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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effectiveness of auto-enrolment onto the electoral roll for all UK citizens eligible to vote.

    John Penrose

    I have considered a range of proposals from local authorities and civil society organisations that could change how registration is currently delivered.

    We are keen to explore further possibilities in this area but are concerned there may be tension between some forms of automatic registration and the principles underpinning Individual Electoral Registration, namely individual responsibility and ownership over registering to vote.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much revenue Govia Thameslink Railway has paid to the Government since taking up its franchise in 2014.

    Claire Perry

    Passenger Income by Train Operating Company is published annually in August by the Office of Road and Rail. It is available online at: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/21039/gb-rail-industry-financial-information-2014-15.pdf (Table 5.1).

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  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence permitting the control of up to 10 buzzards, if her Department will take steps to ensure that the granting of such licences does not endanger the buzzard population.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Buzzards are now widespread in England, with over 60,000 pairs in the UK (British Trust for Ornithology). The removal of a small number of birds will have no impact on the national population. Moreover, Natural England would not license any activity that would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the Government plans to re-apply for World Trade Organisation membership upon leaving the EU; and what assessment he has made of the length of time it would take for such an application to be successful.

    Greg Hands

    The UK is already a member of the WTO in its own right and will not need to re-apply upon leaving the EU.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what regions he has identified as having a shortage of GPs; and what steps he is taking to address those shortfalls.

    Alistair Burt

    Health Education England (HEE) has advised that they have identified six local offices experiencing low fill rates of general practitioner (GP) trainees. These are: Yorkshire; East Midlands; West Midlands; North East; East of England; and HEE Wessex (Isle of Wight only).

    Data on GP vacancies is not currently held but collection of this data is under development by the Department and the Health and Social Care Information Centre as part of the Workforce Minimum Dataset.

    NHS England, HEE, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association’s GPs Committee are working closely together to ensure that there is a skilled, trained and motivated workforce in general practice. In January 2015, the four organisations jointly published a ten point action plan to address immediate issues, and to take the initial steps in building the workforce for the future and new models of care.

    There are three strands to this work: improving recruitment into general practice; retaining doctors within general practice; supporting those who wish to return to general practice.

    As part of the plan, NHS England launched a new national returner scheme, which has attracted 120 applicants so far. A marketing campaign to highlight the benefits of a career in general practice was launched in September 2015. Further initiatives will be announced by the ten point plan partners in due course.

    The plan, “Building the Workforce” is available on NHS England’s website:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/01/building-the-workforce-new-deal-gp.pdf

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  • Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kirsty Blackman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure regular publication of departmental transparency data.

    Matthew Hancock

    We are committed to publishing data in a timely fashion, and further transparency data will be published in due course.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding has been given to Local Safeguarding Children Boards in each year since 2010; and whether her Department plans to institute a nationally-defined funding formula for such boards.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) are funded through contributions from their partners as agreed locally, including local authorities, health services and the police. LSCBs publish details of these contributions in their annual reports, but these figures are not collated centrally. The Government does not provide ring-fenced funding for LSCBs.

    On 14 December 2015, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a review of LSCBs. This review has now commenced and will report by the end of March 2016.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on alleged human rights violations in that country; and what progress has been made on promoting a fair and independent judicial system in India.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) discussed human rights with Prime Minister Modi during Mr Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom in November 2015. Mr Modi reassured the Prime Minister and honourable members in his address to Parliament that he fully respected India’s traditions of tolerance and diversity. I raised the extensive interest taken by right honourable and honourable members in this place with the Indian High Commissioner on 12 January. The Indian Constitution provides for a judiciary which is independent of the legislature and the executive. The courts have proved to be a powerful medium of progressive change in India and a protector of India’s Constitution, challenging successive governments on various issues, including human rights. However, we do acknowledge that there is a backlog of cases and are encouraged by discussions in India to address this issue.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the Regional Air Connectivity Fund has not yet been allocated.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Regional Air Connectivity Fund was announced by the previous Government to provide up to £20 million annually to maintain existing domestic air routes to London that may be withdrawn, and to support new air routes from airports handling fewer than 5 million passengers per annum though start-up aid.

    The Government has already made £5.2 million available to maintain the existing air links between Dundee and Stansted airports, and between Newquay and Gatwick airports, and will continue to consider support for other routes that may be withdrawn.

    In addition, the Department last year undertook a tender process for airlines to bid for funding for start-up aid for new air routes. A total of eleven bids were received and the government announced last November that up to £7 million would be provided to support all eleven routes. It is now for the airlines to start operating these routes, with payments from the fund made upon delivery of the agreed service.

    We are now considering whether to take forward further start-up funding rounds and will make an announcement later this year.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-03-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the 19,000 remaining refugees to enter the UK by the end of this Parliament have been already identified by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    We work closely with The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme. The scheme is based on need and supports those who cannot be supported effectively in their region of origin.

    We cannot therefore provide long term forecasts but have agreed a timetable of referrals. This remains subject to change due to a number of operational factors.