Tag: Parliamentary Question

Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on NHS services provision of the findings in the article entitled, Mental health services, suicide and 7-day working, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in July 2016, related to suicides at weekends.

Nicola Blackwood

The cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy (2012) identifies people under the care of mental health services as a high risk group. We have made significant progress in this area over the last decade with the number of inpatient deaths by suicide reducing by more than half. However, we recognise that the number of suicides in people under the care of mental health services in the community has been increasing.

We have implemented the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat and now every local area has a crisis care action plan in place. We are also investing an additional £1 billion in mental health over the next five years which includes £290 million to improve perinatal mental health, £247 million to improve liaison mental health services in emergency departments and over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital.

We have accepted the recommendations of the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health to reduce the national suicide rate by 10% by 2020/21, local areas to implement multi-agency suicide prevention action plans by 2017 and to take steps so that lessons are learned from all suicides in NHS-funded mental health settings to prevent future deaths.

We will publish the annual progress report to the cross-Government strategy later this year which will set out ways we are strengthening the strategy, including how we can reduce suicides in high risk groups.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent the loss of technologies being developed in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson

The UK has a long and strong history in science, research and innovation, and a world-leading reputation, being ranked third in the Global Innovation Index in 2016. We have protected the science resource budget in real terms from its 2015/16 level of £4.7 billion for the rest of the parliament. Looking ahead, we want to ensure that the excellent work being done by our researchers, universities and innovative businesses continues. The Government has committed to underwrite payment of EU research funding for specific projects even when they continue beyond the UK’s departure from the EU.

01/01/2023
Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ratify the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

Karen Bradley

The previous Government signed the Istanbul Convention in June 2012 and this Government remains committed to its ratification.

The UK already complies with the vast majority of the articles through our comprehensive work to protect women and girls from violence, including criminalising forced marriage as required by the Convention. However, primary legislation will be required to comply with the extra-territorial jurisdiction provisions in Article 44 of the Convention before ratification. The Government is liaising with the devolved administrations about ratification, including any further legislative steps necessary.

The Government takes its international commitments very seriously and will only commit to such ratification when we are absolutely satisfied that we comply with all articles. We will continue to lead efforts to tackle violence against women and girls, end Female Genital Mutilation and combat early and forced marriage, both at home and abroad.

01/01/2023
Lord Bradley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Clinical Commissioning Groups in England have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health services in 2015–16.

Lord Prior of Brampton

As part of the mental health parity of esteem requirement for 2015-16, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were asked to plan for an increase in spend on mental health services at least in line with the increase in their overall funding allocation for the year, which set a higher bar than achieving a real terms increase in spending, though not all CCGs were able to achieve this target. 192 of the 209 CCGs achieved a real terms growth in mental health planned spend measured against the 1.4% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflator for 2015-16.

The list attached shows which CCGs have achieved real terms increases in spending on mental health in 2015-16.

The final data for CCGs’ spending on mental health in 2015-16 will be submitted to NHS England by commissioners in May 2016, and it is anticipated NHS England may be in a position to provide final spend information by around the end of the first quarter of 2016-17.

NHS England has not yet published CCG planning guidance for 2016-17. Consideration will be given to holding commissioners to account for spending on mental health.

CCG and NHS England mental health spending information is now routinely collected as party of NHS England’s monthly financial reporting regime. Monthly financial reports by CCGs are scrutinised and quality assessed by NHS England’s regional teams. The monthly reports also form part of the CCG assurance process. NHS England is also in the process of setting up the financial plan assurance process for 2016-17, which will incorporate the review of planned spending on mental health services for future years.

01/01/2023
Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the financial contribution of Transport for London to the British Transport Police budget is for (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Claire Perry

Transport for London (TfL) is expected to make a total financial contribution of £63,833,000 to the British Transport Police budget in the year running to 31 March 2016, which is around 10% higher than the contribution made in 2010/11. TfL’s contribution for 2016-17 is to be confirmed in the near future.

01/01/2023
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for the World Humanitarian Summit in May.

Baroness Verma

The UK has four objectives for the Summit. Most importantly we want to see a renewed commitment to the protection of civilians in conflict, but also smarter financing, a new approach to building resilience to natural hazards before they take place, and a stronger focus on protecting and empowering women and girls.

01/01/2023
Alec Shelbrooke – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alec Shelbrooke on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to prevent electricity shortages in the winter of 2016-17.

Andrea Leadsom

The UK will not face a power shortage in winter 2016/17. National Grid has the right tools they need to manage the system and will ensure that they continue to do so.

National Grid has already procured 3.6GW of reserve capacity for next winter and, in January, the Capacity Market Transitional Arrangements auction bought 800MW of demand side response capacity for winter 16/17 which will also help secure the system. In addition, National Grid has the option to procure further demand side balancing reserve for 2016/17.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he has had discussions with the local authorities concerned on amending the legislation that created the Lee Valley Regional Park levy in order to allow the London Borough of Sutton and other London local authorities the option of investing the money they currently contribute to the Lee Valley Regional Park through that levy into the Wandle and other regional parks.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Secretary of State has not held discussions about amending the Lee Valley Regional Park funding levy with the local authorities concerned.

01/01/2023

Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Rural Payments Agency has made in payments related to the European School Milk Scheme in each region and constituent part of the UK in each year since 2005.

George Eustice

The attached table shows the total UK amounts taken from the annual European accounts for each year from 2005 to 2016. The amounts in the table are the payments made to the organisations that supply milk to schools, which have been claimed back in full from the European Commission by the RPA.

In years 2005 and 2006 the Rural Payments Agency were required to produce the accounts in GBP currency and in years 2007 and later, were required to produce accounts in euro currency to comply with Regulation 883-2006.

Year	Amount
2005	6,695,400.64
2006	6,552,414.56
Total£	£13,247,815.20
2007	8,204,965.56
2008	7,893,693.21
2009	7,553,825.13
2010	7,292,814.68
2011	1,900,066.83
2012	4,753,174.39
2013	4,525,499.84
2014	4,382,584.46
2015	4,325,618.91
Total €	€ 50,832,243.01

The figure for 2011 is a result of a repayment made by the Department of Health, where a decision was taken to fund the cost of the nursery milk provision entirely from their own budget. This resulted in the RPA claiming less from the European Commission that year only.

A breakdown by region and constituent part of the UK could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on reforming the questions asked on asylum applications related to persecution related to religious beliefs.

Mr Robert Goodwill

In June 2016 The Home Office received the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International Freedom of Religion’s report, ‘Fleeing persecution: Asylum claims in the UK on religious freedom grounds’. We are carefully considering the report and its recommendations and will provide a response in due course, including whether we will consider whether any changes to the way we handle religious-based claims are appropriate.

The report acknowledges the progress made by the Home Office with regards to guidance and training provided to its staff but highlighted the Group’s view that there were some discrepancies between the Home Office policy and practice.

The Home Office carefully considers all asylum claims on their individual merits and grants protection for those who genuinely need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In every asylum case the particular circumstances of the individual are considered in light of published country information, which includes issues relating specifically to religious freedoms.

Published guidance on the interviewing and consideration of religious claims is regularly reviewed and takes into consideration the views of religious groups and other stakeholders.

01/01/2023