Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • James Gray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    James Gray – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Gray on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Association about the funding of school CCFs.

    Anna Soubry

    We have set a target of expanding the number of Combined Cadet Forces (CCFs) in state schools.

    We are moving towards a model for all CCFs which will involve schools making a small contribution towards the running costs of their units, irrespective of which sector the school is in. We are working with schools to establish the best way forward and our current plan is that funding changes will happen in a phased manner over a four-year period from September 2015.

    The Secretary of State for Defence has not had discussions with the Combined Cadet Force Association (CCFA), although officials are in regular contact. The CCFA is represented on relevant Government cadet committees, and has been briefed on the planned changes.

  • Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Murphy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Murphy on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with one or more physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health impairment are explicitly mentioned in the Sustainable Development Goals and their attendant targets and indicators.

    Justine Greening

    The UK is pushing for the principle of ‘Leave no one behind’ to be included in the MDGs successor development framework, which was a central element of the report prepared for the UN Secretary general by the High Level Panel, co-chaired by the Prime Minister. We should ensure that no person, regardless of disability is denied universal human rights and basic opportunities.

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role he has had in designing the new GCSE English Literature curriculum; and on what dates he has had meetings about its design in the last 12 months.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Secretary of State for Education set out that new GCSEs should provide students with fulfilling and demanding courses of study, with expectations that match and exceed those in the highest performing countries. GCSE English literature subject content was developed drawing on the evidence gathered through its public consultation on GCSE English literature content, which ran from June to August 2013, and from Ofqual, the Awarding Organisations and other subject experts.

    In the last 12 months, the Secretary of State has met Department for Education officials on a series of occasions to discuss evidence gathered during the consultation.

  • Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Pamela Nash – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pamela Nash on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many officials in his Department are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Mrs Helen Grant

    The Department has no employees with a zero hours contract.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of TB tests for Alpacas; and if he will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency undertook research sponsored by the British Alpaca Society, the British Llama Society and British Camelids Ltd. to validate ante mortem TB tests in camelids. Their report was delivered to the sponsors in 2012 and a copy can be found at: http://www.llama.co.uk/resources/Validation_of_ante_mortem_TB_tests_in_Camelids.pdf.

    The outcome of that research formed the basis of Defra’s proposals for combined skin and blood TB testing of camelids on which we consulted in April this year. They can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/bovine-tb-disease-controls-for-deer-and-camelids

    “

  • Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregg McClymont – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregg McClymont on 2014-04-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consultation his Department had with HM Revenue and Customs staff prior to awarding the mail management contract to EDM Group.

    Mr David Gauke

    Regular consultation took place between HMRC and staff representatives throughout the process up to the point the decision was made to go out to tender for a provider of scanning services to HMRC.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much and what proportion of national cancer spend was spent on radiotherapy in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The information is shown in the following table:

    Estimated expenditure on cancer services and radiotherapy, 2008-09 to 2012-13, £ millions in 2012-13 prices

    Year

    Cancers and tumours

    Radiotherapy

    2008-09

    5,281

    401

    2009-10

    5,908

    435

    2010-11

    5,685

    467

    2011-12

    5,565

    473

    2012-13

    5,681

    485

    Sources:

    Programme budgeting data, NHS England

    Reference costs, Department of Health

    It is not appropriate for a given service to present reference costs as a proportion of programme budgeting expenditure. This is because radiotherapy data are calculated from reference costs, which are the unit costs to National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients. Reference costs do not represent all expenditure in the NHS, and are costs to NHS providers whereas programme budgeting data are expenditure by NHS commissioners.

  • 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 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by whom the decision was taken not to proceed from the Technology Demonstrator Phase of the EASAMS collision warning system to Full Development and Production; and whether that decision was reflected in the relevant platform risk registers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 April 2014 (Official Report, column 96W).

    Risk Registers are not designed to record the outcome of the scoping of systems which are at pre-concept stage.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) amount and (b) proportion of Public Health England’s marketing budget has been allocated to each of the six Big Ambitions referred to in its 2014-15 business plan.

    Jane Ellison

    The core Public Health England (PHE) marketing budget for 2014-15 is £53 million. The allocation to each of the six big ambition areas is as follows:

    Ambition

    Campaign

    Budget for 2014-15

    Percentage of total budget

    Tobacco

    Smokefree

    £11,689,200

    21.72

    Obesity

    Change 4 Life

    £9,360,000

    17.39

    Dementia

    Vascular dementia programme and dementia friends

    £5,460,000

    10.14

    Best start in life

    Start4Life and Information Service for Parents

    £3,450,000

    6.41

    Alcohol

    Alcohol

    £2,000,000

    3.72

    Tuberculosis (TB)

    £0

    0.0

    £31,959,200

    59.38

    The current assessment of the evidence shows that a national marketing campaign on TB would not be a cost effective investment so there is no marketing budget allocation to this ambition area.

    In addition to the individual campaign costs stated above an additional £3.3 million is also spent on call centres and £2.6 million is also spent on infrastructure costs such as evaluation. The final budget will be subject to clearance by the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group.

    PHE’s 2014-15 Marketing strategy is due for publication in early July and will provide more detailed information on the full marketing programme.

  • Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Percy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the level of illegal use of cellular devices in UK prisons; and if he will make a statement.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of mobile phones in prisons very seriously and is committed to addressing the risks they present to both the security of prisons and the safety of the public.

    NOMS has implemented a multi-layer approach: to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found. A range of technology has been rolled out to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS chairs), high sensitivity metal detecting wands and short range portable mobile phone blockers.

    In 2012 prisons reported 7,301 seizures* of mobile phones and/or SIM cards. All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

    *One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.