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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report by Carers Trust entitled A Charge on Caring?, published on 16 September 2015, if he will take steps to prohibit local authorities from charging unpaid carers for support.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government recognises the valuable contribution made by carers, many of whom spend a significant proportion of their life providing support to family members or friends.

    The Care Act guidance is clear about policy on charging carers. The Care Act statutory guidance, at paragraph 8.50 states that:

    “Local authorities are not required to charge a carer for support and indeed in many cases it would be a false economy to do so. When deciding whether to charge, and in determining what an appropriate charge is, a local authority should consider how it wishes to express the way it values carers within its local community as partners in care, and recognise the significant contribution carers make.”

    The Care Act replicates the previous position where charging carers was permissible and the Government has no plans to change this. It would not have been appropriate to impose a blanket ban on charging for carers services, because in some cases small charges are necessary to the viability of services. However, the Care Act provides additional protection to carers by making it clear that local authorities cannot charge carers for services provided to the person being cared for. This means that carers may only be charged for services provided directly to them.

    Most local authorities do not routinely charge carers in recognition of the valuable contribution carers make to their local communities, and the Carers Trust report confirms that this is still the case. We will continue to make the case against routine charging of carers and to monitor the situation closely.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the merits of third-party funding as an alternative to the current funding regime for insolvency litigation.

    Dominic Raab

    An Impact Assessment was published when the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 received Royal Assent.

    The Ministry of Justice is in the process of considering the way forward in relation to the application to insolvency litigation of the no win no fee reforms in Part 2 of the Act.

  • Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions Ministers or officials have had with HM Treasury regarding the disparity between diesel and petrol prices in the last three months.

    Andrew Jones

    Ministers and officials meet regularly with HM Treasury on a wide range of issues.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage more people to train as teachers.

    Nick Gibb

    We believe that all pupils,regardless of birth or background, should have access to high-quality teachers. That is why we are committed to attracting top graduates and career-changers into teaching, and supporting schools to recruit and retain good teachers. Since 2010, we have introduced a series of initiatives to increase recruitment and raise standards of teachers and teaching. We have increased scholarships and training bursaries in priority subjects, which are now worth up to £30,000; we have expanded Teach First and given graduates the chance to earn a salary while they train; our pay reforms have given schools greater flexibility to decide how much they pay teachers and how quickly pay progresses, so there is now more opportunity for good teachers to progress more rapidly.

    Whilst ensuring that we recruit sufficient numbers of new trainee teachers, we are also committed to supporting schools to retain good teachers. That is why we have made significant policy interventions in areas such as improving pupil behaviour and tackling unnecessary workload for teachers.

  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote the use of credit unions in the work of her Department; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 2 November 2015 to Question 13435:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-10-26/13524/.

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  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to promote the use of credit unions in the work of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for West Worcestershire (Ms Baldwin) on 2 November 2015, UIN 13524.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS pharmacy services have transferred to the private sector in each of the last five years; what the value of each of those contracts for those services was; and what change to the cost of those services arose to each NHS Trust as a result of those changes.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not held centrally. Such arrangements are made directly between National Health Service trusts and independent pharmacy providers.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that British citizens travelling to India are aware of the illegal practice of capturing and breaking young elephants in India for use in the tourism industry.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    We are aware of reports that some elephants in use in the tourist industry in India have been captured as calves and then beaten and mistreated. This practice is illegal in India. Officials in London have discussed this issue with Save The Asian Elephant (STAE), an organisation that works to stop this cruel treatment.

    The UK is committed to conserving Asian elephants and recognises the growing threats to their populations, particularly from poaching and cross-border, illegal trade in live animals to feed the demand by the tourist and entertainment industries. The UK has been working internationally through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in discussion with elephant range states, including India, to increase protection for Asian elephants. We secured agreement from the Indian government in 2014 for elephant range states to put in place measures to prevent illegal trade in live elephants.

    It is not for the Government to make British citizens aware of this practice. However, we will continue to work together with the Indian authorities, as well as STAE and other non-governmental organisations, on protecting elephants.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if (a) statutory redundancy payments and (b) final salaries will be paid from the Government’s support funding package for those affected by recent redundancies in the steel industry.

    Anna Soubry

    I can confirm that the support package covers both of these aspects. The money allocated towards redundancies factored in payments for owed salaries and does not affect the money for training and regeneration of the local economy. I also note that without Government action, SSI workers would not have been paid their salaries in September.

  • 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 2015-10-26.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests were rejected by government departments in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015 to date.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness and the number of requests rejected by each government department. These reports can be accessed at the following webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

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