technology sector.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Digital is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors. It currently supports 1.4 million jobs in the UK and according to the DCMS Digital Sector Economic Estimates, published in January 2016, contributed £118.3 billion to the UK economy in 2014 – up 7.2% on the previous year – accounting for 7.3% of the UK economy. Total UK digital exports came to £43 billion in 2013, equalling 8.2 per cent of all UK exports (goods and services).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to publish an updated timetable for commencing the building of the first T26 Global Combat Ship.
Mr Philip Dunne
We are working with industry to develop an optimised schedule for the T26 Global Combat Ship (GCS) programme. As part of this, on 22 March 2016, we announced that agreement had been reached with BAE Systems on the award of a contract to extend the T26 GCS Demonstration Phase to June 2017.
In addition to maturing further the detailed ship design, investing in Shore Testing Facilities, and extending our investment in the wider supply chain, this extension to the Demonstration Phase will allow us to continue the work to develop a revised baseline for the programme.
The timing of the award of the contract to build the Type 26 Global Combat Ships will be central to this re-baselining work and, in due course, a revised programme will be produced and considered through the normal investment approvals process. An announcement on the timing of the award of a T26 GCS build contract will be made at the appropriate time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-04-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people under the age of (a) 18 and (b) 16 reported to hospital having taken more than the recommended daily allowance of non-prescription painkillers in (i) the last 12 months and (ii) each of the last three years.
Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the goal is of the Mk4A upgrade programme.
Mr Philip Dunne
The UK currently fields the Trident Mk4 warhead as part of the Trident Strategic Weapons System. In order to ensure continuity of the Mk4-based capability, the Mk4A Arming, Fuzing and Firing system is a non-nuclear component being introduced into the UK Trident warhead to replace a similar component. The Mk4A programme will not increase the destructive power of the warhead.
Approval to procure the new Arming, Firing and Fuzing mechanisms, to manage obsolescence in Mk4 and to adopt a Mk4A component was given in January 2006. I am withholding further details of the date of the Mk4A component’s entry into service, the cost of the Mk4A programme and the extension in operational life expected for the purposes of safeguarding national security.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the closure of the independent living fund on people who received payments from that fund prior to its closure.
Penny Mordaunt
The Government has fully funded local authorities to meet their additional obligations to service users previously in receipt of the Independent Living Fund for the remainder of this Parliament.
When the Department closed the Independent Living Fund, a commitment was made to conduct research into the impact of the closure. This will be based on interviews with former users and with Local Authorities. The research is on-going and will be published in due course.