The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Written Answers of 16 November 2015 to Question 16305 and of 23 November 2015 to Question 17205, whether agreed funding is now in place for the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016.
Rory Stewart
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy, on 7 December 2015, PQ18354.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on lowering the Tier 2 visa scheme’s minimum salary threshold for chefs.
James Brokenshire
Acquiring this information on visa applications from chefs would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas & Immigration for the Tier 2 category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Home Office regularly receives representations to lower the criteria (including the salary requirement) for sponsoring chefs under Tier 2, the skilled worker route. Tier 2 is, however, reserved for graduate level occupations. We continue to welcome the very top chefs who promote innovative and authentic cuisine here in the UK — and these types of skilled chefs are on the shortage occupation list. The salary threshold applied to chefs was based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.
We have been clear, however, that the restaurant industry needs to move away from an unsustainable reliance on migrant workers. We want to nurture more home-grown talent and encourage young people in this country who want to pursue a skilled career. This means the restaurant sector offering training to attract and recruit resident workers to meet their staffing needs.
The industry is starting to make progress in this area, recruiting and training more chefs in the UK, and this needs to continue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support the Government gives to large pharmaceutical companies to partner with universities.
Joseph Johnson
In the last five years, Innovate UK has committed around £32M to support partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and universities in order to drive the translation of university-based research and commercial applications which tackle disease and life-threatening illnesses.
In addition, the Government is investing in three Catapult Centres supporting the life sciences sector – the Cell Therapy, Precision Medicine and Medicines Technologies Catapults. These centres have a particular focus on supporting collaborative research and innovation among small and medium sized firms.
Large companies are able to claim R&D Tax Relief through a 130% enhanced allowance or, alternatively, an 11% taxable credit via the R&D Expenditure Credit. In 2013/14, these schemes provided support of £950M to 3,950 businesses. Additionally, the UK’s Patent Box was introduced in 2013 and gives additional incentive to develop, retain and commercialise new, innovative patented products in the UK. The Patent Box offers an effective 10% corporation tax rate on trading profits earned in the UK from specified patents.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the progress of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme’s service transformation programme.
Alistair Burt
The Government’s transformation programme for children and young people’s mental health is aimed at improving children and young people’s mental health and providing additional support for those who experience mental health problems. The Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) programme includes training for professionals working in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) partnerships to put the patient at the centre of their treatment: young people agree goals and milestones with the professional, and participate in their care through regular feedback and outcome monitoring. The benefits of this approach are well-evidenced.
Unlike the adult programme, CYP IAPT does not create new services; it transforms CAMHS partnerships by training people to deliver evidence-based interventions so that those working in CAMHS do so in collaboration with children, young people and families, in every aspect of care and service design through better participation and regular feedback and outcome monitoring.
At present, 78% of young people aged under 19 are covered by CAMHS partnerships which are working to transform services by embedding the CYP IAPT principles, and the programme is being rolled out to cover the whole of England by 2018. The programme is currently developing a number of new curricula to address training gaps that have been identified during its implementation. These include interventions for 0-5 year olds, evidence-based counselling, combination therapy (pharmacology and psychological interventions), Learning Disabilities and Autistic Spectrum disorder, and staff working in inpatient settings.
A recent rapid deep dive audit of 12 partnerships within the programme showed:
― improved access through self-referral routes, single point of access, outreach services, evening and weekend appointments;
― compared to a national sample of mental health services in the United States, teams in services working with CYP IAPT had more proficient organisational cultures and more functional organisations;
― more efficient time between referral and assessment decreased by 73%;
― number of days between assessment and discharge decreased by 21%; and
― The percentage of closed cases by mutual agreement increased by 22%.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assurances the Government has sought from the government of the United Arab Emirates on the use of military equipment purchased from the UK for the repression of its citizens.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK operates one of the most rigorous and transparent export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications, including those for military listed or dual use goods destined for the United Arab Emirates, are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking into account all relevant factors at the time of the application. We draw on all relevant information available to us, including reports from Non-Governmental Organisations and our overseas network. We will not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression and we take account of any risk that the goods might be diverted to undesirable end-users or end-use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-05-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the oral contribution of the then Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on 20 December 2012, Official Report, column 989, whether he plans to keep the opposition front bench updated on the Insolvency Service’s investigation into BHS.
Anna Soubry
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39848, what the estimated cost to the public purse was of preparing and publishing the Hendry report on Replanning Network Rail’s Investment Programme, published on 25 November 2015.
Claire Perry
Network Rail employed two consultancy firms to work on the Hendy Review. Costs associated with this work totalled approximately £470,000.
We are unable to provide further detail as to the proportion of these costs associated purely with report preparation.
The estimated cost to the public purse for publishing the Hendy Report, was £22,735 associated with typesetting and printing.
The above figures do not include costs associated with the embedded workforce because we are unable to disaggregate these costs from staff performing their day to day duties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed by his Department to investigate claims from HM Revenue and Customs that an unreported adult is living in the home of a tax credit claimant; and if he will make a statement.
Caroline Nokes
Investigations of HM Revenue and Customs Tax Credit, Living Together fraud allegations are investigated by Local Service Investigation Team (LSI) and the Central Criminal Intelligence Investigations team (CCIIS) as appropriate within the Fraud and Error Service (FES).
There are currently 1430 employed by the Department. FES investigators are employed to look at all types of welfare fraud from all sources of referral. None are employed specifically to look at individual types of welfare fraud referred from specific sources.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-11-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reintroduce charges for museum entry in the next year.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
This Government is committed to maintaining free admission to the permanent collections of major museums and galleries, as set out in the 2015 Conservative Party general election manifesto.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what safeguards he plans to put in place to ensure that the proposed £22 billion NHS efficiency savings do not adversely affect the quality of services to people with Parkinson’s disease.
Jane Ellison
The Government has committed to invest an additional £10 billion in the National Health Service over this Parliament. Efficiency and high quality care go hand-in-hand; cutting waste and safer care are integral to ensuring better outcomes at a lower cost. The efficiencies the NHS needs to find are linked to the challenge of continued improvements in care across all services, including for people with Parkinson’s disease.