Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • 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 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 37587, whether she is taking steps to reduce the time taken to process applications for the remaining children in refugee camps in Calais.

    Mike Penning

    Where an asylum claim is lodged in France by a minor with close family connections to the UK, both governments are committed to ensuring that process are in place to expedite reunification. Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and the UK has seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to improve all stages of the process of identifying, protecting and transferring relevant cases to the UK. We continue to work with the French Government to improve processes.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of overall headcount and spending on civil servants across all Departments over the next five years.

    Ben Gummer

    Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department to determine based on their individual operational and policy requirements. Each department has their own spending agreement with HM Treasury for this Parliament and are responsible for ensuring they have the right workforce and capability in place to deliver their commitments.

    Earlier this year, departments published their Single Departmental Plans, setting out the key programmes of work required to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitments. Departments have been developing plans to ensure they have the workforce required to deliver their Single Departmental Plans.

    The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government’s agenda. Cabinet Office is working with all departments across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements over this Parliament following the decision to exit the EU, but it is too early to make a detailed assessment at this stage.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend free bus travel for people with disabilities to include peak hours.

    Andrew Jones

    The statutory minimum bus travel concession scheme applies to off-peak travel when there is likely to be unused operational capacity on buses. Concessionary bus travel applies to bus journeys made between 9.30am and 11.00pm Monday to Friday and all day at weekends and on bank holidays. These times were set out in legislation in the Transport Act 2000. Whilst I appreciate that concessionary pass holders might wish to use buses before 9.30am, in the current economic climate there are no plans to extend the statutory scheme to include peak time travel.

    I would point out that the statutory minimum is indeed just that – a minimum. It remains very much open to each local authority to decide whether to offer its residents local concessions over and above the statutory minimum, including peak hour concessions.

  • Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Harrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harrison on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 26 November (HL3958), what plans they have to ensure that podiatric services are available to diabetics who need them; and what criteria they are recommending that Clinical Commissioning Groups use to differentiate between those diabetics who will continue to require podiatric services and those who will not.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Podiatry services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups working with local partners and based on the need of the local population, resources available and evidence based practice. Treatment decisions should always be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs.

    Preventing diabetes and promoting the best possible care for people with diabetes is a key priority for this Government and is part of the 2016/17 Mandate to NHS England. Building on the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, the Department of Health and NHS England are exploring options for ensuring a sustained focus on improving the management and care of people with diabetes.

    The new National Diabetes Foot Care Audit, a module of the National Diabetes Audit, aims to establish the extent to which national guidelines on the management of diabetic foot disease are being met. The audit will provide local teams with the evidence needed to tackle any identified differences in practice which will lead to an overall improvement in management and outcomes for patients. Local and national level results will be available in March 2016. However, we do know that there has been an increase in the proportion of Trusts with multidisciplinary diabetic foot care teams, from around 60% in 2011 to over 70% in 2013.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kit Malthouse on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the link between government support for UK Life Sciences and pharmaceutical research and development investment in the UK.

    George Freeman

    Our latest estimates show that collective Government support through the Life Science Strategy has stimulated more than £6 billion in new investment by the life sciences industry linked to more than 17,000 new sector jobs. Underpinning this success is the UK’s world class science base and an increasingly strong and informed relationship between our universities and wider life sciences community, which is a key attractor for investment by domestic and overseas companies. Through the Accelerated Access Review the government is making this country a world leading place to design, develop and deploy medical innovations, stimulating investment and creating a stronger NHS.

  • The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether arts organisations registered as charities receiving grants for arts purposes through bodies such as the Arts Council England will be exempt from their new policy restricting how such grants may be used; and if not, what assessment they have made of whether their new policy is compatible with the arm’s length principle of the funding of the arts.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The anti-lobbying policy will apply to all government-funded grants, including those grants issued by the Arts Council England which are funded through the exchequer. It will not be applied to ACE grants funded through the National Lottery, which is allocated and ring-fenced to support statutory good causes. The policy does not however prevent any organisation from using their own self-generated funds as they see fit, and we are clear that it is not the intention to restrict the creative activities of any organisation.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the proportion of people aged (a) under and (b) over 18 who have a diagnosable mental health condition who access medical support.

    Alistair Burt

    No estimate has been made of the proportion of people under and over 18 years of age with a diagnosable mental health condition who access medical support as information held centrally is not sufficient for such an estimate to be made.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the scale of human rights abuses against the Oromo people in Ethiopia; and what representations he has made to his Ethiopian counterpart on that issue.

    James Duddridge

    The UK Government is deeply concerned about the handling of protests in Oromia and the reported number of deaths, including many students. I raised these concerns with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros at the African Union Summit in January, stressing the importance of exercising restraint and addressing the root causes of the protests. The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening) also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January at the World Economic Forum. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission are currently undertaking an investigation into the allegations, and our Ambassador has stressed the need for transparency and that any members of the security forces who are found to have used excessive force be held to account.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of torture in Egyptian detention facilities.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain deeply concerned with reports of torture in Egyptian detention facilities and we have raised this on a number of occasions with senior Egyptian officials in Cairo and in London, most recently on 5 May. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights Report 2015 designated Egypt a human rights priority country and recorded that, “In 2015, reports of torture, police brutality, and forced disappearance increased. A local NGO documented reports of 676 cases of torture and 137 deaths in detention.”

    The UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as a matter of fundamental principle. The UK will continue to be a leader in advocating strong international systems to combat torture in all its forms.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the evidence base for the choice of descriptors used in work capability assessments.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Details of the evidence base and consultative group members involved in the development of the Work Capability Assessment can be found in the Transformation of the Personal Capability assessment reports of September 2006, February 2007 and November 2007.

    http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090605153301/http:/www.workandpensions.gov.uk/welfarereform/pca.asp

    “