Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library copies of the cost assurance statements prepared by Bright Tribe Multi-Academy Trust and Adventure Learning Academies Trust in relation to the requirement that the trusts were meeting at cost principles for related party transactions.

    Edward Timpson

    The Education Funding Agency is due to publish a report about Bright Tribe Trust. This final report will include the Trust’s progress in implementing recommendations set out by the EFA in December 2015; and will incorporate how assurance is obtained that services are provided at cost. Once this report is published, a copy will be placed in the Library.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what proportion of people given security clearance and passes in 2015 to work for construction, maintenance and refurbishment purposes in the Palace of Westminster were not UK nationals.

    Tom Brake

    In 2015 responsibility for construction, maintenance and refurbishment was held by the Parliamentary Estates Department. The Pass Office database shows that 2,529 CTC (Counter Terrorist Check) clearances were conducted on those working in PED in 2015. Of these, 366 were non-UK nationals. This equates to 14.47% of all those given security clearance for work in the department in 2015.

  • Holly Lynch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Holly Lynch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on the effect of the increase in the state pension age on women.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Ministers regularly discuss matters of policy that span their responsibilities.

    Reasonable mitigation for those worst affected by changes in State Pension age was introduced in 2011. A concession was made prior to the passing of the 2011 Act which reduced the delay that anyone would experience in claiming their State Pension, relative to the previous timetable, to 18 months. This concession was worth £1.1 billion in total.

    This Government is committed to better outcomes for pensioners. However, the several billions of pounds that it would cost to make further policy changes in this area, that prolong the gender inequality in State Pension provision, cannot be justified.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients waited four weeks or longer for discharge from hospital after being declared fit to leave in (a) England and Wales, (b) London and (c) each health trust in London in (i) the last month for which figures are available and (ii) that month in each year from 2010 to 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    Official statistics for NHS trusts in England are published by NHS England on the number of patients delayed on the last Thursday of each month and the total delayed days during the month for all patients delayed throughout the month. The latest publication of this data was for delays occurring in October 2015 and was published on 10 December 2015.

    It is not possible to calculate a montly average or the longest waits from these data. Health is a devolved matter in Wales.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many cases were referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the final court of appeal by Commonwealth realms in 2015; and how many such cases were referred to that Committee by each realm.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The total number of cases submitted to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) from Commonwealth countries in 2015 is not currently available.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to prepare for RansomWare attacks on NHS facilities.

    George Freeman

    The Department, the Health and Social Care Information Centre and strategic partners, have created the Care Computer Emergency Response Team service (CareCERT).

    CareCERT was launched in September 2015 and is a centre of excellence for Cyber Security advice and Security Incident Management.

    The CareCERT service is available to provide specific advice and guidance to organisations that may become affected. CareCERT maintains links with the United Kingdom National Computer Emergency Response Team and the Communications Electronic Security Group, and is able to call upon the expertise of these organisations should a larger incident be identified.

    CareCERT send regular alerts and advisories to every National Health Service organisation and local authority on a range of Cyber Security issues, three of which have, to date, contained information regarding ransomware.

  • Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of free wi-fi and improve bandwidth access for armed forces personnel in military bases in the UK to remove the need for such personnel to pay individual monthly subscriptions for access to the internet.

    Mark Lancaster

    Whilst there is no overall programme to deliver free Wi-Fi access to UK based personnel each service is making some provision. The Royal Navy has rolled out Wi-Fi to six Royal Navy and Royal Marine establishments and intend to continue to roll out services to all Royal Navy and Royal Marine establishments subject to funding availability within the next 12 to 24 months. The service is provided free of charge to all personnel based at, working in or visiting these establishments.

    There is currently no programme in place to roll out free Wi-Fi access across all Royal Air Force (RAF) stations, as facilities vary from location to location and any improvements are currently provided on application. The RAF has a scheme to provide improved free Wi-Fi access in communal areas, whereby public funding (from Local Initiative Grants or other permissible funding) covers the cost of the enabling works and a charity (the RAF Association) meets the running costs. To date, eleven RAF stations have benefitted from the increase in Wi-Fi access under this scheme, though other stations have provided free Wi-Fi in their communal areas through other individual initiatives.

    The provision of Wi-Fi in Army accommodation is under contract and is payable by those who use it. There are currently no plans for the Army to provide free Wi-Fi. However, once global connectivity is in place across Defence, the single Service Commands will be able to request WiFi through the catalogue service, subject to available funding.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of potential savings to his Department’s budget that will arise from reduction in headcount as a result of the closure of its Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place.

    Joseph Johnson

    We cannot at this time provide an estimate of overall savings to BIS’ budget arising from headcount in the event that a decision to close the HQ office in St Paul’s Place is taken. Since the consultation was launched in February we have started to work through the likely associated costs of different options, recognising that final decisions on headcount have not yet been taken. Our internal work uses the annual costs of running the Sheffield office to illustrate the range of permanent, annual savings under different scenarios for staff replacement. This did not consider the one-off costs of transition including redundancies, which remain subject to decisions following the conclusion of the consultation. As we have previously indicated, our London headcount will decrease by 2020 and we have committed to making overall operating expense savings of £350m, of which this will form a part.

  • Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Goudie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to support efforts to monitor the funding and transparency of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait, a fund for education in emergencies, announcing a £30 million commitment as a founding donor at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May.

    The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase to ensure that the final design and results framework are underpinned by a transparent monitoring and evaluation system and robust financial reporting arrangements, to ensure that the UK and other donors have strong oversight of how funds are utilised and results achieved.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) the Norwegian, (b) the Swiss, (c) the Canadian and (d) other models for a new form of economic relationship with the EU.

    Mr Robin Walker

    At every step of our negotiations to leave the European Union we want to secure the best deal for Britain and for the British people. We won’t be following any other nation’s model – the position we build outside the EU will be unique to Britain.