Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations which had planned, prior to the announcement in paragraph 1.125 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, to raise rents above any of the relevant local housing allowance rates between 2016 and 2020.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does not hold information about the individual rent setting plans of local authorities or housing associations.

    At Budget 2015 the Government announced its intention to reduce rents for housing association and local authority tenants, by 1% a year, for four years, from April 2016. This will help protect social tenants from rising housing costs, whilst protecting taxpayers from rising costs of subsidising rents through housing benefit. We expect local authorities and housing associations to be planning on this basis.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Delivering major projects in Government, published on 6 January 2016, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all infrastructure projects are delivered on time and on budget.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport (DfT) accounts for a whole life value of £92bn within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

    The DfT follows the Cabinet Office transparency policy by publishing the Department’s data in line with requirements, including the annual publication of GMPP data, SRO appointment letters and individual project cases.

    The Department continually assures project delivery in relation to costs, timings and benefits through clear governance and project and programme management (PPM) requirements, which must be satisfied throughout the life cycle of a project. This includes investment board endorsement at key project planning and delivery stages, and independent assurance within the Department. Further external assurance is provided for example by the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA). The department uses a widely understood and highly regarded economic tool, known as WebTAG, for calculating costs.

    In addition to individual project assurance, the Department works with the IPA on both GMPP and its own portfolio reporting requirements. The Department has been actively involved in work to improve the collection, collation and analysis of key areas of project delivery, including costs and benefits, in line with the recent IPA review and refresh of GMPP data collection.

    As part of the Department’s internal governance, regular portfolio reporting on the aggregated performance and health of major projects is presented to the Department’s investment board. The Department has recently assessed the maturity of its portfolio reporting and has an action plan to further develop its capability in key areas.

    The Department reports infrastructure projects that are £50m or more on the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which details public and private infrastructure investment which is either forecast, being delivered, or completed. It is published on the Treasury’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015).

    “

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has contracted out the maintenance and screening arrangements for Universal Jobmatch.

    Priti Patel

    The current Universal Jobmatch service is delivered through a managed service by Monster Worldwide Ltd. Monster have built into the service some screening and monitoring tools which help to detect, deter and remedy inappropriate use of the site. Further to this, the Department carries out its own checks to ensure that Universal Jobmatch continues to deliver a safe and effective service for jobseekers and employers.

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent representations he has received from (a) the British Medical Journal, (b) GP networks, (c) Monitor and (d) other organisations on conflicts of interest in the commissioning of services by clinical commissioning groups.

    George Freeman

    NHS England updated existing guidance for managing conflicts of interest in December 2014, when NHS England issued revised statutory guidance, which prescribed stronger assurance measures in light of the development of primary care co-commissioning. This came into force from April 2015.

    In light of comments from stakeholders and the recent National Audit Office report “Managing conflicts of interest in NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups”, as well as findings from the audit of the management of conflict of interest that was undertaken in the autumn by NHS England’s internal auditors, NHS England is in the process of further updating this statutory guidance.

    NHS England has engaged with NHS Clinical Commissioners in respect of conflicts of interest in the commissioning of services by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to positive effect.

    It has also engaged with around 80% of the Audit chairs for the CCGs- the feedback and discussion received on behalf of both these groups will feed into the Revised Statutory Guidance which will be published and discussed at the next NHS England board meeting on 31 March. This will launch the official public consultation (which will also take into consideration views from British Medical Journal and Monitor).

    The final guidance will then be presented to the May NHS England board meeting and will be published on the NHS England website.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on implementation of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Sri Lanka has made encouraging progress towards fulfilling its commitments to UNHRC Resolution 30/1 but we recognise there remains much to be done. We look forward to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ assessment of progress at the next Human Rights Council in June.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the recommendations of the report of the Public Accounts Committee, Department for International Development: responding to crises, published on 20 April 2016, what steps she is taking to ensure that her Department improves its system of accounting for ODA spend on humanitarian emergencies.

    Justine Greening

    The Government will respond to the Committee’s recommendations in the usual way in a Treasury Minute which will be laid before Parliament.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the one-year survival rates are for women diagnosed with cervical cancer following (a) a routine smear test and (b) diagnosis by other means.

    Jane Ellison

    Cervical screening is not a test for cancer. Cervical screening detects abnormalities within the cervix that could, if undetected and untreated, develop into cervical cancer. It is unusual to detect an invasive cervical cancer on a screening test and this would need to be confirmed by a diagnostic test.

    For those cervical cancers which are detected through screening, the one-year relative survival is 99%. This compares to 86% for all cervical cancers; 83% for those diagnosed after a Two Week Wait referral; and 45% for those diagnosed as an emergency.

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 19 July (HL1204), whether they will now list the competent courts that can recognise genocide.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We continue to believe that recognition of genocide should be a matter for competent courts, decided by judges after consideration of all the evidence available in the context of a credible judicial process. A recent example was in March 2016, when the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Radovan Karadžić of one count of genocide (along with other crimes) and sentenced him to forty years imprisonment. The UK is fully committed to the principle that there must be no impunity for the most serious international crimes.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 11 and 18 October 2016 to Questions 46460 and 47904, whether the Government plans to put measures in place to replace the National Stroke Strategy after December 2017.

    David Mowat

    The National Stroke Strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues. There are, therefore, no current plans to renew it. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. This includes:

    – ongoing work in virtually all parts of the country to organise acute stroke care to ensure that all stroke patients, regardless of where they live or what time of the day or week they have their stroke, have access to high quality specialist care;

    – publication of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy in 2013, which includes many stroke specific strategic ambitions;

    – a CVD expert forum, hosted by NHS England, to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy; and

    – NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke works with the Strategic Clinical Networks, clinical commissioning groups, voluntary agencies and individual providers to support better commissioning and provision of stroke care.

    More generally, the NHS Five Year Forward View recognises that quality of care, including stroke care, can be variable and that patients’ needs are changing and new treatment options are emerging. The Five Year Forward View sets out high level objectives to address these issues.

    There are no current plans for a formal evaluation of the National Stroke Strategy. However there is a continuous evaluation of the quality of stroke care via the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). This measures most of the key indicators defined as important in the strategy and findings are freely available on the SSNAP website at:

    https://www.strokeaudit.org/

    “

  • Clive Efford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Clive Efford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of a Sport Betting Right on betting operators; and if he will make a statement.

    Tracey Crouch

    The government has no plans to introduce a sport betting right.