Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 11786 and the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10360, on universal credit, whether a box for universal credit exists on NHS charges claim forms.

    Alistair Burt

    Some NHS Help with Health Costs claim forms, for example HC5 refund claim forms, have been amended to include a specific tick box to enable Universal Credit recipients to claim entitlement.

    Form HC1 (NHS Low Income Scheme application form) has been amended to include a sentence about Universal Credit, to advise those applying that until 31 October 2015, anyone in receipt of Universal Credit does not need to complete the form, as they will already be entitled to Help with Health Costs.

    Other forms, including: NHS prescription forms (FP10); dental treatment claim forms (FP17) and claims for NHS funded sight tests (GOS 1) and for vouchers for glasses or contact lenses (GOS 3) will be amended to include a Universal Credit box in due course.

    A patient can make a claim for entitlement by ticking the “gets income based Jobseekers Allowance” on relevant forms. Guidance for both the public and healthcare practitioners (such as pharmacists, dentist and opticians) has been included on NHS Choices with links from the Universal Credit webpages on Gov.uk.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what year they estimate that the electrification of the rail line from Cardiff to Swansea will be completed.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Sir Peter Hendy’s report to the Secretary of State on the 25 November 2015 outlined the re-profiling of the electrification of Great Western Route, and confirmed the electrification of the rail line from Cardiff to Swansea is expected to be completed within Control Period 6. This project is at an early stage of development and no single option has been identified. Network Rail continues to develop this vital scheme.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what costs have been incurred by the NHS Commissioning Board, Commissioning Support Units and Clinical Commissioning Groups in conducting the Lead Provider Framework procurement process to date, including those spent on external advisers and employed staff time.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The total costs incurred by the NHS Commissioning Board in conducting the Lead Provider Framework procurement process amount to £551,000, which includes staff costs, external legal costs and costs associated with the sizable evaluation panel.

    The NHS Commissioning Board provides expert procurement and legal support to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in order to run their procurement through the Lead Provider Framework. Any costs incurred providing this support are covered by a management fee that the NHS Commissioning Board collects from any successful provider.

    This helps minimise the costs incurred by CCGs when running competitions from the framework. As of December 2015, total Commissioning Support Units spend was £8.4 million with a further £1.4 million identified as future known commitments to year end.

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

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Members of the House of Lords are sponsors of academies in England.

    Edward Timpson

    A list of approved academy sponsors is published by the Department for Education on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-sponsor-contact-list. A hard copy provided at attachment 1.

    The Department does not specifically collect information about the involvement of members of the House of Lords in academy sponsorship.

    “

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many long-term unemployed people have been helped back into work through the Help to Work scheme in each of the last five years.

    Priti Patel

    The information as requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Published information available on Help to Work shows the number of programme referrals and Community Work Placement starts and can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-work-quarterly-statistics

    This covers the period from April 2014 (when the programme started) to September 2015 inclusive.

    “

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of Amnesty International’s report Trapped in Greece: an avoidable refugee Crisis of April 2016, in particular concerning the EU and the Dublin III Regulations on Family Reunion.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    There is no official estimate of the number of children in Calais; this is primarily a matter for the French authorities. It is only possible to assess whether an individual has links to the UK that could enable a transfer on family unity grounds once they make an application for asylum in France.

    Once an asylum claim is lodged in another Member State, the Dublin Regulation procedure requesting the UK to take charge of a child on family unity grounds can take place very quickly, often in a matter of weeks, subject to consideration of the evidence in each individual case.

    Since February 2016 the UK has accepted 30 requests from France under the Dublin Regulation to take charge of asylum seeking children on family grounds of which 23 have already been transferred to the UK. We are working closely with the French Government and NGOs, including on a joint communications campaign to inform migrants of their options and we provided a senior UK asylum official to the French Government who has put processes in place to support an efficient procedure.

  • Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Turner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Turner on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has set a timetable for returning foreign national offenders remaining in UK prisons and communities to their countries of origin.

    James Brokenshire

    We aim to deport foreign national offenders at the earliest opportunity. We have removed 30,000 foreign national offenders since 2010, including 5,692 in the year 2015-16: the highest number since records began.

  • Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tommy Sheppard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2016-07-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to process tax credits claims for terminally ill people; and if he will consider introducing a fast track system as applied to claims for other allowances.

    Mr David Gauke

    HMRC provide a tailored support service for vulnerable customers. If a customer who is terminally ill advises HMRC that they require extra help, HMRC’s ‘Needs Enhanced Support’ team will help the customer throughout the claims procedure, accelerating the process where appropriate.

    There are no current plans for HMRC to introduce a specific fast track service for tax credit customers who are terminally ill.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an estimate of the effect on smoker mortality levels as a result of people giving up smoking by using electronic vaping devices in each of the last three years.

    Nicola Blackwood

    No such estimate has been made.

    The Government recognises that e-cigarettes can help some smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. Data on the long term harms of these products is not available and it is not clear how many users will go on to give up vaping as well. Smokers who continue to use tobacco alongside vaping will not benefit from the harm reduction offered by sole use of e-cigarettes.

    Data from Action on Smoking and Health indicates that around 2.8 million adults in Great Britain currently use electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Of these e-cigarette users, approximately 1.3 million are ex-smokers while 1.4 million continue to use tobacco alongside their e-cigarette use. In 2014, two thirds of e-cigarette users continued to use tobacco and one third were ex-smokers. This indicates that, of those using e-cigarettes, an increasing proportion no longer use tobacco and are only vaping.

  • Lord Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent reports about VAT fraud by online traders operating from abroad, whether they plan to require HM Revenue and Customs to work closely with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute in tackling such tax evasion, in particular through Amazon’s and eBay’s online marketplaces.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs is actively targeting operational and intelligence activity to tackle this problem. This involves working closely with a number of external bodies, including Trading Standards.