Tag: Parliamentary Question

Bob Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Blackman on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Bangladesh on tackling increasing levels of violence against minority Hindu communities in that country.

Alok Sharma

The British Government is extremely concerned by the increase in extremist-related violence against a number of minority groups including Hindus in Bangladesh since September 2015. The former Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) most recently talked to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh about countering extremism in the margins of the G7 meeting in Japan on 27 May. The former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire) raised this with Foreign Minister Ali on 5 July. The British High Commissioner regularly discusses these issues with Bangladesh government ministers. We welcome Prime Minister Hasina’s “zero tolerance” approach towards terrorism, but this must be implemented in a way that fully respects the international rights standards that Bangladesh has signed up to and which, as a member of both the Commonwealth and the UN Human Rights Council, it has pledged to uphold.

01/01/2023

Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the most recent rating by the Care Quality Commission was of each Ambulance Trust.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. Following an inspection the CQC rate providers on a four point scale running from outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. In addition to an aggregate rating at a provider level, the CQC produces ratings for individual services and locations. The CQC has provided the following information:

The CQC began its new inspection approach in September 2013. Since then the CQC has undertaken a comprehensive first rating inspection at all National Health Service trusts it committed to; non-specialist acute trusts, community trusts, mental health trusts, ambulances and specialist acute trusts. The deadlines for each were met, namely, March 2016 for acute non-specialists and June 2016 for the other commitments. As all inspections for ambulance trusts have been completed, the majority of inspection reports have been published. Those that are not yet published are undergoing the factual accuracy process and will be published by the end of 2016.

The table below sets out the 10 NHS ambulance trusts that are registered with CQC, their overall rating (where applicable) and the date the inspection report was published.

Registered ambulance trusts¹ with overall rating under new inspection regime where applicable (as at 11 October 2016)

Provider Name	Latest overall rating	Publication date
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Requires improvement	21 August 2015
London Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Inadequate	27 November 2015
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Requires improvement	10 May 2016
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Requires improvement	9 August 2016
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust	Good	20 September 2016
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust	Inadequate	29 September 2016
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust	Requires improvement	6 October 2016
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust	Report not yet published	To be confirmed
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust	Report not yet published	To be confirmed
West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust	Report not yet published	To be confirmed

¹ Registered NHS Healthcare Organisation providers and active NHS Healthcare Organisation locations with primary inspection category of Ambulance Service. Ratings supplied are the overall for the trust, not that specific to Patient Transport Services. In addition, one trust, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, has a rating for Patient Transport Services but is excluded from the data supplied because it is not an ambulance trust.

01/01/2023

Tom Pursglove – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Department does not actively collect information around trade union memberships.

The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 at and is available athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time."

“

01/01/2023
Holly Lynch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Calder Valley Line will be used as a diversion during the electrification of the Manchester to Leeds via Stalybridge line; and what assessment he has made of the merits of those diverted trains calling at Sowerby Bridge.

Andrew Jones

As announced on 30 September, Network Rail are working with the Department and Rail North to develop a new plan for electrification of the TransPennine line to focus on delivering key passenger benefits as quickly as possible. In his letter to the Secretary of State, Sir Peter Hendy, the chairman of Network Rail, stated that the planning of this work will be concluded by the end of 2017. The intention is to use the Calder Valley Line as a diversion during the works on the North Transpennine Line via Stalybridge. The details of the calling patterns of the diverted trainsare not yet determined, as the works need to be planned first. The Department and Rail North will work with the new train operators over the next few years to plan the calling patterns. The new train operators will take over from April 2016.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential costs and benefits to business of changes to motor insurance proposed in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Harriett Baldwin

The Ministry of Justice will launch a public consultation in the New Year on the details of the policy.

01/01/2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made on the effect of the visa refund fee scheme on the number of Chinese people visiting the UK.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office has made no assessment of the effect of the visa refund fee scheme because it is operated by Visit Britain on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

01/01/2023
Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department is having with NHS England on ensuring patients continuing access established precision treatments for colorectal cancer.

George Freeman

We are not aware of any discussions with NHS England on this matter.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, reference to her speech of 18 November 2015, if she will take evidence from the CoalImP and the World Coal Association in her Department’s forthcoming review of coal; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced in her speech that the department will be launching a consultation on proposals to close unabated coal generation by 2025. Coallmp, the World Coal Association and any other interested parties are encouraged to engage and respond.

01/01/2023
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, what the reasons are for the reduction in the proportion of his Department’s budget spent with small and medium-sized enterprises between 2013 and 2015.

Anna Soubry

It is an established convention that Ministers of one Administration cannot see the documents of a previous Administration. I am therefore unable to provide the information requested by the hon Member.

However, the Department continues to improve its data collection so that the full extent of indirect spending with SMEs is captured, working closely with the Crown Commercial Service and prime contractors. The Department actively explores the possibility of contracting directly with SMEs throughout its procurement processes whilst adhering to the relevant public procurement regulations.

01/01/2023
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 arrangements have been made to guarantee access to legal representation for an asylum claim for 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.

01/01/2023