The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a standard disclosure clause is included in Government procurement contracts.
Matthew Hancock
A standard disclosure clause is included in Government procurement contracts. This information is publicly available on www.gov.uk.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish from the Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse of 18 February 2016, on accountability of combined authorities, whether the scrutiny requirements of the Local Government Act 2000 apply to combined authorities.
James Wharton
The scrutiny requirements for combined authorities are set out in Schedule 5A to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, as inserted by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, which provide that overview and scrutiny committees of combined authorities have powers to call in decisions and to involve other persons in their work. Schedule 5A also provides for secondary legislation which must ensure that the majority of members of an overview and scrutiny committee will be members of the combined authority’s constituent councils and that at least one member of an audit committee is an independent person. The scrutiny requirements of the Local Government Act 2000 do not apply to combined authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average change in the level of financial support given to a person over (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 30 years under his Department’s proposals to reform financial support for people affected by HIV or hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products if compensation is not linked to inflation.
Jane Ellison
The proposal to uncouple the link between annual payments and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was contained in in the consultation document “Infected Blood: Reform of financial and other support”. The aim of this proposal was to provide certainty about the amount of the annual payment and no estimation of the average change in the payments made to an individual claimant was made. No decisions have yet been made and details of the shape and structure of a reformed scheme, including the link to the CPI, will be decided following the end of the public consultation, which closed on 15 April.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will allow the Quality Assurance Agency to include an assessment of how well universities are meeting the needs of disabled students in their remit.
Joseph Johnson
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or mode of learning. In the last year we saw record numbers of applicants and entrants to higher education, and record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Universities expect to spend more than £745 million through access agreements agreed with the Director of Fair Access on measures to improve access and success for students from disadvantaged groups, including disabled students – up significantly from £404 million in 2009.
Under the Equality Act 2010, higher education institutions have a role and responsibility for promoting equality, including for students with disabilities.
The UK Quality Code promotes an inclusive approach by embedding consideration of equality and diversity throughout higher education institutions. Promoting equality for disabled students can include eliminating arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning and offering learning opportunities that are equally accessible to them. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) looks for evidence that universities promote equality when making assessments of higher education institutions in line with the UK Quality Code.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the (a) Saudi Arabian and (b) Yemeni ambassador on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
The UK is playing a leading role in responding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Over the last financial year, we more than doubled our humanitarian aid to Yemen to £85m, which allowed us to help more than 1.3 million Yemenis with food, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter. We regularly engage with Saudi Arabia and the Government of Yemen on the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much road grit is available in the UK for the 2016-17 winter; and how much the (a) mining, (b) storage and (c) distribution of road grit costs per year.
Andrew Jones
Highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. Winter service and maintenance is therefore the sole responsibility of the respective highway authority. This includes ensuring they have adequate road grit supplies.
The Department for Transport continues to take action to ensure the country enters the 2016/17 winter season well prepared. This includes monitoring road grit being held around the country throughout the winter season, working closely with the UK domestic road grit producers, continuing to maintain a substantial national emergency road grit reserve and having a robust distribution process in place, if for any reason this road grit is needed to be allocated.
The Department for Transport is also currently undertaking a survey of highway authorities to determine how much road grit is available in the UK for the forthcoming 2016-17 winter. However from previous surveys, we anticipate the country has over one million tonnes of road grit at its disposal, which is in addition to the 383,000 tonnes held as part of the national emergency grit reserve.
It is for each highway authority to ensure that they have adequate road grit procured to treat the roads for which they are responsible, as required. The costs fall to each highway authority. These costs may vary depending on the road grit supplier and the distance the grit has to be hauled to the depots. The typical cost of road grit, including mining, storage and distribution lies within the range of £30 to £38 per tonne.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the indebtedness of people aged 18 to 25.
Harriett Baldwin
The government is committed to ensuring that young people can access the support they need in order to make informed financial decisions and avoid problem debt.
To ensure that young people leave school with an understanding of personal finance, financial literacy was made part of the secondary school National Curriculum in September 2014; and the mathematics curriculum has also been changed to include topics on financial decisions. This means that for the first time, young people now learn about the importance of budgeting, sound management of money, credit and debt, as well as understanding different financial services and products.
The government set up the Money Advice Service (MAS) in 2010 to enhance consumers’ understanding and knowledge of financial matters. MAS provides a single point of debt advice for consumers, including people aged 18-25, and allows those facing problems with debt to obtain free and impartial money advice. MAS also recently launched their nationwide Financial Capability Strategy, which will specifically consider how the needs of young people should inform provision going forward.
The government is currently consulting on how the provision of public financial guidance could be made more effective for consumers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the NHS recognises alcoholism as a mental health issue.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Evidence shows that there is a link between alcohol misuse and mental ill health. We know that people who drink excessively are at higher risk of poor mental health and that some people with mental illness may lead riskier lifestyles and may have issues with alcohol and drug misuse.
National Health Service clinicians use the tenth edition of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) for mental and behavioural disorders. The ICD-10 includes ‘Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol.’
Diagnosis of a mental or behavioural disorder would be subject to an individual assessment, by an appropriate clinician.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Caroline principles are applied to any further targeted killing carried out in self-defence of the UK.
Penny Mordaunt
In taking any action in self-defence of the UK, we will take account of well-established principles of self-defence. As the Attorney General pointed out to the Justice Select Committee on 15 September 2015, the Caroline case goes back to the 19th century and was concerned with very different circumstances to those facing us now. However as the Attorney General also made clear, the principles still apply and action in self-defence may be lawful in relation to an attack which has not yet materialised but is imminent. In addition any such action must, like all other action in self-defence, comply with the requirements of necessity and proportionality.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will provide support for producers of anaerobic digestive installations in completing planning applications for those installations.
James Wharton
My Department has made clear, through planning guidance, that anaerobic digestion as a form of waste development needs to be planned for. It is for local authorities to decide on the most appropriate strategy for managing waste in their area in line with planning policy and guidance.