The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the future of St Helena airport.
Rory Stewart
DFID officials, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State and DFID Ministers, are in regular contact with FCO officials about the future of St Helena Airport.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2015 to Question 11456, whether any additional blockbuster funding has been requested by the Serious Fraud Office for 2015-16; and what assessment he has made of the likelihood of that office making further requests for additional blockbuster funding in the remainder of this financial year.
Robert Buckland
As I explained in my answer on 15 October, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) receives additional funding as part of the Main and Supplementary Estimates processes. The SFO received £10m of additional funding through the 2015-16 Main Estimates process.
The Supplementary Estimates process for 2015-16 has not concluded. The SFO does expect to request additional funding as part of this process and details will be published at the appropriate time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the latest Bank of England figures showing elevated levels of personal indebtedness, what assessment they have made of what is an acceptable and safe level of such borrowing.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144 per cent in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168 per cent in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England, to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive was notified of any cases of non-compliance with explosives labelling regulations at the Atomic Weapons Establishment during 2015 on which action was subsequently taken to address this situation.
Justin Tomlinson
No notifications of non-compliance with explosives labelling regulations were received from AWE during 2015, and therefore no regulatory action was required.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether students qualify for the NHS Low Income Scheme.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The NHS Low Income Scheme provides income-related help with health costs to students, as for all other adults.
The extent of any help is based on a comparison between a person’s weekly income and requirements at the date they apply to the NHS Low Income Scheme. For a student, income will include any maintenance grant or loan available, the assessment of which may be based on parental income, and the amount of parental contribution assessed by an education authority as payable. Any other income a student may have, such as non-assessed contributions from parents or earnings, will also be taken into account in calculating entitlement. Bursaries will not be included so long as they are clearly not intended for day to day living expenses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-02-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that online secondary ticket companies are properly monitoring and countering potential ticket touting, in compliance with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Her Majesty’s Government issued guidance to business when the new ticketing provisions, contained in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, came into force.
Trading Standards Services are responsible for enforcing the secondary ticketing provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other relevant consumer protection legislation. Suspected or actual breaches of such legislation should first be reported via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, following which Citizens Advice may refer cases to Trading Standards Services for appropriate action.
Since the ticketing provisions contained in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 came into force on 27 May 2015, an independent Review has been established (as required by the Act) to consider consumer protection measures in relation to online ticket re-sales. The Review is looking at the available evidence and will report by 26 May 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many in work personal independence payment (PIP) claimants will be affected by his Department’s proposed changes to aids and appliances points; and how many such claims will (a) no longer qualify for PIP and (b) receive a reduced PIP payment.
Justin Tomlinson
As confirmed by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State in his statement to the House on 21 March, the proposed changes to PIP will not be going ahead.
We spend around £50bn every year on benefits alone to support people with disabilities or health conditions, with spending on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) having increased by more than £3 billion since 2010. The government is committed to talking to disabled people, their representatives, healthcare professionals and employers to ensure the welfare system works better with the health and social care systems and provides help and support to those who need it most.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much government funding has been allocated to Cornish language schemes in the last five years.
James Wharton
The United Kingdom has recognised seven languages under the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Scots, Ulster Scots, Cornish and Manx. Cornish is the only language in England to have this status and since April 2010 the Department for Communities and Local Government has provided £650,000 to Cornwall Council for the development of the Cornish Language.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, House of Lords Official Report, 27 April 2016, Column 1229, how many independent service police investigations have been carried out on allegations of civilian casualties during operations against Daesh in Iraq and Syria in the last five years.
Penny Mordaunt
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of skills within the NHS England workforce to deliver mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients.
David Mowat
NHS England’s National Clinical Director (NCD) for stroke is leading work to develop a full proposal which will consider the evidence and logistical issues involved in delivering mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients across the country. This includes working with the relevant specialist societies, Royal Colleges and Health Education England to consider the workforce implications. Once the proposal has been developed, NHS England will decide whether the procedure should be made widely available.
The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) is now collecting data on patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy and the latest data shows that 124 patients were treated between October 2015 and March 2016. It should be noted, however, that this may not reflect all patients treated as some may not have had their data entered into SSNAP.
The SSNAP team is addressing this issue with the relevant clinicians. SSNAP data is freely available at:
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