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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria his Department uses to determine links between cancer experienced by a current or former member of the armed forces and exposure to chemicals during periods of service.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) provides no-fault compensation for members of the Armed Forces where illness, injury or death is caused by service from 6 April 2005 under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and, before that date, under the War Pensions Scheme (WPS).

    Any disablement, injury or illness, including cancer, can be claimed with awards made where the claimed disorder is accepted as being due to service. Lay and scheme medical advisers work together and decisions are evidence based, reflecting the individual case facts, contemporary medical understanding of causation and the relevant law.

    Awards under the WPS depend on the assessed level of disablement with the method of assessment set out in the legislation and expressed as a percentage. The AFCS is tariff based. The legislation includes nine tables of injuries and disorders with associated tariff levels, relevant to military service. A lump sum is paid for pain and suffering taking account of the likely progress of the condition over the person’s lifetime. There are fifteen tariff levels and, for the more serious disorders like cancer, a Guaranteed Income Payment to cover reduced civilian employability is paid, in addition, from the date of claim for life.

    Where negligence exists on the part of the MOD, Service personnel may make a claim for damages under common law for service after May 1987. Awards are determined by common law principles which, broadly, take into account, as appropriate, an individual’s pain and suffering, degree of injury, past and future financial losses and level of care required. Levels of compensation which include these elements can vary depending on an individual’s circumstances.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2016 to Question 38739, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of children who were receiving School Action or School Action Plus who subsequently would not be expected to meet the criteria for an Education, Health and Care plan.

    Edward Timpson

    Where a pupil is identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN), schools should take action to remove barriers to learning and put effective special educational provision in place. This system of ‘SEN Support’ has replaced the School Action and School Action Plus categories. We expect schools to make robust judgements about who should receive SEN Support; and that these judgements should be informed by an understanding of good practice.

    Different arrangements apply where a child has more complex SEN. Under the Children and Families Act 2014, the legal test of when a child requires an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan remains the same as that for a statement of SEN under the Education Act 1996. The EHC assessment and planning process allows for closer inter-agency working and greater involvement for the child and their family. This helps the local authority to identify and put in place the most effective provision for the child.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has further to centralise the delivery of acute stroke services in metropolitan areas.

    David Mowat

    NHS England’s National Clinical Director (NCD) for stroke is leading work to develop a full proposal which will consider the evidence and logistical issues involved in delivering mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients across the country. This includes working with the relevant specialist societies, Royal Colleges and Health Education England to consider the workforce implications. Once the proposal has been developed, NHS England will decide whether the procedure should be made widely available.

    To ensure there is equitable access to high quality hyper acute stroke care regardless of time of stroke or where a patient has their stroke, NHS England’s NCD for stroke continues to work with Clinical Networks, Urgent and Emergency Care Networks, clinical commissioning groups and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints on how stroke care is best delivered to their local communities.

    In some places, this is ‘the London type model’ of focussing care in a small number of centres and equipping these to be able to deliver specialist care 24/7. In other parts of the country, centralisation of care into specialist centres is not feasible for geographical reasons. In these cases, alternative solutions (such as the use of telemedicine) have to be considered. Whatever the scenario, NHS England is fully committed to ensuring that all patients receive the best quality of care and the most up to date treatments.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reported criticisms that official school textbooks used in Pakistan contain references capable of provoking religious prejudice and hatred, whether they plan to discuss with the government of Pakistan the content of those textbooks, in particular those used in Punjab and Sindh provinces.

    Lord Bates

    The majority of the Department of International Development’s (DFID) education programmes in Pakistan support the work of the Governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Both governments are aiming to improve the quality of education, including through reviewing and replacing text books, implementing Pakistan’s 2006 reformed curriculum, and improving teaching standards through regular and better quality teacher training.

    Independent evaluations of the reformed curriculum have confirmed it to be based on values of democracy, pluralism, and peace. UK development programmes are assisting these provincial government efforts. In Sindh, we do not work with Government but rather we partner with the low cost private sector to get more poor children into school. So far 121,343 previously out of school children in the poorest areas of Sindh are now being educated.

  • Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of tax credit recipients in paid work have incomes above the income tax threshold.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The government is committed to achieving a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare economy. That means more emphasis on support to working families on low incomes through reducing tax and increasing wages, than on topping up low wages through tax credits.

    The Chancellor is listening to concerns raised by colleagues and will announce in his Autumn Statement how he plans to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits and saving the money we need to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

    HM Revenue & Customs publish statistics about individuals and households claiming tax credits and child benefits, which are available on the gov.uk website.

  • Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of an existing tax credit claimant family with one earner and three children in (a) 2018-19 and (b) 2019-20 of proposed changes to tax credits, assuming they are migrated to universal credit at the start of 2018 and experience a change in circumstance and lose their transitional arrangements.

    Priti Patel

    At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

    UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

    Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in deciding on measures to limit pollution from storm water overflows in accordance with the footnote to Annex I.A of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC), they have specified a certain acceptable number of storm water overflows per year in respect of the Thames Tideway upstream of Beckton; and, if so, what that number is.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    We have not specified an acceptable number of storm water overflows per year in respect of the Thames Tideway upstream of Beckton. The approach we have taken in the Tideway area is to improve sewage treatment and to increase the capacity of the collecting system, with a view to meeting agreed environmental objectives and to complying with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The measures to deliver this are the Lee Tunnel, the Thames Tideway Tunnel and upgrades to five major sewage treatment works in London.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the National Offender Management Service’s budget was for its allocation of illicit alcohol-detecting dogs in each of the last five years; and how many finds have been made by those dogs in each of those years.

    Andrew Selous

    There are more than 500 specially trained dogs used within prisons to search prisoners, visitors, prison perimeters and suspicious packages for illicit items, such as drugs, weapons, alcohol and mobile phones. Many dogs are trained so that they can detect a range of contraband rather than one particular substance. The specific combination of capabilities is managed by regional search teams so that dogs can be used most effectively to tackle prevalent risks in that region.

    For those reasons, it is not possible to allocate a specific budget to dogs who have been trained to detect alcohol. Data on the number of alcohol finds made by dogs is not recorded.

  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on encouraging school leavers to consider careers in science and mathematics of the conclusion of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in its report, Engineered in Britain, published in December 2015, on the rate of change in the numbers of school leavers considering such careers.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government is determined to increase the number of young people studying science and mathematics This includes an ambition that by 2020 we want to see a 20% increase in A level entries by girls to these subjects. Since 2010, there have been 28,000 more science and mathematics A level entries.

    In order to attract the best and brightest into the teaching profession, we are offering bursaries and scholarships of up to £30,000 to attract top science and mathematics graduates into teaching. We are also investing up to £67 million to recruit 2,500 additional maths and physics teachers and upskill 15,000 existing non-specialist teachers over the lifetime of this parliament. We welcome the contribution that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is making through its programme of two-week industrial placements which will give teachers a better understanding of the application of science and engineering in the real world.

    The Government is also taking action to ensure that young people are making well-informed choices about their future which include a good understanding of the value of science and mathematics subjects. Programmes such as STEM ambassadors and the Big Bang Fair are aimed at raising awareness of the range of careers that science and technical qualifications offer. The Government also supports the industry-led Your Life campaign which aims to transform perceptions of science and maths.

    We want to transform careers education and guidance so that all young people can access high quality support when they need it. The Government plans to publish a comprehensive careers strategy later this year to outline this government’s plans for improving careers provision by 2020. Over this parliament we are committing a total of £70 million to our strategy. As part of this, we will provide further funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company to embed and further extend its projects already underway, including the Enterprise Adviser Network, its Careers and Enterprise Fund, its research and wider activity to bring schools, colleges, business and careers and enterprise organisations closer together.

  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what contractual standards have been set for Maximus Health and Human Services Ltd for the number of completed work capability assessments.

    Priti Patel

    Centre for Health Disability Assessments, a MAXIMUS Company, has a target of 1,170,000 completed assessments in 2016/17.