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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Gareth Thomas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each (a) region of England and (b) London borough had been waiting six months or longer for a medical examination as part of their assessment of entitlement to a personal independence payment on 1 May 2014; and if he will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    We are committed to ensuring personal independence payment (PIP) claimants receive high quality, objective, fair and accurate assessments. Since the introduction of PIP new claims in April 2013, we have been closely monitoring all aspects of the process.

    As personal independence payment (PIP) is a new benefit, processes are currently bedding in. Our latest analysis is telling us that the end-to-end claimant journey is taking longer than expected. We are working closely with the assessment providers to ensure that they are taking all necessary steps to improve performance, speed up the process and ensure claimants receive a satisfactory experience. We are also seeking to ensure that all the steps in the process run as smoothly as possible and that there are no barriers in our processes and systems that contribute to claims taking longer than necessary to progress.

    The first official statistics for the number of people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was published on 5th June alongside updated statistics on PIP new claim registrations, decisions and awards.

    Statistics on clearance times are not being published at this stage. Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication but releasing them at this stage would give a skewed representation of the process since steady state has not yet been reached and natural reassessment has yet to rollout across the country.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress departments have made on implementing the Guidance on Customer Service Lines published in December 2013.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The guidance we published in December 2013 set out that departments should use prefixes offering a geographic call rate as a default policy position for the provision of core public services. This was not the case in the past.

    My officials are working with the cross-Whitehall group on customer service lines.

    We will publish information from departments on their customer telephone lines later in the summer.

  • Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Michael McCann – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael McCann on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases funded by legal aid taken against her Department where public interest lawyers have represented clients were won by her Department each of the last 10 years.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not keep a central record of which cases brought against
    it are legally aided, or of the law firms that represent litigants.

  • Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that there is no age discrimination in NHS treatment of breast, prostate and bowel cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    The National Health Service has a statutory duty to reduce health inequalities and improve the health of those with the poorest outcomes. The NHS Constitution makes clear that a core duty of the NHS is to promote equality for all groups in society, including older people. A ban on age discrimination in NHS services was introduced in 2012, meaning that NHS services need to do everything they can to ensure that services do not unwittingly discriminate against older people.

    As well as the legal and moral imperative, improving the treatment and care of older people affected by cancer can also play a significant role in improving outcomes. Tackling health inequalities and promoting equality of outcome in England is essential to achieving cancer survival rates which match the best performing countries in the world. Furthermore, cancer treatment should always be based on what is right for each individual patient, whatever their age.

    In December last year, NHS England National Clinical Director for Cancer, Sean Duffy, launched a ‘call for action’ on the treatment for older people, a priority for NHS England and its partners. As part of this, NHS England is setting up an advisory group so it can identify where real improvements can be made in cancer services for older people. We are also supporting an initiative which will make sure that patients are better informed about the options available to them and they are fully involved in decisions about their treatment.

  • Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tim Loughton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to speed up payments by public bodies and private concerns to small businesses; and what recent assessment he has made of average payment times.

    Matthew Hancock

    We announced further reforms to public procurement on 30 May to speed up payments by public bodies to small businesses. These include improvements to e-invoicing, procurement processes and greater powers for Ministers to investigate complaints raised by the Cabinet Office’s ‘mystery shopper scheme’.

    We have also announced new legislation that will require larger businesses to report on their payment performance and practices. Increasing transparency and driving openness is at the heart of building a more responsible payment culture that UK businesses need to thrive.

    Recent research suggests that UK businesses experience an average 17 day delay to payment of invoices. This is a reduction in the past two years but a figure that is still too high and is holding back investment and growth.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Flood Defence Repair Fund paid to the Environment Agency has been (a) allocated to the Environment Agency and (b) spent by the Environment Agency to repair flood defences to date.

    Dan Rogerson

    Defra has made available to the Environment Agency an additional £30 million in 2013/14 and up to £135 million in 2014/15, to respond to the winter floods and repair flood and coastal defences. The Environment Agency spent £31.2 million on repairs and emergency response between January and March 2014. This includes £26 million on asset repair costs, £1.5 million of which was paid to local authorities. The remaining £5.2 million was spent on other associated costs, such as incident management and emergency response. These are the latest figures available.

  • Mike Freer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mike Freer – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Middle East peace process of recent reports that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said his organisation will not renounce violence or recognise Israel.

    Hugh Robertson

    Reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under a Palestinian Authority committed to peace with Israel is a necessary step towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a key element of a viable negotiated solution. We welcome the formation on 2 June of a new interim technocratic government for the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We have made clear that our continued support to the new Palestinian government will rest on its commitment to the principle of non-violence, a negotiated two state solution, and an acceptance of all previous agreements and obligations, including Israel’s legitimate right to exist. We now look to the new government to demonstrate these commitments through its actions as well as its words.

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what maintenance HMS Montrose will undergo before being assigned to the Fleet Ready Escort task; and whether such tasking after a long deployment is a regular occurrence.

    Mr Mark Francois

    HMS Montrose was previously deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean. She returned to the UK for a period of planned maintenance and post-deployment leave before conducting a short port visit in London and then participating in a NATO Exercise.

    Royal Navy ships are programmed in accordance with our operational requirements, but for security reasons we do not discuss specific future operational tasking.

  • Eric Joyce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Eric Joyce – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eric Joyce on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any UK citizens would involuntarily lose resident citizenship as a result of Scottish independence.

    Karen Bradley

    In the event of a vote for independence, decisions about UK citizenship would
    rest with the UK Government; the basis for entitlement to Scottish citizenship
    would be for the government of an independent Scottish state to decide.

    The UK has historically been tolerant of plural nationalities, and therefore it
    is likely that it would be possible for an individual to hold both British and
    Scottish citizenship. However, under current rules British citizens living
    outside the UK cannot pass their British nationality on more than one
    generation. So, the children of British citizens living in an independent
    Scotland would be British citizens, but their children and subsequent
    generations would not be.

    The government of the continuing UK would also need to consider whether all
    British citizens living in Scotland could retain their British citizenship upon
    independence. This cannot be guaranteed and could be dependent on any residence
    requirements or proof of affinity to the continuing UK. It is not possible to
    predict now what the decision of a future government of the continuing UK might
    be in this area.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that patients with prostate cancer receive the highest quality treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    Newly updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on how best to diagnose and treat prostate cancer will help doctors to ensure that men are given information about the treatment options available and help in choosing the best option to suit them. The updated guidance also aims to reduce the uncertainty and variations in practice that remain in some areas of prostate cancer diagnosis and management.

    Since the original recommendations were published in 2008, a number of new treatments have been licensed for the management of hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer. There is also more information now available on the best way to diagnose and identify the different stages of the disease in a hospital setting, as well as how best to manage the side effects of radical treatment. NHS England would expect providers to take account of best evidence and treatments in their delivery of services.