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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on extension of the Unizone reduced fares rail scheme to the University of Brighton’s Hastings campus; if he will provide funding to allow that extension to be implemented immediately; and if he will make a statement.

    Claire Perry

    I have received two representations on this matter from Rt Hon and Noble members and two from members of the public in the last 12 months.

    Department for Transport officials have been discussing with GTR the feasibility of extending the Unizone product scope to encompass Hastings, requesting that GTR produce a business case. I understand that GTR are consulting with the University of Brighton and Local Authorities to see if they would be minded to support the initiative and to help keep the Unizone fare low. GTR are also looking at how they can use their ‘Key’ smartcard product to provide a better passenger experience for the user of the Unizone product.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve end of life care and the account taken of the needs of patients with regard to (a) hydration and (b) respect and dignity.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government is committed to making improvements in the quality of care people experience at the end of life.

    In 2014, we set out five priorities for care of the dying person which should underpin the care being delivered to all dying people. The priorities for care state that an individual plan of care, which includes food and drink, symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support, is agreed, co-ordinated and delivered with compassion.

    In December 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance on the care of dying adults in the last days of life, including guidance on medical nutrition and hydration. Clinicians and commissioners should have regard to this guidance when making decisions about care for people at the end of life.

    The priorities also set out the critical importance of compassion, respect and dignity in delivering care to dying people and the implications, for staff, commissioners and providers, when making decisions about how end of life care services will meet the needs of local people. The new approach to care, based on these fundamental principles, is being used by clinicians across the country.

    In the coming months, we will be setting out the Department’s plans for building on this progress and achieving further quality improvements in end of life care throughout this Parliament.

  • Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Quin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the average waiting time is for a result to be given of a DEXA bone density scan in each NHS region in England; and what assessment they have made of the average waiting time for such results in (1) Scotland, and (2) Wales.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Genomics England has set an objective to deliver 8,000 clinical reports by the end of 2016. The precise details of the reports from the pilot and main phases will become clearer once the phenotypic data is collected and linked to the genome data.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-03-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the interim results of HMRC’s pilot of the Codentify system, when that pilot is due to end, when the final results will be assessed and published, and what benchmarks they have used in that pilot.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) takes the restrictions in the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) very seriously. These require that the development, implementation and enforcement of tobacco policies as part of public health policies should be protected from the influence of the tobacco industry.

    Codentify is a system, developed and introduced by the major tobacco manufacturers on their own initiative through the Digital Coding and Tracking Association (DCTA). HMRC played no part in the development or introduction of the system nor did HMRC require that it be introduced. Codentify codes already feature on packs and are there regardless of any HMRC use of them. The trial HMRC is undertaking is to see whether these existing codes could help officers in the field to authenticate products and help tackle illicit tobacco. No other companies currently provide such codes.

    The use of Codentify by HMRC is not part of an exercise to evaluate the wider use of potential tools available on the market. Any such exercise would be undertaken in the context of the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive track and trace security feature requirements, which will be implemented by May 2019 for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco.

    The European Commission is still considering, with Member States, proposals for new pan European security features and track and trace systems, and has yet to determine any technical specifications. HMRC are not evaluating Codentify as a track and trace tool or potential security feature; the aspects of the system being used are entirely separate from the requirements of the Directive.

    The use of Codentify is not a formal pilot and there will not be reports or results to publish. Instead the trial will identify the strengths, weaknesses and usefulness of using Codentify to HMRC as an authentication tool in the field. HMRC will review this later in 2016. Some resource has been spent providing access to the system and training officers in the use of the tool. However, this has been minimal and has not been separately identified. The Department of Health leads on public health policy and has been consulted on this initiative. HMRC sees no conflict between its current use of the Codentify system and FCTC requirements.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass asylum accommodation contract with G4S for the region of Midlands and East England, how many faults were reported or identified from Compass inspections for each contractual pay period in 2014-15 and 2015-16; and how many such faults were not resolved within the agreed contractual timescales.

    James Brokenshire

    Providers are contractually required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation to comply with the Housing Act 2004 and the Decent Homes Standard. Providers are monitored closely to ensure accommodation meets these standards and the contracts include measures to ensure any issues are quickly addressed. These performance standards are defined in the contract and are managed using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) including those which measure whether an individual property is compliant with contractual obligations following an inspection and also the number of service users effected if a fault is not repaired within the contract timescales.

    The Home Office does not centrally record the number of individual faults reported or identified during accommodation inspections, or the number of individual faults not resolved within the agreed timescales. The requested information could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of rising school rolls on the number of school nurse training places required.

    Jane Ellison

    In April 2014, Public Health England and the Department published guidance to commissioners for services to school aged children, Maximising the school nursing team contribution to the public health of school-aged children.

    Each year Health Education England (HEE) provide local and national forecasts of the supply that will arise over the next five years and use these forecasts to discuss with stakeholders whether this supply will match the system’s view of future demand including the extent to which any current shortages will be addressed. This analysis and discussion is then used to identify whether any changes are required to the volumes of training commissioned by HEE.

    Consideration of the impact of rising school rolls will feed into HEE’s planning, though the final training settlement for 2017/18 is under negotiation.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans applied through his Department for the Legion d’Honneur in each month from July 2014 to June 2016.

    Mark Lancaster

    Following the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) on 6 June 2016 to Question 38675, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received approximately 5,200 applications for the Legion d’Honneur between June 2014 and June 2016. We are unable to provide a breakdown by month. As at 24 June the MOD had submitted 3,750 cases to the French authorities. We are not automatically advised when awards are issued, but a list provided by the French authorities on 13 May 2016 showed that 3,200 awards had been made.

    It is not possible to give a meaningful figure for an average waiting time for veterans to receive their awards, as this has reduced steadily, from over a year for initial applications to the current time of around two to three months owing to changes in the processing. Some priority cases, particularly where there are health concerns, are processed much more quickly.

    The Department is working closely with the French authorities and we are doing our best to ensure that all awards are issued as soon as possible and at the maximum rate at which they can be produced.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving members of the armed forces have dependent children.

    Mark Lancaster

    As at 1 July 2016, there were 185,310 serving members of the Armed Forces with 57,590 dependent children.

    Individual Service personnel self-declare the number of children they have on the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) database. For the purposes of this question, a dependent child is defined as any child under the age of 18, as recorded on JPA. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role the National Wildlife Crime Unit will play as part of the UK’s commitment to Action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade from March 2016.

    Rory Stewart

    In the UK’s Commitment to Action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT), published in February 2014, the Government committed to “take a national strategic approach to domestic action on IWT through . . . . funding the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) until 2016”. Defra and the Home Office together have provided £544,000 for the NWCU over 2014-15 and 2015-16.

    Decisions on future funding of the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016 will be made as part of the current Spending Review process.

  • Will Quince – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Will Quince – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to support resettlement of Syrian refugees.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID has agreed to fund the ODA-eligible costs of the Syria refugee resettlement scheme for this financial year – discussions are ongoing to determine the precise amount necessary. From next year ODA funding for the scheme will be transferred directly from Treasury to the Home Office.