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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many equal opportunities investigation officers there are in each branch of the armed forces; what their qualifications are; what training is provided to them; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The Ministry Of Defence maintains a cadre of Harassment Investigation Officers who investigate complaints raised within the Services and by MOD civilians concerning bullying and harassment, and who are not permanent employees of the Department; Appendix six to the 2013 Annual Report of the Service Complaints Commissioner provides further details. Beyond this centrally-managed team, the three Services maintain teams of investigators, many of whom are drawn from their own Service police force, who can investigate complex complaints.

    The Royal Navy has one Complaint Investigation and Mediation Team (CIMT), comprising two members of the Royal Navy Police with many years of investigative experience. In addition to their extensive police investigative training, they are Equality and Diversity Advisers, and have undertaken the MOD Harassment Investigation Course and professional Mediation Training (through an external training provider).

    The Army currently has six permanent members and three temporary assigned (12 months) soldiers in its Service Complaints Investigation Team (SCIT), which replaced the Equal Opportunities Investigation Team. All members of the SCIT are serving Senior Non-Commissioned Officers from the Royal Military Police, and hold the following qualifications:

    Initial Military Police Investigation Course

    Volume Crime Investigation Course

    Management Investigation Course

    Police and Criminal Evidence Act Interviewing Course

    Disclosure Officers Course

    Equality & Diversity Advisor Course

    On arrival in the SCIT, investigators receive work place training and are allocated a supervising investigator for a period of three months or as necessary.

    The RAF has a Service Complaints Team, and an Equal Opportunities Investigation Team (EOIT), which investigates complex equality and diversity complaints. The latter team comprises a Warrant Officer and a Flight Sergeant, both members of the RAF Police, and an administrator. The investigators complete the following courses as part of their role training:

    Equality and Diversity Advisor

    Harassment Investigation Officer

    Fundamentals of Employment Law (through CIPD)

    Preparing for Employment Tribunal (through CIPD)

    Certificate in Bullying and Harassment Investigation – City and Guilds

    Level 4

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK aircraft have flown outside Afghan airspace in support of NATO International Security Assistance Force missions in Afghanistan.

    Mr Mark Francois

    To support the UK’s contribution to the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan UK military aircraft regularly transit to and from Afghanistan through non Afghan airspace .There has not been any employment of armed UK aircraft outside of the borders of Afghanistan in support of ISAF.

  • Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the renewable heat incentive scheme is targeted on households most in need of help with their energy bills.

    Gregory Barker

    The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is targeted at, but not limited to, homes off the gas grid, which are more expensive to heat than those with mains gas. Households without mains gas have the most potential to save on their fuel bills and decrease their carbon emissions. The RHI is funded through general taxation rather than through a ‘green levy’ on energy bills.

    As well as homeowners, the domestic RHI is also open to social landlords and private landlords. Following the very successful Renewable Heat Premium Payment Social Landlords’ Competitions, with over 4,200 installations to date, we expect to see significant take-up in the social housing sector.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Madeleine Moon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full outturn cost of (a) building maintenance, (b) staffing, (c) training, (d) salaries for recruits and (e) other costs were at Catterick Infantry Training Centre in each year since 2006; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    Financial data is held from financial year 2007-08 onwards. The Ministry of Defence’s budgetary structure is organised into a number of different Top Level Budget areas. This means that the cost of activities at a single location can often be split between a number of different budgets which are not managed centrally. For example infrastructure costs (including utilities) are managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation through contracts which do not split out the costs for individual units operating on a particular site. Similarly, equipment costs are managed across whole fleets of items by Defence Equipment and Support, and not by individual location. For this reason the full running costs of the Infantry Training Centre and the Army Foundation College cannot be provided in the format requested. However the costs attributable to the Army can be provided from financial year 2007-08 onwards.

    Unit

    2007-08

    2008-09

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    £million

    Army Foundation College

    54.658

    62.078

    58.435

    60.829

    62.199

    63.486

    62.232

    Infantry Training Centre

    83.172

    90.790

    104.702

    81.471

    103.196

    105.274

    93.046

    The Army’s anticipated outturn for the Army Foundation College Harrogate in 2014-15 is £66.204 million, and for Infantry Training Centre Catterick is £90.793 million.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives from the European Commission on European sanctions on Russia.

    Mr David Lidington

    As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) told the House on 8 April, we are gravely concerned about the situation in Crimea and in the east of Ukraine. We have consistently condemned Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea including in public statements, international fora, and in bilateral contacts with the Russian Federation.

    The UK has played a key role in ensuring a tough and united response from the international community. We have reviewed all bilateral engagement with Russia and have frozen military cooperation, refused export licence requests which may be used by the Russian military, and postponed a number of planned Ministerial Summits. Along with other G7 members, the UK has withdrawn participation in the planned G8 Summit in Sochi in June, and will instead take part in a G7 meeting in Brussels.

    The Foreign Secretary has taken part in a number of discussions on sanctions at the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), in which the European Commission has also been involved. On 14 April, the FAC agreed to expand the second tier of sanctions and to add further names to the list of individuals subject to those sanctions. The FAC agreed on the urgency of completing work on a possible third tier of more far reaching sanctions, which might be implemented in the absence of meaningful diplomatic engagement by Russia or further provocation against Ukraine. The European Commission was tasked to identify such economic measures.

    As the Foreign Secretary has made clear to the Russian Foreign Minister, the EU remains prepared to impose additional sanctions should that become necessary. Russia should be clear that any deliberate escalation of this crisis may bring serious political and economic consequences.

  • Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Alison Seabeck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

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

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Office 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.

    Mr Nick Clegg

    Sixteen Parliamentary Questions, all of which were tabled to my Office one day before prorogation in the last Parliamentary Session, did not receive a substantive answer by the time of the 2014 prorogation.

  • 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 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of NHS funding is allocated to (a) mental and (b) physical health care.

    Norman Lamb

    The International Classification of Diseases is the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes. This includes the analysis of the general health situation of population groups. It is used to monitor the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems.

    The Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems includes in Chapter V a detailed classification of more than 300 mental and behavioural disorders. Its publication follows extensive field-testing by more than 100 clinical and research centres in 40 countries.

    Aggregate primary care trust (PCT) expenditure on mental health was £11.28 billion in 2012-13, which is 11.9% of the £94.78 billion total spend by PCTs. The estimate of expenditure on mental health does not include the majority of expenditure on primary care appointments which is recorded as a separate programme category.

    It is not possible to provide an estimate of expenditure on physical health. A number of programme categories will have elements of expenditure which could be classified as non-physical, for example, learning disabilities, neurological and social care.

    The Department has made no estimate of the cost to the economy of untreated mental illness.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much sand and gravel is used each year to protect the United Kingdom coastline.

    Lord De Mauley

    The Environment Agency holds this information locally and it would be disproportionately costly to collate the records to answer this question accurately in the time allowed.

  • 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 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had on the potential for Patient Reported Outcome Measures to be used to measure improvements in outcomes for breast cancer patients.

    Jane Ellison

    No recent Ministerial discussions have taken place on the potential for Patient Reported Outcome Measures to be used to measure improvements in outcomes for breast cancer patients.

    NHS England took over responsibility for the Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) on 1 April 2013. The development of the CPES is overseen by the Cancer Patient Experience Advisory Group (CPEAG), which has a wide ranging membership including clinicians, cancer charities, experts in survey methodologies, research bodies, health service commissioners and NHS England staff.

    The survey questionnaire is reviewed by CPEAG each year to ensure that it captures the best information and as part of the process for the next survey, NHS England is engaging with a range of stakeholders to look at how it can improve and amend the survey appropriately.

    In the meantime, NHS England has added a new question to the 2014 survey questionnaire to identify patients who have been diagnosed with cancer more than once because the evidence suggests that there may be a difference in the experience of those patients.

    The results of the 2014 survey will be published later this year.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Answer of 3 March 2014, Official Report, column 599W, on apprenticeships; what steps he has taken to introduce grading into new apprenticeships; and whether such grading will be mandatory.

    Matthew Hancock

    Grading is being introduced into new Apprenticeships through the Trailblazer process. Groups of employers are coming together to design Apprenticeship standards and assessments. All new Apprenticeships must be graded, and we have made grading of the end-point assessment a minimum requirement of the new Apprenticeship programme.

    Having had their standards approved and published in March, the first phase of Trailblazer projects are now working on their assessment plans, including implementation of the grading requirement.

    Grading is important to ensure qualifications are aspirational for all – including those on track to pass who could benefit from being challenged to aim higher.