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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of NHS England having secured lower prices for the latest Hepatitis C drugs, whether they expect that progressively more patients will be treated in 2016–17 and future years.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit has recently concluded a tender which has resulted in some reductions in the cost of new hepatitis C drugs. These, and future reductions, support NHS England’s plans to increase treatment rates. NHS England has funded providers to treat 10,000 patients in the financial year 2016-17, and is expecting to treat more patients in the second half of the financial year. NHS England is already planning to increase treatment in 2017-18 to 12,500 patients, and is working with stakeholders to develop plans for a Strategic Multi-Year Procurement which aims to further improve the cost of these treatments and the opportunity to roll out treatment further.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Hodge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his objectives are at the Joint Ministerial Council during the week of 30 November 2015 in respect of central registries of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

    James Duddridge

    In March the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and I wrote to the Premiers of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda asking them to set out plans and a timetable for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership, or similarly effective systems, by the November Joint Ministerial Council.

    We set out that any system should meet the following criteria:
    a)UK law enforcement and tax authorities must be able to access company beneficial ownership information without restriction, subject to relevant safeguards;
    b)These competent authorities should be able to quickly identify all companies that a particular beneficial owner has a stake in without needing to submit multiple and repeated requests; and
    c)Companies or their beneficial owners must not be alerted to the fact that an investigation is underway.

    My objective is to press the Premiers to repeat their commitments to uphold international standards of transparency to ensure the highest degree of effectiveness including on holding beneficial ownership information. I will be discussing their proposals and timetable for doing so.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for changes in the number of Blue Badges held in England since 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    No assessment has been made. The number of valid Blue Badges held in England is published in table DIS0101, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478972/dis0101.xls.

    “

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage volunteers to monitor CCTV to help the police service.

    Mike Penning

    The Government believes that volunteers could play a greater role in policing, which is why a consultation was recently held to give Chief Constables greater flexibility to designate police powers to staff and volunteers, to enable them to support officers more effectively in keeping their communities safe.

    I am aware that a number of forces use volunteers within their CCTV control rooms already and more are currently recruiting for these roles. However all decisions on the recruitment, size and composition of a police force’s workforce are rightly a local matter for chief officers and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England are educated at home; whether those children undertake the national tests that children in schools undertake; and whether checks are made on their parents’ qualifications to be home tutors.

    Edward Timpson

    No data is collected nationally on the number of children educated at home. If a child is educated at home, they can only be entered for National Curriculum Assessments if also registered on the roll of a school in advance.

    It is not necessary to hold any particular qualification to educate a child at home. Parents have a duty under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that a child educated at home receives a full-time education suitable for their age, ability and aptitudes. Although local authorities have no power to monitor the suitability of education provided at home, they have a duty to identify children who are not receiving a suitable education. Authorities may make informal enquiries about the provision made in the home and the attainment of the child. If an authority is not satisfied that the education provided is suitable, it can initiate a school attendance process.

    We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people while at the same time safeguarding the right of parents to determine how and when to education their children.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect on the number of people employed by police services who are from non-EU countries of the salary threshold increase for Tier 2 visa applications to £35,000.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government announced in 2012 that from 6 April 2016 Tier 2 visa holders who apply for settlement in the UK will be required to meet a minimum annual salary requirement of £35,000. PhD level roles and those in recognised shortage will be exempt from the £35,000 threshold.

    Data of the number of people employed in specific regions of the United Kingdom is not available. The Home Office holds individual records showing the working location of Tier 2 (General) migrants, but centralised records show the registered address of the Tier 2 Sponsor, which is normally that organisation’s Head Office.

    The Home Office published a full impact assessment on the changes to Tier 2 settlement rules when they were laid before Parliament on 15 March 2012. This includes the impact on the top ten occupations and is available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117957/impact-assessment-tier2.pdf

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department took when devising the new model of community pharmacy to take into account both (a) rural and (b) urban deprivation.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and others, including patient and public representatives, on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond. We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.

    The proposals were considered against the Public Sector Equality Duty and other duties. The consultation responses will inform the final impact assessment, which will be published in due course.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has seen the latest draft of the EU Commission’s proposals for the (a) EU Budget and (b) any re-assessment and adjustments relating to previous years budgets; and if he will publish those proposals and their effect on the public purse before 23 June 2016.

    Mr David Gauke

    We have not received any unpublished EU budget proposals or any re-assessments and adjustments relating to EU budgets of previous years. Any budget proposals must conform to the legally binding annual expenditure ceilings agreed in the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average length of time was for fee remission in employment tribunal claims between receipt of such claims and final processing in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of fee remission applications were successful in that period.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    This information is available on gov.uk within the published Tribunals and Gender Recognition Statistics Quarterly.

  • Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Thomas of Winchester – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the proposal to remove a panel member with direct experience of disability from appeals for Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    The Government is investing close to £1 billion to reform and digitise our courts and tribunals to deliver swifter and more certain justice.

    Technology will be at the forefront of our reforms but specific support will be provided to ensure tribunals remain accessible to all and physical hearings will continue to be used to resolve many cases.

    An impact assessment was published alongside the Transforming our Justice System consultation paper.

    The panel composition reforms will ensure that the most appropriate panel is always selected to hear a case. As now, relevant expertise will always be available where needed, regardless of how a case is resolved. The Senior President of Tribunals will continue to determine when panel members are used.