Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer for 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 765W, on carbon emissions, to which other technologies that Answer refers to; and whether this would still be the case if the carbon footprint of backup technologies was factored in.

    Gregory Barker

    Onshore wind power has a very small carbon footprint range relative to other energy generation technologies, including coal and gas-fired generation, which, in 2012, emitted, on average, 895 g/kWh and 415 g/kWh respectively (not allowing for emissions incurred during the manufacture, construction and decommissioning phases)1.

    The Department does not estimate the gas turbine energy contribution (and therefore related CO2 emissions) associated with the reserve generation needed to manage wind variability specifically, due to complex inter-dependencies of the power system operational parameters. However, the need for reserve generation to manage intermittent supply and demand of electricity does not change the fact that any electricity generated by onshore wind – which in the first quarter of 2014 accounted for around 7% of all electricity generated in the UK – has a carbon footprint of just 8 and 20g CO2eq/kWh. Reserve generation displaces the output of existing generating stations to maintain the balance of supply and demand, so there is no net increase of power on the system at any one time; therefore the only additional emissions from reserve associated with wind power is through the inefficiency of running separate generating stations at part load rather than fewer stations at full-load, which is relatively insignificant compared to the carbon savings made.

    [1]Coal and Gas emissions factors from table DUKES 5C, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

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  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the explicit monetary value per quality-adjusted life was in the context of ‘Evaluation of new pharmaceutical products or medical devices’, as quoted as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s submission to Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    I refer my Rt. hon. Friend to the answer given on 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 283W.

  • Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Weatherley – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weatherley on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures are currently in place to record the number of missed GP appointments.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Information is not collected centrally on the number of missed general practitioner (GP) appointments. This is a matter for local organisations. However, NHS England estimates that each year around 12 million GP appointments are missed, at a cost to the system of £162 million.

    In order to reduce the number of missed GP appointments, the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund is supporting pilots to ensure appointments are as convenient as possible for the patient. The pilots will offer millions more patients evening and weekend GP appointments, as well as introducing initiatives, such as email and Skype consultations.

  • David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, whether she is seeking financial compensation from the Educational Testing Service.

    James Brokenshire

    Investigations are on-going and all potential remedies are being pursued.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish all impact assessments his Department has made on privatising the Ministry of Justice Shared Services in Newport.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Ministry of Justice are entering into detailed discussions with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) regarding the future delivery of their back office services, with the intention of awarding a contract in August 2014. We expect this to bringincreased savings and efficiency in back-office functions, provide further benefits across wider Government and offer better value for money to the tax payer.

    Prior to this decision, the two private sector options were compared against the option to remain a standalone organisation and assessed using evaluation criteria that considered IT, cost, staff impacts and the service to our customers. The assessments will not be published as they are commercially sensitive documents.

    We will continue to work with staff, trade unions and other stakeholders to assess any impacts on staff.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what role (a) his Department and (b) local authorities will have in (i) specifying and (ii) managing the new franchises for rail passenger services on the (A) TransPennine Express and (B) Northern Rail lines.

    Stephen Hammond

    The specification for each franchise is being developed collaboratively by the Department for Transport’s Rail Executive and Rail North. Rail North are representing all the local transport authorities in the North of England. This is line with the partnership agreement confirmed between the Secretary of State and leaders of the local transport authorities in the North of England in January 2014. An integrated partnership structure between Rail Executive and Rail North is being developed with a view to managing the franchise once it has been let.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Debbie Abrahams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the (a) Competition Commission and (b) Office of Fair Trading spent on assessing mergers in the NHS in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.

    Jo Swinson

    The Competition Commission’s (CC’s) inquiry into the proposed merger between Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust and Poole Hospital Foundation Trust, which was concluded in 2013/14, was the Commission’s only assessment of an NHS Foundation Trust merger. The cost of this inquiry was £710,000, which includes the cost of the staff on the inquiry amounting to £639,000 and direct costs of £71,000 (including survey costs).

    The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) did not collect specific information on the resources used in considering mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts. However, the average approximate cost involved in scrutiny of a merger by the OFT was £20,000; in total, the OFT considered four mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts in 2012-13 and 2013-14, of which only one was referred for further scrutiny by the CC.

  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the explicit monetary value per quality-adjusted life was in the context of the Fire and Resilience Directorate, as quoted as part his Department’s submission to the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

    Brandon Lewis

    The information requested is not held by my Department. I refer my rt. hon. Friend to the answer given by my rt. hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Care and Support (Norman Lamb) on 26 June, Official Report, Column 283W, which explains the historical context to this Review under the last Administration.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will meet environmental groups and specialists in the field to discuss the trade of legal hardwood timber and associated environmental concerns.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra recently hosted a stakeholder event on the European Timber Regulation and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Regulations, at which Lord de Mauley met interested parties, including several NGOs. Next month he will be speaking at a launch event for WWF’s major upcoming timber campaign, which will be another chance to engage directly with a range of interested parties.

    As responsible minister, Lord de Mauley would be happy to consider any invitations to meetings on this subject.

  • Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Liz Kendall – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Kendall on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many calls to 999 were made by or on behalf of residents of care homes in each of the last four years.

    Norman Lamb

    Information is not held centrally on the number of calls to 999 made by or on behalf of residents of care homes, or the number of residents of care homes attending accident and emergency departments.

    Information on the number of residents of care homes who had an emergency admission to a hospital in each of the last four years shown in the following table.

    Number of finished admission episodes for emergency admissions by source of admission in England, 2009-10 to 2012-13

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    NHS run care home (from 1 April 2004)

    3,428

    3,396

    3,086

    3,538

    Non-NHS (other than local authority) run care home

    10,965

    10,510

    11,806

    15,158

    All sources of admission

    5,177,887

    5,287,032

    5,242,839

    5,336,043

    Source:

    Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Notes:

    1. Includes activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector.

    2. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

    3. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage, improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice.

    4. FAEs recorded as "The usual place of residence, including no fixed abode" may contain a number of episodes where patients may have resided in care homes, subsequently designating it as their usual place of residence. Such FAEs were not recorded as admissions from a care home. The number of times this may have occurred is unknown.