Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the Care Quality Commission’s recent progress in meeting its inspection programme’s targets.

    Ben Gummer

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC is an executive non-departmental public body accountable to the Secretary of State for the efficient and effective discharge of its functions, duties and powers. The Department monitors CQC’s financial and operational performance and risks, including progress with recruitment of inspectors, at a general and strategic level through regular formal and informal accountability meetings. Ministers and the Permanent Secretary also hold regular meetings with the Chair and Chief Executive of the CQC and its Chief Inspectors.

    The CQC has advised that it expects the inspections of NHS acute hospitals to be completed as planned by the end of March 2016 and the inspections of the remaining NHS Hospitals by June 2016. Further planning is required for the independent health sectors to enable the December 2016 commitments to be met.

    The CQC is currently behind the planned trajectories to have rated all adult social care and general practitioners and out of hours services by 30 September 2016. The time it has taken to both recruit the required numbers of inspectors and to ensure they are fully trained to conduct inspections has contributed to the current position. The CQC is considering what steps it can take to bring the programme back on track.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local authorities fix potholes during winter 2015-16.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department for Transport has not commissioned any research in respect to the condition of rural roads.

    In December 2014 it was announced how this Government is allocating record funding of just under £6 billion to local authorities in England, outside London, for highways maintenance between 2015 and 2021. This funding can be used to fix potholes and improve the condition of the rural road network depending on the priorities and needs of the respective highway authority.

    The following weblink provides information on how much funding is to be allocated between now and 2021 to local highway authorities for local highways maintenance. The funding is based on a formula which includes the length of carriageway an authority is responsible for rather than need:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highways-maintenance-funding-allocations-201516-to-202021

    Herefordshire County Council will receive over £60 million between 2015 and 2021 from this funding.

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  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many translators and analysts in the UK specialising in (a) Pashtun, (b) Oromo, (c) Tingrinya, (d) Amharic and (e) Tamil have contributed to supporting policing efforts in Calais.

    James Brokenshire

    Inclusive of 16 October 2015, the UK have contributed the following translators and analysts in response to requests from the French Border Police to assist in Calais

    a) Pashtun – 1

    b) Oromo – 1

    c) Tingrinya – 19

    d) Amharic – 0

    e) Tamil – 0

    In line with the terms of the joint Ministerial Declaration on UK/French co-operation on Managing Migratory Flows in Calais, support will be provided on an ongoing basis.

    Please note that the figures on the provision of interpreters are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information. They are therefore provisional and subject to change.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of animal welfare laws on the protection of horses; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    When the Animal Welfare Act 2006 was reviewed in 2010, no recommendations were made specific to horses. Earlier this year, improvements were made to the Animals Act 1971 in relation to fly-grazing horses to enable horses left on other people’s land, without the landowner’s permission, to be removed more quickly. We have included the Riding Establishments Acts 1964 and 1970 in a review of animal establishment related licensing that my department is currently undertaking. We will issue a formal consultation shortly on a set of proposals.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-10-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to set out in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review that police budgets in Cumbria should not be reduced.

    Greg Hands

    Police reform is working and crime is down by more than a quarter since 2010, according to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales.

    As with other spending decisions, no decisions have been taken on police funding beyond 2015/16. Future funding levels will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review later this year.

  • Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2015-10-15.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a kinship carer with more than two children in their care, either their own children or under a kinship arrangement, and who receives tax credits, will be affected by the decision not to permit an additional claim for the credits for a third child.

    Damian Hinds

    The Welfare Reform and Work Bill already allows for prescribed exemptions to apply to this policy. The government will set out further details in due course.

  • Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has asked Ofsted to inspect and report on how well schools are providing citizenship as part of the revised inspection framework with its focus on British Values, the Prevent duty and SMSC.

    Nick Gibb

    Individual subjects are not inspected by Ofsted inspectors. Ofsted do, however, look at factors that relate to citizenship, including Fundamental British Values (FBV) and Spiritual Moral Social Cultural (SMSC).

    Citizenship education is in the national curriculum at key stages 3 and 4 and helps young people to prepare to play a full part in society, informed by a sound understanding of what it means to be a responsible citizen. As a result of the national curriculum review, the government has revised the programmes of study in order to direct teaching towards the core knowledge and to give schools more scope to decide how to teach citizenship. Pupils also learn about democracy, government and how laws are made and upheld. Teaching should equip pupils to explore political and social issues critically, to weigh evidence, to debate, and to make reasoned arguments. It should also prepare them to take their place in society as responsible citizens.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Statement by the Minister for Courts and Legal Aid, of 15 October 2015, HCWS 239, on HM Courts and Tribunals Service, what the total cost to the Exchequer was of the discontinued procurement process referred to in the statement.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    As I told the House on 15 October, we took the decision not to outsource HMCTS compliance and enforcement services to a single supplier because of the need to ensure that any contract we let provided the best value for the taxpayer.

    The total cost of the Compliance and Enforcement Service Project as of end of September 2015 was £8,723,645.

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-10-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether primary legislation is required to implement the proposals on the adult skills budget in the Sheffield City Region Devolution Agreement, announced on 2 October 2015.

    Nick Boles

    One of the conditions for full devolution of adult skills funding in relation to the Sheffield City Region is that Parliament has legislated to enable transfer of the current statutory duties on my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to secure appropriate facilities for further education for adults from the relevant budget and for provision to be free in certain circumstances. Primary legislation would be needed for that purpose.

  • Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings and recommendations of the National Deaf Children’s Society report, One year on: impact of changes to the special educational needs system on deaf children, published on 1 September 2015; and if she will make a statement.

    Edward Timpson

    The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced significant reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system. The new statutory framework will ensure that support is focused on needs and aspirations, enabling all pupils to achieve better outcomes in education and adult life.

    Since the Act came into force, in September 2014, there have been a number of significant changes to the SEND system, including the publication of ‘local offers’ of SEN services by local authorities; the introduction of streamlined education, health and care assessments; and new statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education.

    Implementing these reforms requires substantial cultural and procedural change at local level. We are closely monitoring implementation and we are continuing to provide support.

    Local authorities in England each received a share of a £70 million reform grant in 2014-15; and of a further £45.2 million in 2014-15 and £31.7 million in 2015-16 to meet the additional costs of implementing the new SEN duties. Peer support is available to local authorities and their partners through a network of regional lead authorities. And we have funded a range of grants and contracts to provide advice and support to local authorities and their partners across education, health and social care. This includes support to parents and young people, through parent carer forums and the Independent Support programme (£15m per year in 2014-15 and 2015-16).