Tag: Parliamentary Question

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what measures are in place to prevent employer’s (a) late and (b) inaccurate reporting of PAYE through real time information causing errors in the amount of universal credit received by that employer’s employees.

Priti Patel

DWP and HMRC analyse and monitor both the timeliness and accuracy of reported PAYE information. HMRC apply risk based penalties to encourage filing compliance. DWP passes queries about earnings from claimants to an HMRC team who contact employers, software developers and employer’s agents to ascertain the actual position in disputed cases and to educate them on the importance of timely and accurate data.

01/01/2023
Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of provision of frontline police officers to ensure public safety; what steps she is taking to monitor that provision; and if she will make a statement.

Mike Penning

Decisions on the size, composition and deployment of a police force’s workforce are operational matters for individual chief constables, taking account of local needs and circumstances.

Overall, the Government delivered a good settlement for policing through last year’s Spending Review, protecting overall police spending in real terms over the course of the Spending Review period, when local income is taken into account – an increase of up to £900 million in cash terms by 2019/20.

The public should therefore be in no doubt that the police will have the resources they need to keep the public safe and to respond to new threats rapidly and effectively.

01/01/2023

Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43906, what forecast he has made of the amount that will be spent on UK defence attachés in each country in each year to 2020.

Mike Penning

We are unable to be specific regarding the requirements in each country, as detailed figures have yet to be set for future years. Table 1 below provides a forecast of in-year expenditure for each Defence Section for financial year (FY) 2016-17, including the British Defence Staff in Washington. Table 2 shows an estimate of expenditure for Defence Sections from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Table 1

LOCATION	Forecast of Outturn 2016-17
ALGIERS	£257,000
BAGHDAD	£1,373,000
NEW YORK	£666,000
SARAJEVO	£324,000
KHARTOUM	£715,000
TRIPOLI*	£258,000
MOGADISHU	£935,000
RIGA	£130,000
HANOI	£475,000
OTTAWA	£523,000
WELLINGTON	£357,000
SINGAPORE	£394,000
BEIRUT	£502,000
BUCHAREST	£272,000
KATHMANDU	£187,000
MEXICO CITY	£453,000
RABAT	£363,000
BRASILIA	£441,000
SANTIAGO	£371,000
SEOUL	£715,000
JUBA	£252,000
VIENNA	£375,000
ACCRA	£357,000
BOGOTA	£536,000
MUSCAT	£608,000
KIEV	£492,000
PRETORIA	£506,000
AMMAN	£690,000
KUWAIT CITY	£345,000
RIYADH	£863,000
MADRID	£299,000
MOSCOW	£949,000
OSLO	£303,000
NEW DELHI	£577,000
NAIROBI	£822,000
KUALA LUMPUR	£385,000
ABUJA	£294,000
ISLAMABAD	£711,000
ABU DHABI	£623,000
DUBLIN	£237,000
HARARE	£302,000
PARIS	£1,453,000
FRANCE**	£1,294,000
RANGOON	£341,000
STOCKHOLM	£386,000
DOHA	£319,000
CANBERRA	£668,000
NICOSIA	£229,000
ZAGREB	£223,000
BANGKOK	£368,000
BELGRADE	£467,000
BERLIN	£900,000
BUENOS AIRES	£499,000
COPENHAGEN	£273,000
THE HAGUE	£303,000
ROME	£563,000
ANKARA	£658,000
ATHENS	£566,000
JAKARTA	£414,000
BEIJING	£1,380,000
PRAGUE	£355,000
TEL AVIV	£766,000
TOKYO	£547,000
WARSAW	£398,000
KINGSTON	£566,000
CAIRO	£523,000
KAMPALA	£275,000
DHAKA	£346,000
YEMEN	£249,000
BAHRAIN	£336,000
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN	£375,000
TBILISI	£361,000
SKOPJE	£473,000
FREETOWN	£266,000
VILNIUS	£33,000
ASTANA	£247,000
TASHKENT	£248,000
KABUL	£406,000
ADDIS ABABA	£519,000
TALLINN	£291,000
WASHINGTON	£3,749,000
DEFENCE SECTIONS CENTRAL FUNDING	£9,882,000***
TOTAL	£52,752,000

* Currently operating from Tunis

** UK Exchange Officers in France paid for through the Defence Engagement budget.

*** Central funding covers expenditure on the Defence Attaché network not attributable to a specific Defence Section.

Table 2

	FY 2017-18	FY 2018-19	FY 2019-20
Estimated Attaché Costs	£39,372,162	£39,899,766	£40,433,147
Estimated FCO Platform Charges	£15,470,882	£15,689,819	£15,970,923
Estimated Total	£54,843,044	£55,589,585	£56,404,070

01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been convicted of animal cruelty offences in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

Details of convictions for animal cruelty cases for 2010 to 2015 can be found on the Government’s official website relating to Criminal Justice System Statistics in the document “Outcomes by Offence”. A link to the document can be found below. The data for animal cruelty is under the category “108 Cruelty to Animal”.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015

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01/01/2023
Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to extend the remit of the Care Quality Commission to include the regulation of all day centres; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 all providers of regulated activities, have to register with CQC and meet a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.

The Department is responsible for setting in legislation both the scope of registration and the fundamental standards that registered providers must meet. These are set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The scope of registration is proportionate to risk and based on the activity being carried out rather than the setting. Day centres that carry on a regulated activity are required to register with CQC and to meet the fundamental standards. In most instances they will be registered to provide the regulated activity of personal care.

The Department keeps the regulated activities under review to ensure that regulation by CQC is focused on those areas where the risks to service users are greatest. The Department has no current plans to require all providers of day centres to register with CQC.

01/01/2023
Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether arrangements are in place to vet Muslim recruits to the armed forces; if so, what are those arrangements, and if not, whether they will set them up.

Earl Howe

All candidates joining the Armed Forces are subject to exactly the same vetting procedures applicable to their chosen branch or trade, irrespective of religion or ethnicity.

There is no requirement for personnel to declare their religion. However, the numbers of British personnel who joined the UK Regular Armed Forces and self-declared their religion as Muslim in the last four financial years is set out below. The Ministry of Defence is not aware of any British Muslim members of the UK Regular Armed Forces going Absent Without Official Leave to fight in Syria or North Africa in the last four years.

Intake to the UK Regular Forces of personnel with a British Nationality declaring a Muslim religion, by Financial Year

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15

10

20

30

20

Note: figures show intake to UK Regular Forces, both trained and untrained, which comprises new entrants, re-entrants, direct trained entrants (including professionally qualified Officers), intake to the Army from the Gurkhas and intake from the reserves. They exclude all movements within the Regular Forces; including flows from untrained to trained strength, transfers between Services and flows from Ranks to Officer due to promotion. All numbers are rounded.

01/01/2023
Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which regions the NHS provides funding for IVF treatment.

Jane Ellison

In vitro fertilisation treatment is provided in all four NHS England Regions. The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the National Institute for Health and Care fertility guidelines.

01/01/2023
Lord Mawson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why forensic medical services are an exception under Schedule 2 to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014; why such healthcare services are considered equivalent to other healthcare settings and whether they are subject to the same level of scrutiny; and whether they plan to amend those Regulations to allow the Care Quality Commission powers of inspection of healthcare facilities in police custody.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) document The scope of registration (CQC, 2015) includes a section about those health and care services that lie outside its duties to regulate, and for which providers are not required to register. Within this section, the document classes forensic medical services as a “third party exemption”, because these services are commissioned and paid for directly by police bodies, which are considered to be the “customer” of these services. This differs from healthcare services commissioned and funded by the National Health Service, in which services are arranged and organised for the benefit of patients. A copy of The scope of registration is attached.

Nevertheless, the CQC regularly takes part in joint inspections of police healthcare services, in partnership with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. The Department, with the CQC and others, is currently considering whether to amend Schedule 2 to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 in order to remove the current exemption, and strengthen the CQC’s contribution to these joint inspection arrangements.

01/01/2023
Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Ofsted is taking to ensure that home schooled children are (a) taught about British values and (b) integrated into British society.

Edward Timpson

Ofsted has no powers or duties in respect of home education with regards to specific children who are being educated at home. We recognise that parents may choose to home school their children and may do a good job, but that education must be of a suitable quality.

If parents do educate children at home, a local authority may intervene if it appears to the authority that the parents are not fulfilling their duty. When Ofsted inspects children’s services in local authorities under section 136 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, it considers the effectiveness of the authority’s arrangements for dealing with children missing education, a category which includes any children who are home educated but not receiving a suitable education.

We are taking steps to ensure the system is as robust as it can be when it comes to protecting young people, while at the same time safeguarding the rights of parents to determine how and where to educate their children.

01/01/2023
Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to increase the retention rate of doctors working in general practice.

Alistair Burt

The number of full time equivalent doctors working in general practice has increased by 1,677 since September 2010.

The Department has committed to further increasing the primary and community care workforce by 10,000 by 2020, including an additional 5,000 doctors working in general practice. In January 2015, NHS England, Health Education England, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee published Building the Workforce, a ten point plan to address general practitioner (GP) workforce issues.

The ten point plan includes actions to improve retention, as well as to increase recruitment and support GPs to return to practice. As part of this work, NHS England has commissioned a detailed review to identify the most effective measures to encourage experienced GPs to remain in practice.

01/01/2023

2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
10	20	30	20