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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is on the board of the Dormant Assets Commission, announced on 19 December 2015.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    Nick O’Donohoe, outgoing Chief Executive of Big Society Capital, was announced as Chair of the new Commission on Dormant Assets on December 19 2015. The Commission is still being set up and I expect the appointments of commissioners who will work with the Chair to be finalised shortly.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance is available to people undertaking flood protection measures who cannot afford to pay for the works before claiming a flood protection grant.

    James Wharton

    The Property Level Resilience scheme has been designed to enable local approaches to be developed which take account of the fact that many households or businesses may not be able to pay for works up front.

    Local areas are finding local solutions. For example, Northumberland County Council are making Property Level Resilience payments in advance of works being carried out, but following receipt of a survey which highlights the measures required and at least two quotes for high value items.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2016 to Question 28518, on public appointments: ethnic groups, if he will publish the list of attendees at the event held by his Department in February 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Public Appointments event I hosted on 25 February was aimed at encouraging people from under represented groups to apply for Public Appointments. The Centre for Public Appointments at the Cabinet Office worked with a range of contacts and organisations that champion diversity in senior appointments to compile a guest list.

    It would not be appropriate to publish a list of attendees as they have not consented to their details being published in this way.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the comments by the President of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists that hundreds of patients are going blind because hospitals cannot meet the demand for appointments.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Given the size of England, and the diversity of the health needs of different communities, we believe commissioning needs to be owned and managed locally.

    Therefore, there are no plans to develop a national strategy for eye care.

    Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning hospital eye services and for holding their providers to account in terms of contract performance. CCGs are also able to commission eye care services from community optometrists where they judge them to be needed in their areas over and above the sight tests commissioned by NHS England. Such services could include post cataract surgery reviews, glaucoma monitoring and low vision services which may reduce pressure on hospital eye departments, reduce waiting times and make patient care pathways more accessible in the community.

    There is scope for further work to be done by community optometrists and the Clinical Council for eye health commissioning is working with commissioners to develop commissioning guidelines in this area.

    CCGs have the ability to develop alternatives to hospital care. We would expect patients who require further planned stages of treatment in line with their agreed care plan, to receive this treatment without undue delay and in line with when it is clinically appropriate.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to allow postal voting ballot papers to be counted separately in order to more easily detect fraud.

    John Penrose

    The law provides for the checking of the integrity of completed postal ballots prior to them being included in the count. Returning Officers are required to check 100% of postal vote identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) returned with completed postal votes against those supplied by the elector when they applied for a postal vote. Any that do not match will not be counted in order to prevent any attempt at electoral fraud. The law requires that postal ballot papers are mixed with ballot papers from a ballot box before they can be counted as a necessary step in order to help protect the secrecy of the ballot.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what timetable she has set for resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Work continues with local authorities and international partners to deliver the Government’s commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the lifetime of this Parliament and we are on track to do this.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial support the Government has made available for local authorities to commission new nursery places in the event of current providers withdrawing or reducing their delivery of subsidised places.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Government is committed to extending the free entitlement to childcare from 15 to 30 hours a week for working parents. We are clear that we need to get the funding right to ensure that providers are funded on a fair and sustainable basis. Our recent consultation set out our proposals to allocate our record level of funding fairly and transparently, with the maximum amount reaching providers. We will publish our response this autumn.

    We have recently made a substantial capital investment to support the creation of new 30 hours childcare places and our recently closed capital bid round made £40million available to local authorities working in partnership with providers in their area. We intend to announce successful project bids in mid-December 2016. We will also shortly be announcing the outcome of a competition to appoint a delivery contractor, who will provide support to ensure that all local authorities are ready to deliver the required number of free places in September 2017.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release, Prison building revolution announced by Chancellor and Justice Secretary, published on 9 November 2015, what discussions he has had with prison and probation staff on the planned closure of prisons in central London.

    Andrew Selous

    On 9 November the Chancellor and Secretary of State announced their intention to build a prison estate which allows prisoners to be rehabilitated, thereby enabling them to turn away from a life of crime. This will involve building nine new prisons and closing old and inefficient prisons which do not support the aims of a redesigned estate. No decisions have yet been made on where new prisons will be built.

    We are currently considering which of our old and inefficient prisons will close. We will engage with stakeholders during the process of sale including valuation experts and potential developers in order to maximise the value achieved.

    Any relocation of prisoners will be done with careful planning. Where staff are affected they will be managed through the process of change using processes deployed during previous closures.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to businesses of using daylight saving time all year.

    Nick Boles

    The Department has not made such an assessment.

    In 2012, the Government published a review of the available evidence concerning the likely effects of moving to single double summer time in the UK. This is available on the Government website at the following link. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34587/12-1036-review-evidence-putting-clocks-forward.pdf

    “

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have recovered their costs for (a) flood prevention measures and (b) sandbags under the Bellwin Scheme to date.

    James Wharton

    To date, 35 local authorities have registered an intention to claim under the activated Bellwin scheme but no final claims have yet been received.