Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support or respite care is available to full-time carers who wish to work part-time in addition to their caring responsibilities.

    Alistair Burt

    Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a responsibility to support carers in a number of ways. Local authorities will be required to undertake carers’ assessments, based on the appearance of a need for support. An assessment must establish the impact of caring on the carer, and the outcomes they wish to achieve, including engaging in work, education, training or recreation. For the first time, local authorities have a duty to meet carers’ eligible needs for support: this may include access to training to support them in their caring role or support to maintain employment where this is a desired outcome.

    Through the Care Act 2014 local authorities are required to provide information and advice and universal preventative services for carers. Local authorities can also support the person in understanding other types of support available to them for example to seek to promote access to appropriate employment, education or training, which can be an effective way of maintaining independence.

    In May 2014, NHS England published an action plan NHS England’s Commitment to Carers, which includes a series of commitments around 8 priorities, among which are raising the profile of carers. The Department of Health has also made available additional funding of £400 million to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to enable carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The carers’ breaks funding of £130 million for 2015 – 16 will also be in the Better Care Fund.

    In February 2015 the Government launched a joint Department of Health, Government Equality Office and Department for Work and Pensions investment of £1.6 million in pilots in nine local authority areas to explore ways in which people can be supported to combine work and care.

    We also fund the Carers Direct service which includes web-based information and advice for all carers through NHS Choices, as well as a telephone helpline service through which carers can be signposted to information. Carers Direct includes training materials that build on the Caring with Confidence programme – a time-limited national programme funded by the Department of Health to support the development of carer training, which closed in September 2010.

    On July 2015 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Mr Jeremy Hunt) announced that the Government will develop a new carers’ strategy that looks at the best of international practice and examines what more we can do to support existing carers and new carers. This will include consideration how best to support carers to maintain employment and of the training requirements of carers and whether current measures are fully meeting these.

    Specifically regarding carers of people with dementia, the Department of Health contributed to the funding of the Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Dementia Guide’, designed to help guide people with dementia and their carers through their journey with dementia. The Guide provides useful information for carers, following a diagnosis of dementia, and includes advice to help people understand a diagnosis of dementia to enable them to live well with the condition.

    With Department of Health funding, the Royal College of General Practitioners has developed a Dementia Roadmap that can be accessed by families and carers. It is a web based platform that provides high quality information about the dementia journey alongside local information about services, support groups and care pathways, primarily to assist primary care staff to more effectively support people with dementia, their families and carers.

    The Department is supporting the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action and the establishment of a Life Story Network for family carers of people with dementia. The Department provided funding of £30,000 to the Life Story Network during 2014/15 to support the establishment of a new involvement network for family carers of people with dementia, which is being established as part of the legacy of the Dementia Action Alliance’s Carers Call to Action.

    NHS England’s 2015/16 Dementia Enhanced Service encourages GP practices to increase the health and wellbeing support offered to carers of patients diagnosed with dementia.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lay magistrates were recruited in the last year for which figures are available, and what was the breakdown by ethnicity and gender.

    Lord Faulks

    A total of 403 magistrates were appointed in England and Wales between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. A breakdown of those appointments can be found in the tables below:

    Gender

    Male

    Female

    158 (39%)

    245 (61%)

    Ethnicity

    White

    Mixed

    Black

    Asian

    Chinese

    Other

    333 (83%)

    15 (4%)

    24 (6%)

    22 (5%)

    3 (>1%)

    6 (2%)

    Age

    18-29

    30-39

    40-49

    50-59

    60-65

    24 (6%)

    75 (19%)

    97 (24%)

    154 (38%)

    53 (13%)
  • Baroness Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Cox – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they plan to make to the government of Sudan following the findings by the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that Sudanese armed forces used air-dropped cluster bombs in Darfur and South Kordofan’s Nuba Mountains in the first half of 2015.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have brought this issue to the attention of the Government of Sudan. We have also raised the use of cluster munitions in Darfur through the UN Security Council and will continue to do so. Most recently, the UK-drafted Security Council resolution 2228 called for the Government of Sudan to immediately investigate evidence on cluster munitions presented by the Secretary General. The UK is clear that cluster munitions should in no circumstances be used to target civilians, and urge all States to act in accordance with international humanitarian law.

  • Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress achieved at the meeting of the Middle East Quartet on 10 September.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    On 30 September 2015, the Quartet met in the margins of the UN General Assembly. The Quartet released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the two state solution and noting the urgency of progress towards this objective, in the context of the intensifying threat of terrorism, sectarian extremism and radicalisation in the Middle East. Amongst other things, the Quartet expressed concern at current trends, and stressed the need for significant steps on the ground, consistent with past agreements. The UK, represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), attended the expanded second part of the meeting. The Foreign Secretary stressed the need for practical actions which would have impact on the ground and expressed concern at settlements, housing demolitions and population clearances.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 25 September (HL2301), how many job vacancies there were in each of the industries covered in the most recent Vacancy Survey.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Worthington – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Worthington on 2015-10-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have taken to limit their exposure to costs arising from the decommissioning of North Sea oil and gas infrastructure.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    There are robust safeguards in place to prevent the costs of decommissioning falling to the taxpayer. Measures under Part 4 of the Petroleum Act include the ability for the Secretary of State to require the owners of an offshore installation or pipeline to prepare and execute a decommissioning programme for those assets, and to take financial securities from those companies to protect the tax-payer from any default.

    We are committed to ensuring decommissioning programmes represent value for money, which is why the Government intends to bring forward amendments at Lords Report Stage of the Energy Bill to: require decommissioning programmes to be cost effective, ensure the Oil and Gas Authority has the powers it needs to scrutinise companies’ decommissioning plans to ensure they are cost effective, and enable the Secretary of State to require a company to take specific action to reduce the costs of decommissioning to address cost overruns.

  • The Earl of Dundee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The Earl of Dundee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Dundee on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how frequently, and in what way, they monitor and compare their performance in attracting overseas students to study and work in the United Kingdom with that of other countries; and following such analysis, whether they plan to make adjustments to their current policies.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    Overseas students are welcome in the UK and there is no cap on the number of such students. The OECD’s Education at a Glance, published annually, compares our performance with that of other countries. In 2012, the UK was estimated to have a 13% share of the international student market (OECD, 2014), second only to the US. The Government is committed to increasing education exports from £18bn in 2012 to £30bn by 2020and our International Education strategy is helping to achieve that.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many National Health Service organisations currently have vacancies for chief executive posts.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    This information is not held centrally by the Department.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the past five years, what percentage of applicants aged between 18 and 25 have been granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom on compassionate grounds; and how many applicants are still waiting for a decision.

    Lord Bates

    People in all immigration application routes have the potential to be granted leave to remain on compassionate grounds. There is no formal application category for ‘compassionate grounds’. The Home Office therefore cannot determine the percentage of applicants between 18 and 25 who have been granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom on compassionate grounds or how many applicants are still waiting for a decision.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-09-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have sought, or been given, the advice of the National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites concerning proposals for dualling the A303 through the Stonehenge part of the World Heritage Site; and if so, what advice they received.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Highways England is currently in the early stage of scheme development looking at options and to date have not sought the advice of the National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites.