Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Maynard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which organisations have received how much funding from his Department aimed at supporting access to short breaks and respite provision for children, young people and their families experiencing all types of disadvantage in each of the last five financial years.

    Norman Lamb

    From 2008-09, the Department made £340 million available (for three years), for palliative care and end-of-life services, short breaks, community equipment and wheelchair services for disabled children and young people.

    In each of the last five years, we have made an annual grant of £10 million to 40 children’s hospice services. An additional £721,000 was made available from 2012-13 for seven new children’s hospices not in receipt of the original grant. In addition to the annual grant, we also made available a one-off grant of £19 million in 2010-11 to support local children’s palliative services and over £7.5 million in 2013-14 in capital grants for children’s hospices and hospices at home.

    We have also provided £400 million to the National Health Service over four years from 2011 for family carers to have breaks from their caring responsibilities. In the 2013 Spending Review, we announced the £3.8 billion Better Care Fund, which includes £130 millionfunding for carers’ breaks for 2015-16.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 20104. Official Report, columns 130-1W, on prisons: disciplinary proceedings, what the sex was of each of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner; and how many employees were disciplined but not dismissed for the same misconduct in the same period, broken down by sex.

    Jeremy Wright

    The vast majority of Prison Service staff are honest, hard-working professionals. When a member of staff has an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner or ex prisoner, their actions fail to meet the professional standards expected of them in the course of their duty.

    Corruption is taken very seriously and there is no place for it within the Prison Service. Anyone who fails to meet these standards will be dealt with swiftly and robustly."

    Of the 11 employees dismissed for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner 6 were male and 5 were female.

    From 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 there were a total of 6 NOMS employees disciplined for having an ‘Inappropriate Relationship with a prisoner / ex prisoner’. Of these, were 3 were male and 3 were female.

  • Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Iain McKenzie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain McKenzie on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she has made an assessment of the UK Border Force’s ability to process passengers at Glasgow Airport for the forthcoming Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games; and if she will make a statement.

    James Brokenshire

    Border Force planning for the Commonwealth Games has been underway since
    December 2012. Border Force is currently working with Glasgow Airport to
    refurbish the arrivals control, providing an increased number of arrivals desks
    and utilising the latest technology in the form of electronic passport gates.
    This will enhance the arrivals experience at Glasgow and the increased capacity
    will ensure that passengers pass through the arrivals area as quickly as
    possible while, at the same time, maintaining border security.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-05-06.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Question 196793, tabled on 25 April 2014 for answer on 29 April 2014.

    Mr Francis Maude

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 May 2014 (Official Report) Column Ref: 4W. This was answered within the set timescale.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the financial impact on people on low incomes of uprating most cash benefits and tax credits by one per cent from April 2013 rather than in line with inflation.

    Lord Freud

    For 2013/14, the main rates of working-age benefits, statutory payments and tax credits were up-rated by one per cent in the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2013. The Welfare Benefits Up-rating Act 2013 provided for the one per cent increase to apply for 2014/15 and 2015/16. Both of these were accompanied by Impact Assessments.

    As part of his ongoing public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010 to monitor impacts on ‘protected groups’, the Secretary of State continues to monitor the impacts of the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Act 2013 in light of any changes to the underlying rate of inflation. The underlying rate of inflation for increases in 2014/15 is similar to that forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility and used in the Impact Assessment. It is therefore likely that the impacts on affected households will be broadly similar to those detailed in the Impact Assessment.

  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to review special educational needs assessments to ensure that the needs of neurofibromatosis sufferers are taken fully into account by education services; and if so, when.

    Lord Nash

    Schools are already required to support children with long term medical conditions, and this would include suffers of neurofibromatosis. Non-statutory guidance is available to schools, “Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings”, to help them manage medicines and supporting children with medical needs such as this.

    From September 2014, there will be a new duty, (introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014), on governing bodies of maintained schools (and proprietors of academies) to make arrangements to support pupils at school with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance. The proposed text of the guidance (upon which we have consulted publicly) is available on GOV.UK so that schools can prepare for implementation in the autumn term. It sets out the requirements on schools to support children with medical conditions, which we would expect them to apply to conditions like neurofibromatosis.

  • Lord Barnett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Barnett – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Barnett on 2014-05-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is (1) the total sum, and (2) the percentage, of student loans that have been written off as bad debt.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Information on the repayment status of student loans is available in the Student Loans Company (SLC) publication‘Student Loans for Higher Education in England, Financial Year 2012-13′.

    The Amount of Total Public Debt outstanding (including loans not yet due for repayment) at the start of Financial Year 2012-13 including interest was £40,271.5m, rising to £46,590.4m by the end of Financial Year 2012-13.

    The amount of debt written off or cancelled during the Financial Year 2012-13 was £27.0m. This figure is 0.07% of the Total Public Debt outstanding at the start of Financial Year 2012-13 and 0.06% of the Total Public Debt outstanding at the end of Financial Year 2012-13.

    Write offs occur for policy reasons; when borrowers die, become permanently disabled or when their loan reaches age thresholds. An estimate of ‘bad debt’ has not been provided in the answer as there is no standard definition for this.

    Statistics referring to the Financial Year 2013-14 will be published in June 2014.

  • Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Robert Buckland – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of levels of public confidence in complaints systems across public services.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Government is considering recent reports of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) into how complaints about public services are handled. As part of this, the Cabinet Office is working to investigate further how public services can make best use of complaints and also to take a wider look at the role and powers of the Public Sector Ombudsmen. The Government will respond to the PASC in due course. I am happy to discuss this matter further with my Hon. Friend.

    The annual reports and accounts of the public service ombudsmen in the UK provide details of their performance over the past 12 months including information about complaints received.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of (a) refuse-derived fuel and (b) solid recovered fuel produced annually in the UK.

    Dan Rogerson

    Data cannot be obtained on the amount of refuse-derived fuel and solid recovered fuel produced annually in the UK. The amount of refuse-derived fuel received at incineration plants in England in 2012 was 768,173 tonnes and the amount of refuse-derived fuel exported from England and Wales in 2012 was 977,452 tonnes.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Capita have been given additional funding to deal with backlogs of personal independence payments assessments.

    Mike Penning

    1)The information is commercial in confidence.

    2) The Department regularly meets with both Assessment Providers to discuss performance. Failure to meet contractual obligations will result in the Department applying service credits (financial remedies) in line with the contract.