Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether reducing incidents of negligent care will be the primary focus of the Government’s proposed package of reforms aimed at reducing costs in medical negligence litigation.

    Ben Gummer

    Over the past 10 years claimant legal costs as a percentage of damages paid by the National Health Service have increased from 32% to 52%. We believe that claimant legal costs are disproportionate to the value of the damages paid, sometimes representing up to 299% for lower value claims, and disproportionate to the defendant costs. Ultimately this all comes out money for front line services. The proposal for fixed recoverable cost in lower value clinical negligence claims was suggested by Lord Justice Jackson in his report Reform of Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales.

    The Department is working closely with partners and interested parties to develop a proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims. The Department’s proposal in the consultation is a maximum threshold level of £250,000, based on Lord Justice Jackson’s original proposal and with a view to covering at least 80% of all claims. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors. The results of a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and the consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances.

    The level of potential savings will ultimately depend upon the final maximum threshold level proposed. By making legal costs proportionate to the damages paid we would hope to save circa £80 million per annum. The Department is also working with various clinical groups looking at how the current level of incidents can be reduced. In terms of maternity our target to reduce avoidable harm by 50% and save 6,000 lives.

    The Department sees the fixed recoverable cost work as part of an overall strategic approach aimed at improving patient safety, improving customer care and improving litigation. Improving patient safety and reducing the incidents of harm is a key element of this.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the timeframe for repairing flood damage to the A591 in Cumbria.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport is providing funding of up to £2 million to help both Cumbria County Council and Lancashire County Council assess the local highway networks for which they are responsible for the damage caused by Storm Desmond. In respect to the A591 this will be for Cumbria County Council to determine the options for the repair of this road to ensure it can be opened as quickly as possible.

  • Andy Burnham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andy Burnham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Burnham on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff there were in the UK Border Force and its predecessor in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13, (e) 2013-14, (f) 2014-15 and (g) 2015-16; and what the UK Border Force’s planned total staff complement is for 2016-17.

    Mrs Theresa May

    The Border Force workforce is drawn from two precursor organisations: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Immigration Service. Border Force was established in its current form in March 2012 and since that time the workforce has ranged from approximately 7800 – 8100 in full-time equivalents.

    The detailed breakdown requested is as follows (all figures are full-time equivalents):

    March 2010 4506 – UKBA

    4639 – HMRC (transferred to UKBA 1st April 2010)

    March 2011 8269 – UKBA

    March 2012 7846 – Border Force

    March 2013 8123 – Border Force

    March 2014 8044 – Border Force

    March 2015 8153 – Border Force

    Workforce numbers for FY16/17 have not yet been finalised.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There are no staff employed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) who are in receipt of (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance. This is also the case for FCO Services, the British Council, Wilton Park Executive Agency, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Great Britain China Centre.

    To obtain information for local staff employed directly by our overseas embassies and missions would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will implement a treatment pathway for people who suffer from lipoedema to allow such people to receive liposuction on the NHS.

    Jane Ellison

    There are several different treatments available for the management of lipoedema such as compression therapy, exercise and massage. There is limited evidence on the efficacy of liposuction for the treatment of lipoedema, and it is not routinely available on the National Health Service.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Republic of Ireland owes the UK as a result of loans made during the recent financial crisis, and what are the arrangements for repayment of those monies.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    I refer the noble Lord to the most recent statutory report which the Treasury provided to Parliament as required by Section 2 of the Loans to Ireland Act 2010. The last report was laid in Parliament on 26 April 2016 and is available in the Printed Paper Office.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to his Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Report 2015, Cm 9245, what countries his Department is supporting to develop Preventing Violent Extremism action plans to tackle the root causes of extremism and prejudice; and what the support is which his Department is giving in each such case.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The UK provides support to multilateral bodies and international organisations such as the UN, the Global Counter Terrorism Forum, the Hedayah Centre and the Commonwealth that work in partnership with countries developing their own national action plans against violent extremism. UK-funded programmes in fragile and conflict-affected states and our Democracy and Human Rights projects in over 40 countries, also support this global effort.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether taxi and private hire vehicles require additional licences while working outside their primary licensing authority area.

    Andrew Jones

    Licenced taxi drivers can only work as a taxi (e.g. ply for hire) in the area they are licenced in. They can work as a private hire vehicle (PHV) outside their primary licencing authority. As a PHV though, they can only accept journeys that have been pre-booked.

    Licenced PHV drivers do not need additional licences to pick up a booking elsewhere in the UK, however a PHV operator can only invite and accept bookings within the area the operator is licenced.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which 20 secondary schools have had the biggest improvement in GCSE results over the last 15 years.

    Nick Gibb

    There is not a consistent metric to measure school performance at Key Stage 4 over this time period. However, the data showing the performance of schools in each of the last 15 years as measured at the time is available at the download data page of the “Compare school and college” website[1].

    [1] https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/download-data

    “

  • Mary Glindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mary Glindon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints relating to the implementation of charging for the 2012 statutory maintenance scheme have been received by (a) the Child Maintenance Service and (b) Child Maintenance Options.

    Priti Patel

    (a) The information requested is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    (b) Child Maintenance Options (CM Options) is a free service that provides impartial information and support to help separated parents make decisions about their child maintenance arrangements. They are also the gateway to the statutory Child Maintenance Service, ensuring parents who wish to access the 2012 Scheme are making a fully informed decision and have considered making their own arrangements first.

    CM Options will provide information on the charging associated with applications made to the 2012 scheme, but any dissatisfaction in relation to collections charges is directed to the Child Maintenance Service to respond.