Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Pensions Regulator will now update its rules on defined benefit (DB) schemes to clarify the legal responsibilities of DB trustees.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Parliament has given the Pensions Regulator operational independence from the Government. It would not, therefore, be appropriate for the Government to comment on such matters. However, we can confirm that the Regulator provides clear guidelines for pension scheme trustees on the requirements for a well-run and well-funded defined benefit scheme, to enable them to meet their legal obligations. These guidelines include a detailed online learning programme for trustees. Trustees must also appoint the right people, including actuaries, auditors, and other appropriate advisers, to help them run their scheme. The Government keeps the Regulator’s role and remit under review.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on opening up school facilities to the local community for use outside the school day.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools play an important role in supporting their local communities and often make land available in various ways for a variety of community uses alongside their core education purpose.

    We support these efforts and the academy funding agreement contains a specific provision stating that “the Academy Trust must ensure that the academy is at the heart of its community, promoting community cohesion and sharing facilities with other schools and the wider community”.

    Decisions on making specific facilities available are for the individual school.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to publish the Local Government Settlement; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government published an historic four year local government finance settlement on 8 February 2016 which was debated by Members of the House on 10 February. We published a technical consultation which confirmed the approach for 2017-18 on 15 September. Councils across England applied for the four year offer by 14 October and the Government will respond as soon as practicable. We intend to publish in the normal way a statutory provisional settlement for 2017-18 that honours the Government’s commitment to the four year offer later this year.

  • Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Kate Osamor – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Osamor on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many complaints about (a) natural gas or (b) inadequate safeguards to detect natural gas have been lodged with councils in the last year.

    James Wharton

    The Department does not hold this information. The Health and Safety Executive collects data on gas related incidents which are reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013.

  • Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken or plans to take on the practice of consuming and selling dog meat for consumption in addition to the steps he set out in the debate in the House on the dog meat trade of 5 November 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Since the debate on 5 November my Department has not received any representations from any diplomatic missions in the UK on the dog meat trade, nor have Ministers made representations to their counterparts abroad. As highlighted during the debate by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), I am contacting our Ambassadors in the countries concerned to review our activities in this area.

    The Government is committed to raising the standards of animal welfare at home and abroad. I raised animal welfare issues during my visit to the region in February and will continue to make representations when appropriate.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the change in the number of civil servants who have had their employment terminated due to absence related to their sickness record has been in each of the last five years.

    Matthew Hancock

    This information is not held centrally. Each employing department operates their own attendance management process and keep their own records.

    The Civil Service strives to improve health and wellbeing at work for our staff and this remains a priority. We have reduced our level of sickness absence over the past five years and continue to actively manage our progress against benchmarking information. However if an employee does not meet the attendance level expected of them then we will take appropriate action, which in some cases might lead to dismissal.

  • 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 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to measure (a) national and (b) local performance on tackling high levels of cholesterol.

    Jane Ellison

    Cholesterol testing in primary care is included in the Quality Outcomes Framework for people diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes and this is published every year by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Public Health England’s (PHE) healthier lives website provides local comparisons of how well cholesterol is being controlled in people with diabetes. The link is below:

    http://healthierlives.phe.org.uk/topic/diabetes

    The Health Survey for England, an annual survey of the general population, has included measurements of total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol every year since 2008. The data is publically available from the UK Data Service.

    In addition, the National Cardiovascular Health Intelligence Network within PHE is working closely with organisations concerned with cardiovascular disease to take forward the recommendations in the recent Heart UK report ‘Helping Us to Beat Cholesterol’. This report focusses on the importance of data in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to assist local authorities renegotiating public-private partnerships.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department offers advice and support directly to individual local authorities and collectively through sector briefings on renegotiation matters. The Department has also worked with Local Partnerships to help them provide advice and assistance to local authorities across a range of Private Finance Initiative Public Private Partnership sector projects.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many e-courts there are in Lancashire.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Excluding one closing court, in Lancashire all criminal courts (4 Crown courts and 6 magistrates’ courts) are equipped to work digitally through services such as in-court evidence presentation, video links, a shared file store, Wi-Fi and a new digital case management system in the Crown courts.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-05-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential value in career development of service by police on international deployments.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The National Police Chiefs’ Council has established the new Joint International Policing Hub to triage requests for international police assistance through a single point. The Hub joins up the police at a national level and with Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is intended to promote the UK model of policing by consent. Decisions on who to recommend to deploy, and where, lies with Chief Constables, in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners.

    As the first professional body for all of policing in England and Wales, the College of Policing develops standards and guidance for policing. The College is considering flexibility and the structure of entry, exit and re-entry of officers. It is also considering routes for officers to gain external experience, such as secondments, as part of the Leadership Review.

    The Government has no plans to publish the details of police, law enforcement specialists and other relevant civilian experts in service in UN operations and at the UN Headquarters. Any personnel deployed as part of a national contingent are listed on the UN website: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/contributors/2016/apr16_4.pdf