Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the average cost to the public purse of a parliamentary by-election since 2010.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The average (mean) cost to the public purse of a Parliamentary by-election since 2010 is £228,964. This comprises two main elements: the costs incurred by Returning Officers in running the poll; and the cost of delivering election mailings produced by candidates. The costs of running the three most recent by-elections, for which the Returning Officer’s expenses have not yet been settled, have not been factored into this average figure.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contracts her Department has entered into with charter flight companies for the deportation of non-UK citizens to their country of origin.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office has a contract for the delivery of Travel Services with Carlson Wagonlit Travel Limited, which includes the provision of charter flights. The contract runs from 1st May 2010 and expires on 30th April 2017.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers who pay the proposed apprenticeship levy and provide training will be able to use levy vouchers in their own organisations.

    Nick Boles

    Employers will be free to spend levy money on apprenticeships training which they judge best meets their needs. If the employer is a registered training provider, they could use the levy money on in-house training which meets the required quality standards for an apprenticeship.

    Where an employer wishes to provide their own in-house training, they must be registered on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Training Organisations. All providers are subject to inspection and reports by Ofsted on apprenticeship training provision.

  • Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures are in place to ensure that the appropriate health services, mental health services and sexual health services are available to asylum seekers dispersed to (a) current dispersal areas, (b) new dispersal areas and (c) Scotland.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office maintains an active partnership with local governments across the UK, including those in Scotland, and funds Strategic Migration Partnerships to plan for the most appropriate dispersal of asylum seekers. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments to dispersal patterns can be made where appropriate.

    Free access to NHS healthcare is provided to asylum seekers. Asylum Health Teams are commissioned by NHS England and Scotland to provide healthcare and screening. Strategic Migration Partnerships work with Care Commissioning Groups to plan for the health care needs of asylum seekers in their regions.

    All children are entitled to free primary and secondary education. To enable access to education, internal checks are in place to triage applications involving children of school age for priority dispersal into permanent accommodation. Strategic Migration Partnerships discuss education provision as part of their local authority engagement. Asylum seekers are able to access legal advice via the Legal Aid system and are provided details of local solicitors as part of their induction into their dispersal region.

    Local authorities are consulted before asylum seekers are placed in their area, so that the potential impact on communities and local services is fully considered. During discussions on widening dispersal in Scotland we are and will continue to ensure that Local Authority leads and partners on health and education, as well as the Scottish Government and the Scottish Law Society, are involved to address any concerns and to ensure the close and successful partnership working in Glasgow is replicated elsewhere.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the UN on forced organ harvesting in China.

    Alok Sharma

    The Government has no plans to make representations to the UN on organ harvesting in China. We pay close attention to the human rights situation in China, including allegations of organ harvesting and encourage China to implement its public commitment to stop the use of organs from prisoners. Our current assessment of the human rights situation in China can be found in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 44948, what the ratio of (a) nurses and (b) midwives is to administrators in the NHS.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The ratio of nurses to administrators in the National Health Service is 2.6:1. The number of nurses includes health visitors as they are qualified and registered nurses.

    The ratio of midwives to administrators in the NHS is 1:5.1.

  • Mims Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Mims Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mims Davies on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people are in receipt of a war widow or widower pension.

    Mark Lancaster

    As at 31 March 2015, the latest date for which data was available, the number of people in receipt of a War Widow or Widower Pension was 20,535.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Caroline Lucas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how he takes account of the wellbeing of children in agreeing the activities which lone parents are required to undertake as part of their action plan or claimant commitment.

    Priti Patel

    The claimant commitment, which Work Coaches put together with claimants, sets requirements that are tailored for a broad range of circumstances, including for matters relating to the wellbeing of children. These reasonable requirements are recorded within the jobseeker’s agreement or action plan.

    Where appropriate, the claimant commitment may limit the hours lone parents claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance are available for work to a minimum of 16 hours a week based on their caring responsibilities.

    In addition, lone parents with children aged 12 or under have the right to restrict their availability for work and work-related activities to their children’s normal school or early education hours.

  • 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 carers.

    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 Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5039), whether they are now able to say whether a stated aim of the recently approved application by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 was, and remains, to better understand why miscarriages occur in some pregnancies; and if not, whether the description of that research that will be made public will disclose the specific assay the researchers concerned had proposed using to determine whether embryos subjected to gene editing might be either able or unable to implant in a womb.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes on its website the inspection report relating to a licence renewal application and the minutes of the Licence Committee’s decision. It does not publish other information associated with a licence application.

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) permits the genetic modification of embryos in research, subject to an HFEA licence. As the regulator, the HFEA’s responsibility is to apply the test in the legislation, namely that the research is necessary or desirable for any of the purposes specified in the Act and that the use of embryos is necessary. The Licence Committee has added a condition to the licence that no research using genome editing may take place until it has received approval from an NHS Research Ethics Committee.