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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons operated on half regime during (a) January, (b) February, (c) March, (d) April and (e) May 2014.

    Jeremy Wright

    The information regarding how many prisons operated on half regime during (a) January, (b) February, (c) March, (d) April and (e) May 2014, is not collated centrally. The term ‘half regime’ is not used in prison establishments, and is unlikely to be interpreted consistently. The processes required to collect this data would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julian Huppert – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Huppert on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the degree to which his Department has complied with the Public Sector Equality Duty with regard to disabled cyclists.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport considers equality issues in exercising its functions, to comply with the equality legislation and to ensure it understands how its activities will affect different people. While there is no requirement under the Equality Act to carry out Equality Impact Assessment on cycling policy, the Department believes disabled cyclists should not be disadvantaged.

    To help local authorities develop infrastructure for cyclists, including disabled cyclists, the Department has produced guidance through Cycle Infrastructure Design (Local Transport Note 2/08). LTN 2/08 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-transport-notes

    “

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure claimants experiencing delays in their personal independence payments assessments are kept better informed of the status of their applications.

    Mike Penning

    We have taken immediate action to ensure that claimants receive all the information they need.

    This includes a number of actions:

    – SMS updates acknowledging receipt of the ”How your disability affects you” form.

    – Updated Gov.uk to include clear information.

    – Detailed information on estimated journey times.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Charlotte Leslie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2014-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to make it easier to report benefit fraud allegations.

    Esther McVey

    The public can report benefit fraud by telephoning the National Benefit Fraud Hotline which is a confidential free phone service that anyone can use anonymously to report their suspicions. The service is widely used handling over 350,000 referrals in 2013/14. Alternatively an allegation can be made using an online facility, by letter, or by telephoning a Jobcentre Plus office.

    We recently ran a communications campaign pilot to test the effectiveness of communications in reducing fraud and error and we are looking to expand this activity. Our communication campaign aims to challenge and change attitudes and behaviours towards benefit fraud. This includes improving awareness of the need for claimants to report changes in their circumstances and encouraging the general public to report potential benefit fraud.

    We are actively looking at ways to improve fraud referrals, in particular, focusing on making better use of digital channels and technology.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many hospital beds per head of the population there were in (1) England, (2) London and (3) Lewisham, in each year from 2008–09 to 2013–14.

    Earl Howe

    Hospital beds data per head of population are not collected centrally.

    Hospital beds data are collected for each National Health Service trust and NHS foundation trust.

    Population estimates and projections are available for local NHS commissioning bodies; primary care trusts (PCTs) up to 2011 and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) from 2012. These data can be aggregated up to larger areas such as strategic health authorities (SHAs) up to 2011 and local area teams from 2012.

    A table has been placed in the Library which shows the estimated hospital beds per 1,000 population in England and London each year from 2008-09 to 2013-14.

    It is not possible to show the hospital beds per head of population in a local commissioning body such as Lewisham, because this would be based on the assumptions that the beds in a trust are available only for the population of the local commissioning body and that this population only uses these beds. These assumptions will not reflect reality as trusts serve populations from outside their commissioning areas and patients will access services in hospitals outside their local commissioning area.

  • Andrew Bingham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Bingham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses were registered in High Peak constituency in each of the last five years.

    Michael Fallon

    Companies House is only able to provide figures on the number of new companies it registered in each of these years by postcode area. As postcode areas can cross constituency boundaries, the figures below must be considered approximations.

    Year

    Number of Companies Registered

    2009-2010

    15

    2010-2011

    35

    2011-2012

    33

    2012-2013

    28

    2013-2014

    17
  • Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean on 2014-06-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what projects other than refuges for women who are the victims of sexual violence will be set up by the Home Office with the £28 million for the spending review period allocated by the Home Office for specialist domestic and sexual violence services.

    Lord Taylor of Holbeach

    Over the spending review period the Home Office funding of £28million provides for:

    144 Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and 75 funded IDVA training places; 87 dedicated Independent Sexual Violence Advisers; 54
    Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference co-ordinators and funding to Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse to provide support and advice to MARACs, as well as running a programme of quality assurance; and £1.2 million for 3 years from 2012 to improve services for young people suffering sexual violence in major urban areas.

    The Home Office also provides over £900,000 per year to support the following free phone national helplines: the National Stalking Helpline which offers information and advice to stalking victims; the National Domestic Violence Helpline which offers support for victims of domestic violence and is run jointly by Women’s Aid and Respect; Broken Rainbow which offers help to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims; the Male Advice (and Enquiry) Line which offers help to male victims of domestic violence and advice to perpetrators; and RESPECT which offers information and advice to people who are abusive towards their partners and want help to stop.

    Decisions about the provision of refuge accommodation for victims of domestic abuse are a local matter and it is the responsibility of the individual local authority to identify any gaps in service provision and put in place appropriate solutions to address this. We would expect local authorities to build services based on the needs of their communities, taking account of locally available data sources.

  • Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Diana Johnson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what alternative office accommodation was sought in the Hull area to reduce the operating costs of the Hull Official Receiver’s office.

    Jenny Willott

    Alternative Government accommodation was sought through the Government Property Unit and its online database and various possibilities considered. The costs of such alternative accommodation in Hull were included in reaching the final decision to close the Hull office.

  • Robin Walker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Robin Walker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robin Walker on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps are being taken to promote UK trade with Latin America in connection with the 2014 Football World Cup taking place in Brazil.

    Michael Fallon

    During the 2014 Football World Cup, the UK Trade and Investment network in Brazil will host a series of events to promote the UK as a destination for business, investment, education and tourism. The programme includes 20 events focussed on our prosperity campaigns to promote British expertise and partnership in priority areas that includes culture, energy, infrastructure, inward investment and legacy opportunities associated to the 2012 London Olympic games.

    Events will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Manaus and Belo Horizonte, the cities hosting the England team which will be supported by Prince Harry, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Equalities.

    One of the highlights of the UK programme isthe GREAT Britain House in Sao Paulo. Specially developed for the agenda of events, the venue will be set up at the British Consulate in Sao Paulo to present the best the UK has to offer.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the value of Landfill Community Fund grants to projects in (a) Dudley North constituency, (b) Dudley Borough, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

    Nicky Morgan

    ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF), has provided the value of the LCF in Dudley, the West Midlands and England from the inception of the fund to date and for the last financial year. This is set out in the table below. ENTRUST does not have this information broken down by constituency.

    Dudley

    West Midlands (includes Dudley)

    England

    £m

    £m

    £m

    2013-14

    0.142

    2.17

    67

    1996 to date

    2.3

    24

    987

    Given the level of unspent funds that the LCF continues to hold, reducing the value of the fund by less than 10% is not expected to impact on communities’ ability to receive LCF funding.