Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • 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 emphasise the importance of education provisions and support for disabled children, their teachers and families in order to ensure that Millennium Development Goal 2 is attained.

    Justine Greening

    The UK Government’s programmes and partnerships are focused on ensuring better inclusion of children with disabilities. For example, the Girls’ Education Challenge is supporting over £9 million of disability-focused programmes.

    In September 2013 we announced two additional commitments to step up our support; ensuring all DFID funded education construction is fully accessible and improving data on children with disabilities.

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

    Alex Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many cases of academy trusts acquiring freehold interests on land for schools there have been in each of the last five financial years.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust. In some circumstances, where the school governors or supporting foundation already hold the freehold, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, may allow publicly-funded school land to be transferred to an academy trust, which will have satisfied the Secretary of State as to its ability to operate a state-funded school.

    There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available online:

    www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice

    A copy of the guidance has been placed in the House Library.

    The Department does not hold information about the average value of land used for academies on a freehold or leasehold basis. Information about the number of academies that occupy land on a leasehold and freehold basis is not held centrally.

    “

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to extend Pulse Oximetry screening for children.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The UK National Screening Committee has recommended that a pilot for pulse oximetry screening for children should be set up to explore the practicalities of implementation. Ministers have accepted this advice and a pilot will commence shortly.

  • John Howell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Howell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Howell on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms in Henley constituency have been subject to restrictions on cattle movements following a test proving the presence of TB in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    Statistics on TB breakdowns are only available at county and herd level. Figures below show the number of herds restricted as a result of positive bovine TB test results in Oxfordshire in each of the last three years:

    · 2011 – 30

    · 2012 – 29

    · 2013 – 27

    Bovine TB statistics are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb.

    “

  • 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, how many people are employed by HM Revenue and Customs in regional post rooms at each location in the UK.

    Mr David Gauke

    As requested please find detailed below staff numbers employed in HMRC Regional Post Rooms employed solely in post room activities.

    Shipley 45

    Cardiff 65

    Bootle 35

    Newcastle 98

    Cumbernauld 46

    I also refer the Honourable Gentleman to my answer on 12 May 2014.

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

    Andrew Bingham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on allowing the transplant of organs from people deceased outside of hospital.

    Jane Ellison

    Organ donation following death outside of hospital is not broadly practiced in the United Kingdom. For organs to remain viable and suitable for transplantation, they must either be kept supplied with oxygen, blood and nutrients, or kept cold so that the metabolism of the cells is slowed right down. When someone’s heart stops beating suddenly, the blood supply to organs stop and the cells begin to get starved of oxygen and nutrients and start to die. Therefore, there is a very narrow window of a few minutes between the heart stopping beating and the need for organs to be removed and preserved.

    A pilot programme is underway in Edinburgh for retrieval of organs from those who suffer a witnessed cardiac arrest from which they are unable to be resuscitated and are brought within minutes to the hospital. NHS Blood and Transplant is supporting this pilot and, depending on the outcome, will support further similar initiatives.

    Additionally, health care professionals need to obtain consent and get a full medical history to ensure the organs are suitable for transplantation.

  • 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, who authorises the public release of photographs of aircraft that are intercepted during Quick Reaction Alert flights.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Photographs are routinely taken during Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) interceptions. There is strong public and media interest in the RAF Quick Reaction Alert deterrent capability. MOD policy is to release a limited amount of non-sensitive information on QRA launches, sometimes including photographs. This provides the public with strong examples of how the RAF is able to respond to this kind of incident. It also provides public awareness of the RAF’s ability to defend the UK through the effectiveness of its air defences and to maintain the full deterrence value of the QRA mission. Media enquiries regarding QRA launches also often include requests for photographs.

    Consequently, RAF Operations Staffs in coordination with MOD officials, including the MOD Directorate of Media and Communications, will occasionally consider these photographs for public release.

    Photographs of a recent QRA mission were released on 25 April 2014. The previous release of photographs of intercepted aircraft from a recent mission was in March 2010; additionally for other QRA information releases in the last three years, MOD have utilised stock images from the Defence Image Library.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will assess the achievements of Kidney Research UK’s Peer Educator model to support sign-up to the NHS Organ Donor Register in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities; and if his Department will take steps to support rollout of Kidney Research UK’s Peer Educator model across the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department, as part of its support for the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Transplant Alliance, is funding Kidney Research UK to run a Peer Educator Project to raise awareness of the lack of donors and increase the numbers on the organ and bone marrow/stem cell registers within the Pakistani Muslim community in Birmingham. Subject to Parliamentary business, the project will be officially launched by the Public Health Minister on 26 June 2014 and will build upon the success of an earlier Department funded Peer Educator project. The project will be fully evaluated and further lessons learned will be used to inform the roll out of any future Peer Educator projects in other BAME locations across the country.

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-29.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library a copy of the business case for the outsourcing of compliance checks on tax credits claims.

    Nicky Morgan

    From April to July 2013, HMRC carried out a trial to test whether it would be feasible to increase the number of compliance checks on tax credits claims, through the use of private sector resource. HMRC will publish the evaluation of the trial and the customer research report in due course.

    It is not appropriate to place the business case in the public domain given the commercial sensitivities and the risk of prejudice to HMRC’s ability to tackle tax credits error and fraud.

    In terms of the external costs of the trial, I refer the Hon Member to the Thirty-Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts [2013/14] into HMRC Tax Collection: Annual Report & Accounts 2012–13, which may be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/666/66602.htm. All internal HMRC operating costs are published annually in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.

    “

  • 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 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NHS trusts on the prescription of medicines for psoriasis.

    Norman Lamb

    We have had no such discussions.

    Information on the prescription of medicines for psoriasis is available from a range of sources including the British National Formulary, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS Choices.