Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what advice his Department offer local authorities on issuing Hackney carriage or private hire driver licences to people based outside their local authority area.

    Andrew Jones

    Local authorities can issue licences to prospective Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle drivers irrespective of where the driver lives. The Department provides Best Practice Guidance for local authorities to help them develop their own standards for taxi and PHV operators, drivers and vehicles.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many health visitors there were in each month since May 2010.

    Ben Gummer

    The attached table shows how many health visitors there were in each month in England from May 2010 to September 2015, which is the latest available figure from the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s monthly workforce statistics. Data from April 2012 onwards is taken from the Health Visitor Minimum Data Set and also includes numbers of health visitors employed by organisations that do not use the Electronic Staff Record but do provide NHS-funded services, such as local authorities.

    Full-time equivalent figures are used as this is the most accurate measure of service capacity.

  • Ian Paisley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Paisley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Paisley on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what arrangements are in place for the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to cooperate to counter the Islamic terrorist threat and the potential utilisation by such terrorists of the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

    Mr John Hayes

    The UK and the Republic of Ireland have long enjoyed a Common Travel Area (CTA) free of routine border controls. However, there are long-established and effective working relationships between the police and intelligence agencies in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to mitigate threats. The Government takes protecting our border security very seriously, and there is a high level of collaboration on work with the Republic of Ireland to also strengthen the CTA’s external border.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-12-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have received, if any, about Turkish and Greek coastguards attacking boats of refugees near the Greek islands, thus endangering life.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of news stories about boats of refugees being attacked near Greek islands, but have seen no evidence to substantiate these reports.

  • Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the distribution of deemed contributions to defined-benefit pension schemes for each (a) income level and (b) age.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Distributions of deemed contributions to defined-benefit (DB) schemes broken down by income level or age, are not readily available, and have not been previously published as official statistics.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any research has been carried out into the reasons for teachers leaving the profession, in the light of the cost to the public purse of training teachers.

    Lord Nash

    Teachers may choose to leave the profession for a variety of reasons. The Teacher Supply Model estimates the number of recruits required based on factors such as teachers leaving the profession. The Department is actively tackling issues that most often lead teachers to consider leaving, such as workload and poor pupil behaviour.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on developing a futures market for dairy in the UK; and when she expects to implement that futures market.

    George Eustice

    Last November we embarked on a detailed analysis of the scope for better dairy price risk management, including dairy futures, in order to support stability and resilience in the dairy sector.

    The initial evidence base concluded that futures markets offered the best potential basis for progress and it was agreed to undertake further detailed work in this area. We are now exploring the level of appetite within the industry alongside some of the key barriers which have hampered the development of futures trading in the past.

    We expect to complete our analysis by the end of April. If this work leads to a genuine and practical prospect for progress, we will then move on to work with financial market and industry partners to deliver the best option for the UK dairy market.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has received any representations from NHS staff who feel they are being harassed outside NHS buildings by protesters.

    Ben Gummer

    There have been no representations from National Health Service staff who feel they are being harassed outside NHS buildings by protesters.

    Although protesters are democratically entitled to make their views known on abortion and other issues and can do so outside NHS hospitals and other NHS buildings, we would condemn any harassment of NHS staff, patients and others. We would expect NHS trusts, as responsible for providing a safe environment for all using their facilities, to work with the Police and other agencies as appropriate to ensure they have adequate arrangements in place to prevent harassment of staff and patients. If staff are subject to criminal activity such as physical assaults, these should be reported so that employers can take appropriate action.

    Currently, NHS trusts have access to Security Incident Reporting Systems which helps NHS Protect measure the nature and scale of security incidents across the NHS, not just those involving physical assaults on staff but also those involving non-physical abuse and theft of/damage to NHS assets.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether UK citizens would retain the automatic right to hold the European Health Insurance Card during the period prior to the completion of Article 50 negotiations relating to the Lisbon Treaty in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU.

    Alistair Burt

    The procedure governing a country’s departure from the European Union is set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This provides for a period of two years for the negotiation of exit terms. EU law would continue to apply to the departing Member State until the Article 50 agreement had entered into force, or for two years if no agreement had been reached and no extension to the two year period had been granted. A request for an extension could only be granted with the unanimous agreement of the remaining Member States. The Government’s position is that the United Kingdom will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) planned and (b) unplanned cancellations of train services operated by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) under the emergency timetable introduced from 11 July 2016 would place GTR in breach of the level of cancellations set out in the Remedial Plan agreed between GTR and his Department in February 2016.

    Claire Perry

    Under the Franchise Agreement, where GTR can provide the evidence that cancellations are due to official or unofficial industrial action, they can claim Force Majeure, which they have done. The Govia Thameslink Railway Franchise Agreement in Schedule 7.1 sets out the performance benchmarks and financial regime that is in place in relation to cancellations. A copy of the Franchise Agreement can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/govia-thameslink .

    The department is monitoring the position on a regular basis.

    “