Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the (a) most recent environmental risk assessment for bound use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks, (b) exposure levels of dioxins and heavy metals in the air when the blocks were cut, drilled or crushed in buildings and (c) scientific methodology used for measuring these levels.

    Rory Stewart

    In 2012 the Environment Agency’s Definition of Waste panel gave a positive end of waste opinion to the company Carbon8 for the use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks. The company’s submission included their own risk assessment for safety and environmental impacts. We have not published, and do not intend to publish, information on the risks or the methodology relating to the binding of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will commission an independent review into the sentencing regime for imprisonment for public protection which will involve those criminal justice agencies that manage the sentence and incorporate the experiences of prisoners and their families.

    Andrew Selous

    The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders 2012, abolished the sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) and introduced a new sentencing scheme for dangerous offenders.

    In respect of IPP sentences already imposed, the government considered that it would not be right or appropriate retrospectively to alter sentences that had been lawfully imposed, particularly because in this case those sentences were imposed with public protection issues in mind.

    Significant numbers of IPP prisoners continue to be released where the Parole Board is satisfied that they can be safely managed in the community, but other prisoners currently remain too high risk to be released. It is a priority for us to help remaining IPP prisoners progress towards release, by ensuring that their parole reviews take place on time, through greater efficiency in the parole process, and by giving their opportunity to complete relevant interventions and work in order to demonstrate reduced risk to the Parole Board.

  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve co-ordination of care for heart failure patients across primary and secondary care.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is working with key partners to ensure better co-ordination and integration of all services with the aim of delivering person-centred and coordinated care which is tailored to the needs and preferences of the individual, their carer and family.

    Specifically on heart failure, NHS England is working with Health Education England to look at ways of improving the provision of and increase access to echocardiography, which is used for the diagnosis of heart failure.

    NHS England has also established a best practice tariff for acute heart failure. This aims to encourage better practice in the caring for heart failure patients. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published quality standards for acute heart failure and chronic heart failure, which can be found at:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/QS9

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs103

    NHS England expects commissioners and providers to take account of quality standards in the services that are delivered to patients.

    The use of natriuretic peptides in diagnosing heart failure is widely understood and pathology laboratories are used to measuring them. The NICE’s guidance on acute heart failure and chronic heart failure both cover the use of natriuretic peptides. This guidance can be found at:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg108

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg187

    The NICE has also developed a commissioning toolkit for the use of natriuretic peptides assessment in primary care for suspected heart failure:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/sharedlearning/a-commissioning-toolkit-for-use-of-natriuretic-peptide-assessment-for-suspected-heart-failure-in-primary-care

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  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of removing the protected status of seagulls in urban areas on local authorities’ ability to manage seagull populations more effectively.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Defra has not undertaken such an assessment. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 already allows for the control of gulls, under licence from Natural England, in the interest of public health and safety or to prevent disease. Local authorities, businesses and individuals are also able to take action to manage urban gull populations e.g. using bins with secured lids, ensuring domestic animals are not fed outside and that streets are clear of litter.

  • Mrs Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mrs Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how and when the Community and Environment Fund and Business and Local Economy Fund allocated to the route of High Speed 2 Phase One will become available.

    Andrew Jones

    We anticipate the Community and Environment, and Business and Local Economy funds will be open for applications in early 2017 at which point guidance on the application process will be published.

  • Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alasdair McDonnell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he expects revenue to be generated to the public purse from the sale of assets, buildings and land in Northern Ireland during 2015-16; and if so for what amount.

    Greg Hands

    The devolved administrations have the capacity to generate income from asset sales and should do so where this is a sensible way of realising value for taxpayers and freeing up resources for investment.

    The Government has committed to securing good value for money for taxpayers by establishing UK Government Investments to deliver the sale of a wide range of publicly-owned assets.

    The Stormont House Agreement contains specific measures whereby the Treasury would allow the Northern Ireland Executive to retain the proceeds of specific agreed asset sales in their entirety, and give exceptional consideration to those funds being used for a combination of both capital and resource spending.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who receive mental health assessments on entering care; and what assessment he has made of recent trends in such figures.

    Alistair Burt

    Data is not collected nationally on the number of children entering care who receive a mental health assessment.

    Local authorities are responsible for making sure that a health assessment is carried out for every child they look after when they start to be looked after. The care planning regulations specify that this should include an assessment of the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Department for Education annually collects data from local authorities on the numbers of children continuously looked after for at least 12 months at 31 March who received their statutory annual health assessment during the year. At 31 March 2014, 88.4% of these looked-after children did so.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will update his Department’s travel advice guidance on the safety of women travellers to (a) Germany and (b) Austria to take account of recent events in those countries.

    Mr David Lidington

    The FCO’s travel advice is kept under constant review, and is based on objective assessments of the risk to British nationals.

    Our current advice for Germany can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany

    Our current advice for Austria can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/austria

    While we condemn the criminal behaviour seen in Cologne and on a smaller scale in Hamburg, Salzburg and elsewhere on New Year’s Eve, we do not assess that this is now the standard of behaviour to expect at all public gatherings in Germany or Austria. In addition, the authorities are taking action to ensure that such attacks are not repeated.

    We advise all travellers and British nationals resident in Germany and Austria to monitor our travel advice regularly.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average age was of first time buyers was in each London borough in (a) 2010 and (b) the last year for which figures are available.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does not record or collect this information at London borough level.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much her Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The cost of Employment Tribunals can be found within the HMCTS annual accounts published at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433948/hmcts-annual-report-accounts-2014-15.pdf.

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