Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

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

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she has taken to implement the Government’s policy on increasing the involvement of women’s civil society in the development of government policy.

    Caroline Dinenage

    I greatly value the expertise of women’s civil society and the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities and I have met with many representatives since taking on our current roles. My officials also frequently consult the women’s sector on policy issues, including policy development, to ensure we benefit from the knowledge and understanding of relevant experts – for example on issues such as the gender pay gap, flexible working and gender diversity of company boards.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans are in place to ensure that a server issue with the universal credit portal does not reoccur.

    Damian Hinds

    Whenever a service problem is identified the Department always prioritises claimants first ensuring their payments are not interrupted. In this instance the outage impacted only 24 of the 712 Jobcentres across Great Britain and none of the claimants impacted experienced a delay in their payments.

    The performance of all systems is continuously monitored on many resilient servers and in the event of an outage an immediate impact assessment is made and appropriate action taken to ensure normal service is resumed at the earliest possible opportunity and the impact on claimants is minimised.

    We continually assess the performance of our suppliers, and underlying engineering, to ensure systems are available to meet the needs of claimants and the Department. With the exception of this isolated supplier outage the performance of the UC portal has been higher than expected, however, further improvements to resilience were already under active consideration as part of preparing for UC Full Service national expansion.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service were upheld at formal Stage 2 in each of the last three years.

    Robert Buckland

    1) The following table shows the number of complaints upheld at Stage 2 in the past three years:

    Year

    Stage 2 Complaints -Upheld

    2013/14

    34

    2014/15

    50

    2015/16

    50

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for how long a pupil must be present at a school to be included in its reception baseline assessment.

    Nick Gibb

    The reception baseline assessment is administered within the first half-term of a pupil starting in reception. Information on reception baseline criteria can be found online at:

    www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/415142/Baseline_criteria.pdf

    “

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how much of the Government Equalities Office’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The Spending Review set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.

    Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, after how long it is his policy to take action when a local planning authority has not produced a playing pitch strategy; and what powers his Department has to taken such action after that period.

    Tracey Crouch

    Sport England, which helps local authorities develop and implement Playing Pitch Strategies to protect existing playing fields as well as meet future demand, recommends that the strategy should be updated every three years. In its role as statutory consultee, Sport England also monitors the number of planning applications that have an impact on playing fields and objects where it believes local sports provision could be harmed. As set out in our sports strategy, published last month, this Government is committed to improving the quality of community sports facilities.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department will have a regional hub in every region of the UK once the BIS 2020 restructuring programme is complete.

    Joseph Johnson

    As part of the Department’s change programme, BIS2020, we anticipate reducing the number of our locations from more than 80 to approximately 7 centres plus a regional footprint. Beyond the announcement made about our Sheffield office at St Paul’s Place on 28 January, we do not yet know exactly which sites will be retained or closed over the course of the Parliament. By 2020 the majority of employees in BIS and its Partner Organisations will continue to be based outside London through a number of centres – such as in Birmingham, Glasgow, and Swindon – as well as a regional footprint for the provision of local services.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Prime Minister, how many meetings he has had with UK Trade and Investment trade envoys since May 2015.

    Mr David Cameron

    I have to-date appointed 24 Trade Envoys who are MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum to represent the UK in 50 countries. They are parliamentarians from a range of backgrounds and I receive regular feedback from them on their work in promoting the UK in trade and investment matters. Further details of the Trade Envoy programme can be found on the gov.uk website.

  • Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK can withdraw from EU treaties under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, with 12 months notice or otherwise.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), made clear to the House of Commons that “if the British people vote to leave, there is only one way to bring that about, namely to trigger Article 50 of the Treaties and begin the process of exit". The rules for exit are set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This is the only lawful route available to withdraw from the EU.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many clinicians will serve on the proposed Clinical Reference Group (CRG) for Rehabilitation and Disability; and how that number compares with the current CRGs that cover the same areas.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    To ensure that Clinical Reference Group (CRG) work dovetails with the revised operating model for specialised commissioning, NHS England proposes to simplify the operation of CRGs. It is recommended that the new CRG for Rehabilitation and Disability replaces the existing Specialist rehabilitation for patients with highly complex needs (Complex Rehabilitation) and Complex Disability Equipment Clinical Commissioning Groups. It is proposed that the new CRG should have the following membership:

    – a minimum of one member with prosthetics expertise;

    – a minimum of one member with expertise in augmentative and alternative communication aids;

    – a minimum of one member with expertise in environmental controls; and

    – and four members with Complex Rehabilitation expertise (1 from each region).

    The new CRG has eight clinical members plus a chair. In the existing two CRG configuration, there are 12 clinical members plus two chairs (one for each CRG). In addition there are also four affiliated organisation members, who tend to be clinicians, in both the current CRGs and the new configuration.