Tag: Parliamentary Question

Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will suspend all licences permitting UK-produced arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia.

Anna Soubry

All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria.

January 1, 2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assistance his Department has offered to Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group to help it avoid its projected deficit of £116.4 million by 2018-19; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

We are advised by NHS England that the projected deficit figure for 2018/19 dates from November 2013, and was included in a potential “downside case” modelled as part of Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) sustainability plan which was submitted to NHS England.

We understand that the sustainability plan also included an “upside case” and a “mid case” and that all three cases were modelled according to varying projected levels of Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) savings.

The joint financial strategy agreed with the seven other CCGs in north-west London, combined with higher than average growth in allocations and delivery of its QIPP programme, has enabled Harrow CCG to improve its financial performance, as a result of which it is now reporting a surplus of £2 million for 2015/16.

For 2014/15, Harrow CCG received one of the highest funding increases in the country, amounting to 4.2% on the previous year. For 2015/16, the CCG received another above average increase in allocation and will receive a funding increase of 6% in 2016/17, compared to an average CCG growth figure in London of 3.6%.

January 1, 2023
Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.

George Eustice

Our Department’s employee Wellbeing Framework complements our Health and Safety Policy and supports the implementation of the Civil Service Employee Health and Wellbeing Strategic Action Plan. Our framework has been developed collaboratively by the Defra Wellbeing network to ensure consistency across all organisations in the Defra group. It focuses on three key priorities: Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies and Healthy Lifestyles and is delivered to our employees via workshops, campaigns and other initiatives accessible to all.

January 1, 2023
Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-03-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 21 March (HL7044), whether (1) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (2) the Prime Minister’s Office, or (3) any other government institution, have received any representations from the government of India about not pursuing the money-laundering case against MQM.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my noble Friend Lord Bates, of 21 March 2016 [HL7024]. I am informed that no records have been identified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and No 10 of any such representations.

January 1, 2023

Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) male and (b) female employees (i) his Department, (ii) Network Rail, (iii) Highways England, (iv) HS2 Ltd, (v) the Office of Rail and Road, (vi) the DVLA, (vii) the Drive Vehicle Standards Agency and (viii) the VCA has.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The numbers of male and female employees as at 31^st March 2016 are as follows:

	(a)	(b)
Organisation	Male	Female
I. DfT(c)	1,267	798
II. Network Rail	31,658	5,696
III. Highways England	2,574	1,297
IV. HS2 Ltd	446	307
V. Office of Rail and Road	192	120
VI. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)	2,403	3,803
VII. Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)	3,199	1,305
VIII. Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)	114	42

January 1, 2023

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had regarding the creation of a legal status for those participating in full-time, long-term volunteering programmes, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, under the proposed National Citizen Service Bill.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The National Citizen Service Bill will place the NCS programme on permanent statutory footing. It is estimated that NCS participants have dedicated over 8 million hours of volunteering to their local communities to date. Other opportunities for young people to participate in social action, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, have contributed to the success of NCS and made sure that young people have opportunities to develop new skills that extend and transform their life chances. The government is committed to increasing volunteering and social action, and to providing support for different opportunities and programmes that encourage volunteering.

January 1, 2023
Simon Hoare – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hoare on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received on the references to dairy products in the revised Eatwell Guide.

Nicola Blackwood

Following the publication of the Eatwell Guide, representations about dairy contribution towards the diet have been received from the Farmers’ Union of Wales, Dairy UK and the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board.

Government continues to encourage the consumption of dairy products as part of a healthy, balanced diet and acknowledges their role as an important source of a range of nutrients.

January 1, 2023
Poulter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has for the future of Wattisham Airbase.

Harriett Baldwin

The estate optimisation strategy aims to provide a more efficient and better quality Defence estate to support our Armed Forces, which will be fit for purpose for future generations.

This long-term, detailed work seeks to identify a rationalised Defence estate which more appropriately meets the needs of our Armed Forces by being of better quality, more cost effective and more efficient, as well as 30% smaller overall, by 2040.

No decision about the future of individual sites has been made at this point, other than those that have been previously announced

January 1, 2023
Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-10-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 October (HL2528), why it was possible to vote daily in the Great British High Street of the Year competition for up to 30 days, and from multiple email addresses; who decided that voting should be allowed to take place in that way; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that decision on the outcome of the competition.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Great British High Street Competition was an initiative launched by the Future High Street Forum, a group bringing together retailers and sector experts to lead work to support high streets. The Great British High Street Competition, now in its second year, is overseen by a sub-group of the Forum.

The results of the Great British High Street Competition will be decided on by the combination of two scoring mechanisms. The first element will be based on scoring from a visit from our independent panel of judges which includes expert senior representatives from Boots, Costa, Google and the Post Office.

The second part of the scoring is based on the outcome of a public vote which allows people to vote every day but from a single email address. The decision was based on advice from analysts and social media experts, which included Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo, and was introduced in order to allow the finalists to build local campaigns which generate interest across the course of the campaign and not just on one day. It was also designed to allow towns with varying populations to compete. Ministers had no role in this decision.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the team in Colne and their competitors, every luck. We received 230 entries of an excellent standard so to reach the final is a huge achievement. The competition is shining a light on all the wonderful, hard work going on around the country and, once the competition is over, we look forward to continuing to work with all of the finalists to share and publicise their great work.

January 1, 2023

Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 17021, what the number of methicillin resistant (a) staphylococcus aureus, (b) clostridium difficile and (c) E.coli infections were in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

Public Health England (PHE) has surveillance data on meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia, E. coli bacteraemia and on C. difficile Infection (CDI). The reported numbers for both MRSA and E. coli bacteraemia cover bloodstream infections only. C. difficile data covers all infections. The totals, shown in the table below, are the number of infections reported to PHE each financial year, extracted from the Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) data capture system. Mandatory surveillance data covers England only.

Total Number of MRSA, C. difficile and E. coli infections in England (April 2010 to March 2015)

Year:	April 2010 – March 2011	April 2011 – March 2012	April 2012 – March 2013	April 2013- March 2014	April 2014 – March 2015
Total reported MRSA bacteraemia episodes	1,481	1,116	924	862	801
Total reported C. difficile episodes	21,707	18,022	14,694	13,361	14,165
Total reported E. coli bacteraemia episodes	*	*	32,309	34,275	35,676

* Mandatory surveillance of E. coli bacteraemia was introduced in July 2011.

Source: PHE.

January 1, 2023