The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-10-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has not been given access to HM Revenue and Customs’ freight transport data system.
Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs has no record of a request by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Association and would be happy to give such a request full consideration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department is undertaking of the effect on children’s (a) attainment, (b) health and (c) attendance of the universal infant free school meals policy.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The decision to introduce universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) was based on pilots of universal free school meals carried out between 2009 and 2011 in Newham and Durham. The pilots demonstrated benefits in terms of children’s health, attainment and behaviour, as well as helping families with the cost of living.
The UIFSM policy has been in place for just over a year. We will look carefully at a range of indicators in relation to UIFSM once we are satisfied that we have sufficient time series data to undertake a robust analysis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what budget his Department has allocated to the National Tactical Response Group for each of the last five years.
Andrew Selous
The budget allocation for National Tactical Response Group (NTRG) is set out in the table below.
These figures include pay and non-pay items (including training materials, operational incident consumables and vehicle costs). It is not possible to retrieve the 2010 data information within the time available. The resource allocation for 2016-17 is yet to be confirmed.
|
NTRG Budget |
|
|
2011-12 |
1.6m |
|
2012-13 |
1.6m |
|
2013-14 |
1.7m |
|
2014-15 |
1.8m |
|
2015-16 |
1.8m |
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to provide a standardised pathway service across gender reassignment services.
Jane Ellison
Specialised gender identity services are directly commissioned by NHS England.
NHS England has considered the outcomes of the listening exercise conducted by Professor Field and has put in place a significant programme of work to improve healthcare services for transgender and non-binary people. A dedicated task group has been established to provide leadership and coordination of NHS England’s work to improve transgender and non-binary people’s experience of the National Health Service, and NHS England holds a Transgender Network event twice a year. Regular updates on NHS England’s work to improve gender identity services are given on NHS England’s website by the Regional Director of Specialised Commissioning (London) who chairs the task group.
A Clinical Reference Group for Gender Identity Services has been established, comprising professional and lay experts. This group makes recommendations to NHS England on clinical matters. Issues around the standardisation of pathways across gender identity services and clinical protocols are being considered as part of the current work to develop a service specification that, it is proposed, will describe how NHS England will commission these services in the future. The process for developing a proposed service specification has included a period of public consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to apply for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood-affected areas.
James Wharton
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave in the House on 25 February 2016 to the Urgent Question on the EU Solidarity Fund.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much school surplus has remained with local authorities after schools have converted to academy status.
Edward Timpson
The Academy Conversions (Transfer of School Surpluses) Regulations 2013 set out the process for the treatment of any surplus balance of a school when it converts to academy status. It is for the local authority and academy trust to agree together, within four months of conversion, the amount of surplus that should be paid to the academy trust. The final amount of any payment can take into account, for instance, any sum which might have been owed by the school to the local authority. No surplus funding has remained with local authorities.
Further detail of the process can be found in the guidance on “Treatment of surplus and deficit balances when maintained schools become academies”, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416430/School_balances_on_conversion_submission.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure accurate and early diagnosis of Kawasaki disease.
George Freeman
The Government published the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in November 2013. The strategy contains over 50 commitments to ensure people living with a rare disease, such as Kawasaki disease, have access to the best evidence-based care and treatment that health and social services, working with charities, researchers and industry can provide.
It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training in both scarlet fever and Kawasaki disease.
Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the Royal Colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.
The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not published any specific guidance on the similarities between Kawasaki disease and scarlet fever.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the assessment and initial management of fever in under 5s sets out the circumstances in which a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease should be considered, and Public Health England (PHE) has endeavoured to keep healthcare professionals, schools and the general public informed of the increased incidence of scarlet fever through timely information, news stories and updates on the PHE website and by using social and other media. These awareness raising measures assist general practitioners and other frontline healthcare professionals in reaching a correct diagnosis more quickly and encourage patients to seek medical advice early so that suspected cases receive prompt antibiotic treatment to reduce the risk of complications and limit further transmission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to seek agreement on country-by-country reporting on multinational companies at the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.
Matthew Hancock
At the Anti Corruption Summit we will be seeking commitments on a number of measures to increase tax transparency, and reduce tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. The UK has called for a multilateral agreement on public country by country reporting of tax information by businesses. We welcome the recent European Commission initiative on public country by country reporting for large multinational enterprises within the EU and will work to support this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Henderson on 2016-06-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to bring forward proposals in the Neighbourhood and Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove the requirement for developers to carry out archaeological and wildlife surveys before starting housing projects.
Brandon Lewis
There are no plans to change a Local Authority’s ability to propose conditions that meet the policy tests in the National Planning Policy Framework; including conditions related to archaeology and wildlife. The Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill will include measures to ensure that pre-commencement planning conditions are only imposed where they are absolutely necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Development Consent Orders for (a) energy and (b) transport projects his Department considered in each year since 2009-10 in each region; and how many such orders were (i) accepted and (ii) rejected by him.
Gavin Barwell
Following the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission by the Localism Act 2011, decisions on whether to grant development consent for energy projects have been made by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change) and transport projects have been decided by the Secretary of State for Transport. Prior to decision making powers being transferred to the Secretary of State by the Localism Act 2011, the Infrastructure Planning Commission determined one application for development consent for an energy project, granting consent in 2011.