UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value was of support provided by (a) his Department and (b) Network Rail to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group in each year from 2010-11 to date.

    Claire Perry

    The Government, and Network Rail, to further their objective of supporting a safe, reliable and efficient rail network, engage with and support a broad range of stakeholders and initiatives across Government. These include the Technical Strategy Leadership Group; Rail Delivery Group Limited; the Planning Oversight Group; and the National Task Force.

    The Department provided the following funding towards the Technical Strategy Leadership Group’s strategic research programme through a grant to RSSB which facilitates the group:

    Year

    DfT grant towards TSLG’s research programme (£m)

    2010/11

    1.25

    2011/12

    1.75

    2012/13

    3

    2013/14

    3.5

    Network Rail does not provide direct financial support to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group.

    Network Rail, between 10th August 2012 and 31st March 2014, paid £240,000 to Rail Delivery Group Limited in membership fees. For the year April 2014 – March 2015, Network Rail has paid or is due to pay £1,568,509 in membership fees. The increased fees paid by Network Rail in the most recent year are as a result of the Group assuming responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry. Network Rail provides staff to Rail Delivery Group Limited, for which it is due to charge the group £261,312.

    The Planning Oversight Group is funded and supported by Rail Delivery Group Limited and does not receive direct financial support from the Department or Network Rail. The National Task Force does not have a budget, but those who attend are drawn from the various industry members.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on that case was in each month since October 2013.

    Mr Mark Harper

    The latest information available is provided in Table 2.1 in the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-reconsiderations-of-dwp-benefit-decisions-data-to-october-2014

    “

  • Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McGovern on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to (a) encourage firms to pay a fair wage to workers in their overseas supply chains and (b) stop other forms of exploitation of those workers.

    Jo Swinson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has introduced a requirement for large listed companies to include in their Strategic Report information on human rights issues. This requirement will be further enhanced by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, due to come into force by 2017, which specifically includes human rights due diligence and supply chains.

    In December last year, I announced support from BIS for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, which will assess and rank the human rights performance of 500 companies worldwide. The combination of enhanced disclosure and published assessments of company performance will provide a powerful incentive to businesses to ensure that workers in their overseas supply chains are free from exploitation and are paid fair wages.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to link local government finance settlements to ONS population growth figures.

    Kris Hopkins

    Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Report for 2015-16 on 10 February 2015. The settlement is fair to all; councils with the highest needs have higher spending power per household than those with lower needs.

    The focus of the settlement has deliberately changed away from keeping authorities dependent on grant, to providing them with the tools they need to grow their economies. As a result, although we took into account relative needs when setting the baseline for the new system, we have frozen this to maximise the incentive effect. All councils can benefit from the incentives for growth we have put in place – the New Homes Bonus and business rates retention.

    For example Newham’s retained income from Business Rates in 2013-14 was just under £7 million above its baseline funding level; and the authority’s own forecasts suggest it will be over £10 million above its baseline funding level in 2014-15. In addition Newham’s housing stock has increased by over 8,000 units over the period of the New Homes bonus scheme, providing a further £28 million of funding to the Borough in the years to 2015-16.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the advertising budget was for the Forces Help to Buy campaign in the last 24 months; and how much of that budget has been spent on (a) television, (b) newspaper, (c) online, (d) radio and (e) other forms of advertising using the phrase Forces Help to Buy in that period.

    Anna Soubry

    There is no advertising budget for the Forces Help to Buy scheme. The scheme has been communicated through routine internal channels to inform Service personnel of the support available to them.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation of the Saharawi population in Western Sahara; and what discussions he has had with the government of Morocco on this issue.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We assess that there has been progress in the human rights situation. Some concerns remain and we are continuing to follow progress in these areas. My Noble Friend, Lady Anelay, raised Western Sahara at senior levels during her visit to Morocco last month. I discussed Western Sahara issues with the Moroccan Ambassador most recently in January 2015.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Israeli government on the construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK’s position on Israeli settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two state solution. I made a statement on 30 January, urging the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to publish new tenders for 450 settlement units in the West Bank. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to lobby repeatedly against settlement activity with a range of Israeli contacts.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Barts’ Trust has paid for locum staff in each of the last five years.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The information is not available in the format requested. Total earnings for locum doctors, at Barts Health NHS Trust for the period April 2012 to October 2014 are shown in the following table.

    April 2012 to October 2012

    November 2012 to October 2013

    November 2013 to October 2014

    All locum doctors

    £3,808,133

    £4,810,950

    £4,037,180

    Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Provisional NHS Staff Earnings Estimates.

    Notes:

    Data prior to April 2012, when the present merged Barts Health NHS Trust opened, are not available.

    These figures represent payments made using the Electronic Staff Record system to National Health Service staff who are employed and directly paid by NHS organisations.

  • Ronnie Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ronnie Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Campbell on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in Blyth Valley constituency were on methadone maintenance treatment in the last three years; and what proportion of all NHS spending on methadone maintenance treatment was spent in Blyth Valley constituency in that time.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System collects information on the number of people receiving substitute prescribing interventions for substance misuse in England, but does not distinguish between methadone and other drugs such as buprenorphine which are also recommended for the treatment of opioid drug misuse by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

    Figures for adults receiving a prescribing intervention in Northumberland for the last three years are presented below. Treatment figures are only available at local authority level, so the requested figures for the Blyth Valley constituency are not available. Information on methadone maintenance spending is not collected centrally.

    Adults in receipt of a prescribing intervention

    2011-12

    775

    2012-13

    778

    2013-14

    769

    Source: National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS)

  • Jon Trickett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jon Trickett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2015-02-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the meningitis B vaccine to be made available on the NHS; and what steps he is taking to make progress on price negotiations with Novartis for that vaccine.

    Jane Ellison

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 February 2015 to Question 222863.

    “