Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to introduce more standardised taxi licensing regulations between authorities in close geographical proximity.

    Andrew Jones

    Local licensing authorities are empowered to set standards for taxi and private hire vehicle services that best meet the needs of their local area. In doing so, the safety of the travelling public must always be the first priority.

    Whilst the Department issues Best Practice Guidance to assist local authorities set standards, the Government does not at this time plan to introduce standardised licensing criteria.

    Nevertheless, it is prudent for local authorities to consider the standards of neighbouring authorities, and consult those authorities, when setting standards.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason exemptions were granted from the sugar levy for 100 per cent fruit juice and milk; and if he will publish the evidence on which that decision was taken.

    Mr David Gauke

    Pure fruit juices and milk-based drinks have other health benefits and we do not want to discourage their consumption.

    Pure fruit juices are part of the 5-a-day message and have intrinsic nutrients such as containing certain vitamins.

    Milk and milk-products are a good source of protein and calcium, which have health benefits such as aiding bone formation. The government wants to encourage the consumption of milk to help children consume the required amounts of these nutrients.

  • Baroness Nye – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Nye – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Nye on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the new government in Burma about the opening of a UNHCR office in that country.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees already maintain an office in Rangoon, Burma, we have long called for the Burmese government to work with the UN over the opening of a full country office for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This was a prominent recommendation of the Burma Resolution at the UN’s March Human Rights Council, which we co-sponsored. We will continue to encourage the new administration in Burma to follow through on that recommendation.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-06-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to increase the amount of funding they give to develop hospital infrastructure in South Sudan.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK is the lead for a multi-donor Health Pooled Fund in South Sudan which has provided over £18 million between 2013 and 2016 to support hospital infrastructure in eight county level hospitals, four state level hospitals and seven faith-based hospitals. A further £6million has been allocated for 2016 to 2018.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to enable communities with neighbourhood plans that are (a) complete and (b) being developed to appeal against planning decisions that conflict with that plan.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Neighbourhood Planning Bill will strengthen neighbourhood planning, by requiring local planning authorities and others who decide planning applications to have regard to neighbourhood plans that have been independently examined, once the decision has been taken to put the plan to a referendum.The Bill would also ensure plans have full legal weight at an earlier stage of the process, as soon as the outcome of the referendum is announced, and make it easier to ensure plans can be kept up to date.

    These measures are in addition to existing safeguards that ensure neighbourhood plans are given proper consideration, including existing powers for communities to request that the Secretary of State ‘calls-in’ planning applications for his own determination, and new requirements introduced in the Housing and Planning Act, that will require any conflict with a made neighbourhood plan to be set out in the committee report that will inform a planning committee decision.

    Furthermore, national planning policy is clear that where a planning application conflicts with a neighbourhood plan that has been brought into force, planning permission should not normally be granted, and that decision-makers may give weight to policies in emerging neighbourhood plans according to the stage of preparation of the plan, the extent of unresolved objections, and the degree of consistency with the National Planning Policy Framework.

    In the light of these safeguards, the government does not support a right of appeal for those opposed to a decision to grant planning permission, which would delay the building of the new homes we need.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of (a) the scale of the recent changes on the cost of care homes for self-funding elderly people and (b) the effect of those changes on the number of care home closures in the UK.

    David Mowat

    The Department continues to monitor the market of care providers.

    There has been no significant change in capacity in care homes in the last three years. The total number of beds for older people and those with dementia in England has remained stable at around 410,000.

    Figures from Christie & Co show a differential between fee rises for self-funders & those paid by local authorities, but we are not aware of this driving changes in provision.

    The Department continues to monitor the whole of the market of care providers and engage with the sector to better understand the challenges they face and support local authorities who purchase services.

    The Department recognises that social care has a key role to play in reducing delayed transfers of care from hospital.

    The National Health Service takes Delayed Transfer of Care seriously. As well as funding the NHS’ own plan for the future with £10 billion, we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra a year for adult social care.

    The Department works closely with the NHS, local government and the independent care sector to help improve transfers out of hospital, share good practice and minimise delays.

  • Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what timetable he proposes for legislative reform of the regulation of health care professionals.

    Ben Gummer

    This Government is grateful for the work of the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in reviewing the regulation of health and (in England) social care professionals.

    The Law Commissions made 125 recommendations to reform the existing complex and burdensome regulatory system. The joint four UK country response to the Law Commissions was published on 29 January 2015 which accepted wholly or in part the vast majority of its recommendations.

    The Department is currently reviewing how best to take forward the work of the Law Commissions. We hope to be able to provide an update on this work soon.

  • Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Truscott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current weekly costs of the Chilcot Inquiry.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Iraq Inquiry, which is independent of Government, publishes its annual costs after the end of each financial year. The Inquiry’s costs for FY 2014/15 were £1,358,500, providing an average weekly cost in the last financial year of £26,125.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 January (HL5200), whether they have had regard to the preaching and teaching of Wahhabism in mosques and Muslim education bodies in Britain as part of their work on their Counter-Extremism Strategy.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We published our Counter Extremism Strategy in October 2015 which sets out a range of measures to deal with the broad challenge of extremism. We have placed a duty on specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being radicalised.

    We consider vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values as extremist, whatever guise these are expressed under. This includes when religions are hijacked by those wishing to promote extremism. As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in July last year “extremist ideology is not true Islam”.

    HM Government’s Counter Extremism Strategy and counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, set out our approach to tackling the full range of factors that allow extremist and terrorist groups to grow and flourish. These include directly challenging ideologies, including those which have a theological basis.

    The Prime Minister recently commissioned a review into the funding of extremism in the UK. This will include an assessment funding that comes from overseas. The review is due to report in spring 2016.

  • Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many current Child Support Agency arrears cases there is (a) a current or ongoing liability for a child and (b) no such ongoing liability.

    Priti Patel

    As at December 2015, there were 418,300 CSA cases with a current liability and arrears and 748,600 CSA cases with no liability and arrears.

    Information on Caseload Status is set out on Page 54 of the CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics which can be accessed online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics–2

    Note

    1. Figured rounded to nearest 100.
    2. Figures include 1993 and 2003 Schemes.

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