Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of the change in the OECD definition of foreign aid to include some military spending on the effectiveness of aid spend on reducing poverty.

    Justine Greening

    We welcome the outcome of the recent High Level Meeting of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which agreed how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) rules should be updated to better tackle the pressing global development issues of the 21st century. The updates to the ODA rules both better recognise the detrimental impact that conflict, fragility and insecurity have on efforts to tackle poverty and reflect the importance of private sector investment for development.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the fixed cost to local authorities for submitting bids to the New Station Fund on the number of bids being made.

    Andrew Jones

    In order to qualify to bid for funding from the first or current round of the New Stations Fund, proposals need to be sufficiently developed in accordance with Network Rail’s Governance for Railway Investment Projects (‘GRIP’) process, achieving approval in principle at GRIP 3 stage – option selection. We do not believe that the additional cost of submitting a bid would be so burdensome as to deter a bid being made.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research HS2 Ltd has (a) produced and (b) commissioned on the geological effect of the construction and operation of High Speed 2 in Eddisbury constituency.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 Ltd has commissioned from a mining engineer (in consultation with the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board) a study of the saltfield, which applies to Cheshire including the Eddisbury constituency.

    HS2 Ltd. has commissioned from Heriot-Watt University a modelling of the geodynamic effects of high speed railway operation, which applies route wide including the Eddisbury constituency.

  • Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jeremy Lefroy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in Stafford constituency.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government is working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business by supporting businesses across the country. In Stafford, 42 Government backed Start-Up Loans have been drawn down since September 2012 with a value of over £218,000. A Regional Growth Fund award of £4m made in 2011 has attracted private investment of £56.5 million, delivering 1,600 jobs. Since May 2010, 26 loans have been drawn down in Stafford, worth over £2.6 million, from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Businesses in Stafford also have access to the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub which was live from September 2014, which is one of a network of 39 Growth Hubs set up across England.

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether everyone who was registered with Skipton and received the £20,000 lump sum payment will be automatically entitled to the new annual payments.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The reformed scheme will provide a payment to all those with hepatitis C, even if they have been treated, for the current spending review period. A review of the scheme will take place towards the end of this spending review period.

    All those who are currently bereaved partners/spouses and all those who will be bereaved partner/spouses in future will receive a £10,000 lump sum payment and will have continued access to discretionary support. Discretionary support will continue to be available to the bereaved, as well as to infected individuals.

    All infected individuals who are registered with Skipton as having hepatitis C stage 1 (nearly 2,500 people) will be eligible for the new stage 1 annual payment.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of knotweed proliferation; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making house and land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.

    George Eustice

    The Department takes the problems caused by Japanese Knotweed very seriously and has taken a number of steps to tackle this invasive plant.

    Defra has provided funding of £390,000 for biocontrol work to tackle Japanese knotweed. A psyllid/insect, Aphalara itadori has been identified as a biocontrol agent capable of retarding the plant’s growth significantly and therefore reducing its ability to spread and regenerate. A closely monitored, licensed release programme has been ongoing since 2010 to assess the impact of this psyllid/insect, but as with other biocontrol programme, it can take five to ten years from release to achieve success.

    Defra has also provided funding for Local Action Groups (LAGs) to tackle and raise awareness of invasive non-native plants, including Japanese knotweed. Additionally, Defra is currently funding a LAG coordinator to help groups with funding bids and provide advice.

    Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to allow the plant to escape or cause it to grow in the wild. Whilst landowners are under no statutory obligation to remove Japanese knotweed from their property, where they are acting unreasonably and allowing Japanese knotweed to cause a nuisance to the local community, local authorities and the police can now issue a Community Protection Notice against them to ensure that appropriate action is taken.

    The issue of making land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.is complex. It could produce disproportionate or inequitable impacts such as the potentially high cost of removal and liability on landowners for clearance as a result of fly-tipping.

  • Caroline Nokes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Caroline Nokes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Nokes on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of increasing free childcare provision to 30 hours per week on (a) the number of childcare places, (b) child to adult ratios in nursery settings and (c) the number of nurseries which offer free childcare provision.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Introducing the new entitlement to 30 hours of free childcare for working parents will require growth in the childcare market which the Government is confident can be achieved. We know that many working families with three- and four-year-olds already use more than 15 hours of childcare so many of the required childcare places already exist. We also believe that there is some existing spare capacity in the system to help deliver the new entitlement. The Government is committed to keeping the existing child to adult ratios and has no plans to change them to deliver the extended entitlement.

    We have already made significant progress in ensuring that there are more childcare places available with an increase of 230,000 places since 2009. Furthermore, data from the Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey (2013) showed that 97% of full day care settings that took three and four-year-olds offered funded places. The childcare sector is healthy, vibrant and growing. During the last Parliament, it demonstrated its ability to respond to the extension of the free entitlement to disadvantaged two-year-olds.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps each Anglican church in the Diocese of Blackburn is taking to assist Syrian refugees.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Diocese of Blackburn is working alongside other dioceses of the Church of England and local faith communities to coordinate their response to assist Syrian refugees. Churches in the diocese have been advised of the type of assistance that can most usefully be offered, working in conjunction with local authorities and other faith communities.

    The three bishops of the Diocese of Blackburn were amongst the signatories to the letter from Church of England bishops to the Prime Minister, which welcomed the commitment of the Government to provide aid and resettlement, while calling on it to resettle substantially more than 20,000, and made clear the Church’s commitment to help in that task.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of demand for police services.

    Mike Penning

    It is the role of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to assess police forces in England and Wales on their efficiency, including how they are managing demand for services and whether they have appropriate systems in place to assess trends. Their most recent assessment (report published October 2015) found that forces have a good understanding of current demand but need to improve their understanding of future demand. Forces are working with the College of Policing to progress this work.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department collects on adult loneliness.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department of Health does not collect data on adult loneliness but a range of other national collections do address this issue.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) collects information on social care activity and expenditure. In 2015 the type of data the HSCIC collects was changed and for the first time it now captures information on social isolation.

    The Community Care Statistics: Social Services Activity 2014/15 show that local authorities in England met the needs of 56,000 adults where the primary support reason was support for social isolation. The Personal Social Services: Expenditure and Unit Costs England 2014-15, show that local authorities spent £81 million in meeting the needs of adults whose primary support reason was social isolation/other. The HSCIC does not collect data on the numbers of adults or expenditure spent where local address social isolation through preventative measures.

    The HSCIC run an annual Survey of Adult Social Care users and a biennial Survey of Adult Carers covering all Local Authorities in England. Both surveys contain questions on users and carers satisfaction with their levels of social contact. This data feeds into the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework indicators which are also published by HSCIC.