Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much support work by (a) value and (b) numbers of jobs has been undertaken by UK employees on UK Government defence contracts placed with US defence contractors in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not currently collate information on how much production or support work is undertaken in the UK or US on UK defence contracts, either by value or number of jobs. A comprehensive breakdown of which MOD contracts placed over the last five years are with UK or US suppliers is also not held centrally.

    The MOD routinely publishes statistics on contracts it places on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/defence-trade-and-industry-index. This includes an overall estimate of MOD expenditure for work undertaken in the UK and lists all organisations with which we have spent £5 million or more in the financial year. These statistics include expenditure with US companies.

    The MOD does not collate information centrally on the value of production work undertaken in the UK on contracts placed by the US Department of Defense.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Iranian counterpart on the protection of Iranian human rights activists in that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We repeatedly call on the Iranian Government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) most recently raised the issue with Foreign Minister Zarif when they met on 17 May.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Rushanara Ali – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question 35113, what powers his Department can exercise if the Social Housing Regulator is failing to protect tenants from serious detriment by registered providers.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Social Housing Regulator may use its enforcement powers if a Registered Provider of Social Housing has failed to meet a regulatory standard. This includes ensuring that thier stock is adequately maintained and there is no serious detriment to their tenants.

    However, if tenants of Registered Providers are not satisfied with the way the Regulator has handled their case, they will have to access the Regulator’s complaint process. This involves complaining directly to the Regulator, the Regulator will reply within 20 working days. If the tenants are unhappy with the way their complaint was handled at the first stage, they can escalate their complaint to the Regulator’s legal service team as an independent review of the original complaint. If they are still unhappy with the response, then they can refer their complaint to the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, who will carry out an independent review.

    If following the Regulator’s complaint procedure they are still unhappy, they can ask their MP to take their complaints to the independent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to review the handling of their complaint. Full details of how to make a complaint against the Regulator can be found on the Homes and Communities Agency’s website.

  • Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lisa Nandy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Nandy on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what correspondence she has received from legal counsel for the independent investigation into child sexual abuse relating to the conduct of (a) Dame Lowell Goddard and (b) Ben Emmerson QC between the date of their appointment to the inquiry and the dates of their departure.

    Sarah Newton

    The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established under the Inquiries Act 2005 on 12 March 2015. Dame Lowell resigned as chair of the Inquiry on 4 August 2016. Ben Emmerson QC resigned as counsel to the Inquiry on 29 September 2016.

    The Home Secretary has received no correspondence from Counsel to the Inquiry relating to the conduct of either Dame Lowell or Mr Emmerson between the dates of their appointment to the Inquiry and the dates of their departure.

  • Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen Hepburn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hepburn on 2016-01-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS doctors were employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 2005.

    Ben Gummer

    The number of hospital and community health services doctors employed in the National Health Service for South Tyneside and the North East region since 2005 is in the attached table. The figures are taken from the NHS annual workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

    Figures are only available for recognised NHS geography and therefore no information has been provided for Jarrow constituency.

    The provision of health services in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter so total figures are for England only.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of clinical staff in the National Health Service who will need to be made redundant to fund the proposed increases in fees as set out in the options in the consultation paper published by the Care Quality Commission on 2 November.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Government policy for fee-setting regulators is that their chargeable costs should be fully covered through their fees income, in line with HM Treasury Guidance set out in ‘Managing Public Money’.

    The proposed fees increases being consulted upon for 2016-17 reflect the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) commitment to achieving full cost recovery, in line with Managing Public Money, within the period of the Spending Review. The fees being charged are therefore funding the CQC as an effective regulator. They allow the CQC’s tough inspection regime to drive up standards across the country, which in turn ensures quality and safety of health and social care provision.

    The CQC’s new regulatory model, led by three specialist Chief Inspectors, provides for robust monitoring and inspection of hospitals, adult care providers and general practitioners.

    Our expectation is that National Health Service providers should be able to absorb these increases within their overall income which will depend, amongst other factors, on the outcome of the Spending Review and the subsequent tariff setting process for 2016-17.

    The Department has also announced that it will make up to £15 million available for general practice in order to cover this and other pressures in 2016/17.

    It is for providers to ensure that they have the appropriate capacity and capability in place in order to deliver a safe, high quality service.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, by when Departments are required to publish Single Departmental Plans.

    Mr Oliver Letwin

    Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives. A public version of the Single Departmental Plans will be published on gov.uk in January 2016Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives. A public version of the Single Departmental Plans will be published on gov.uk in January 2016.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have received about the interpretation and implementation of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to the actions by ISIS against Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq; what response they are making to such representations; and what specific actions they intend to take to establish an international consensus on these matters.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The British Government has received a number of recent representations on these issues from Parliament and members of the public and is responding in writing.

    We condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yazidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality. The UK has led efforts within the UN to tackle and condemn Daesh and on the protection of civilians more widely. For example, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution mandating the UN to investigate and report on Daesh abuses.

    It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.

    Ultimately, the only way to protect Christians, Yazidis and other minorities in the region from Daesh is by defeating this terrible organisation, which in turn requires, amongst other things, ending the conflict in Syria. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), set out the UK’s comprehensive strategy for defeating Daesh and finding a political settlement to the Syria conflict in his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 26 November 2015.

    The joint Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect (the Office) are engaged with these issues and publish much of their activity online, including statements in relation to the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. Our officials maintain regular contact with officials from the Office to discuss issues related to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. The Government provides funding for the Office, including for their work with religious leaders and faith based organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region, aimed at the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time of cases in employment tribunals related to non-payment of the National Minimum Wage was in each of the last five years.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The average clearance time of employment tribunal claims for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage1 in each of the last five years is as shown in Table 1 below:

    Financial Year

    Average time in weeks

    2010-11

    43

    2011-12

    41

    2012-13

    43

    2013-14

    32

    2014-15

    74

    source: ET Database February 2016

    1 "Suffer a detriment and/or dismissal related to failure to pay the minimum wage or allow access to records"

    In 2014-15 we reviewed outstanding cases and removed a backlog of very old cases from the case management system. The overall trend in average clearance time for single cases is improving and this can be seen in the Published Statistics at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many officials of his Department were employed specifically to assist with negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement

    Anna Soubry

    Prior to 1 April 2014 the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership was handled alongside a number of other trade negotiations. On 1 April 2014 my Department established a Unit whose primary purpose is to assist with the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership but which also handles certain other international matters. In April 2014 this Unit comprised 8 staff primarily working on TTIP and 4 working on other international matters. It currently comprises 10 staff working primarily of TTIP and 6 working on other international matters. Staff expenditure for this Unit in 14/15 was £793313, and in 15/16 is projected to be £916007. Total expenditure for this Unit in 14/15 was £886813 and in 15/16 is projected to be £926774.

    .