The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what value and proportion of central government procurement was made by each department in each year since 2010.
Matthew Hancock
Total central government procurement spend is published as part of the annual reporting of spend with small and medium-sized businesses at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2014-to-2015
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what timetable is in place for the publication of the new National Litter Strategy.
Rory Stewart
Defra and the Department for Communities and Local Government have started work on a litter strategy to improve the way we all tackle the scourge of litter. We will publish the strategy as soon as we can and a great deal of work will be taken forward in the coming months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to close attainment gaps between the best and worst performing local authority areas as judged by GCSE and A Level results.
Nick Gibb
Our recent White Paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, set out our intention to place a new focus on ‘Achieving Excellence Areas’ where too few children have access to a good school and there are insufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders and sponsors. By doing this we will enable the school-led system to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement.
We want to eradicate the pockets of underperformance in our school system and will do so by targeting the Department for Education’s programmes in the areas of greatest need. We intend to pilot this approach from September 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Theresa Villiers on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the pollution of urban waterways caused by the misconnection of household drainage pipes.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
I recognise that misconnection of household drainage pipes can cause problems in urban areas. Defra and the Environment Agency have been working with water companies to highlight and target areas of greatest risk. Water companies that have a greater risk of pollution have also allocated resources for dealing with misconnections over the next five years.
Defra and the Environment Agency are working with Water and Sewerage Companies and the Consumer Council for Water through a National Misconnections Strategy Group (NMSG) to develop good practice for the industry, as well as looking at measures to limit misconnections being made in the first place. We see that continued proactive communication direct with customers, white goods manufacturers and trade organisations, is a key preventative tool.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the NHS England moratorium on the commissioning of new specialised mental health services imposed in 2013 has been lifted; and if he will make a statement.
Nicola Blackwood
NHS England is reviewing the provision of specialised beds for adult secure mental health services, tier 4 child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and perinatal mental health services. NHS England is expected to start a procurement process soon to ensure that the provision of mental health beds across the country supports improved access and care close to home where possible.
Since 2013 NHS England has continued to commission additional specialised mental health beds to provide further capacity in areas where it is required. This has included 56 tier 4 CAMHS beds, seven perinatal mental health beds and two medium secure mental health services beds.
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health made recommendations for improving the commissioning of inpatient specialised mental health services, including national commissioners working more closely with local commissioners to better meet the needs of local populations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to meet the UK’s international obligations to refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria, other than by supporting countries in that region.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The Prime Minister’s consistent focus has been on providing a comprehensive solution to the refugee crisis. He has reiterated the need for the EU to deal with the root causes of the crisis, not just respond to the consequences. The UK has committed more than £1.1 bn – the largest ever UK response to a humanitarian crisis. This goes to those in need inside Syria and the region. The Prime Minister announced on 8 September that the UK would resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years. This will build on an existing scheme for Syrians designed to support refugees based on their vulnerability. The UK has provided financial assistance (£3.6 million/€5 million per year for two years) to fund a project aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in the migrant camps in Calais. We continue to provide practical support to frontline Member States (particularly Greece), including to support them in securing the EU external border. The Department for International Development announced a £5 million package to the Start Network, a group of humanitarian organisations, to provide emergency relief supplies for refugees and migrants in Greece, Serbia and Macedonia. Overall funding to the Europe wide response, which is not allocated to specific countries is £6,050,000. Of this £550,000 is allocated to International Federation of Red Cross and £500,000 to the Civil Protection Mechanism.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) apprentice ratings and (b) officer cadets the Royal Fleet Auxiliary has trained in each year since 2009-10.
Mr Julian Brazier
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) started an Apprentice scheme with Ratings in 2015 and so far 50 apprentices have started training.
The numbers of Officer Cadets the RFA has trained in each year since 2009-10 are as follows:
|
2009-10 |
25 |
|
2010-11 |
25 |
|
2011-12 |
25 |
|
2012-13 |
25 |
|
2013-14 |
25 |
|
2014-15 |
25 |
|
2015-16 |
30 (to date) |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the decline in the broadcast of free-to-air sport on the accessibility of sport to young people.
Tracey Crouch
Our ‘Sporting Future’ strategy, published in December, 2015 highlighted the importance of sport being available for the public to enjoy, whether live or on television, radio or online. We encourage National Governing Bodies and other rights holders to sign up to the accessibility principle of the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Broadcasting of Major Sporting Events, which ensures as wide access as possible to free to air sport.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Leader of the House when was the most recent time that she gave guidance to the Northern Ireland Office on the importance of answering parliamentary written questions in full, providing all the information requested.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
As Leader of the House, I regularly stress to departments the importance of giving full and timely answers to Questions for Written Answer. The content of each answer is a matter for the Minister concerned, and each Minister is responsible to the House for the answers they provide. That direct accountability is important: that is why Ministers in this House must provide personally signed answers to members.
The Ministerial Code says that “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament”. It also makes clear that “Ministers should be as open as possible with Parliament and the public, refusing to provide information only when disclosure would not be in the public interest”. In addition, there is a longstanding rule of this House that all answers should be complete and comprehensible. I shall continue to make this guidance clear to all Ministers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the legal opinion by Michael Bowsher QC and Azeem Suterwalla on the potential effect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.
Anna Soubry
We have recently been provided with legal advice commissioned by Unite the Union and are considering the points raised by it.
Over several decades the UK and EU have signed numerous trade agreements. These treaties have helped both UK and EU businesses grow and create high quality jobs. They have also ensured that it remains for the UK to decide how our public services are run.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be no different. Decisions on how to deliver public services for the best outcomes for UK citizens are and will be made by UK governments, not our trade partners. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, the European Commission and the US Government have all confirmed this. The NHS is not at risk from TTIP or any other trade and investment agreement.