Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications from academy trusts to use land for purposes other than education have been (a) approved and (b) refused in each year since 2011.

    Edward Timpson

    The data is not held in the format requested. Any academy wishing to dispose or permanently change the use of its land must obtain the Secretary of State’s consent. However, whilst continuing to hold their land for educational purposes in accordance with their charitable status, academies may allow others to make occasional or limited use of their land, for example, by using this flexibility to play an important role in supporting their local communities.

    Only a minority of academies hold the freehold to their sites; the majority lease the land from local authorities and only the freeholder authority would have the power to request the Secretary of State’s consent to either dispose of or permanently change the use of land. The local authority, as the land owner, would also need to seek consent from the Secretary of State should the land be appropriated for other non-educational purposes.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to monitor the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the chemical industry; and what steps he is taking to reduce routine exposure to acetaldehyde in that industry.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to commission an assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.

    Acetaldehyde has been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used; long-term (8 hours) and short-term (15 minutes). For acetaldehyde these are concentrations of 37 milligrams per cubic meter (mg.m-3) and 92mg.m-3 respectively.

    Substances that have been assigned a WEL are subject to the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). COSHH requires employers to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances. Under COSHH, control is defined as adequate only if a) the principles of good control practice are applied; b) any WEL is not exceeded; and c) exposure to asthmagens, carcinogens and mutagens are reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September to Question 45236, to which destinations (a) ministers and (b) officials have taken flights as part of their official duties since his Department was established.

    Greg Hands

    Since the inception of the department, as part of their official duties Ministers and accompanying officials have visited:

    Rt. Hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade (Liam Fox) – USA, India, Switzerland, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Northern Ireland, Scotland.

    Rt. Hon Friend the Minister of State (Greg Hands) – USA, Germany, Taiwan, Korea.

    Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mark Garnier) – Burma, Thailand, Israel, France.

    Noble Friend the Minister of State (Lord Price CVO) – China, South Korea, USA, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information she holds on the likely publication date for the independent review of Yarl’s Wood, commissioned by Serco.

    James Brokenshire

    Serco intend to publish the main findings of the report by the end of the year.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the incidence of (a) CRE and (b) other superbugs which are persistent to antibiotics.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has already taken significant action to address carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae and other organisms that are resistant to antibiotics.

    The UK 5 Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy set out key steps for tackling organisms that are resistant to a range of antibiotics. As part of our strategy to reduce the incidence of such infections, we have tightened the regulatory aspects in England by revising the Health and Social Care Act Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections in July 2015. The revised Code strengthens links and references to antimicrobial resistance within primary and secondary care. Furthermore, the NHS Standard Contract published in March 2015 included amendments to require compliance with the Code of Practice. This enables regulators such as the Care Quality Commission to look at compliance with the Code within its inspection programme.

    At the same time, we have ensured that a range of guidance and tool kits have been produced to support healthcare staff to manage carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae and other resistant bacteria. Public Health England has published updated standards in June 2015 covering additional training on infection and control, which includes a carbapenemese-resistant Enterobacteriaceae toolkit for the non-acute and community sector.

    In terms of surveillance of carbapenemase-resistant organisms, Public Health England has rolled out the second generation surveillance system for the reporting of notifiable infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance in December 2014. It has also developed an electronic system for reporting carbapenemase-producing organisms, to allow demographic and clinical risk information to be captured and analysed.

  • Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jo Stevens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Stevens on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) young offenders and (b) staff the Youth Justice Board recorded as injured in each young offender institute in each of the last eight years; how many such injuries to (i) young offenders and (ii) staff were recorded as serious injuries; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    The number of (a) young offenders and (b) staff the Youth Justice Board recorded as injured in each young offender institute in each of the last eight years is set out in the attached table.

    The table includes information on injuries, including severe injuries, relating to Restrictive Physical Intervention (RPI), self-harm and assaults. The number of staff and visitors severely injured as a result of an assault is not included as obtaining these figures would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many nurses were brought before a fitness to practise panel for lack of competence, communication issues between 2013 and 2015; and how many such nurses (a) were and (b) were not suspended.

    Ben Gummer

    The information requested is not held by the Department. As an independent body the Nursing and Midwifery Council is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties including fitness-to-practise investigations in respect of its registrants.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that Members of Parliament are providing good value for money in communications to their constituents using franked House of Commons envelopes.

    Tom Brake

    Under the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament, Members are personally responsible and accountable for the way they use resources provided at public expense. The House of Commons provides each Member with prepaid envelopes and stationery up to a value of £9,000 a year. In addition, specific rules on prepaid envelopes, available via the Members’ Handbook, preclude their use for communications within Parliament, or for circulars or business, personal or party political purposes. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is responsible for enforcing the rules on the proper use of prepaid envelopes and stationery.

  • Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Campbell of Pittenweem – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Base Optimisation Programme in Scotland has been completed.

    Earl Howe

    The Basing Optimisation Programme considered the tri-service basing and infrastructure requirements from the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. In terms of detailed planning and implementation the programme is being delivered through separate projects which are expected to continue until 2021.

    As part of the comprehensive Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 the Ministry of Defence committed to reducing our estate by 30%. The plan for this is due to be announced later this year but so far my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans (Mark Lancaster) has already announced this year the disposal of 22 sites.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how many UK solar companies have gone out of business or stopped installing solar PV as a result of policy changes made since May 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We recognise the efforts the solar industry is making to adapt following those changes; changes that we had to make to protect billpayers from the ever-increasing costs of support.

    We are encouraged by the way the industry is responding: deployment of solar under the revised FIT scheme continues, at rates that match those seen historically following revisions to the scheme.

    We expect that deployment will increase further as costs continue to fall, and the industry acclimatizes to the new system.