Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the female genital mutilation reporting duties under Section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 apply to professionals who (a) are members of any of the professional bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register and (b) work in sectors where there is no statutory requirement to be members of a professional body and who themselves are not members of professional bodies.

    Karen Bradley

    Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime and it is child abuse.

    The new FGM mandatory reporting duty requires specified professionals to report known cases of FGM in under 18s to the police. It applies to teachers and health and social care professionals regulated by a body which is overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (with the exception of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland) in England and Wales.

    The duty does not apply to non-regulated professionals. This includes non-regulated professionals who are members of bodies on the Accredited Voluntary Register. However, our guidance on the duty is clear that such professionals also have a responsibility to take appropriate action in relation to any identified or suspected case of FGM, in line with wider safeguarding frameworks and guidance, including the multi-agency guidance on FGM which we are putting on a statutory footing.

    Where professionals fail to comply with the duty, this should be dealt with in accordance with professional bodies’ existing disciplinary procedures.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to change (a) the points awarded to individual descriptors under the personal independent payments (PIP) and (b) other elements of the PIP assessment process system.

    Justin Tomlinson

    As confirmed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 21 March, the proposed changes to PIP will not be going ahead.

    We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions her Department has had with external organisations on the development of the new cyber security strategy.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The new National Cyber Security Strategy is being developed by Cabinet Office in close cooperation with DECC and other Government Departments. Stakeholders from across the public sector, industry and academia have fed in their views. The strategy will set out how the Government will work in partnership to strengthen the UK’s defences, enhance our capabilities and develop the cyber security sector. DECC continues to engage with external stakeholders on a range of issues and as part of our contribution to this strategy.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will re-assess the business case for the Hoo Green to Bamfurlong spur of the second phase of High Speed 2 to take account of the decision to place the train depot at Crewe rather than Golborne.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport have been analysing route and station options in light of responses received following the Phase Two consultation. It would not be appropriate to go into detail on any individual location before a route decision has been taken. A route decision is planned for autumn 2016.

  • Marion Fellows – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Marion Fellows – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marion Fellows on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on the granting of visas to Syrian passport holders to enter the UK on a short term basis.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    It is not Home Office policy to refuse an application for a visa on the basis of an applicant’s nationality. All visa applications are considered on their merits, in accordance with the Immigration Rules.

  • Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department provides for communities in which Post Offices require relocation.

    Margot James

    The provision and location of Post Offices is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited.

    Any proposal by Post Office Limited to relocate a post office within a community includes a six week local consultation conducted by the Post Office to let the community know what is happening and seek feedback from interested customers and stakeholders within the community. The Post Office carefully considers all feedback received during the consultation process before making a final decision on whether to relocate.

    The Government recognises the importance of post offices to communities and will have invested £2 billion in the Post Office during the period 2010 to 2018 to maintain the network and invest in transformation of the business which includes money to help relocate post offices to more sustainable locations in their communities. This investment has led to the highest level of network stability in decades.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to increase enforcement rates for the national minimum wage.

    Nick Boles

    The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break the National Minimum Wage (NMW) law. In 2014/15, HMRC conducted 2,204 investigations into potential NMW non-compliance, totalling £3,291,529 of arrears for 26,318 workers.

    This is up from 1,455 investigations conducted in 2013/14, totalling £4,645,547

    of arrears for 22,610 workers.

    Building on our existing reforms, the Prime Minister announced on 1 September 2015 further measures to strengthen the enforcement of the NMW. These include:

    • increasing penalties from 100% to 200% of the arrears employers owed.
    • the setting up of a dedicated team in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) focused on tackling the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance.
    • increasing the enforcement budget in preparation for the National Minimum and Living Wage from April 2016.
    • the creation of a statutory Director of Labour Market Enforcement and Exploitation.
  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people from a working class background were recruited onto the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme in each year since its inception.

    Matthew Hancock

    To govern modern Britain, the Civil Service needs to look and sound likemodern Britain. We need access to the broadest possible pool of talent, drawing on peoplefrom all backgrounds and all parts of the country.

    The Civil Service is implementing a number of initiatives to recruit individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds onto the Fast Stream and Fast Track Apprenticeship schemes, including internship programmes, schools and colleges mentoring and discovery days, work experience programmes and engagement with universities with a high representation of lower socio-economic students.

    Information on the socio-economic status of recent appointees to the SCS was published in 2014,and the socio-economic status of Fast-Stream applicants has been published since 2011.

    In 2015 16.8% of new joiners to the Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, up from 8.5% in 2013/14. From 2015 this data will be published as part of the Fast Stream applicants publication.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what forecast he has made of whether the total stock of local authority homes will increase or decrease in the next five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst we have made no forecast of what the stock of council homes will be over the next 5 years, I do note that more council houses have been built since 2010 than were built in the entire 13 years of a Labour Government.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether all UK service personnel deployed to malarial areas since 2013 have been individually assessed for contraindications for mefloquine; and what the method of assessment was for those who were individually assessed.

    Mark Lancaster

    Since 2013, it has been Ministry of Defence policy that mefloquine should only be prescribed after an individual risk assessment. To verify that an individual assessment has been undertaken in every case since 2013 would require the examination of the medical records of all individuals who have deployed since 2013. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

    Templates exist to optimise consistency in the preparation of personnel requiring anti-malarials, including mefloquine. Defence Primary Healthcare has a malaria protocol to guide clinicians to use these templates. Work is currently in hand to develop it further, taking previous lessons into account, to ensure that all individuals are assessed in a consistent manner.