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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, in how many instances people have been imprisoned for defaulting on payment of their council tax.

    Lord Faulks

    Data showing how many people were imprisoned for non-payment of council tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014 are presented in the table below:

    Year

    Total

    2012

    107

    2013

    108

    2014

    89

    Notes:

    These data are sourced from the Libra Management Information System (MIS). As such this data set is not subject to the same levels of quality assurance as national statistics

    In extracting this data only offences of complaint for council tax committal application have been included where the court hearing date occurred within each year reported (i.e. between 1 January and 31 December).

    It should also be noted that, although committals to prison are reported as occurring within a particular financial year, the non-payment of council tax itself may relate to a previous financial year or even a period covering more than one financial year.

    Committal to prison for non-payment of council tax can be challenged through a judicial review in the High Court. The table below shows the number of judicial reviews relating to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and the outcomes.

    Year

    Number of Judicial Reviews

    Upheld

    Refused

    2012

    0

    0

    0

    2013

    0

    0

    0

    2014

    2

    0

    2

    Notes:

    These data were obtained from a manual check of judicial reviews carried out specifically to answer this question.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to incentivise the development of new drugs to treat TB.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID has supported the development of new drug combinations to treat TB since 2005. Funding is provided to the TB Alliance, a product development partnership (PDP). PDPs bring together partners from the public, private and philanthropic sectors to develop new products in a way that de-links the cost of development from the final cost of product. The TB Alliance is currently testing a number of new drugs combinations to simplify and shorten TB treatment times and provide new treatment options for drug resistant TB.

    In addition we committed in our manifesto to lead a major new global programme to accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. In November the Chancellor announced the new £1 billion Ross Fund which will deliver on this commitment. The Ross Fund will target infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis, supporting work to develop, test and deliver a range of new products (including vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to help combat these diseases in developing countries.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 22791, what criteria are used by Work Coaches to assess a claimant’s financial capability.

    Priti Patel

    Work Coaches have the autonomy to tailor their discussions to meet the claimant’s needs and to determine the level of support and advice they require.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5909, HL5910 and HL5960) and 12 February (HL5909), what specific licence conditions have been required by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in accordance with its Code of Practice in order to resolve any potential or perceived conflict between the demand for sufficient numbers of zygotes to perform genome editing successfully and the usual practice of transferring embryos to the uterus following assessment of their potential to develop further after at least two to three days; what reasons the person responsible provided when requesting that reference to surplus embryos should be removed from the research project title; and whether they will now place in the Library of the House copies of the patient information and consent forms submitted to the HFEA by the person responsible in order to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes on its website the inspection report relating to a licence renewal application and the minutes of the Licence Committee’s decision. It does not publish other information associated with a licence application.

    The Licence Committee considering the application to which the noble Lord refers was satisfied that the requirements of General Directions 0008 were met, with the exception of evidence of ethics approval, which must be submitted to the HFEA before any licensed research can begin.

    The HFEA has advised that licence conditions R18-R27 and T97 address any potential conflict between the use of embryos in research and the use of embryos in the provision of treatment services. The person responsible did not give a reason on the application form for requesting that reference to surplus embryos should be removed from the research project title, nor are they required to do so. The removal of ‘surplus’ from the title does not reflect a change in the way embryos will be donated to the research.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides for local authorities to share best practice on children’s social work.

    Edward Timpson

    Supporting innovation and creating the right environment to drive excellence and radically transform the lives of children and their families are essential to delivering our vision for children’s social care between now and 2020.

    The Department’s £100 million Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, established in 2013, supports 53 projects to develop, test and spread more effective ways of supporting children and families who need help from children’s social care services. The Department has invested around £7 million to evaluate the projects and these studies will provide findings for local authorities over the next year as well as making a significant contribution to establishing an evidence base for driving change.

    Supporting the sector to share best practice is at the heart of our What Works Centre (WWC) and Partners in Practice (PiP) initiatives. WWC will build an evidence base to show the best practice available to help social workers and other practitioners to better support children and families. PiPs represent a genuine partnership between national and local government to support long term improvement through exploring greater freedoms in the design and delivery of services; evidence about new structural models and innovations; and modelling best practice, sharing learning and supporting the wider sector.

    In addition, the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families provides support to the profession and offers independent expert advice to Ministers on social work reform.

    The Department also commissions research and evaluation studies that local authorities can draw on to inform and improve their practice. A recent example is the research review of Parents’ Capacity to Change (Ward et al 2014).

    All studies are published on the Department’s research pages on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/research#publications

    “

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will order an inquiry into actions taken by the trustees of the BHS pension schemes in agreeing revisions to funding rates and supporting the sale of the employer.

    Baroness Altmann

    The Pensions Regulator regulates work-based pension schemes, including trust-based schemes. In accordance with Parliament’s wishes, it has operational independence so it would be entirely inappropriate for Ministers to intervene in its decisions or on-going investigations.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Lord Heseltine’s report, Tees Valley: Opportunity unlimited, published on 7 June 2016, what assessment her Department has made of the feasibility of a University Technical College or Institute of Technology in the Tees Valley area.

    Nick Boles

    Lord Heseltine’s report recommends that, following the Tees Valley Post-16 Area Review, universities and local employers should consider whether technical based education provision in the form of either a University Technical College (UTC) or Institute of Technology (IoT) may help to address skill gaps and contribute to meeting the future needs of business.

    The Government is committed to establishing a UTC or technical academy within reach of every city. As with other new academies, proposals to establish new UTCs and technical academies are submitted to the Department twice a year. The Department for Education would consider any proposals from the Tees Valley area as it would from elsewhere. The strongest applications that demonstrate a clear need and demand for their chosen specialisms in their local area are approved to develop their plans further.

    The Baker Dearing Educational Trust is funded by the Department to support applicant groups and can be contacted to discuss future UTC proposals. The process for establishing IoTs has not started yet, so no assessment has been made regarding the feasibility of an Institute in the Tees Valley area.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on British nationals detained in that country; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We continue to raise our strong concerns about British prisoners in Iran at the highest levels in both London and Tehran. Both the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson) did so in their introductory calls with their Iranian counterparts recently, and the Foreign Secretary followed up in writing to Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif on 29 August.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many meetings Ministers of her Department have had with social media companies to discuss harmful online content since May 2015.

    Sarah Newton

    Home Office Ministers routinely meet with a range of stakeholders, including social media companies, to discuss action to protect people from harmful online content. Ministers also meet social media companies on specific issues such as online hate crime and extremism.

    In addition, they attend meetings of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities, parenting groups and government departments and meets on a regular basis.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the investigation General practice commissioning: in whose interests? by The Times and the British Medical Journal, whether they have plans to require that the boards of Clinical Commissioning Groups cannot enter into contracts with companies in which one or more of their board members has a financial interest.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We do not have any such plans.

    However, in all circumstances a clinical commissioning group must manage any actual or perceived conflicts in a way that is transparent, fair, and protects the integrity of their decision making.