Tag: Parliamentary Question

Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase capacity for (a) new and (b) follow-up appointments in ophthalmology clinics.

Alistair Burt

The need for ophthalmology outpatient clinics will be determined locally by clinical commissioning groups who will then commission the care, normally from National Health Service trusts.

The most recent NHS workforce statistics for trusts and clinical commissioning groups, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre on 22 June 2016, shows that since May 2010, there are now 264 more doctors with a specialty of ophthalmology; this includes a 27% increase in the number of consultants.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the delivery of services under the CarillionAmey contract to support armed forces married quarters.

Harriett Baldwin

The Ministry of Defence has put in place a strategy to provide an alternative contractor should CarillionAmey fail to sustain performance.

The Department continues to assess CarillionAmey’s performance to determine whether the implementation of this strategy is necessary.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which countries’ citizens (a) may and (b) may not enter the UK without a visa.

James Brokenshire

Appendix 2 to Appendix V of the Immigration Rules – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules – sets out those countries or territorial entities whose nationals or citizens need a visa in advance of travel to the UK for any purpose. Nationals or citizens of countries or territories that are not included in paragraph 1(a) of Appendix 2 do not need a visa in advance of travel to the UK as a visitor or for any other purpose for less than six months.

01/01/2023
Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt

The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.

Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.

The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS’s own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.

01/01/2023
Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase diversity in police forces, in particular to close the gap between the percentage of applicants and percentage of appointments from black and minority ethnic groups.

Lord Bates

It is vital that the police reflect the communities they serve and I am determined to improve BME representation in all 43 forces in England and Wales.

Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. It is important that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups.

The Government’s reforms have already made improvements, for example we set up the College of Policing which has embarked on a major programme of work, BME Progression 2018, looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers, including the development of an evidence base of successful approaches used by forces.

As part of this programme the College recently published Positive Action Practical Advice, which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups, and it has published case studies from forces showing what can be done.

The College of Policing is currently undertaking a review of initial police recruitment, including the SEARCH assessment centre for police recruits, to better understand disproportionality that can occur between white candidates and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The review is due to report by the 31 March 2016.

Under this Government, innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now are increasing the number of BME recruits to the police, showing that you can achieve better representation while attracting the best and the brightest into policing.

Of the nine direct entry superintendents who began their superintendent training on November 2014 four (44%) are women and two (22%) are from an ethnic minority background. This is significantly more representative than the current make up of the superintendent rank which comprises 17% women and 4% ethnic minority.

Police Now, introduced in the Metropolitan Police, has appointed 69 people to start their training, up from an anticipated 50 owing to the high calibre of applicants. Of these, 43% are women and 9% are from a BME background, compared to the national BME proportion of 5.5%.

With the joint leadership of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner, the Metropolitan Police also introduced its London residency criteria for recruits in August 2014. Recent Metropolitan police figures show that in the three months from June to August 2015, 26% of new Metropolitan police recruits came from a black or minority background, more than double the 12% recruited in the same quarter of 2014, and the 12% of Metropolitan police officers currently from a black and minority ethnic background.

01/01/2023
Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Tracey on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects the decommissioning of Sparrowdale School to be completed.

Edward Timpson

School playing fields are protected by Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Schools and local authorities must obtain the Secretary of State’s approval before they can dispose of their land. Applications to dispose of school playing fields are considered by the independent school playing fields advisory panel, and are approved only when it is demonstrated that the application meets published criteria.

The Department is aware of an application by Warwickshire County Council to seek approval to dispose of the former Sparrowdale Special School. The application is currently being processed by officials at the Education Funding Agency; a final decision should be expected in the summer. The application will only be considered when sufficient information is available to consider how the sale proceeds will be invested to benefit other local schools. The Secretary of State will consider the recommendation of the panel before making her final decision.

The Department has published a list of decisions since May 2010 on applications for consent to dispose of school playing field land: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals

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01/01/2023
Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to decide on whether to support prosecutions for people suspected of committing electoral or financial fraud in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets; and when he plans to announce that decision.

Mr Marcus Jones

Decisions on whether to charge or to prosecute individuals suspected of electoral and financial fraud in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are matters for the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

01/01/2023
Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what records are kept by commanding officers when dealing with offences that are reported to them and dealt with summarily.

Mark Lancaster

A Commanding Officer dealing with a Summary Hearing must complete a Record of Summary Hearing (RSH). This can be found at Annex C to Vol 1 Ch.9 JSP 830 (Manual of Service Law) which can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478387/20151113-Chapter9-SHSSSD-AL38.pdf

The information that must be recorded includes the following:

– Details of the accused

– The charges and whether they are admitted or denied

– The outcome of the Summary Hearing and where relevant the sentence awarded

– Any order made (for example detention, order to pay)

– Reasons for sentence (including mitigating and aggravating factors and the effect of the punishment)

– The date of hearing and who it was heard by

The paperwork connected with the Summary Hearing should be processed within 24 hours following the hearing. The RSH should be retained under single-Service arrangements for a minimum period of two years and recordable offences will be recorded on the Police National Computer.

01/01/2023

Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-05-18.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers of his Department have had with officials of his Department in which withdrawal of the valuation check service by HM Revenue and Customs was discussed since May 2015; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

Tax-advantaged employee share schemes are greatly valued by both companies and employers, and the government wants to make sure that the rules surrounding these schemes are as simple and clear as possible. Budget 2016 made a number of changes to the rules for employment-related securities and options which will make these schemes fairer and easier for taxpayers to understand, and therefore encourage businesses to use them.

An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned report conducted by Oxera considered the effect of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes on productivity. The report is available at: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203095056/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/tax-advantaged-report2.pdf.

The government’s most recent assessment of the cost of the tax-advantaged employee share schemes to the Exchequer is provided in the table below.

	Forecast cost of Income Tax relief (2015-16)	Forecast cost of National Insurance relief (2015-16)
Share Incentive Plan	£220 million	£165 million
Save As You Earn	£180 million	£140 million
Enterprise Management Incentives	£70 million	£40 million
Company Share Option Plan	£70 million	£40 million

HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation checking service for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes. However, HMRC has withdrawn other checks for non-tax advantaged schemes as, in the majority of cases, acceptable valuations were submitted. Therefore, the valuation service added no value and is seen as unnecessary.

The government keeps all areas of the tax system under review and as part of that in always interested in understanding the views of all interested parties.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

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01/01/2023

Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many apheresis machines are operational in the UK; and where those machines are located.

George Freeman

Apheresis machines are part of the care provided in a number of haematology services including sickle cell and thalassaemia care.

NHS Blood and Transplant is one of the main providers of Therapeutic Apheresis Services in England and has the largest installed base of therapeutic apheresis equipment in the National Health Service (32 machine platforms across the country). Additional provision of apheresis services are provided by NHS trusts and other UK Blood Services but NHS England does not currently hold information on this information centrally.

Work in relation to these services including the incentivisation of automated exchange through Commissioning for Quality and Innovation will improve the baseline information over the coming year.

01/01/2023