The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2015-11-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what dates officers of the Metropolitan Police Service trained officers of the Security Support Department of the Abu Dhabi Police; how many such officers were trained; what the content of that training was; and whether that training included training on human rights issues.
Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold the information asked for.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to release Cabinet papers for the 1986-1988 period to the National Archives.
Matthew Hancock
Cabinet papers for the period 1986-1989 1988have already been transferred to the National Archives. Transparency is at the heart of this Government’s agenda and we are publishing unprecedented amounts of information.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department’s plans are for the procurement of IT and digital services beyond the end dates of its current contracts.
Justin Tomlinson
The Department anticipates a shift in the way in which citizens will engage with the Department – with greater digital interaction in the future. Digital Technology, Data and Security capabilities are a key enabler of this shift. The department initiates on an ongoing basis a number of procurement exercises using open competitions under the EU Procurement Directives and call-off competitions under Government Frameworks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Metcalfe on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) human resources, (b) communications, (c) grant administration, (d) building and estates management and (e) other administrative functions are shared by the seven research councils; and which such services are delivered independently by each research council.
Joseph Johnson
The seven Research Councils currently operate their own corporate functions, with separate Human Resources, Finance, Communications and IT operations.
The Research Councils are working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on a new digital grants system and common technology platform.
The Research Councils share a number of services including a main campus in Swindon at Polaris House; access to the London base of the Medical Research Council (MRC); and Internal Audit and Assurance functions, which are hosted by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). BBSRC also operate the estates and facilities management of Polaris House.
All seven Councils have their transactional HR, finance, payroll, systems and grants administration provided by UK Shared Business Services and six of the seven Councils share a pension scheme and its administration, with MRC running its own pension scheme.
The Government is implementing Sir Paul Nurse’s report, which recommended an evolution of the Research Councils into a formal organisation with a single Accounting Officer. Sir Paul advised that a new Research UK body could support the whole system to collectively become more than the sum of its parts, including by simplifying transactional operations, reducing the burden of administration currently placed on each individual Research Council, and enabling a stronger focus on multi-disciplinary research. We also want to strengthen collaboration between the research base and the commercialisation of discoveries in the business community and this is why we are looking to integrate Innovate UK into Research UK. Innovate UK will retain its clear business focus and separate funding stream.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Higgins on 2016-03-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the increase in road congestion and the construction of Cycle Superhighways in London, how they will ensure that fire, ambulance, and other emergency service vehicles are able to use Superhighways in the event of a terrorist attack or other major incident.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
London’s cycle superhighways are the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL). Emergency service vehicles operating under blue lights will always find the safest and fastest way possible to arrive at a major incident or terrorist attack. This could mean using any part of the highway, including, where necessary and where the road layout allows this, part of a cycle superhighway.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-04-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what systems are in place to monitor main service providers’ management of patient transport.
Lord Prior of Brampton
It is the responsibility for individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to commission and performance manage patient transport services, in line with the national guidance Eligibility for Patient Transport Services. This guidance is attached.
CCGs will manage performance of patient transport providers through regular monitoring performance against Key Performance Indicators and have a range of interventions to improve performance, which are available through the NHS Standard Contract.
NHS England ultimately maintains oversight of CCG commissioning, and holds CCGs to account for their commissioning decisions. In addition, NHS Improvement has a role in ensuring that procurement, patient choice and competition operate in the best interests of patients, and to step in if anti-competitive behaviour by National Health Service commissioners or providers goes against patients’ interests.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with the government of Iraq and the regional government of Kurdistan about the protection needs of people likely to be displaced by current, and proposed, offensives against Daesh, in particular women and children.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK is in regular contact with the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional government, and regularly raises with them the protection needs of internally displaced persons arising from the conflict – including the protection needs of girls and women. We continue to urge the Government of Iraq to fulfil its commitments to develop and implement plans to stabilise areas which have been liberated from Daesh by providing the governance, services and security necessary to enable the safe return of people to their homes.
The UK has committed £79.5 million of humanitarian assistance to Iraq since summer 2014. This includes cash assistance for vulnerable displaced Iraqis, allowing them to prioritise what they need most. Through the UN Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund, we fund a number of projects designed to meet the most urgent needs of displaced Iraqis including emergency healthcare, water and sanitation, and protection services for girls and women. Our partners consider gender related differences in needs when developing all Department for International Development funded projects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made in implementing smart ticketing across the rail network; and if he will make a statement.
Paul Maynard
We want smart tickets to be available to passengers across the entire rail network providing them with more convenience and choice. By the end of the year the South East Flexible Ticketing programme will have introduced smart ticketing on five of the major London and south east rail operators. In the North of England, we have committed £150m to support Transport for the North (TfN) in its plans to introduce smart ticketing.
The Rail Delivery Group have brought the rail industry together to agree a long-term vision and it is critical that rail operators collaborate and share ideas to make this vision a reality. Through franchising competitions we are supporting the rail industry to develop and deliver modernised ticketing by setting challenging requirements for bidders, ensuring that customers benefit from a 21st century option. Many rail travellers are familiar with using the orange magnetic stripe ticket and I will ensure that this is not withdrawn until alternatives are in place that offer a user experience with which all travellers are comfortable, particularly vulnerable customer groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the potential effect of proposed changes to pharmacy funding on the ability of local authorities to deliver local public health improvement.
David Mowat
Local commissioning and the funding of public health services by local authorities from community pharmacies will be unaffected by these proposals.
We want to see a high quality community pharmacy service that is properly integrated into primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View.
Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.
Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more National Health Service funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
In addition we are providing funding to recruit a further 1,500 pharmacists to general practices by 2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons representatives from Syria were not invited to the peace talks in Vienna commencing on 20 October 2015.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The US convened discussions in Vienna on 30 October with a view to binding key international players into a process. All participants agreed that any process must involve Syrians, noting in the communiqué that: “This political process will be Syrian led and Syrian owned, and the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.” The UN has been asked to launch a new political process which will involve all the relevant representatives from Syria.