Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) average amount in tax relief paid per higher rate tax relief payer and (b) total amount of tax relief for personal pension payments was in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) 2014-15.

    Mr David Gauke

    Information on the cost of pensions tax relief is published in HM Revenue and Customs’ National Statistics table PEN6, available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/registered-pension-schemes-cost-of-tax-relief

    “

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to support people who are addicted to the psychoactive substances prohibited by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

    Jane Ellison

    Local authorities are responsible for assessing the local need for drug treatment and commissioning services to meet that need. This involves developing services that can help people with a range of drug problems; which can also respond to emerging problems, such as new psychoactive substances.

    Public Health England works with local authorities to support them in commissioning alcohol and drug services, providing guidance and materials, bespoke data, value for money tools, topical briefings and advice on good practice. This includes guidance on new psychoactive substances for substance misuse commissioners, including a toolkit which can be found at:

    http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/nps-a-toolkit-for-substance-misuse-commissioners.pdf

    “

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people who suffer from aphasia are given the support needed to communicate effectively.

    David Mowat

    Rehabilitation services, specifically speech and language therapy, provide much of the National Health Service support for people with aphasia. As clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning these services, they should be taking steps to ensure that support for people with aphasia is available and improve these services where appropriate.

    Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia developing in adults. The vast majority of patients are admitted to hospital after a stroke and over 90% are managed on a stroke unit. All stroke units in England have access to speech and language therapy. After discharge from hospital about three quarters of areas in England have access to stroke specific early supported discharge teams of which 91% have a speech and language therapist.

  • 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 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of when new, cheap forms of blood cancer tests are likely to be made available on the NHS.

    George Freeman

    A number of new blood tests, which show promise in diagnosing cancers earlier, are currently undergoing clinical trials. We would expect these to become available in the National Health Service once they have satisfied the regulatory requirements.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Tornado aircraft (1) the RAF possess which are (a) available for operation, (b) maintained at each of the various defined levels, and (c) in storage; and (2) the RAF intend to fund for each of the above categories in each of the years from 2015–18.

    Earl Howe

    The information is not available in the format requested. The number of aircraft available varies day-to-day according to normal fleet management activities.

    I am withholding further information on the number of serviceable aircraft available for operations on the grounds of safeguarding national security.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been deducted from funding allocated by the National College of Teaching and Leadership to higher education institutions who have trained more teachers than places allocated in each academic year since 2010-11.

    Nick Gibb

    The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) have not reduced the funding for any higher education institutions (HEIs) who have trained more teachers than places allocated since the academic year 2010-11. The NCTL continues to have the right to impose penalties, but have not exercised this previously. The decision to exercise this right in the academic year 2016/17 will be made after institutions submit their trainee registration information.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    There are no staff in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who receive a home to work travel allowance, a car allowance, and/or subsidised health insurance.

    The Department does not hold this information for its arm’s length bodies.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost to school budgets of (a) pupil mobility, (b) staff turnover, (c) pupils not speaking English at home and (d) pupils with special educational needs.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We recently published our consultations on national funding formulae for schools and high needs funding. A national funding formula will put an end to currently unfair arrangements where children with the same needs attract different amounts of money simply because of where they live. We believe that the national funding formula should target funding to pupils who are likely to face additional barriers in realising their potential and are proposing to include additional needs factors including for English as an additional language. For pupils with special educational needs (SEN), we propose that mainstream schools should continue to be responsible for the first £6,000 of costs in respect of each of their pupils with SEN, and receive top-up funding from the local authority for costs in excess of £6,000. Local authorities reported that they will allocate £750m to primary and secondary schools in 2015-16 in the form of top-up funding for pupils with SEN.

    Under current local funding formulae, the total amount allocated to school budgets in relation to pupil mobility is £24m for 2015-16 and for English as an additional language, it is £267m. It is for school leaders to determine how best to use their full budget so that all pupils, including mobile pupils, pupils with English as an additional language and those with special educational needs, can reach their full potential.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart on the number of human rights defenders and community leaders who have been killed in the last 30 days.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    I raised the issue of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) on 29 September 2015 when I met Deputy Foreign Minister Holguin of Colombia during the UN General Assembly, and in March when I met the Colombian Ambassador in London. We take every opportunity to raise our concerns with contacts in Colombia. Our Embassy officials raised our concerns with the Colombian Interior Minister and with the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights in February. The Minister of State, my noble Friend the Rt Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, raised her concerns about the situation of HRDs in Colombia with the Interior Minister and Deputy Foreign Minister during her visit there last month. On 1 April, our Ambassador to Colombia accompanied the Minister of Interior to a regional Human Rights roundtable, where the role of local authorities in taking effective action on HRD cases was discussed. The UK was the only member of the international community invited to this event.

  • Jon Cruddas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Cruddas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Cruddas on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report Three years on: an independent review of Local Council Tax Support Schemes by Eric Ollerenshaw OBE, published in March 2016, if he will commission in-depth academic research on the effect of Local Council Tax Support Schemes within the wider context of other welfare and socio-economic changes.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Eric Ollerenshaw’s independent report recognises the successful implementation of Local Council Tax Schemes by local government and makes a number of recommendations to improve their efficiency and effectiveness, whilst remaining a local discount. The Department for Communities and Local Government will consider these recommendations carefully.