Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers named and shamed by his Department on 5 February 2016 for non-payment of the national minimum wage and found to be owing arrears to a select number of employees subsequently had their whole workforce investigated by HM Revenue and Customs to ascertain if the same practice applied to all other workers employed.

    Nick Boles

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) fully investigate all worker complaints and where they identify arrears of pay, issue a Notice of Underpayment to recover arrears for the complainant. Since 2015, HMRC have also instructed the employer to "self-correct" for all other workers and report the details to HMRC. An assurance process is in place to make sure employers have fully self-corrected. If they do not, and HMRC believes other workers are likely to have been underpaid, the employer will be investigated again.

    HMRC are unable to provide an exact figure for how many of the 92 employers have been investigated beyond the original complaint. The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to consult on proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998.

    Dominic Raab

    We will bring forward proposals for a Bill of Rights, which will replace the Human Rights Act. Our Bill will protect fundamental human rights, but also prevent their abuse and restore some common sense to the system. We will fully consult on our proposals before introducing legislation and will publish our proposals in due course.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support the Government provides to research into the causes and treatment of brain tumours.

    George Freeman

    The Department funds the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to increase the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, drive faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy, and develop and support the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research. NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £135 million in 2014/15 (the latest available figure). Most of this investment (£111 million in 2014/15) is in cancer research infrastructure where spend on specific disease areas such as brain tumours cannot be separated from total infrastructure expenditure. This infrastructure including NIHR biomedical research centres and the NIHR Clinical Research Network.

    The Medical Research Council (MRC) is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. It is an independent research funding body which receives its grant in aid from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The MRC supports research through a range of grants and personal awards to scientists in universities, medical schools and other research institutes and welcomes investigator-initiated research proposals in all areas of research relevant to human health. Between 2010/11 to 2014/15 the MRC spent £10.9 million supporting research into brain and pituitary tumours, spanning basic discovery science, translational projects to progress treatments to clinics and early clinical trials.

    More brain tumour research is needed and, as announced on 18 April, Official Report, columns 258-59WH, I will be convening a working group of clinicians, charities and officials to discuss how working together with our research funding partners, we can address this.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM hosts major summit as part of global drive to expose, publish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, whether he plans to publish information on the ownership of property in the UK owned by foreign companies.

    Anna Soubry

    At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult on the detail of the policy later this year. The Prime Minister has committed to a publicly accessible register of foreign company beneficial ownership on which we plan to consult in due course.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to recruit specialist staff to facilitate the re-opening of the Antelope Centre in Southampton; by what date he plans for those staff to be recruited; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    These are matters for the National Health Service. NHS Improvement advises that the majority of patients requiring Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) care during the period of closure of the PICU at Antelope House will receive this at the Huntercombe unit in Roehampton, London.

    The Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which provides services at Antelope House, is working with partners to provide PICU bed capacity on another site for an interim period of eight months by redistributing staff from the PICU to the hospital’s other two wards. NHS Improvement further advises that the recruitment focus will be on addressing the root causes of staffing issues.

    The Antelope House team has begun talking to patients, carers and family members to make sure they are fully aware of decisions that affect them.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Reporting Council’s operating and enforcement procedures for reviewing corporate disclosures in deterring companies from breaking the law on such disclosures.

    Margot James

    The government consulted on its plans to reform the structure and content of the non-financial (narrative) section of the annual report and accounts in 2011. As part of this consultation, the government asked about the remit of the Financial Reporting Council, especially the Financial Reporting Review Panel, now known as the Conduct Committee.

    As part of their work to monitor compliance with the legal requirements concerning disclosure, the Conduct Committee publishes an annual report summarising the activity and findings of their review function. This annual activity report can be viewed from the FRC website:

    https://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Corporate-Governance-Reporting/Corporate-Reporting-Review/Annual-activity-reports.aspx

    “

  • Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time was for patients assigned to cognitive behavioural therapy on 1 October in each year since 2010 in (a) the UK, (b) London, (c) each London borough and (d) each health trust in London.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Warner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-11-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the resource Departmental Expenditure Count figure for the NHS in 2016–17, set out in Table 2.9 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, includes provision for a rolled forward overspend from 2015–16; and if not, how any such overspend will be treated.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Department of Health has plans in place to manage Trust deficits in 2015-16 within the overall health budget.

    The agreed Spending Review funding supports the NHS’s own detailed assessment of pressures over the Parliament – including from an ageing and growing population. In 2016-17 total NHS funding will increase by £3.8bn in real terms, equivalent to a 3.6 per cent real terms increase.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has discussed the declaration of an ‘Islamic State’ by the government of the Gambia with that government; and what assurances he has received from that government on the protection of religious freedoms in that country.

    James Duddridge

    The British Embassy in Banjul has regular contact with the Gambian government but has not yet discussed the recent declaration of an Islamic State in The Gambia with President Jammeh. However, President Jammeh has publicly stated that this decision will have no impact on other religions in the country. The Gambia has a proud history of religious and ethnic tolerance, which we expect to continue.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2016 to Question 22432, what measure the Director of the Serious Fraud Office uses to judge actual or potential economic harm.

    Robert Buckland

    The Criminal Justice Act 1987 provides that “The Director may investigate any suspected offence which appears to him on reasonable grounds to involve serious or complex fraud.”

    Each case is assessed on its own facts and merits.

    The Statement of Principle sets out some of the factors that the Director will take into account when considering the matter for investigation. All of these will be considered, and there is no minimum requirement or measure in respect of the different factors.

    Each on its own or taken in combination can establish sufficient grounds for the Director to decide that the case is sufficiently large, complex or of wide public interest that it should be dealt with by the Serious Fraud Office.