UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans his Department has to publicly support LGBT rights and progress towards the recognition of same-sex unions in the Cayman Islands.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Work to combat discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people forms an important part of our international human rights work. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works through our Embassies and High Commissions, and through international organisations, including the Commonwealth, the EU and the UN, to promote tolerance and non-discrimination against LGBT people and to address discriminatory laws, in particular those that criminalise homosexuality. We expect all Overseas Territory governments to comply with their evolving international obligations in the field of human rights and hosted a conference in March this year for Territory representatives to discuss these issues. While we continue to encourage all OT governments to make progress on this agenda, ultimately legislation on recognition of same sex unions is a matter for OT governments.

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the International Aid budget is spent by departments other than the Department for International Development, and which are those departments and how much they are spending.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The estimated proportion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to be spent by Departments other than the Department for International Development based on the Spending Review 2015 settlement is 18% in 2016/17. The other departments spending ODA (including allocations from cross-Government funds) are: the Department of Health; the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; the Department for Energy, Food & Rural Affairs; HM Revenue & Customs; HM Treasury; the Office of National Statistics; the Department for Education; the Department for Work and Pensions; Department for Culture, Media & Sport; the Ministry of Defence; the Department for Transport; and the Home Office.

    Outturn figures are not yet available, but a detailed breakdown of the 2016 ODA spend by department will be published in April 2017.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to lay before Parliament her report on the steps she will take in relation to the powers conferred by section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act on independent child trafficking advocates.

    Karen Bradley

    Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act requires the Government to lay before Parliament a report setting out the steps it proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates within nine months of Royal Assent of the Modern Slavery Act. The Government will publish this report by 16 December, whilst Parliament is sitting.

  • Lord Rogan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Rogan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rogan on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which peers and MPs attended the briefing with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill on 23 November.

    Lord Dunlop

    The Peers who attended the briefing with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Bill included: Lord McAvoy; Baroness Randerson; and Lord Trimble.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the £50 million fund established for First World War commemorations has been allocated to or spent in Northern Ireland.

    David Evennett

    The Heritage Lottery Fund has committed £13.9m of Lottery funding to 58 projects across Northern Ireland and continues to welcome applications for First World War projects of any size. One of these projects is the restoration and display of HMS Caroline – the only surviving ship from the 1916 Battle of Jutland – in Belfast’s historic maritime quarter.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with epilepsy have been offered a personalised care plan since 2013 in accordance with the Department of Health’s mandate to NHS England; and what steps he is taking to increase the number of such people.

    Jane Ellison

    This information is not available in the format requested. The GP Patient Survey measures the number of patients with a long term condition (LTC) who say they have care and support plans.

    NHS England advises that information from the patient survey for 2013/14 shows that of the 9,540 people with epilepsy that responded, 15% (1,463) reported they had a care plan, whilst 79% said no and 6% did not know. This survey does not record the number of people who were offered a care plan but did not feel they needed or wanted one.

    As set out in our Mandate to NHS England, all patients with a LTC should be offered a personalised care plan.

    To deliver this, NHS England is implementing the House of Care model for care planning, which takes into account the expertise and resources of the people with LTCs and their communities to provide a holistic approach to their lives and help them achieve the best outcomes possible.

    NHS England has developed tools and guidance on personalised care planning and provided examples of delivery for the local National Health Service. They have also provided a LTC dashboard providing a wealth of data about LTCs in each local area, helping clinical commissioning groups to plan services for local people.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the removal of mental health quality premium measures in NHS England’s Quality Premium Guidance 2016-17 on mental health outcomes.

    Alistair Burt

    The 2016/17 Quality Premium (QP) scheme has been designed to support the delivery of the major priorities for the National Health Service, as set out in the Five Year Forward View and in the NHS Mandate. The QP scheme is reviewed annually, with the intention of having a range of high impact measures addressing a range of priorities across the Five Year Forward View.

    However, there is scope for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to focus on mental health, if this is a local priority area in 2016/17. Each CCG is expected to select three local indicators from a menu of suitable measures aligned to the Right Care programme, which sets out a clinically led methodology for improvement and reducing variation in care. This menu includes 17 mental health indicators.

    The QP scheme is a part of NHS England’s wider incentive system, including the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme, which includes an incentive focussing on improving the physical health for patients with severe mental illness.

    As the QP will be retaining mental health as an indicator there has been no new assessment of the effect of removing.

    While there have not yet been any formal meetings with mental health charities about this, following the Mental Health Taskforce report, NHS England are keen to work with stakeholders-including mental health charities- to develop a new and robust mental health indicator for potential inclusion in the 2017/18 QP. This will align with the additional funding to drive improvements in ‘Improved Access to Psychological Therapies’ access from April 2017.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to monitor the use of military equipment provided by the UK to Saudi Arabia.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All applications for strategic export control licences for military and dual-use goods are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria (the Criteria), in a manner consistent with the UK’s international obligations. This assessment takes account of all relevant factors at the time of the application, including how the equipment will be used by the end-user. A licence will not be issued for export of items to any country, including Saudi Arabia, if to do so would be inconsistent with any mandatory provision of the Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the Criteria.

    The British Government monitors the situation in Yemen closely, including reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The Ministry of Defence continues to monitor incidents of alleged IHL violations, using available information, which in turn informs our overall assessment of Saudi Arabia’s IHL compliance in Yemen. We consider a range of information from government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations. We have provided training and advice to Saudi Arabia to support continued compliance with IHL and minimise civilian casualties.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether UK citizens will have the rights that currently apply to access public services in the EU in the event of the UK leaving the EU and prior to the completion of exit negotiations under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

    Mr David Lidington

    The procedure governing a country’s departure from the EU is set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This provides for a period of two years for the negotiation of exit terms. EU laws would continue to apply to the departing Member State until the Article 50 agreement had entered into force, or for two years if no agreement had been reached and no extension to the two year period had been granted. A request for an extension could only be granted with the unanimous agreement of the remaining Member States.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in how many clinical commissioning group areas specialist services are provided for people diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis.

    Jane Ellison

    The vast majority of services for people with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) are the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups. The Department does not hold information about the configuration of local services. However, we understand that there a number of clinics that specialise in the treatment of CFS/ME around the country.

    The ME Association has published a list of these services, available at:

    www.meassociation.org.uk/nhs-specialist-services-throughout-the-uk

    “