Tag: Parliamentary Question

Stephen Tim – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Tim on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) kilometres of duct and (b) poles have been installed with financial support from BDUK.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Openreach predominately uses existing duct and pole infrastructure in BDUK project areas, but where state funded infrastructure has been used, they report it on their website at: https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/ductandpolesharing/contracts/contracts/downloads/State_Aided_Infrastruture_One_Truth.xlsx“

January 1, 2023
Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department uses to assess whether a local authority should be subject to a Sure Start claw-back.

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.

January 1, 2023
Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-03-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of specific deduction methods when applied to the devolution of income tax powers to Wales.

Greg Hands

The Autumn Statement announced that the Government will legislate to remove the need for a referendum to introduce Welsh Rates of Income Tax. This will happen through the Wales bill.

Fiscal devolution will empower the Welsh Government with further tools and levers to deliver more growth and be more accountable to the people of Wales by raising more of the money they spend.

We will continue to discuss the implementation of Welsh Rates of Income Tax – including the financial arrangements – with a range of interested stakeholders, including the Welsh Government.

The Silk Commission recommended the indexed deduction put forward in the Holtham Report, and the coalition government accepted this recommendation.

January 1, 2023
Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost of IVF treatment to the NHS in England.

Jane Ellison

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.

CCGs have a legal duty to have regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. As such, NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the NICE fertility guidelines.

Following a meeting with Fertility Fairness in December 2015, officials from the Department and NHS England is considering options for addressing variation in the prices that CCGs are currently paying for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

Information about cycles of IVF treatment is not collected centrally.

January 1, 2023

Jeff Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeff Smith on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many fines have been issued for claiming free prescriptions without a valid exemption certificate in each (a) month and (b) year since the NHS Business Services Authority began checking eligibility for free prescriptions in September 2014.

Alistair Burt

Since September 2014, when the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) took on responsibility for the service, a total of 747,790 penalty charge notices have been issued where someone claimed exemption on the basis that they held a valid exemption certificate but this could not be verified by the NHSBSA. A further 278,053 surcharge letters have been issued to follow up on penalty charge notices which have not been resolved through payment, cancellation (due to correction of erroneous information, for example) or waiving of the penalty charge. The annual and monthly breakdown is set out below.

Annual breakdown of Penalty Charges Notices and Surcharge letters

	Penalty Charge Notices	Surcharge letters
September 2014 – December 2014	59,564	20,562
January 2015 – December 2015	430,971	171,065
January 2016 – April 2016	257,255	86,426
Total	757,790	278,053

Monthly breakdown of Penalty Charge Notices and Surcharge letters

	Penalty Charge Notices	Surcharge letter
September 2014	5,298	1,733
October 2014	5,007	1,697
November 2014	23,511	8,344
December 2014	25,748	8,788
January 2015	53,668	11,445
February 2015	21,706	7,969
March 2015	15,316	6,182
April 2015	12,687	5,032
May 2015	20,122	8,189
June 2015	22,472	8,984
July 2015	18,249	6,550
August 2015	39,626	17,282
September 2015	57,661	24,634
October 2015	56,952	25,075
November 2015	64,573	28,655
December 2015	47,939	21,068
January 2016	82,881	36,766
February 2016	55,650	24,079
March 2016	49,767	20,340
April 2016	68,957	5,241
Total	747,790	278,053

January 1, 2023

Lord Lexden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lexden on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the size of the Privy Council on 13 July; and how many appointments had been made to it up to that date since 11 May 2010.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The information is set out in the table below.

Date

Number of Privy Counsellors

13th July 2016

657

Appointments since 11th May 2010

179

January 1, 2023

Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much compensation her Department paid for the unlawful detention of individuals under immigration powers in each of the last three financial years; for what categories of reason such compensation was paid; and how many such payments were made for each such category of reason.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Our records indicate that over the past 3 financial years (covering 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15), that a total of £13.8 million has been paid out to 573 claimants, as per the below table. All of whom were paid compensation following a period of unlawful detention.

Financial Year	Total Unlawful Detention Compensation payments (£ million)	Number of claimants for the last 3 financial years
FY 2012-13	£ 5.0	195
FY 2013-14	£ 4.8	199
FY 2014-15	£ 4.0	179

Caveat to provided data: This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

January 1, 2023

Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employees of Border Force are seconded to Kos and Lesbos; and what their (a) powers and (b) duties are.

James Brokenshire

UK Border Force currently has twelve staff deployed to support Frontex joint operations in the Mediterranean, and one staff member seconded to Frontex Headquarters, Returns Sector, in Warsaw. Eight of the twelve staff support joint operation ‘Poseidon Sea’ in Greece: two in Kos, three in Lesbos, one in Leros, one in Samos and one in Chios; and four support Frontex joint operation ‘Triton’ in Italy: two in Trapani, one in Lampedusa and one in Syracuse.

UK staff cannot exercise any powers on Frontex operations. Border Force staff debrief migrants to gather intelligence on their routing, modus operandi and any facilitators involved; Border Force staff also screen migrants to establish their identity, to aid the host member state with documentation and return of those migrants with no right of stay in Europe.

January 1, 2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to broaden the remit of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Lord Bates

Within our Manifesto, this Government gave a commitment to “…develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners.”

We have already announced proposals to enhance the PCCs current role in relation to police complaints and emergency services collaboration.

We are actively looking for further opportunities to develop the PCC role as we move forward towards the next national PCC elections in 2016 so that they are able to shape policing services to local needs, as they are now doing in commissioning victims’ services, setting policing priorities and driving reform.

January 1, 2023
Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 2.90 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of phasing out the Transport for London (TfL) resource grant on TfL’s funding of the British Transport Police.

Claire Perry

It is for Transport for London (TfL) to determine future policing arrangements as they contract policing from the British Transport Police on a commercial basis.

January 1, 2023

Date	Number of Privy Counsellors
13th July 2016	657
Appointments since 11th May 2010	179