Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to implement the review of staffing and deployment agreed with trades unions in February 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) regularly shares staffing data with the Trade Union Side (TUS) and has met them on many occasions since February 2014 to discuss matters including, but not limited to, staffing and deployment. A timeline was agreed with the TUS for these discussions to conclude on 23 September 2015 in order for them to ballot members on the position reached. Despite the final position on these talks being rejected by the TUS DVSA offered to continue discussions, on an ongoing basis, about staffing and deployment.

    DVSA is currently engaged in talks via ACAS with the Prospect Union, who have suspended industrial action, and hopes to be able to do the same with the Public and Commercial Services Union.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the most recent estimate is that his Department has made of (a) civilian public sector, (b) civilian private sector and (c) military personnel working (i) directly on and (ii) in the supply chain of the Trident nuclear weapon system.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The nuclear deterrent is the cornerstone of the UK’s defence security policy. Maintaining the UK’s defence nuclear enterprise supports over 30,000 jobs across the UK and makes a significant contribution to the economy.

    In the UK, four key suppliers directly support the delivery of the Trident programme. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) managed and operated by AWE Management Limited is based in Aldermaston and Burghfield; BAE Systems Maritime-Submarines at Barrow-in-Furness; Babcock at Devonport; and Rolls-Royce at Raynesway, Derby. There are thousands of jobs sustained across these sites.

    There are also 6,800 Ministry of Defence (MOD) civilian and Royal Navy jobs at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde including contractors from Babcock, Lockheed Martin UK and Rolls-Royce. This figure is due to grow to 8,200 in the 2020s. Rolls-Royce also operate the site at the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, Dounreay, supporting the Trident programme and other nuclear-powered submarines. Also the Defence Equipment and Support’s military and defence civilian personnel are based at MOD Abbey Wood and other sites in the UK.

    The ability of these key areas to deliver their programmes depends heavily on an extensive network of sub-contractors who are working indirectly in support of the Trident programme.

  • Baroness Barker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Barker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Barker on 2016-02-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations were made to ministers and officials on the subject of lobbying by charities between May 2010 and February 2016 by organisations other than the Institute of Economic Affairs.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government has received a range of representations since 2010 on charities’ lobbying, campaigning and political activities, including from charities themselves. There is no central record that categorises the different representations received.

  • Chris Bryant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Chris Bryant – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Prime Minister, how many special advisers have notified the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary that they are supporting ministers who are campaigning against the Government’s position on the EU referendum.

    Mr David Cameron

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leicester South (Mr Ashworth) on 29 February 2016, UIN 28380.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Crispin Blunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of improvements to the Brighton Mainline in Control Period 5 on seat capacity on northbound trains at (a) Horley, (b) Redhill and (c) East Croydon rail stations during weekday morning peak periods.

    Claire Perry

    The Department has not carried out a specific assessment of the effect of improvements to the Brighton Mainline (BML) in Control Period 5 (2014-19) on seating capacity from the three aforementioned stations. We are investing significantly in capacity improvements on the BML which will start to be delivered this year and fully delivered for the 2018 timetable change. Govia Thameslink Railway intend to carry out a public consultation on their proposed 2018 timetable changes later this year.

  • Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on developing the pork export accreditation protocol.

    George Eustice

    Defra has submitted detailed information required by the Chinese authorities, which they are reviewing. The UK Agriculture, Food and Drink Counsellor, based in Beijing, has met with the Chinese authorities to raise the importance of this agreement and we continue to press for expeditious consideration of the UK application to allow exports of UK pigs’ trotters to commence as soon as possible.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2016 to Question 41675, on shipping: exhaust emissions, what legal and technical barriers his Department has identified that could restrict the growth in green technologies in shipping.

    Mr John Hayes

    Given the international nature of shipping and with a ship’s life cycle being typically in the region of 25-30 years, the Government’s priority has been to ensure that appropriate international and regional standards are in place for green technologies in shipping. The Government is keen to promote the global application and implementation of technical and where appropriate legal standards, applied fairly across the board, and with industry given as much advance notice as possible of any new requirements. This delivers a level and competitive playing field and clarity of regulatory approach.

    Currently, our focus has been on barriers which inhibit the development of abatement technologies and alternative fuels which control sulphur emissions. The lack of international technical standards for the storage, loading and the safe handling of liquefied natural gas and methanol is one factor which has discouraged ports and ships from investing in this technology. Uncertainty about whether the global 0.5 per cent sulphur cap will come into force in 2020, or be deferred until 2025 is another. As a consequence the UK is pressing for decisions to be taken as soon as possible to give industry as much time as possible to prepare for the new requirements.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital-borne cases of MRSA were recorded in England in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2010 and (d) 2015.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    In April 2013 Public Health England took over the surveillance of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia, formerly undertaken by the Health Protection Agency. We do not hold the data for 2000 and 2005.

    Cases are published according to both trust apportionment and trust assignment. For the purpose of answering this question trust apportionment or assignment can be considered as “hospital borne” cases.

    The assignment process was added to the MRSA surveillance in 2013 superseding the previously used apportionment method. The assignment process utilises individual case review and therefore allows for a much more considered categorisation of a case and associated learning to prevent similar cases occurring in the future, than was previously possible. The assignment process was only introduced in 2013 as MRSA numbers were previously considered to be too high to make this resource demanding method viable.

    The total number of trust apportioned and trust assigned cases are displayed in Tables 1 and 2 respectively.

    Table 1: Trust apportioned counts of MRSA bacteraemia in 2008, 2010 and 2015.

    April 2008 to March 2009

    April 2010 to March 2011

    April 2015 to March 2016

    1,606

    688

    297

    Table 2: Trust assigned counts of MRSA bacteraemia in 2015.

    April 2015 to March 2016

    302

    Notes:

    1. Cases are published on a financial year basis.
    2. Trust apportioned data are not available for the years 2000 and 2005.
    3. Trust assigned are not available for the years 2000, 2005 and 2010.
    4. Cases are deemed to be Trust apportioned if the following criteria are met:-

    – The location where the specimen was taken is given as ‘acute trust’ or is not known;

    – The patient was either an ‘In-patient’, ‘Day-patient’, in ‘Emergency assessment’ or is not known.

    – Patient’s specimen date is on, or after, the third day of the admission (or admission date is null), where the day of admission is day 1.

    1. Cases are deemed to be trust assigned on the basis of Post Infection Review (PIR) assignment and relevant cases are assigned to acute trusts.
    2. The trust assignment method supersedes the apportionment one post 2013 and utilises case review by the teams caring for the patient.

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Israeli government on the prevention of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We are deeply concerned by the recent violence across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. We have had a number of discussions about this matter with the Israeli authorities over recent weeks. On 19 November, our Ambassador to Tel Aviv discussed the ongoing violence with Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs, Public Security and Information. On 24 November, I raised this issue with the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires and officials from Israel’s Ministry of Defence.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many referrals have been made by (a) GPs and (b) employers to the Fit for Work service since its launch; and how many such referrals have resulted in a Return to Work plan being agreed with the patient.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Latest figures show there have been 2,441 GP referrals and 1,301 employer referrals with 1,451 Return to Work Plans agreed.