Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Office of Rail and Road on improving those practices of train operating companies which relate to compensation for delays.

    Claire Perry

    The Office of Rail and Road (ORR)’s response to the Which? super complaint into passenger compensation, published in March this year, included consideration of the regulatory landscape and other government interventions. As a result of this investigation, the ORR plans to publish a revised regulatory statement in June this year to clarify the requirements on train companies to provide good information about compensation in the event of delays, to support future enforcement of the “Information for Passengers” license condition.

    My Department is working closely with the ORR and the Association of Train Operating Companies to bring about improvements to passenger compensation. The Department for Transport will respond to the ORR’s report into the Which? super complaint in the summer of 2016.

  • Baroness Greengross – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Greengross – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Greengross on 2016-05-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 26 April (HL7576), why the current section 7a public health functions agreement does not include performance indicators for the provision of pneumococcal vaccination to severely immunocompromised children aged at least five years and adults, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in July 2013.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The performance indicators included in the 2016-17 S7A public health functions agreement do not reflect every activity which is carried out under the agreement.

    As I stated in my answer of 26 April, the provision of pneumococcal vaccination to severely immunocompromised children aged at least five years and adults, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in July 2013, is reflected in the relevant service specification for the existing pneumococcal immunisation programme and within the document Immunisation against Infectious Diseases (‘the Green Book’). The Green Book is published on the GOV.UK website in an online only format.

    A copy of the service specification on the pneumococcal immunisation programme is attached.

  • John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    John Spellar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Spellar on 2016-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will take steps to ensure that her Department’s purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.

    Amber Rudd

    The Department’s purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure UK suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with with Guy Verhofstadt on the UK’s exit from the EU.

    Mr David Jones

    The Prime Minister has been clear we will not give a running commentary on Brexit negotiations. We will ensure that we engage closely with all relevant interlocutors.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what procedures her Department has in place to assess at the conclusion of any animal experiment whether the severity level expected by researchers before the experiment corresponded to what the actual severity level was.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office has published detailed guidance (see: Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986), which describes the requirements the Home Office places on researchers in the assessment of retrospective severity. At the end of a series of regulated procedures the project licence holder is required to classify the actual severity of the series of procedures carried out using observations taken from the animals during day-to-day monitoring. This information has to be reported to the Home Office annually, and at the conclusion of a programme of work, and following implementation of 2010/63 EU was published for the first time in the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2014.

    Where appropriate, Home Office Inspectors cross-check and assess these records against the severity categories set out in project licences.

    All project licences using non-human primates, cats, dogs and equidae, all those involving procedures classified as severe as well as those for education and training purposes or using endangered animals, are also required to be assessed retrospectively. In such cases, the Secretary of State requires an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body to conduct the retrospective assessment, which has to be submitted to the Home Office within three months in order that an inspector can complete the assessment on behalf of the Secretary of State.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Sarah Wollaston – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make one of the qualifying criteria for children under three years of age to access the mobility component of the disability living allowance possession of a blue badge by either of a child’s parents.

    Justin Tomlinson

    I refer the honourable lady to the answer provided to her on 2 November (13660).

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment his Department has carried out on the effects of reductions in the universal credit work allowance on (a) working families and (b) people’s ability to take on part-time work.

    Priti Patel

    The impact of the work allowance change cannot be considered in isolation – it is part of a broader package of measures announced at the Summer Budget, such as the increase to the personal tax allowance and introduction of the national living wage, which strengthens incentives to find work and better paid jobs.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 January (HL Deb, col 1405), what is the estimated cost of the next two years’ work by Network Rail that has now been cancelled on (1) the stabilisation of the cliff between Parsons and Teignmouth, and (2) breakwaters, groynes and revetments in the Dawlish area; and what are the new estimated completion dates for those works.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    No work on this study has been cancelled. Network Rail is currently progressing the Exeter to Newton Abbot geo-environmental study on the existing route via Dawlish to explore options which will reduce the chances of future route failure. The work will produce a short-list of options for further strengthening of the existing railway from Control Period 6 (CP6) (2019 to 2024) and beyond. It is due to be fully complete in May 2016 and will feed into the funding deliberations for CP6 and beyond.

    Plans for Control Period 6 will be defined through the standard industry planning processes. These will take into account the recommendations of the Bowe and Shaw reviews and the re-profiling carried out by Sir Peter Hendy, along with the views of both PRTF and Network Rail .This process is led by Network Rail, with input from a wide range of stakeholders and funders, and covers the needs of each 5-year Rail Investment Strategy (RIS) with consideration of longer term requirements up to 2043.

  • Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their planned pharmacy cuts on patients and health services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020-21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

    NHS England has a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services across England and will ensure that duty continues to be met, including in respect of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which bus operators his Department has had discussions with on the Buses Bill; and how many meetings his Department has had with each of those bus operators.

    Andrew Jones

    Bus operators attended a series of workshops in the Autumn of last year, and since then officials have engaged, on a regular basis, with both large and small bus operators via the Confederation of Passenger Transport and the Association of Local Bus Company Managers.