The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has carried out a rural proofing assessment of the likely effects of measures contained in the Bus Services Bill.
Andrew Jones
The general and specific impacts of the Bill’s provisions are included in a number of Impact Assessments, which will be published shortly. The impact assessments include a ‘rural proofing assessment’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-09-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to comply with the European Court of Justice judgment of 2015 on VAT on green products such as solar panels.
Jane Ellison
The UK has applied a five per cent reduced rate of VAT to installations of 11 different types of energy saving materials since 2001. That reduced rate remains in place and is unchanged.
Following the judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the government published a consultation on this particularly complex issue. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Beresford on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent on external consultants at (a) Epsom Hospital, (b) East Surrey Hospital and (c) The Royal Surrey County Hospital respectively over the last five years.
Mr Philip Dunne
The requested information is not held centrally.
The available information is provided in the table below.
The Department holds expenditure data for National Health Service trusts as part of the year end accounts consolidation process. The data is held for the trust which a hospital belongs to rather than for individual hospitals.
External Consultant Spend by Trust (2011/12-2015/16)
|
Financial Year |
Epsom and St Helier University (£000) |
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (£000) |
Royal Surrey County NHS Foundation Trust (£000) |
|
2011/12 |
2,836 |
881 |
2,067 |
|
2012/13 |
1,525 |
1,036 |
1,216 |
|
2013/14 |
1,289 |
509 |
2,288 |
|
2014/15 |
1,215 |
502 |
3,165 |
|
2015/16 |
1,784 |
56 |
2,537 |
Source: Department of Health Accounts and NHS Improvement
Notes:
1. This information is based on the Cabinet Office definition of “Consultancy Services” (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405538/6.1_Cons_definitions.pdf):
“Assistance provided by consultancy services provided outside the ’business-as-usual’ environment when in-house skills are not available and will be of no essential consequence and time-limited. Consultancy may include the identification of options with recommendations, or assistance with (but not delivery of) the implementation of solutions.”
This is not the same as spend on external medical consultants; which would have to be obtained from trusts/foundation trusts directly.
2. This guidance is issued to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts as part of the Department’s Group Accounting Manual, and can be seen on pages 160/161 of that document.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2015 to Question 11080, on deportation: appeals, to which countries the 1,780 foreign national offenders referred to have been deported.
James Brokenshire
Of the 426 cases referred to in answer of 14 October to Question 11080:
– none were certification withdrawn
– 359 have been certified under Regulation 24AA
– all data provided relates to the First Tier Tribunal only
– 25 are listed as abandoned or withdrawn by the appellant
– 89 were dismissed by the relevant tribunal
The Home Office does not disclose country specific information as its disclosure could prejudice relations between the UK and foreign governments.
Notes : (1) All figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.
(2) Data Extracted on 28th September, 2015 in line with response to Question 11080
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-11-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from planned reductions in travel expenditure in each of the next five years.
Mark Lancaster
As a result of Spending Review 2015 the Ministry of Defence will reduce its annual transport expenditure over the Spending Review period. The estimated savings from this measure are around £25 million per year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 January 2016 to Question 15523, what assessment he has made of whether incidents of alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen have been investigated fully by each party involved in that conflict.
Mr Philip Hammond
The UK’s support for military action is contingent on adherence to International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The Ministry of Defence monitors alleged IHL violations, using available information, which in turn informs our overall assessment of IHL compliance in Yemen. We consider a range of information from government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations. We are also offering advice and training to Saudi Arabia to demonstrate best practice and to help ensure continued compliance with IHL. We are aware of reports on alleged violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Yemen by the Coalition and take these very seriously. We are also concerned by reports of alleged IHL violations by Houthi-Saleh and pro-government forces and again take these very seriously. The UK government has regularly raised with the Saudi Government the need to comply with IHL in Yemen and we continue to engage with them on this. I raised the issue of compliance with IHL during my October visit to Saudi Arabia. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL. It is important that open and transparent investigations are conducted into all incidents where it is alleged that IHL has been breached. We welcome the public announcement by Saudi Arabia to establish a fact finding committee into the alleged airstrike on MSF mobile clinic in Taiz on 2 December.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2016 to Question 24446, what reports her Department has received from the International Committee of the Red Cross on the spending by that body of humanitarian relief funds from her Department for humanitarian relief in Libya.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID’s £2 million funding to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Libya was given in response to their 2015 Budget Extension Appeal. The ICRC will submit to DFID, in accordance with agreed ICRC standard reporting timelines, an Annual Report, Financial Report and Annual Audited Accounts by June 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people are employed as special advisers by his Department; and how many people were employed as special advisers by his Department on 1 January 2016.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The number of special advisers employed by the Department for Transport is published on a regular basis, the most recent information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486829/List_of_Special_Advisers_in_post_at_17_December_2015.pdf .
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Flick Drummond on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of building the new general purpose frigate class in parallel with the Type 26 programme.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence has commenced pre-concept work on the new class of light General Purpose Frigate (GPFF) which will help inform the overall approach to the surface maritime programme following Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015.
As this work is in its very early stages it is not possible to make an assessment of the feasibility of building the GPFF in parallel with the Type 26 Global Combat Ships, or what the potential merits of that approach would be.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much Transport for London will pay to the British Transport Police’s budget in 2016-17.
Claire Perry
The British Transport Police (BTP) Authority has approved a budget for 2016-17 which includes an amount of £66.933 million in respect of the Transport for London (TFL) Police Service Agreement and overhead charges. The figure excludes any additional policing services which are provided by the BTP at TfL’s request on a commercial basis.