Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what contingency plans he has to respond in the event that the Burundian government does not peacefully accept the presence of 5,000 peacekeepers proposed by the African Union in December 2015.

    James Duddridge

    The UK’s immediate priority is to continue to put pressure on the Burundian government to halt the violence and engage in dialogue without preconditions. I wrote to the Burundian Foreign Minister on 5 January pressing the Government to do this. In the event of a serious deterioration on the ground and the Burundian government not accepting the African Union peacekeepers then we would support the African Union in planning for an intervention without approval. We also continue to work with the UN to ensure that the UN Department of Peacekeeping prepares a contingency plan. I intend to raise these issues with the Burundian Foreign Minister during the African Union Summit at the end of this month.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance his Department is giving to the government of Turkey to combat terrorism in that country.

    Mr David Lidington

    The UK continues to work closely with the Government of Turkey to combat terrorist threats both within Turkey and in the region, including the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), Daesh and Al-Qaida affiliated groups. In particular, we co-operate closely to prevent extremist travellers from reaching Daesh-held territory in Iraq and Syria. We also work together as members of the International Counter-Daesh Coalition, and of the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) re-affirmed this partnership when he visited Turkey in January.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much compensation the former Chairman of East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust will receive as a result of her resignation from that post.

    Jane Ellison

    The NHS Trust Development Authority advises that the Chair of the East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust has not resigned. However, the Chief Executive, Sue Noyes, will be leaving her post in June 2016 and will be paid in line with the terms of her contract.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil service apprentices have been appointed by his Department to date.

    Joseph Johnson

    Since 2010 BIS has appointed a total of 89 apprentices, of which 44 were new appointments and 45 were existing civil servants taking up an apprenticeship.

    BIS is committed to meet the apprenticeship target of 2.3% of the workforce.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the budget is for the Cyber Innovation Centre in Cheltenham.

    Greg Hands

    The Chancellor announced the Cyber Innovation Centre for Cheltenham in November 2015, helping to ensure Cheltenham remains a world leader in cyber excellence. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be running a competitive tender process to invite providers to run the centre to ensure that this initiative delivers the best possible value for money. We will disclose the budget when the tender exercise has completed, which we anticipate will be this autumn.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average proportion of GP’s working time spent outside of the surgery is.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not held centrally. As general practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors, it is for each practice to determine how they run their practice in order to meet the reasonable needs of their patients.

    The Department commissions a GP Worklife Survey and this is carried out by the Manchester Centre for Health Economics at the University of Manchester on behalf of the Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System (PRUComm).

    In 2015, respondents were asked to indicate how much of their time was spent on external meetings, for example, meetings of the clinical commissioning group. Responses show that GPs spend 8.4% of their time on administration, 3.5% on external meetings and 6.3% on other activities.

    The full report can be found at:

    http://www.population-health.manchester.ac.uk/healtheconomics/research/Reports/EighthNationalGPWorklifeSurveyreport/EighthNationalGPWorklifeSurveyreport.pdf

  • Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mary Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Robinson on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department plans to take steps to extend eligibility for the Blue Badge scheme to the parents of children with autism.

    Andrew Jones

    Local authorities do not have powers to independently extend eligibility. The criteria are set by statutory instrument. The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000 (as amended) contain a number of criteria covering those who do not qualify automatically, including a provision for any permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking. It is the responsibility of local authorities to assess whether applicants meet any of the criteria.

    People with autism are not excluded from being issued a badge. Any permanent and substantial disability that causes very considerable difficulty walking falls within the criteria. It is the responsibility of local authorities to assess the degree of difficulty and to issue badges accordingly. We have no plans to provide badges to carers.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff of the Department for International Development stationed in the UK are in receipt of support for private school fees; and what was the cost in 2015–16.

    Lord Bates

    DFID spend on education allowance for staff in the UK in 2015/16 was £133,892.21. The number of staff in receipt of education allowance in the UK is withheld as the number is so low that it has the potential to identify individuals.

  • Lord Higgins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Higgins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Higgins on 2015-10-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the effect on air pollution of the construction and use of bicycle lanes, particularly in London.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Department for Transport has not completed any estimates specifically on the effect of construction and use of bicycle lanes on air pollution. But we recognise that encouraging car users to switch to alternative, more sustainable, forms of transport like cycling can generally have both health and carbon reduction benefits as well as improving local air quality.

    When we appraise cycle schemes for funding, we apply WebTAG unit A5-1. This appraisal looks at outcomes only and does not consider impacts during the construction phase of a scheme. Where a scheme includes shifts away from mechanised modes and changes in congestion levels, we use marginal external costs, including air pollution. This is done at an individual scheme level and reported in the appraisal of each case; therefore no holistic study has been undertaken. This appraisal does not take account of potentially complex changes to motorists behaviour (such as speed and route choice) resulting from the introduction of cycle lanes.

    Transport for London state that during the construction phase some localised short-term slight impacts on local air quality can be expected from the use of plant and vehicles. However, contractors are required to minimise dust and emissions to air and comply with the Greater London Authority and London Councils’ Control of Dust and Emissions from Construction and Demolition Best Practice Guidance.

    Transport for London undertake air quality modelling to ascertain the impacts during operation. Schemes such as the East-West Cycle Superhighway show that the likely impact of the introduction of cycle lanes and changes to the road layout on air quality ranges from adverse to beneficial. The study shows that changes in traffic will redistribute emissions across the study area but will not increase overall emission levels.

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what funding his Department has provided to the BBC World Service in each year since 2010.

    Mr David Lidington

    In each year from 2010 the department provided the following funding to the BBC World Service: 2009/2010 – £268,043,000 2010/2011 – £268,523,000 2011/2012 – £255,200,000 2012/2013 – £244,200,000 2013/2014 – £238,480,000