Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting times are for access to talking therapies in (a) the UK, (b) Yorkshire and (c) Halifax.

    Alistair Burt

    We do not hold the data in the format requested. What data we do hold is provided in the following table:

    The number of referrals entering treatment1 in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and all Yorkshire CCGs combined2.

    Organisation code

    Organisation name

    Total number of referrals entering treatment3

    Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4

    Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)

    All England

    815,665

    32

    17

    All Yorkshire CCGs combined

    71,690

    39

    21

    02E

    NHS Calderdale CCG

    4,200

    14

    6

    1In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

    2CCG is based on general practitioner (GP) Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

    3In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year.

    4The mean was used as the average.

    5Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Notes:

    Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

    Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5.

    It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data.

    Source: IAPT

  • 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 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional revenues were achieved for developing countries as a result of the pilot scheme for Tax Inspectors Without Borders; and how much such revenue derived from improved tax settlements with clients of the so-called big four accounting firms.

    Justine Greening

    The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has recently reported that Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TWIB) deployments have assisted countries to increase their tax collected by over $185 million.

    DFID does not have access to information about which professional services companies are used under the TIWB programme.

  • Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Karl Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) prosecuted for, (b) convicted of, (c) cautioned for and (d) given a non-custodial sentence for rape in each year since 2010.

    Mike Penning

    The number of offenders cautioned, and defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with sentence outcomes, for rape offences in England and Wales from 2010 to 2014 (latest available) can be viewed in the Outcomes by offence tables in the annual publication found at:-

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2014

    “

  • 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 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the budget for the revised Cancer Drugs Fund was established at £340 million.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that the Cancer Drugs Fund budget was increased to £340 million for 2015-16 and, with the new financial control and commercial mechanisms being put in place from 1 July 2016 under the new arrangements for the Fund, that budget increase will be maintained at £340 million for 2016-17.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on how many (a) Saharawi and (b) Moroccan people are employed by MINURSO in Western Sahara.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office holds no information on the ethnicity or origin of United Nations staff.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of relative levels of productivity in community pharmacies and other primary care professions in each year since 2015.

    David Mowat

    We have made no assessment of productivity in community pharmacies.

  • Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to businesses of inconsistent broadband coverage in the last 12 months.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Access to broadband is of vital importance to small businesses, which is why the Government-funded Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has provided over 50,000 small and medium sized enterprises with access to high speed broadband.83 per cent of homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband services, and thanks to the Government’s investment in the superfast broadband rollout. This is set to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017.

  • Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Liz Kendall – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many people of each gender have worked as special advisers in the Government Equalities Office in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15.

    Edward Timpson

    The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Clive Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Concentrix on compliance checks for tax credits includes (a) the number of checks to be carried out, (b) the number of staff and (c) types of enforcement action.

    Mr David Gauke

    Reducing tax credits fraud and error is a top priority for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The contract with Concentrix offers additional capacity to help build on HMRC’s own work, which has reduced tax credits fraud and error to the lowest ever level. Using a private company provides a cost-effective way to reach additional claims that need checking.

    The checks are to ensure that people are paid the correct amount of money to prevent them from getting into debt which they may find difficult to repay and protect losses to taxpayers.

    Concentrix operate under the same powers and processes as HMRC. Concentrix select cases to be checked using information provided by HMRC. Concentrix decide how best to achieve the expected benefits, including the number and type of cases and number of staff employed. HMRC closely monitors their performance.

    The contract uses a payment by results model, which means Concentrix is only paid based on the money it saves the Exchequer as a result of correcting claims that are incorrect. They will not be paid if the decisions they make about claimants’ awards are incorrect.

    The contract was signed on 6 May 2014. The contract was awarded to Synnex-Concentrix UK Ltd in April 2014, following a procurement exercise advertised under the open procedure. Information about the contract value and contract award is already in the public domain.

    https://www.deltaesourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=97910033

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department has in place to facilitate access to wells and water in developing countries.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    In 2012 the UK Government set a target of reaching 60 million people in the developing world with one or more water, sanitation or hygiene (WASH) interventions by the end of 2015. The Department for International Development (DFID) delivered a range of WASH programmes in 19 countries through its network of country offices. In addition DFID ran 2 regional programmes and 4 centrally managed programmes from DFID HQ.

    The target was achieved 9 months early in April 2015.

    More detailed information on individual WASH programmes that contributed to meeting this target is available through the development tracker function https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/sector/3 on the DFID website.

    We are currently formulating our new portfolio to deliver on the UK government’s commitment to help a further 60 million people get access to clean water and sanitation by 2020.

    “