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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the briefing by the National Audits Office entitled Delivering major projects in government, published on 6 January 2016, what plans his Department has to increase the amount of data it publishes on major projects.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport (DfT) accounts for a whole life value of £92bn within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

    The DfT follows the Cabinet Office transparency policy by publishing the Department’s data in line with requirements, including the annual publication of GMPP data, SRO appointment letters and individual project cases.

    The Department continually assures project delivery in relation to costs, timings and benefits through clear governance and project and programme management (PPM) requirements, which must be satisfied throughout the life cycle of a project. This includes investment board endorsement at key project planning and delivery stages, and independent assurance within the Department. Further external assurance is provided for example by the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA). The department uses a widely understood and highly regarded economic tool, known as WebTAG, for calculating costs.

    In addition to individual project assurance, the Department works with the IPA on both GMPP and its own portfolio reporting requirements. The Department has been actively involved in work to improve the collection, collation and analysis of key areas of project delivery, including costs and benefits, in line with the recent IPA review and refresh of GMPP data collection.

    As part of the Department’s internal governance, regular portfolio reporting on the aggregated performance and health of major projects is presented to the Department’s investment board. The Department has recently assessed the maturity of its portfolio reporting and has an action plan to further develop its capability in key areas.

    The Department reports infrastructure projects that are £50m or more on the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which details public and private infrastructure investment which is either forecast, being delivered, or completed. It is published on the Treasury’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015).

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  • Kirsty Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kirsty Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24107 on tribunals: Scotland, how many of those people whose data was breached were made aware that that breach had occurred.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service takes its responsibility for data incidents very seriously and treats each case on its individual merits. Notifying individuals of data breaches or incidents is considered, but is not a mandatory action in every instance.

    Informing people and organisations about a breach is not an end in itself. Notification should have a clear purpose, whether this is to enable individuals who may have been affected to take steps to protect themselves or to allow the appropriate regulatory bodies to perform their functions, provide advice and deal with complaints.

    The above criteria is considered when deciding whether or not to inform individuals or organisations of a data breach. In relation to the incidents referred to in this PQ it is unclear, as no statistical information has been retained, as to whether or not individuals were notified.

    Guidance on data breach notification is set out by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in the link below:

    https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-7-security/

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  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the total number of active Daesh fighters in (a) Iraq, (b) Libya and (c) Syria in each of the last 24 months; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The latest available US figures suggest that there are approximately 19,000 – 25,000 Daesh fighters in Iraq and Syria, compared to estimates of 20,000 – 31,000 fighters in 2014. Estimates for the number of Daesh fighters in Libya are between 3,000 – 6,000.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many emergency landings there have been at Heathrow Airport in the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department does not collect data on how many emergency landings there have been at Heathrow Airport. However if serious enough, such incidents would be counted amongst data for safety related events. These are defined as an event which endanger or which, if not corrected or addressed, could endanger an aircraft, its occupants or any other person. They have to be reported to the Civil Aviation Authority as part of the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting Scheme (MORS).

    Occurrence reporting is now covered by (EU) Regulation No 376/2014. The Regulation requires that the reporting, analysis and follow-up to such occurrences remain confidential. However, the Regulation does permit information to be released on request to interested parties that have a genuine safety related need for the information. An application can be made at www.caa.co.uk.

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  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office of 26 April 2016, Official Report, column 1363, on the Policing and Crime Bill, what steps she is taking to ensure that cybercrime is included in the crime statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics.

    Mike Penning

    In April 2012, the Home Secretary transferred the responsibility for the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and the publication of crime statistics to the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) – to ensure the public had confidence in the statistics after years of poor data management.

    A major strength of the CSEW has been its ability to compare crime types over time back to the 1980s. As ONS have acknowledged, over a period of time, new technologies such as the internet have expanded the scope of existing crime types and developed new ones, particularly in fraud and cybercrime. Therefore, following a period of extensive development work, ONS introduced new questions to the CSEW in October 2015. ONS have said that they will release estimates of fraud and cyber crime based on the first six months data (October 2015 to March 2016) alongside the main statistical bulletin in July 2016 and will label them as experimental statistics.

    It is important to recognise that these data are not simply uncovering new crimes, but finding better ways of capturing existing crimes which were not measured as well in the past.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Health Education England will have a budget to commission training for clinical psychology, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies and child psychotherapy in 2017-18 at the same levels as in 2016-17.

    Ben Gummer

    As with all arm’s length bodies, Health Education England’s (HEE) programme budget for 2017-18 is subject to business planning and cannot be confirmed at this stage. HEE will set out its plans for future workforce training commissions in its Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published by the end of December 2016.

  • Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Finlay of Llandaff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to provide guidance to Clinical Commissioning Groups on working with charities to provide comprehensive palliative care services for patients of all ages; and if so, when.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In April 2016, NHS England updated its guidance Commissioning Person Centred End of Life Care: A Toolkit for Health and Social Care. This document highlighted that fundamental to any commissioning plan for end of life care is a local strategy, jointly developed with local people and key partners, clearly setting out a vision for end of life and palliative care. Included in this are examples of how working with third sector organisations can benefit service provision for palliative care services, as well as links to guidance from these organisations. A copy of the toolkit is attached.

    In addition, Our Commitment to you for end of life care published on 5 July 2016, highlighted that the Department will work with the National Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care and the End of Life Care Coalition of charities to promote the implementation of the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care Framework in local areas. A copy of the report is attached.

  • Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters of complaint to HM Revenue and Customs have been responded to within 28 days in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs uses a 15 working day response target for complaints. As at the beginning of October, for the year to date the Department’s 15 day response performance stands at 75%.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homelessness applications were made to local authorities as a result of an applicant losing their home to repossession in each of the last 10 years; and in what proportion of such applications the people were accepted as unintentionally homeless and in priority need.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Statistics on the reasons for loss of last home are only held for those households who are accepted as unintentionally homeless and in priority need. The numbers of acceptances who lost their last home as a result of mortgage arrears in the last 10 years are shown in the attached table.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, on what basis the total amount allocated to local authorities for funding temporary accommodation has been calculated.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced that funding of the Temporary Accommodation management fee will be devolved to local authorities from 2017/18, giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they use this funding. Current levels of funding will be maintained and, in addition, councils will receive £10 million a year more. The Department for Communities and Local Government will set out the precise detail of how the new funding will be distributed in 2016/17. The Department will work closely with local authorities and other partners to ensure that funding will be allocated in order to most effectively help councils tackle homelessness.