UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to assist the Maldivian government with its governance reform plan.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Government, along with others in the international community, has a number of concerns about governance and human rights in the Maldives. This includes the decreasing independence of institutions, the diminishing freedoms of expression and association, and the arbitrary detention of political figures. I discussed these issues with President Yameen and his Government when I visited the Maldives in January 2016.

  • Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Dulwich and West Norwood constituency have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months.

    Karen Bradley

    The following table shows the number of applications from people living in Dulwich and West Norwood that have taken more than 60 days in each of the last 12 months.

    Month

    Disclosures Dispatched Taking Over 60 Days

    May-15

    121

    Jun-15

    124

    Jul-15

    158

    Aug-15

    121

    Sep-15

    147

    Oct-15

    159

    Nov-15

    123

    Dec-15

    132

    Jan-16

    131

    Feb-16

    136

    Mar-16

    148

    Apr-16

    142

    1,642
  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Attorney General, how many people working for the Law Officers’ Departments or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Robert Buckland

    The Attorney General’s Office, the Government Legal Department, HMCPSI and the Crown Prosecution Service have no direct employees or agency workers that are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage foundation.

    The Serious Fraud Office directly employs six staff who earn less than this. The six are all either apprentices or sandwich students on placement, and are all under 20 years of age and paid at a rate equivalent to £9.04 an hour.

    None of the Law Officers’ Departments have any direct employees or agency workers who are on zero-hours contracts. No information is held in regards to pay rates or contracts with individuals employed by agencies or firms for subcontracted services.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage children to take up physical activity, in particular activity additional to school sport.

    Lord Nash

    We want all pupils to be healthy and more physically active, with the Government’s recent Childhood Obesity Plan setting out an ambition that young people should be active for at least 60 minutes every day, as recommended by the Chief Medical Officer.

    Since 2013, the Government has provided over £450million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to PE and Sport. We know this funding is making a difference, with 87% of primary schools reporting that the quality of PE teaching has increased since the introduction of the premium. The majority of schools have also introduced new sports in both curricular PE (74%) and extra-curricular sport (77%) since the premium was introduced. But we know there is more to do, which is why revenue from the soft drinks industry levy will be used to double the primary PE and sport premium to £320million a year from September 2017.

    Through the Sport Strategy, we have also extended the remit of Sport England, to cover children aged 5 and above, outside of school. Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ sets out a new £40million investment into projects that offer opportunities for families with children to get active and play sport together outside of school.

    In relation to fitness testing, it is up to schools to determine how best they deliver a diverse and challenging PE curriculum. We are considering how we can track levels of physical activity in schools to help support children to have healthy and active lives and will be providing schools with further guidance and best practice examples to help deliver this.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of senior civil servants from her Department are from a lower socio-economic background.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not collect or hold socio-economic data about members of its Senior Civil Service.

  • Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Turnberg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK citizens there were over the age of 75 in each of the years between 1999 and 2015.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each (a) gender and (b) age group were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not collected. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence 2012 guideline Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People, states that there are currently at least 115,000 people in the United Kingdom with Crohn’s disease. The full guideline can be found at the following link:

    www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg152.

    “

  • Johnny Mercer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Johnny Mercer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Johnny Mercer on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the National Pollinator Strategy since its introduction.

    George Eustice

    In November 2015 Defra published an implementation plan highlighting progress in the first year of the National Pollinator Strategy. As an example, over half of mid–tier applications to our new £900 million Countryside Stewardship scheme, launched in July 2015, contain the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package. Monitoring and evaluation of the scheme will include measures to establish the impact on pollinators.

    The Strategy has also taken steps to promote public awareness and engagement, including holding the first Pollinator Awareness Week in July 2015.

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

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the effect on black taxi drivers of the operation of Uber in London.

    Andrew Jones

    We receive representations on a number of issues from the Mayor of London, and this has included the impact of the increasing number of private hire vehicles in London on congestion, air quality and parking issues on London’s road network.

    The Government is continuing to discuss with the Mayor ways of addressing these issues.

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

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prosecutions have been made as a result of information supplied by the Food Crime Unit since its creation.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) is initially focusing on establishing the scale and nature of food crime in the United Kingdom at a strategic level through developing intelligence sharing relationships across the law enforcement community and with the food industry. This will also enable the Unit to instigate investigative interventions by law enforcement partners and local authorities to identify and disrupt specific instances of food crime.

    At the end of this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will review progress on food crime, in line with Professor Elliott’s recommendations following the horsemeat incident. This review will inform decision-making about the Unit’s future form and function including the need or otherwise for the unit to establish an in-house investigative capability.

    Intelligence analysts within the Unit have just completed the first ever Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA). The FCASA sets out the Unit’s developing understanding of food crime and will drive its work to ensure resources are focused where the threat to consumers and other interests is the greatest.

    The NFCU receives reports of suspicions of food fraud from a number of sources via many different routes. The FSA website directs users to a dedicated email address and telephone number for reporting these suspicions. Information is also received through local authority and law enforcement partners. Information received is analysed and, where appropriate, entered onto the Unit’s intelligence database. Between 1 January 2015 and 18 March 2016, 793 such records were created.

    Establishment costs for the NFCU were minimal as the Unit initially evolved from a small but similar capability within the FSA. Total running costs to date are in the region of £579,000. Estimated costs for the forthcoming year are £1.2 million, subject to final allocations being agreed.