Tag: Parliamentary Question

Byron Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Byron Davies on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish all responses received to the Chief Medical Officer’s consultation on the revised alcohol guidelines.

Jane Ellison

As with all consultations of this sort, individual responses to consultations are treated as confidential so not usually published.

However, the Department will provide a summary of all the responses for each of the consultation questions in the Government response to the advice that the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidance.

01/01/2023
Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Pensions Regulator about the length of time it will require to report on the BHS pension scheme; and whether they plan to communicate that information to fund managers.

Lord Freud

The right approach is to allow the Pensions Regulator to get on with its investigations into the use of its anti-avoidance powers. There is a clear legal process that must be followed and this can sometimes take a considerable amount of time. The Pensions Regulator’s Chief Executive has given a commitment that it will have made significant progress by the end of 2016. It has said that when it becomes appropriate to do so it will consider publishing a report of the case under Section 89 of the Pensions Act 2004. The Regulator is independent and Ministers cannot become involved in its decisions on whether or not to exercise its powers or seek to influence its investigations in any way.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of restrictions of water supplies on the humanitarian situation in the West Bank.

Rory Stewart

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs assessed in November 2015 that 400,000 people in the West Bank required humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assistance. UK officials are in regular dialogue with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the UN, World Bank, EU and other development actors on this issue.

DFID is funding UNICEF to lead on developing and updating the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) WASH Sector Contingency Plan at the national level. This brings together the Palestinian Water Authority and other partners to monitor the water situation in the OPTs and ensure preparedness and effective response in case of an emergency.

01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many certificates of travel with a validity of 12 months or less were granted to people with indefinite leave to remain in each year since 2010.

James Brokenshire

Certificates of travel (COT) are normally issued for 5 years to individuals with indefinite leave to remain. COTs may be issued for a shorter duration where

• There are Security or criminality reasons to do so

• The applicant has lost or abused previous documents

• The COT is being issued solely to facilitate the applicant travelling to their country of nationality to obtain a national passport.

• There is an urgent short term need to travel, and the applicant’s embassy cannot process a passport application fast enough.

The table below shows the number of COT valid for 12 months or less where the applicant has ILR for each year since 2010.

This data only counts people who have submitted applications for ILR in country. It excludes people who have ILR on Asylum grounds. The data also excludes any people with an ILR grant which pre dates the Case Information Database.

Year Number of Cases

2010 50

2011 50

2012 15

2013 15

2014 35

01/01/2023
Lord Marlesford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in respect of each police force, they will give details of serving police officers who have been convicted of criminal offences and given custodial sentences during each of the last three years, giving in respect of each officer the name, rank, police force, nature of offence, date of conviction and sentence.

Lord Bates

The Home Office does not currently hold data centrally on police officers who have been convicted of criminal offences. However, as part of the continuing reforms to improve police integrity, the Home Office has introduced a new data collection via the Annual Data Requirement in 2015/16. This requires police forces to provide data to the Home Office on the number of misconduct cases and criminal investigations, as well as the outcomes of these. This data will not contain the names or details of specific officers involved, and will be collected and published at an aggregate level only. The publication date will be announced in advance on the gov.uk statistical release calendar: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements

As I mentioned during the oral question on this topic on 19 November 2015, there is a national “Disapproved Register” of officers struck-off from the police that is managed and maintained by the College of Policing, and available for use by vetting and anti-corruption officers. The College of Policing has begun to publish details of officers who have been added to the struck-off list following a public hearing: http://www.college.police.uk/News/College-news/Pages/Disapproved-Register-.aspx.

In the forthcoming Policing and Criminal Justice Bill, the Government will place this list on a statutory footing and require the College of Policing to maintain a published list of all officers who have been dismissed for Gross Misconduct.

01/01/2023

Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many press and public relations staff are employed by (a) the office of Rail and Road, (b) the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, (c) the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, (d) the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, (e) the Vehicle Certification Agency, (f) the British Transport Police Authority, (g) Directly Operated Railways limited, (h) High Speed 2 Ltd; (i) Highways England, (j) Northern Lighthouse Board, (k) Transport Focus, (l) Trinity House, (m) Civil Aviation Authority and (n) the Airports Commission; how many of those employees are paid more than (i) £50,000 and (ii) £100,000; and what the total expenditure was on press and public relations by each of those organisations in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Some of the information requested for the 14 organisations listed is not held by the Department and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.

However, the number of press and public relations staff currently employed by the Department’s executive agencies is provided in the table below. None of the press and PR staff have a full-time equivalent salary exceeding £50,000.

Press and public relations staff (full-time equivalent )	1 December 2015
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	4
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency	4
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	3.2
Vehicle Certification Agency	Nil
Total	11.2

The total of 11.2 full-time equivalent staff compares to an equivalent figure for these four executive agencies in 2009/10 (with DVSA previously being DSA and VOSA) of 15.5 full-time equivalent staff.

Information on non-pay expenditure on press and public relations services held by the Department for the most recent financial year available is provided in the table below.

Non-pay expenditure on press and public relations services	2014-15 £000s
Office of Rail and Road	108
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency	9
Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency	42
Highways Agency	383
Maritime and Coastguard Agency	169
Vehicle Certification Agency	0
British Transport Police Authority	48
High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd	167
Transport Focus	47
Airport Commission	54

Overall communications expenditure by the Department’s executive agencies in 2014-15 (including salaries) was £19 million lower than in 2009-10. Across Government the government communications profession reduced communications spending by a total of £1 billion during the last Parliament.

01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions his Department has had with NATO on tackling negative reporting on NATO and its member states from Russian media outlets.

Mr Julian Brazier

The UK works closely with NATO Allies to ensure there is close alignment in messaging and communications that demonstrates our joined up and credible alternative narrative to Russian misinformation. NATO communicates with a range of media outlets in the region to provide a balanced view of NATO aims and activities. However in Russia, state-controlled media outlets dominate the information environment and therefore crowd out independent voices.

01/01/2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the agreement reached at the February European Council is not amended by the European Parliament after the date of the EU referendum.

Mr David Lidington

The central element of the agreement is an International Law Decision agreed by the Heads of State or Government of the Member States of the EU and is a binding international treaty. The European Commission has committed to bring forward new legislation where it is needed to implement the UK’s new settlement. These European Commission proposals will be subject to the normal legislative procedures set out in the Treaties. The President and representatives of the major political groups in the European Parliament were consulted on the UK’s new settlement and both Ministers and officials plan furhter contact with MEPs.

01/01/2023
Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on what date an application was submitted for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund to help communities affected by recent floods.

James Wharton

The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. The application included an estimate of eligible costs from Scotland, Wales, Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and the City of York, West Yorkshire, and Northumberland.

Having made this initial application, we are in the process of refining our cost estimations and figures, and will work with the Commission to finalise details.

01/01/2023
Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department measures and demonstrates parity of esteem between mental and physical health in the NHS.

Alistair Burt

The Government accepted the Mental Health Taskforce recommendation to identify the gaps in provision between mental health and physical health and has increased funding for mental health to an estimated £11.7 billion last year and have introduced waiting time standards so people know they will be treated quickly.

This Government continues to hold NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate for the achievement of measurable progress towards the parity of esteem for mental health and clinical commissioning groups are required through the annual planning guidance to increase spending each year on mental health at least in line with the increase in their overall allocation.

In line with practice in physical health, from 1 April 2015, waiting times standards for mental health came into effect for:

– treatment within two weeks for more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis; and

– treatment within six weeks for 75% of people referred to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme, with 95% of people being treated within 18 weeks.

The National Health Service has already achieved waiting time standards for IAPT and we have made changes to the Mental Health Services Dataset to measure performance against the standard for Early Intervention in Psychosis.

01/01/2023