Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Geraint Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geraint Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geraint Davies on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with Health Education England to ensure that the number of speech and language therapy student commissions for 2016-17 is sufficient to meet demand.

    Ben Gummer

    Health Education England (HEE) has been established to ensure the National Health Service has access to the right numbers of staff, at the right time and with the right skills. In doing so, HEE works with key external stakeholders to develop its National Workforce Plan for England which sets out the number of training places it will commission in the year ahead. HEE will formally publish the National Workforce Plan for 2016-17 in January 2016.

    The National Workforce Plan for England 2015-16 outlines that commissions for Speech and Language Therapists has increased since 2014-15 by 3.7%.

    Ministers hold regular discussions with HEE on a broad range of workforce supply issues. The Government issues an annual Mandate to HEE setting its priorities for the coming year. HEE’s performance against the Mandate deliverables are monitored through regular accountability meetings.

  • Lord Tunnicliffe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Tunnicliffe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tunnicliffe on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for a mandatory fee model whereby Financial Conduct Authority authorised debt management firms charge a set fee for debt management plans; and what assessment they have made of how to prevent debt management companies from making additional charges.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government has fundamentally reformed the regulation of the debt management market, transferring responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) more robust regime to better protect consumers.

    Any consideration of the state of the debt management market should properly await the outcome of the FCA’s authorisation assessment of commercial debt management firms, which is expected in the coming months.

    FCA rules make it clear that fees charged for debt management plans should not undermine the customer’s ability to make significant repayments to the customer’s lenders throughout the duration of the debt management plan.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nigel Dodds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions she has had with (a) the Northern Ireland Executive and (b) airport operators in Northern Ireland and Great Britain on the Airports Commission: Final Report, published in July 2015.

    Mrs Theresa Villiers

    I have discussed the importance of air connectivity between Northern Ireland and London and the work of the Airports Commission with Ministers in the Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and airport operators.

  • David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    David Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of trunking the new M6 link road from junction 34.

    Andrew Jones

    The M6 link road to Heysham is a local road that has been funded by Government to complete the connection from the Heysham and Morecambe peninsula to Junction 34 of the M6. Neither the local authority nor the Department has raised the issue of trunking the road.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for the completion of pre-employment checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Karen Bradley

    Performance data for the Disclosure and Barring Service for March 2016 indicates that average processing time for DBS applications was 14.8 days. Certificates dispatched to applicants by the DBS in March 2016 involving (a) Cleveland Police and (b) the Metropolitan Police Service took an average of (a) 24 days and (b) 122 days.

    Protecting the public is a priority for this Government and it is important that checks undertaken are thorough; a proportion of the applications received by the DBS must be referred to one or more police forces as part of the enhanced disclosure process. In the vast majority of cases these checks are completed within target. The DBS is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of visits to hospital Accident and Emergency departments during 2015 resulted in admission to hospital.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In 2015 there were 22,434,007 attendances at accident and emergency departments in England. For 18.2% of these attendances, the patient was admitted as an emergency.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to introduce a government-run website for the purpose of advertising teacher vacancies so as to reduce the cost for schools of advertising such vacancies.

    Nick Gibb

    In the March 2016 white paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, the Department announced the following intention: “To reduce costs of recruitment for schools in a more challenging labour market, we will create simple web tools to enable schools to advertise vacancies more easily and a new, free national teacher vacancy website so that aspiring and current teachers can find posts quickly and easily – transforming the current system and reducing the burden on schools when budgets are tight”.

    Following the white paper publication, the Department has begun to deliver this in the way that meets the needs of schools and teachers and offers best value for money for the taxpayer.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether BT contributed funding to the phase 1 roll-out of superfast broadband.

    Matt Hancock

    BT made a total capital commitment for Phase 1 of the programme of £348 million.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ann Clwyd – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of pharmacy services in central London outside working hours.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning NHS services from community pharmacies taking account of the local pharmaceutical needs assessment that is published by the Health and Wellbeing Board for each area. The pharmaceutical needs assessments reflect all NHS pharmaceutical services including hours of opening. 99% of the population can get to a pharmacy within 20 minutes by car and 96% by walking or using public transport and access is greater in areas of highest deprivation Across London there are 1,851 community pharmacies. Of these, 255 are open 70 hours or more, including 103 open for 100 hours a week. In Westminster alone there are six 100 hour pharmacies.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much money will be devolved to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to coincide with the transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities from NHS England to CCGs in April 2016; and what NHS England spent on such services in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    George Freeman

    Any transfer of budget from NHS England to devolved areas will be on the basis of existing contractual activity.

    For England, the expenditure against morbid obesity for adults totalled £50.36 million in 2014/15.

    NHS England is not able to provide a figure for devolvement on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being discussed.