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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Young of Hornsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Young of Hornsey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Young of Hornsey on 2016-06-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many corporate uniforms in the UK could be diverted from landfill or incineration if the tax regime relating to permanent branding were changed.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    There is an income tax deduction available where an employer provides corporate uniforms, or where an employee must purchase such clothing. To be considered a uniform clothing must meet certain criteria. The clothing must be: specialised, recognisable as a uniform and intended to identify its wearer as having a particular occupation. These requirements ensure that the tax deduction is used as intended.

    No assessment has been made of how many corporate uniforms in the UK could be diverted from landfill or incineration if these tax rules were changed. No assessment has been made of the financial implications of changing these taxation requirements.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to (a) reduce delays in minor planning applications and (b) increase the number of homes built by local building firms.

    Gavin Barwell

    In the Budget, the Government announced £3 billion of loans to house builders. The fund will consist of £2 billion in long term loans and £1 billion in short term loans. The long term element is focused on delivering infrastructure to support a strong future pipeline of housing supply, and will help unlock 160,000 – 200,000 homes. The short term element aims to diversify and support innovation in the house building industry by supporting small and medium builders, custom builders, and the use of innovative methods of construction.

    In July, the Government launched the £100 million Housing Growth Fund, a partnership between the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Lloyds Banking Group to help smaller builders access the finance they need to build more homes and grow their businesses. The Fund is a £100 million vehicle capitalised by Lloyds and the HCA and is supporting the growth of SME house builders and expansion in the UK housing stock. The Government has also created the British Business Bank which has facilitated £782 million of new lending and investment in 2013/14 and aims to unlock up to £10 billion of financing for smaller business over the next 5 years.

    Small builders will soon be able to apply to their local planning authority for ‘permission in principle’ which will enable them to gain more upfront certainty on the suitability of small sites for housing-led development, before they need to develop detailed and often costly development proposals. This will reduce the risk for small local builders to enter the market.

    Through the Neighbourhood Planning Bill introduced on 7 September, the Government proposes to reform and speed up the planning process by minimising delays caused by unnecessary or overly burdensome planning conditions. The Bill measures will ensure that pre-commencement planning conditions are only used by local planning authorities where they are absolutely necessary, and that applicants are in agreement before they are imposed.

    The Government took powers in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to enable us to extend to non-major planning applications the successful performance regime for major applications, which has seen the proportion of major applications determined on time rising from 57% in July to September 2012, the quarter in which the performance regime was first announced, to 82% in the most recent quarter, the highest figure on record.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2016 to Question 48618, how many UK bids were received for the supply of steel for that part of the Successor submarine manufacture.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The management of the steel procurement process for the Successor programme is the responsibility of the Prime Contractor, BAE Systems. One UK firm participated in the tendering process for the submarine pressure hull steel, but did not make a viable proposal.

    Other stages of construction will include grades of steel manufactured by British suppliers and we encourage them to take the opportunity to bid.

    85% of BAE System’s supply chain for the new submarines is based in the UK.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David T. C. Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been paid from the public purse in backdated tax credits to people who have been granted refugee leave in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs do not hold the requested data.

  • Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what effect the practice of revoking citizenship from protestors by the Bahraini government has had on UK policy towards that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK enjoys a strong and constructive relationship with Bahrain where we are able to raise and discuss issues such as the revocation of citizenship of Bahraini nationals. This is often at Ministerial level or through our wider human rights and reform dialogue. We will continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to ensure that the appeals process is fair and transparent.

  • Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jeffrey M. Donaldson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeffrey M. Donaldson on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has for funding by his Department of regimental museums over the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Mark Lancaster

    In addition to the National Army Museum, in the current financial year the Ministry of Defence (MOD) supported 69 regimental and corps museums across the UK through a combination of a £1.3 million total grant in aid, £1.6 million salary costs, and providing utilities and some support running costs when a museum is located on a MOD site. Funding beyond the current financial year will be set later this year, and will be subject to the normal review process.

  • Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 28 January (HL5309), what assessment they have made of whether it will be legally possible to restrict their community-based language training offer to Muslim women.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The new English language scheme will not just be restricted to Muslim women. It will reach tens of thousands of the most isolated women and will be targeted to specific communities based on Louise Casey’s on-going review into integration in England.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish all evidence they have available on the mechanism whereby increasing the presence of consultants and diagnostic tests at weekends will result in lower mortality and reduced length of stay.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department published a summary of the research examining the association between weekend hospital admissions and poorer patient outcomes, including higher rates of mortality, on 15 October 2015 on the gov.uk website. A range of potential causal links for this association have been identified; one of these is the availability of staff and services at weekends.

    The following studies were published on the gov.uk website at the following address:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-into-the-weekend-effect-on-hospital-mortality/research-into-the-weekend-effect-on-patient-outcomes-and-mortality

    Of these, the following four articles are published in academic journals and are only available by subscription.

    Freemantle et al (2015), BMJ 2015; 351:h4596, Increased mortality associated with weekend hospital admission: a case for expanded seven day services?

    Independent research that analysed 2013 to 2014 hospital episodes statistics (HES) data found:

    – although there are fewer hospital admissions at weekends, patients who are admitted on Saturday and Sunday are sicker and face an increased likelihood of death within 30 days, even when severity of illness is taken into account;

    – patients admitted on a Sunday have a 15% greater risk of mortality compared to those admitted on Wednesday;

    – patients admitted on a Saturday have a 10% greater risk of mortality compared to those admitted on a Wednesday;

    – there are around 11,000 excess deaths in hospitals every year among patients admitted on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday compared with other days of the week. The authors included the effect of Fridays and Mondays as ‘appropriate support services in hospitals are usually reduced from late Friday through the weekend, leading to disruption on Monday morning’;

    – oncology patients admitted on a Sunday have a 29% increased risk of death compared to those admitted on a Wednesday; and

    – patients with cardiovascular disease admitted on a Sunday have a 20% increased risk of death compared to those admitted on a Wednesday.

    The study concluded that it is not possible to determine how many of the excess deaths were avoidable, but that the statistic is ‘not otherwise ignorable’ and ‘raises challenging questions about reduced service provision at weekends’.

    The Global Comparators project: international comparison of 30-day in-hospital mortality by day of the week, BMJ Qual Saf Published Online First 6 July 2015, doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2014-003467

    The Global Comparators dataset collects inpatient records across 50 hospitals in 10 countries. Analysis of a sub-sample of this data (28 hospitals across England, Australia, United States of America and Netherlands) for emergency admissions showed:

    – there is an overall 30-day crude mortality rate of 3.9%; the English hospitals had the highest crude morality rate (4.6%); crude mortality rates for the English, Dutch and USA hospitals were higher at weekends compared with weekdays; and

    – emergency patients in the English, USA and Dutch hospitals showed a significantly higher adjusted risk of death within 30 days following admission on a Saturday or Sunday compared with admission on a Monday.

    This study did not show a difference in mortality within 30 days for patients admitted at weekends in Australian hospitals. However, when analysing mortality within seven days, the Australian hospitals showed 12% higher risk of death when admitted on a Saturday compared to a Monday, and 11% higher risk of death following a Sunday admission.

    Freemantle et al (2012), J R Soc Med. 2012 Feb;105(2):74-84, Weekend hospitalisation and additional risk of death: an analysis of inpatient data

    Analysis of 2009 to 2010 HES data found:

    – patients admitted to hospital on a Sunday had a 16% greater risk of death within 30 days compared to those admitted on a Wednesday;

    – patients admitted on a Saturday had an 11% increased risk of death within 30 days compared to those admitted on a Wednesday;

    – day of admission was associated with increased risk of death in seven of the 10 most common CCS groups (clinical conditions), for example:

    – patients admitted on a Sunday with acute and unspecified renal failure had a 37% increased risk of death compared with those admitted on a Wednesday; and

    – patients admitted on a Sunday with acute myocardial infarction had an 11% increased risk of death compared to those admitted on a Wednesday.

    Aylin et al (2010), Qual Saf Health Care 2010; 19:213-217, Weekend mortality for emergency admissions: a large multicentre study

    This was one of the first, large scale studies of English data to explore weekend mortality rates for emergency admissions.

    Using the data for financial year 2005 to 2006, the study found:

    – crude mortality rates are higher for patients admitted at weekends compared to weekdays (5.2% for all weekend admissions; 4.9% for all weekday admissions; overall crude mortality rate: 5.0%);

    – there is a 10% higher risk of death for patients admitted as an emergency at the weekend compared with those admitted on a weekday; and

    – there may be a possible 3,369 excess deaths occurring at the weekend compared to weekdays (equivalent to a 7% higher risk of death).

    East Midlands Clinical Senate (2014), 7 Day Services Report: Acute Collaborative Report

    Ten East Midlands acute trusts undertook a data gathering exercise to look at current provision against the 10 clinical standards for urgent and emergency care that underpin consistently high quality care 7 days a week. A copy of this report is attached.

    NHS Services, Seven Days a Week Forum (2013), was a clinically-led process which included an extensive review of the published literature alongside analysis of HES data to explore patient outcomes at weekends compared to during the week. A copy of this report is attached.

    Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2012), seven day consultant present care.

    In light of evidence demonstrating less favourable patient outcomes at weekends compared to weekdays, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges presented proposals for achieving parity for inpatient care throughout the week. A copy of the report is attached.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people held in Immigration Control Centres are not free to leave to go to other jurisdictions.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    There are no countries to which, as a matter of immigration policy, the Home Office does not return people if they wish to return voluntarily.

    There may be a small number of people who might be detained for immigration purposes who are not free to leave the jurisdiction of the UK because, for example, of ongoing criminal proceedings but this is not centrally recorded.

    For those being detained with a view to removal, detention may continue lawfully only for as long as there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period of time. Home Office guidance is clear that detention must be used sparingly and for the shortest period reasonably necessary to achieve its purpose.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what current locations and sites have been identified as new offices for HM Revenue and Customs under its building our future plan; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will open regional centres in Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stratford and Croydon. In addition there will be four specialist sites, in Telford, Worthing, Dover and at the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh, for work that cannot be done elsewhere as well as a London Headquarters.

    HMRC is considering a number of sites at each regional centre location and will give more details when commercial negotiations have finished.