Tag: Parliamentary Question

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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
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

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January 1, 2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of tuberculosis screening.

Jane Ellison

Actions to raise awareness and tackle stigma among populations at high risk of tuberculosis (TB) are highlighted in the Collaborative TB Strategy for England 2015 to 2020.

These actions consist of awareness raising of symptoms, targeted TB screening and education as part of new patient checks at general practice surgeries and the use of community workers and health advocates to signpost and facilitate patient access to local services. In addition, TB awareness raising is provided to statutory and voluntary agencies working with: the homeless; individuals who misuse drugs or alcohol; and migrants from countries with high TB incidence. Efforts to raise awareness of TB among health professionals are supported nationally by Public Health England and the leading national TB charity, TB Alert.

In addition, I have attended and hosted a number of events to raise awareness, most recently for World TB Day in March which included visiting the Find and treat mobile unit.

January 1, 2023
Flick Drummond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of changes to funding levels on the provision of breastfeeding services.

Ben Gummer

There has been no assessment made on the effect of changes to funding levels on the provision of breastfeeding services. However, the Department is working with Public Health England and other stakeholders to develop a method and sources of information to monitor the impact of its policy on infant feeding.

January 1, 2023
Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the consideration of the Greater Essex Combined Authority bid.

Andrew Percy

We are encouraging all areas to come forward with locally led devolution proposals. If Greater Essex takes the decision to proceed with a combined authority and consults on those proposals, as statue provides, we will consider whether the creation of a combined authority is likely to improve the exercise of statutory functions in that area and lead to more effective and convenient local government.

We look forward to discussing with Greater Essex any proposals they have to form a combined authority.

January 1, 2023

Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) tutors and (b) students in higher education institutions was (i) male and (ii) female in each of the last 10 years.

Joseph Johnson

Information on students and the workforce at UK higher education institutions is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Statistics on student enrolments by gender have been provided in Table 1, and on academic staff with teaching functions by gender in Table 2.

Table 1: Proportion of Higher Education enrolments by gender

UK Higher Education Institutions

Academic years 2005/06 to 2014/15

Academic Year	Female	Male
2005/2006	57%	43%
2006/2007	57%	43%
2007/2008	57%	43%
2008/2009	57%	43%
2009/2010	57%	43%
2010/2011	56%	44%
2011/2012	56%	44%
2012/2013	56%	44%
2013/2014	56%	44%
2014/2015	56%	44%

Source: Information is derived from the Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record

Coverage:

– Includes students across all years of study, at all levels and modes of higher education and distance learners

– Figures include students of all domiciles.

Table 2: Proportion of Academic Staff with Teaching Functions by gender

UK Higher Education Institutions

Academic Years 2005/06 to 2014/15

Female	Male
2005/2006	40%	60%
2006/2007	41%	59%
2007/2008	41%	59%
2008/2009	42%	58%
2009/2010	43%	57%
2010/2011	44%	56%
2011/2012	44%	56%
2012/2013	44%	56%
2013/2014	44%	56%
2014/2015	44%	56%

Source: Information is derived from the Higher Education Statistics Agency Staff Record

Coverage:

– Members of academic staff who have the following academic employment functions: teaching only, teaching and research

– Percentages based on headcount of members of academic staff across all modes of working

– Atypical members of staff are not included. Atypical staff are those members of staff whose contracts involve working arrangements that are not permanent, involve complex employment relationships and/or involve work away from the supervision of the normal work provider.

January 1, 2023

Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a national pay scale for teaching assistants.

Nick Gibb

The government believes that decisions on the use, deployment, and pay of teaching assistants are best made in a way that reflects local needs.

Support staff rates of pay are determined by employers: in maintained schools, these will be set by the local authority; in Academies and Free Schools, these will be set by school or the Trust.

January 1, 2023