The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) hospitals and (b) treatment centres use electric shock therapy for the treatment of patients with mental health problems.
Alistair Burt
The information is not available in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the market conditions affecting the Government’s decision to postpone the privatisation of Lloyds Bank on the proposed privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.
Anna Soubry
Decisions about these separate matters will be taken on their individual merits. Further information on the Government’s proposals for a sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and which local authorities have notified her Department about plans to dispose of grant-funded assets through the (a) sale, (b) transfer and (c) change of use of children’s centres under the requirements of the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant.
Mr Sam Gyimah
Where local authorities dispose of or change the use of buildings or other assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants, they must repay the money through the claw-back process.
The Department for Education has a thorough set of monitoring arrangements in place regarding claw-back rules. Local authorities are required to notify the department of each and every proposed change of services and provide details about the level of early years services that are to continue. The department then considers if the local authority has continued to offer a sufficient level of early years services for children and their families from the building in question to meet the original aims of the grant.
If the department is satisfied that the funding for the asset will continue to be used for purposes consistent with the grant, the department may defer claw-back. Deferring claw-back means that we accept the change of usage at that time, however, the department retains its interest in the asset and if in the future the asset has its usage changed, is transferred or otherwise disposed of, and does not continue to meet the purposes of the grant the local authority must inform the department and we will claw-back the funding. The department’s interest in an asset funded by Sure Start capital grants is 25 years from designation of the building. If the grant was used to purchase capital items or re-furbish an existing asset, the length of time and value of any claw-back depends on the depreciation value of the items, according to local authority depreciation rules.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of Crown immunity on the ability to bring legal action on liability for the infection of patients with contaminated NHS blood.
Jane Ellison
The Department’s assessment is that Crown immunity does not limit an individual’s right to redress via legal action. Crown immunity does not protect from civil suit, but only from criminal prosecution. Indeed, some affected persons did bring an action in 1988, which was settled out of court, without establishment of liability.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many sexual offences were recorded by police in (a) Lancashire and (b) Burnley in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013, (v) 2014 and (vi) 2015.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had about funding the construction of a new rail station at Horden.
Andrew Jones
Officials from Rail North met with Durham County Council on 21 April to discuss its aspirations for a new station at Horden and potential funding sources, including the New Stations Fund. The new station may also be included in the draft Rail North Single Investment Plan.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the consequences for the viability of the Successor submarine programme of the conclusions of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s assessment of that programme.
Harriett Baldwin
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority’s assessment of the Successor submarine programme accords with our own. That is why we have established a new Director General Nuclear sponsor organisation and will set up a new submarine delivery body, as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. The assessment recognises the complexity and scale of delivering the most advanced submarines ever commissioned by the Royal Navy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-10-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the (a) percentage change in GDP and (b) change in the number of jobs in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without securing any preferential trade agreements and reverting to standard World Trade Organisation rules from current trading relationships.
Mr David Gauke
As the Prime Minister has said, we want the best outcome for Britain. That means pursuing a bespoke arrangement which gives British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market, and enables us to decide for ourselves how we control immigration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Countess of Mar on 2015-11-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to emerging evidence relating to the appropriate level of dietary sodium intake; what meetings Ministers have had with scientists and others about that issue; and what representations they have received regarding dietary sodium intake.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The evidence base relating to dietary sodium intake was extensively reviewed in the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s (SACN) report ‘Salt and Health’, published in 2003. In reviewing the evidence, SACN noted that the greatest benefits were likely to be achieved by taking a population approach to reducing salt intakes rather than through individual targeted advice. SACN continues to monitor average salt intakes through a programme of dietary survey work.
New voluntary salt reduction targets have been developed for 76 specific food groups that contribute most to people’s salt intakes and major retailers, manufacturers and caterers are working to meet these targets by December 2017.
SACN has also reviewed the evidence around the impact of low sodium intakes. It found no basis for changing the existing recommendation for a target reduction in average salt intake to 6 grammes per day for the adult population, equivalent to an average reduction of 2.4 grammes per day of sodium.
SACN’s ‘Salt and Health’ report is attached and can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-salt-and-health-report
Baroness Masham of Ilton has recently asked three questions about dietary sodium intake. Further representations have been received from the Salt Association. Ministers have not met with scientists and others about this issue.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-11-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward plans to monitor the effectiveness of how the Homelessness Protection Grant is spent.
Greg Hands
Since 2010, local councils have had more flexibility over how they spend the money they receive from central government. It is up to individual authorities to decide how grant funding should be spent in order to deliver local services. To ensure that councils have the necessary skills to do this, the Government supported the establishment of the National Practitioner Support Service’s ‘Gold Standard’ programme to help improve the effectiveness of local authority homelessness prevention services.