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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the processes and policies in place proactively to identify symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in service-people returning from war zones.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a range of processes in place to look after the mental health of personnel both on, and returning, from operations, including Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) and the post-operational decompression period. Personnel are given briefings on the possible psychological after-effects of deployment, as well as advice on seeking help and treatment if required. Efforts are being made to reduce the stigma that can be attached to all mental health issues, including PTSD, and this may be encouraging more Service personnel to come forward.

    The MOD has also been working closely with King’s College London on a two-year study, funded by the US Department of Defense, looking at a possible post-operational mental health screening tool. The study was undertaken using UK Armed Forces personnel, and the results are currently being analysed. When published, the study will help us to understand the efficacy of screening; to consider whether such a tool would benefit the UK Armed Forces; and provide evidence on which the US can gauge its current policy on mental health screening.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what funding her Department has allocated to help develop clean energy storage.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Energy storage is one way to provide flexibility to the energy system and to help make best use of our low carbon electricity generation. DECC has provided more than £18m of innovation funding since 2012 for development and demonstration storage technologies; including funding for four storage technology demonstration projects. In the Budget 2016 announcement, the government confirmed that it would allocate at least £50 million to help innovation in energy storage, demand-side response (DSR) and other smart technologies over the next five years.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in council housing rents on new council housing and the existing stock.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Our decision on social rent reductions was based on the need to put welfare spending on a sustainable footing, whilst protecting the most vulnerable. The housing benefit bill for the social sector in England rose by a quarter over ten years, reaching £13.2 billion in 2014/15. We believe that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement. The Government remains committed to delivering 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2021.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2016 to Question 44301, United Nations: finance, how much his Department contributed voluntarily to the missions referred to in each of the last five years.

    Alok Sharma

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays the UK’s assessed contributions for Special Political Mission thematic cluster I, which covers special and personal envoys and advisers of the UN Secretary General. This is paid as part of our contribution to the UN Regular Budget, which is mandatory under the UN Charter.

    The UK Government has also, on occasion, provided additional targeted voluntary funding. Information about these discretionary payments is not held in a single consolidated form, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Government identifies and monitors the value and impact of providing the voluntary funding on a case-by-case basis.

  • 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 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how he plans to define (a) disability and (b) employment for the purposes of measuring the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Progress against the disability employment gap commitment is a key factor in progress towards full employment. This is consistent with the Government’s manifesto commitment which said ‘as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap’. The annual report on progress towards full employment will include an update on the Government’s progress towards halving the disability employment gap.

    Disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010: “A person has a disability if (a) [they] have a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [their] ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”

    Employment in the UK is measured by the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Statistics on disabled employment are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics, based on internationally agreed definitions.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of (a) GPs and (b) clinical commissioning groups have plans in place to identify unavoidable deaths.

    Alistair Burt

    The question asked about ‘unavoidable deaths’. Data on the proportion of general practitioners (GPs) and clinical commissioning groups that have plans in place to identify unavoidable deaths is not collected centrally.

  • Mike Wood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mike Wood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Wood on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential contribution to energy efficiency and low carbon energy from buildings markets to (a) improving infrastructure and (b) implementing the Government’s (i) long-term economic plan, (ii) obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008 and (c) commitments to relieve fuel poverty.

    Andrea Leadsom

    There is huge potential for buildings to contribute to our goals on reducing carbon, tackling fuel poverty, keeping bills down and driving economic growth. The UK’s housing stock accounts for around 30% of our energy consumption and a further 20% from non-domestic buildings. Collectively, once electricity emissions are taken into account, buildings make up around one third of our greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing building emissions is therefore key to meeting our Climate Change Act commitment of an 80% green-house gas emissions reduction by 2050.

    Government is acting to harness this potential. A reformed domestic supplier obligation from April 2017, which will run for 5 years, will upgrade the energy efficiency of over 200,000 homes per year tackling the root cause of fuel poverty. Our extension of the Warm Home Discount to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m per annum will also help vulnerable households with their energy bills.

    Alongside this, we have set new minimum standards in law which will, from April 2018, require privately rented buildings to reach a standard of at least energy efficiency band E before they can be let.

    In 2014 a total of 96,510 businesses were active in the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy sector, employing 232,500 full-time equivalent (FTEs) employees generating £45.3 billion of turnover. Over half of these businesses work in the production and supply of energy efficiency products.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has accrued to the public purse from the taxation of coal in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    It is not possible to disaggregate tax receipts by commodity therefore, a figure for the revenue accrued by the Exchequer from taxes levied on coal cannot be provided.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to protect intellectual property rights and research being conducted at Manchester University’s National Graphene Institute.

    Joseph Johnson

    The UK has one of the most innovative economies and the best IP environment in the world. The Intellectual Property Office offers guidance to all Universities on how to manage and protect their IP assets. In addition, the Government provides a framework and guidance on information security for organisations including universities. Universities are independent and autonomous institutions and it is a matter for individual institutions to determine how they apply guidance.

    Government wants to increase university income from collaboration and commercialisation to £5bn by 2025. The University of Manchester is one of the world’s most successful universities in this respect, working with over 40 partners at the forefront of the graphene revolution.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29629, if the Government will make it its policy to introduce targeted sanctions against individual members of the Maldivian government if the recommendations of the Commonwealth Action Group are not implemented in the next 12 months.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    Following its meeting on 20 April, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) set a revised deadline of September for clear and measurable progress to be delivered in the six areas of concern, identified at their previous meeting in February. It will be for CMAG to assess what progress has been made by September and to decide what collective action may be required. If CMAG assesses sufficient steps have not been taken, the UK will carefully consider appropriate bilateral action to help support reform efforts in the Maldives.