Tag: Parliamentary Question

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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
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.

January 1, 2023
Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s expenditure against Departmental Expenditure Limits is in 2015-16; and what his Department’s Annually Managed Expenditure in 2015-16 was (a) at the time of the March Budget, (b) at the time of the Summer Budget and (c) on 10 November 2015.

Mr Philip Hammond

Audited spend information for 2015-16 will not be available until the FCO Accounts are published after the end of the financial year. Audited departmental outturn for 2014-15 against both Departmental Expenditure Limits and Annually Managed Expenditure is published in the FCO Annual Report and Accounts which has been placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

January 1, 2023
Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what system of monitoring his Department has for local authorities which repeatedly commission providers rated by the Care Quality Commission as requiring improvement.

Alistair Burt

Commissioning social care is a matter for local authorities as they are best placed to understand the needs of local people and communities, and how best to meet them. The Care Quality Commission ratings should inform their commissioning decisions; these ratings are available to the public. Local authorities are accountable to their local population through democratically elected members.

The Department has developed statutory guidance to support local authorities to meet their duties for market shaping set out in the Care Act 2014, including commissioning. The Department has also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the Local Government Association and other partners to develop a framework of commissioning standards which will help local authorities improve their commissioning practices.

January 1, 2023
Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by the Earl of Courtown on 12 January (HL Deb, col 137), whether they will place a copy of the details of the £1 million competition to boost ideas to get more tourists on to the railways and out and about in the UK in the Library of the House, and explain the significance of that competition for rail safety.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Prime Minister has announced a £1 million ‘Rail for Tourism innovation’ competition to call for ideas to transform the travel experience for visitors to the UK and make exploring the UK by rail more attractive to tourists. This is to be run by the Future Railway Programme, which is part of the Rail Safety and Standards Board. Details are being developed. Once published, a copy will be placed in the Library of the House.

January 1, 2023
Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which projects in the South East have received European Commission funding in each of the last five years; and how much each such project received in such funding in each such year.

Anna Soubry

A full list of all the projects funded by European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund in the South East since 2007 are provided on the GOV.UK site.

The total value of grants awarded to organisations in the South East from the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) 2007-2013 was €1,175.3 million (figure correct at 11/11/2015). The total value of grants awarded to organisations in the South East under the Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) programme is €246.5 million (figure correct at 29/10/2015). The figures for both programmes include grants that were awarded under the complementary Euratom research and training activities programme.

January 1, 2023
Lord Clement-Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Clement-Jones on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of NHS England’s and NICE’s capabilities in relation to the commercial negotiations between them and pharmaceutical manufacturers in respect of the conditional approval route under the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England’s Board agreed, on 25 February 2016, a way forward which will see the proposed new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) going live on 1 July 2016

We expect NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to work together to ensure that both organisations have the necessary capability and capacity to implement these proposals, including the introduction of a conditional approval route.

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is actively engaging with NHS England to ensure alignment between the work of the review on speeding up access for NHS patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines and the CDF. The AAR is looking at the capability of NICE, NHS England and the Department to support innovative pathways for the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of treatments.

January 1, 2023
Richard Burgon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burgon on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Question 27454, on banks, what the (a) date of, (b) details of who attended and (c) organisations represented were at each meeting.

Harriett Baldwin

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

January 1, 2023