Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of need for therapeutic support for children following abuse or neglect referred to in her Department’s report, entitled Adoption: A vision for change, published in March 2016.

    Edward Timpson

    Over 5,200 families received support from the Adoption Support Fund during 2015-16. We estimate that around 6,000 families will be supported in 2016-17 rising to around 8,000 in 2017-18.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what warnings and advice they intend to give to the public about the incidence of treatment-resistant head lice in the UK.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    There are no plans to issue any specific warnings or advice around the incidence of treatment-resistant head lice. Guidance for the treatment of head lice is to wet comb using a head lice comb, as opposed to using insecticides.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which agents external to his Department (a) supplied and (b) analysed the evidence that his Department used to decide on the descriptors used for the work capability assessment.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Details of the evidence base and consultative group members involved in the development of the Work Capability Assessment can be found in the Transformation of the Personal Capability assessment reports of September 2006, February 2007 and November 2007.

    http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090605153301/http:/www.workandpensions.gov.uk/welfarereform/pca.asp

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to undertake a national monitoring survey of the pig population for the presence of MRSA.

    George Eustice

    A UK-wide baseline survey to look for the presence of livestock associated meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) in UK pigs was performed in 2008 in line with European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) protocols. At that point, none of the farms tested were found to be positive for MRSA. Since then, the organism has been detected in livestock in the UK. Current advice from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Public Health England (PHE) is that LA-MRSA poses a low risk to human health.

    The people that are most likely to become colonised by LA-MRSA are those who work with livestock. Defra is therefore undertaking a study with Public Health England (PHE) to investigate the occurrence of LA-MRSA in veterinarians and livestock workers. The results of this study will be used to inform the need for future surveillance.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 4 November (HL2885), what assessment they have made, if any, of the reach and impact of radio and television in North Korea.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) does not produce viewing or listening figures for domestic media. However, in 2012 the consultancy organisation, InterMedia, produced a report on the media environment in the DPRK based on a survey of North Korean refugees. The report, with some caveats from the authors, found that 74 per cent of those sampled were able to access television while resident in the DPRK, 42 per cent radio and 38 per cent a cassette player with a radio. The survey also found that 38 per cent of those surveyed considered domestic television to be their most important source of information while living in the DPRK, 21 per cent South Korean radio and 4 per cent domestic radio.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which years are included in his Department’s consultation on the annual registration fee that local health trusts pay to the Care Quality Commission.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is consulting on its fee levels from 2016-17 to move it to a full chargeable cost recovery position by either 2018 or 2020. The Department is consulting on a regulation that will bring the CQC’s new comprehensive inspections which look beyond compliance with registration and any associated rating within the scope of its fee raising power. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the regulation will come into force from 2016-17 onwards.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to use the (a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund and (b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund

    Highways England is developing a programme of initiatives to improve the safety of the network and to also improve facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians, identifying further opportunities for improved integration with wider transport networks such as Park & Ride.

    This fund supports their ambition to reduce the number of casualties on the strategic road network and encourage walking and cycling as an everyday mode of travel, as set out in the DfT Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

    (b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

    Highways England’s Delivery Plan commits them to start 10 air quality pilot studies in the first 2 years of this road investment period.

    These studies are designed to identify new and innovative solutions that will be funded using the air quality designated fund, to improve air quality alongside the strategic road network and support delivery of the major improvement schemes identified in the Road Investment Strategy.

    Highways England’s work in relation to air quality, and the use of the £75million air quality designated fund (2015 – 20), is in support of the Government’s National Air Quality Plan.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her comments at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016 on additional powers to internal drainage boards, what plans she has to give local authorities a role in the maintenance of local watercourses.

    Rory Stewart

    Local Authorities (LAs) have powers to carry out flood risk management works, including maintenance on ordinary watercourses, while the Environment Agency (EA) has powers to carry out work on main rivers. In addition, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, flood risk management authorities may carry out work using the powers of other risk management authorities using public sector cooperation agreements. There are some excellent examples of LAs working in partnership with the EA and internal drainage boards, for example in Lincolnshire and Somerset.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people learn to swim.

    David Evennett

    Swimming is an important life skill and one which we are keen is available to as many people as possible. This is why the Government’s new sport and physical activity strategy ‘’Sporting Future: a New Strategy for an Active Nation’, (www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation) includes a commitment to ensure that every child leaves primary school able to swim.

    Swimming is part of the national curriculum and Government are committed to ensuring that all children are able to meet the minimum standard of capability and confidence in swimming. Sport England is developing a number of pilot projects which aim to encourage adults to take up swimming. It is also investing £20 million between 2013-17 in the Amateur Swimming Association and in other projects, such as the innovative ‘This Girl Can Swim’, to get more people right across the country swimming. In addition, it has invested over £330 million to create modern, safe and attractive swimming pool facilities in England.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what amount her Department expects to pay in penalties and disallowances required by the EU Commission in relation to air pollution in 2016-17; and what contingency has been made for that purpose in her Department’s budget.

    Rory Stewart

    The Department does not expect to pay any penalties and disallowances imposed by the EU Commission in relation to air pollution in 2016-2017.

    The Commission has started infraction proceedings against the UK for not achieving European limit values for NO2. We want to work in partnership with Local Authorities and the Commission to improve air quality and avoid any prospect of fines levied from infraction. In December 2015, the Government published air quality plans setting out a comprehensive approach for meeting EU legal limits in the shortest possible time through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies. The UK has never had to pay an infraction fine.