The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-06-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the NHS England Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group plans to make an announcement on the recommendations of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.
George Freeman
The Specialised Services Commissioning Committee is due to meet at the end of June 2016. The recommendations of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group will be announced after that meeting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachael Maskell on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the net pay deductions from the salaries of Ministry of Defence fire fighters and fire officers reflect the full difference in the value of pension benefits accrued compared with staff of similar grades working for local authorities.
Mark Lancaster
The Net Pay Deduction (NPD) for Fire Officer grades, or abatement in the case of Fire-fighters, is the adjustment to the salaries of Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) personnel to allow for the differences between their pension arrangements and those of Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service ("LAFRS") employees.
For Fire-fighter grades the abatement figure is a comparison of member contribution rates between the Civil Service Pension Schemes and the Local Authority Fire Pension Schemes. The abatement calculation makes allowance for the impact on the value of pension benefits which arises because MOD Fire-fighters pensions are based on an abated salary. The calculation of the abatement ignores differences in pension benefits accrued between the schemes being compared.
For Fire Officer Grades the NPD has been calculated primarily by considering the differences in member contribution rates between the different pension schemes.
The current NPD is 5.9% of pre-tax basic pay. In practice, an adjusted NPD, equal to 3.54% of pre-tax pay, is applied to Fire Officer salaries; this does not reduce the tax payable by the officer. For Fire Officers the NPD does not affect the salary used for pension purposes, so both pension benefits and member contributions are calculated based on salary before application of the NPD. The current NPD rate was introduced in 1993 and according to available information the calculation of the NPD ignores differences in pension benefits accrued between the schemes but may have taken account of wider pay issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Government has to allow the road rescue industry to use red lights when recovering broken down vehicles.
Andrew Jones
There are no plans currently to allow the road rescue industry to use red lights when recovering broken down vehicles. There are a range of existing measures available to make rescue vehicles visible and warn others of their presence such as the use of roof mounted amber beacons and retro-reflective material to the side and rear.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the sale of UK produce to new global markets.
George Eustice
In October 2013 we launched the ‘Food and Drink – International Action Plan’. This has resulted in over 4,000 companies receiving Government support and contributed to securing nearly £1bn of business for these companies. We have opened over 100 new markets for exports of animal and animal products to non-EU markets and created a faster, more efficient electronic health certification process. We are in the process of developing a new Exports Action Plan with the industry, which is due to be launched early next year.
Defra Ministers continue to champion our excellent food and drink overseas. I visited Anuga (the world’s largest food and drink trade show) earlier this year and the Secretary of State has recently been to China to further market access discussions and support the launch of the ‘Food is GREAT’ campaign there. Earlier this month she also set out our plans for Great British Food, which will celebrate the wonderful food and drink the UK has to offer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people are classified as long-term unemployed in the Dorset County Council area.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects the inquiry announced by her Department on 20 January 2016 into the housing of asylum seekers in the north-east of England to report its findings.
James Brokenshire
Home Office officials are working closely with our housing providers to ensure that asylum seeker accommodation is not easily identifiable. I am not aware of a uniform door colour being the practice in any other region. My officials have also spoken to our housing providers to tell them that such a practice is not acceptable.
I was first made aware of this issue when The Times contacted the Home Office in mid-January. G4S has investigated correspondence and discussions on the issue of external door colour in the North East and has confirmed that it was raised in 2012 by a Middlesbrough local councillor and was considered by the G4S audit and assurance team, no complaints from asylum seekers relating to this matter were found and a response was issued.
As I said to the House on 20 January, I instructed officials to look into this issue as a matter of urgency and I expect that the audit will be concluded on the Home Office side very shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money is being spent by NHS Improvement on a re-design of that organisation.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The forecast spend for the design of NHS Improvement is £800,000. This includes the development of a single organisational structure and new operating model to better support the National Health Service to drive improvements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Goudie on 2016-03-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 1 March (HL6250), what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of training provided by the UK to Burmese Army soldiers.
Earl Howe
I refer to my previous answer, which stated that we do not provide combat training to the Burmese Army. We do, however, provide educational training to the Burmese military and Burmese civil servants. In 2015 this included the Managing Defence in a Wider Security Context and Strategic Leadership programmes, both delivered by the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in partnership with Cranfield University. In addition, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst delivered a Psychology of Leadership programme in Burma, and we have also provided English language training. We have not undertaken any formal assessment process of this educational training.
I refer to my previous answer, which stated that we do not provide combat training to the Burmese Army. We do, however, provide educational training to the Burmese military and Burmese civil servants. In 2015 this included the Managing Defence in a Wider Security Context and Strategic Leadership programmes, both delivered by the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in partnership with Cranfield University. In addition, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst delivered a Psychology of Leadership programme in Burma, and we have also provided English language training. We have not undertaken any formal assessment process of this educational training.
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.
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.