Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lady Hermon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lady Hermon on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the procedures put in place by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure there is no disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been recognised as a Disability Confident Employer.

    HMRC has a long-standing and wide variety of measures in place to assist disabled job applicants and to prevent disability discrimination in its recruitment procedures. For example: discussing with disabled applicants their precise needs where they require assistance during the recruitment process; providing selection panels access to a specialist HR team with expert knowledge of the type of adjustments that can reasonably be made, whether it’s ensuring that the test and interview environment is particularly suitable for disabled candidates, providing selection material in alternate formats, offering signers for deaf candidates, allowing extra time for tests, accepting paper applications instead of the usual on-line applications process and so forth; and providing clear information to job applicants about the departmental vacancy filling complaints process.

    HMRC guarantees an interview to every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Further, HMRC has introduced unconscious bias training for all its staff including of course those taking part as selectors. It enables them to question personal beliefs and ensure objective evidence gathering in the recruitment process. In addition, all selectors must have completed diversity awareness training before undertaking recruitment work. More recently, HMRC is addressing the issue of ‘recruiter confidence’ when working with disabled colleagues by creating a bespoke disability awareness workshop that is being rolled out to all managers and recruiters.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what representations she has made to planning authorities in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the Republic of Ireland on the proposed 400kV North-South electricity interconnector between County Tyrone and County Meath.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    Non-nuclear energy policy is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the responsibility of Northern Ireland Executive Ministers.

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of GP surgeries that are failing to meet their obligations under regulation 15A of the National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2004, as amended, to establish and maintain a Patient Participation Group.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the assessment of general medical practices compliance with contractual requirements.

    NHS England operates an annual practice declaration to support its local teams assess contractual compliance. The annual declaration was amended this year to include key areas of enquiry in relation to the new responsibilities to establish and maintain a Patient Participation Group.

    The NHS (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations contain steps which NHS England may take where a practice does not comply with the terms of the agreement. These include issuing a remedial notice and, if no action is taken as a result of this notice, a breach of contract notice which could result in NHS England withholding money, due under the agreement, or terminating the agreement.

    NHS England does not currently hold information nationally on the use of contractual sanctions. NHS England is developing its reporting systems to identify the number of breach notices issued periodically and to identify common themes associated with contractual non-compliance.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the number of curry chefs working in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government does not hold information on the value of the curry industry, the number of curry houses, trends in the number of curry houses or the number of curry chefs.

    Official statistics carry figures on the value and number of restaurants, takeaways and other food service businesses in general, but do not detail specific types of food being served. Similarly while the number of chefs and catering staff will be estimated there is no consideration of their specialisation in terms of cuisine.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18874, when his Department plans to write to clarify the date captured in the other category; and if he will place a copy of that letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    My Department takes the issue of security within courts extremely seriously. Working with our security suppliers, officials continue to analyse the data within the other category to ensure the data provided answers question 18874 and provides detail on “other weapons” as requested.

    I will write a letter to honourable member soon and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Emma Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2016 to Questions 23930, how many responses Public Health England has received to the review of sexual health, reproductive health and HIV commissioning services since the 8 February 2016 closing date; for what reasons his Department’s consultation on sexual health, reproductive health and HIV commissioning services lasted for 3 weeks; and whether any assessment has been made of the effect of the length of the consultation period on the responses received to that review.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE), supported by the Association of Directors of Public Health undertook a review of Sexual Health, Reproductive Health and HIV Commissioning services; the survey was first published on the 19 January 2016 and closed formally on 8 February 2016.

    To date, PHE has received 113 responses to the survey. Two of these responses were received after 8 February closing date.

    This survey does not form part of any formal consultation. The length of the survey period was chosen to fit within the timeframes for analysis and publication for the survey findings.

    Response rates were continually reviewed during the survey period. The deadline was extended and reminders sent in order to increase response rates. The last response was received on 10 February.

    No assessment has been made of the impact of the survey period length but the response rate is considered to be high.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 on Question 30222, when he expects that data on secondary breast cancer will be complete.

    Jane Ellison

    Data on breast cancer recurrence has been mandated in the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) for diagnoses from 1 January 2013. The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) in Public Health England (PHE) estimates about one-quarter of recurrences are currently submitted. NCRAS will support trusts to improve their submission of data by producing reports on the number of recurrences submitted by each National Health Service trust. These will enable the identification of best practise to be shared, and enable us to engage with trusts that are not submitting data.

    Data on all cancer recurrence has been mandated in COSD since 31 July 2015.

    In addition further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect relapse and recurrence data on all cancers.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who will chair the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Prime Minister.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the replacement rate of housing association properties sold through right-to-buy in each year since the launch of that policy; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations, every home sold to tenants will result in an additional home being provided. This will lead to an increase in overall housing supply.

    The voluntary agreement states that housing associations and the Government share a mutual objective to ensure that replacement homes are delivered as quickly as possible. Whilst aiming for replacement within two years, the default position is that housing associations will have flexibility to replace homes within a three year period.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on finalising the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund for flood relief funding after the storms of the 2015-16 winter.

    Andrew Percy

    The Government has been working with a wide range of partners, including the devolved administrations, local authorities and government departments. We have made considerable progress towards securing a full and reliable estimate of the cost of flood damage to the UK and will update Parliament in due course.