Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average length of a GP consultation was in each year since 1984 for which data is available.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Data is not held centrally on the average length of general practitioner (GP) appointments.

    However, NHS England has advised that the latest information available indicates that the average consultation time with a GP is around 12 minutes (2006/07 GP Workload Survey).

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Seabeck on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Department in the last parliamentary Session did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation; and when each such question was first tabled.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Department received 5,201 written questions in the 2013-14 parliamentary session. All questions received a substantive answer before the prorogation.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gerald Kaufman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 2 May 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mrs Amila Dar.

    James Brokenshire

    I wrote to the Rt. Hon. Member on 16 June 2014.

  • Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    Simon Burns – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, when Saxton Bampfylde was appointed for the search for a successor to the Clerk of the House and Chief Executive.

    John Thurso

    Following a competitive tendering process, Saxton Bampfylde was appointed on 29 May 2014 to support the recruitment of the next Clerk of the House and Chief Executive, in particular by providing executive search services. Three bids were received and evaluated by Mr Speaker and the Director General of HR and Change. The fee for these services is fixed at £18,000. The contract will be monitored by the Department of HR and Change. The recruitment brief to which Saxton Bampfylde are working will be placed in the Library.

    The Clerk of the House is appointed by the Crown by Letters Patent, on the recommendation of the Speaker to the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister to the Crown. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed by a panel chaired by Mr Speaker, three other members of the House of Commons Commission, a senior backbencher and an external member.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Prime Minister, if he will discuss climate change with his Chinese counterpart during his visit to the UK.

    Mr David Cameron

    I plan to hold wide-ranging discussions with Premier Li. We have a foreign policy that is based on our values, and we consistently raise them with the Chinese government, including during high level dialogues.

    I am very supportive of the business and human rights agenda, and action against climate change is a priority for the government.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gordon Marsden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the effect of the maritime fuel sulphur regulations earlier than 2019.

    Stephen Hammond

    In October 2012, and again in March 2013, I chaired ‘round table’ meetings of industry stakeholders (from the shipping, ports, exhaust gas cleaning system technology, oil refining and logistics sectors) to consider the best way forward for compliance with the new international and EU sulphur requirements. The potential for reverse modal shift, the maturity and efficacy of scrubber technology and the scope for financial assistance to industry were all key to those discussions. The report commissioned by the UK Chamber of Shipping was produced as a result of those meetings, and officials have taken it into account in producing the Government’s Impact Assessment on the draft UK Regulations to implement the sulphur limits in national law.

    The Government went out to an eight-week public consultation on 29 April 2014 on those draft UK Regulations. Meanwhile, Government officials continue to work closely with the industry and to explore the scope for securing EU finance, possibly under the Trans-European Network (commonly known as TEN-T) programme and affordable capital from the European Investment Bank, for shipowners and ports who wish to invest in scrubber technology or in technology associated with the use of an alternative fuel, such as liquefied natural gas, to comply with the new limits.

    The UK Regulations will be reviewed in accordance with normal Government practice and consistent with the principles of better regulation.

  • Tom Clarke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Clarke – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Clarke on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will create an independent panel to review and assess the effectiveness of the employment and support allowance and work capability assessment tests.

    Mike Penning

    The department has already conducted four independent reviews of the WCA, the most recent of which was completed on 12 December 2013 and is published online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-capability-assessment-independent-review-year-4

    A fifth and final independent review is currently underway and is due to be completed by the end of the year.

    In addition to these independent reviews the Department has conducted an Evidence Based Review of the WCA in which the descriptors for mental health and fluctuating conditions were examined by an independent panel against an alternative assessment designed in conjunction with representative groups and charities. On 12 December 2013 the Department published the results of this online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-capability-assessment-evidence-based-review

  • Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Priti Patel on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department operates to improve the criminal justice system of countries in receipt of overseas development assistance.

    Lynne Featherstone

    DFID currently funds security and justice work (i) through 26 bilateral programmes in 13 developing countries, (ii) through the tri-departmental Conflict Prevention Pool and (iii) through multilateral agencies and non-governmental organisations. Some of these programmes include work on criminal justice system reform.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of children in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in each region of the UK in the next three years.

    Esther McVey

    The Government does not produce forecasts of the number of children living in income poverty either locally or nationally. The number of children in poverty is dependent on a number of factors which cannot be reliably predicted.

    This Government does not believe it is possible to accurately project child poverty. We know that poverty projections are rarely accurate. For example, IFS projections in October 2011 suggested the number of children in relative poverty would fall by 100,000 in 2010/11, whereas in fact it fell by 300,000.

  • Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Greg Knight – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason scientific experiments on cats are permitted.

    Norman Baker

    Cats, along with some other species, are given special protection by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and may only be used if no other species is suitable or it is not practicable to obtain animals of any other species that are suitable for the purposes of the relevant programme of work. It is my objective to minimise the use of cats as far as possible.

    Cats are primarily used in the development of veterinary medicines and techniques, and in neurological research. Much of the veterinary research is for the benefit of cats, for example in developing vaccines for feline diseases and improved diets for cats.