The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ashcroft on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Liberation and Justice Movement in Sudan has been involved in South Sudan; and if so in what capacity and on what side.
Baroness Warsi
We are not aware of any reports that suggest that the Liberation and Justice Movement in Sudan has been involved in the conflict in South Sudan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government upon what evidence they have based their proposals to outsource children’s services to private firms.
Lord Nash
The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (CYPA) allowed some local authorities to contract out looked after children and care leaver functions for a five-year pilot period. As a result, small autonomous practitioner-led organisations (Social Work Practices) were encouraged to develop. Between 2008 and 2012, 15 local authorities were involved in the pilot to create more tailored social work approaches.
The evaluation of Social Work Practices identified evidence of positive change through delegated arrangements for looked after children and care leavers. As a result, in November 2013, the freedoms in the CYPA were extended to all local authorities.
Staffordshire County Council have also recently received a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted under the new single inspection framework, which included the social work practice ‘Evolve YP’.
Some local authorities have asked the Government to extend these freedoms to other areas of children’s social care. The current proposals will encourage greater innovative approaches for all local authorities to take the step from adequate or good children’s services to excellent ones. The consultation on these proposals closed on 30 May and the Government is currently considering the responses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the availability of beds for accident and emergency patients.
Earl Howe
Not all patients who attend accident and emergency departments are admitted into hospital and require a bed. In 2013-14, 24% of 21.8 million accident and emergency attendances resulted in an emergency admission. Information is collected every quarter on bed availability and occupancy, including general and acute beds. In 2013-14 there were, on average, 135,964 general and acute beds open overnight, of which 88.0% were occupied. Information is collected every month on critical care bed availability and occupancy. In 2013-14 there were, on average, 4,274 adult and paediatric critical care beds, of which 82.9% were occupied. This information does not separately identify bed availability or occupancy for patients admitted via accident and emergency or any other admission method.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to prevent members of Britain First and other extreme groups causing offence in mosques in England; and whether there are any plans to take out injunctions against known offenders.
Baroness Warsi
Everyone has the right to feel safe in the place where they worship, free from discrimination and prejudice and we utterly condemn the recent intrusions of Britain First in Bradford and the fear and intimidation this has created among residents. In our country people of all religions must be able to worship without fear of harassment or interruption.
The Secretary for State for Communities and Local Government (the Rt Hon Eric Pickles) has met with representatives of the Bradford Council of Mosques to encourage them to develop guidance for all mosques on what they should do in case of a repeat of the incidents in Bradford. Freedom of worship is a fundamental and hard-fought British liberty that should be defended and we will continue to work with faith organisations and the Council of Mosques to take the right security precautions and ensure that people in Bradford and elsewhere feel safe
Injunctions would be taken out by the individual Mosques involved, not by Government. We are unaware of any plans to take out injunctions in this case.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was raised through the implementation of the UK HGV Road User Levy Act 2013 in Northern Ireland in April 2014.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The HGV Road User Levy applies to the UK. Once a levy is purchased for a foreign registered HGV, it is not possible to assign the levy to the specific country (England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland) which the vehicle visits. By the end of April 2014, levy receipts from foreign HGVs visiting the UK were £7.2 million. Cumulative levy receipts from foreign HGVs at the end of May were £10.5 million.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the daily average (a) number and (b) proportion is of prisoners serving custodial sentences who are out of prison on temporary licence in each county.
Jeremy Wright
Temporary release can be a valuable tool in the resettlement of prisoners in the community but it must never take place at the expense of public safety. We conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of rerelease on temporary licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We are introducing a system that enhances the assessment of serious offenders and restricts access to ROTL to cases where there is a clear, legitimate reason for the release. We have already introduced some of these changes and have additionally introduced a restriction on prisoners transferring to open conditions and having ROTL if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.
It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time specified, I will write to you with an answer as soon as possible.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group takes account of evidence from (a) patients, (b) clinicians and (c) patient groups when making decisions on the availability of treatments for progressive conditions.
Jane Ellison
NHS England has advised that the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) is an advisory group and not a decision making body. It considers policy and makes recommendations to the Directly Commissioned Services Committee who make the final decisions on NHS England’s commissioning position.
The Group’s membership includes four Patient and Public Voice members and senior clinicians from NHS England. The policies that are presented to CPAG for consideration are developed by Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs) who are made up of patients, clinicians, and key stakeholders including patient groups. These members are involved in the development of policies.
Prior to submission of any documents to CPAG, a two week stakeholder testing phase is undertaken where registered CRG stakeholders including clinicians, patients, and patient groups, as well as industry, have an opportunity to make comments. These are considered as well as the evidence base for the policy by CPAG.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Aidan Burley on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the current eligibility criteria for higher education maintenance loans.
Mr David Willetts
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will continue to require students seeking maintenance loans to meet criteria includeing residency, type of course and place of study.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on devolved NHS services of changes to the way temporary migrants and visitors access the NHS in England.
Jane Ellison
The intention of the relevant powers in the Immigration Act 2014 is to ensure that temporary migrants and visitors make a fair contribution towards the cost of any National Health Service healthcare they receive in the United Kingdom. Under the Act, temporary migrants will be required to pay a health surcharge when applying for a visa to reside in the UK for more than six months. The Devolved Administrations will receive a proportion of funds received from the surcharge. It will be for the Devolved Administrations to decide whether they spend this on health services and whether they amend their health service charging regulations for other visitors to the UK.
If charges for some primary care services in England are introduced to visitors to the UK, those services will continue to be free of charge to people who are ordinarily resident in the UK. Therefore, residents of the Devolved Administrations will continue to be treated on the same basis as an English resident if they access primary care services in England.
However, introducing charging for visitors may influence behaviour near the borders if visitors from overseas in England choose to travel to the other countries to access primary care services that they would have to pay for in England.
The proposed new process for registering with the NHS in England is unlikely to affect the healthcare systems in the devolved administrations but it may mean that residents from the Devolved Administrations who access NHS care in England are asked more often to demonstrate that they are ordinarily resident in the UK, or otherwise entitled to free NHS care in England.
We will continue our discussions with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations on all of these issues.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of mandatory display of passed plates by all novice drivers for a minimum period.
Mr Robert Goodwill
None. There is no probationary period for new drivers and no requirement to display a ‘P’ plate. However, the Transport Research Laboratory Report on "Novice Drivers: Evidence review and Evaluation Pre-Driver Training, Graduated Driver Licensing" made a number of recommendations on novice driver safety. One recommendation was that on successful completion of the driving test a driver would be permitted to progress to a probationary licence from age 18. During the 12 month (minimum) probationary licence the driver would be required to display a green ‘P’ plate to identify their licence status and aid enforcement of other recommended restrictions.