Tag: Parliamentary Question

Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the value of the agricultural and horticultural industries to West Lancashire; and how many people were employed directly and through the supply chain in that industry in that area.

George Eustice

In 2014 the value of agricultural and horticultural output for the north-west of England was £1.96 billion and gross value added (contribution to economy) was £0.82 billion. In 2013, there were 12,198 commercial agricultural holdings in the north west region. The total farmed area on these holdings was approximately 909,000 hectares and the agricultural labour force was made up of almost 32,000 people, 0.94% of the workforce in the region.

Within West Lancashire in 2013 there were 406 commercial agricultural holdings. The total farmed area on these holdings was approximately 23,000 hectares and the agricultural labour force was made up of almost 2,300 people.

Although farmers in West Lancashire are still uncovering the full extent of the damage caused by the recent flooding, we understand some arable producers have been badly affected. Under the Farm Recovery Fund these farmers will be able to receive funding towards the cost of restoring their agricultural land to the state it was in before it was flooded. Applications for this funding should be submitted by 1 April 2016.

01/01/2023
John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the rollout of universal credit on the level of rent arrears to registered social landlords.

Priti Patel

This information is not collected centrally.

Statistics are published annually on the total value of local authority social housing rent arrears, broken down by Local Authority area. They were most recently published on the Government’s website for 2014-15:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-housing-data#2014-to-2015

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01/01/2023
Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy to accept and implement the (a) 25 recommendations made to NHS England and (b) 21 recommendations made to his Department by the Mental Health Taskforce in its report published in February 2016.

Alistair Burt

We welcome the publication of the independent Mental Health Taskforce report and accept its recommendations for the National Health Service and the Department. We will work with other Government Departments, NHS England and other health arm’s length bodies to work to embed the recommendations into our work programmes.

01/01/2023
Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that every patient with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is recorded on (a) a local searchable database and (b) the UK registry for IBD patients.

Jane Ellison

The IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) Registry provides a United Kingdom-wide repository of anonymised IBD adult and paediatric patient data for prospective audit and research purposes. Patients must consent for their data to be added to the registry. The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has allocated transitional funding this year to incorporate IBD audit data collection into the IBD Registry, providing an enhanced system for data capture and quality improvement that will be available to every hospital in the UK. This will allow the entry of data locally and support service improvement. Initially the focus will be for IBD patients receiving biologic treatments, but the system will address other key aspects of IBD care in the future.

The second step of data collection will be to focus on new patients with IBD to begin to understand the incidence of IBD in the UK. This picture will build up over a number of years and be dependent on the engagement of clinicians.

No specific assessment of the potential effects on healthcare due to the introduction of a registry of patients with IBD in England has been made. However, the data provided through the register can support National Health Service services in areas such as the assessment of local IBD populations as well as in measuring incidence and outcomes with services in other parts of the UK.

Although there is no direct Department funding, HQIP have given £290,000 for a year’s transition funding to join the audit data with the registry.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends faecal calprotectin testing as an option to help doctors distinguish between inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and non-inflammatory bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

The NICE IBD Quality Standard states that general practitioners (GP) and GP practices should ensure that testing is offered and clinical commissioning groups should ensure the diagnostic services are in place to support this.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-05-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to alert employers to the potential effect of failure to report PAYE correctly and on time on employee’s families with relation to universal credit.

Mr David Gauke

Throughout the development of Real Time Information HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) worked closely with employers to highlight the importance of accurate and timely filing for customers, not only from an HMRC perspective but also to ensure accurate awards of Universal Credit. The December 15 Employer Bulletin, issue 57, also alerted employers to the impact that late, missing and incorrect returns can have on Universal Credits.

01/01/2023
Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37125, whether his Department has any plans to collect data on the number of student nurses that have already studied for a degree before entering nurse training.

Ben Gummer

The Department has no plans to introduce a new central data collection on the number of student nurses that have already studied for a degree before entering nurse training.

01/01/2023
Baroness Altmann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Altmann on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of employers using net-pay pension schemes that are unaware that their workers who earn less than £11,000 a year are unable to receive the tax relief they could receive in a relief-at-source scheme.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not therefore hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.

However, the Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax.

01/01/2023
Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has plans for an opt-out system for organ donation across the UK.

Nicola Blackwood

There are currently no plans for an opt-out system for organ donation in England. Since 2008 donation in the United Kingdom has increased by 68% and transplants by 47%, by increasing the number of specialist nurses and strengthening the donation infrastructure. 2015/16 saw the highest ever deceased donor rate in the UK with 1,364 deceased donors resulting in 3,529 transplants.

We continue to support work to further increase donation and transplantation rates, particularly promoting collaborative working amongst organisations and raising awareness of donation in the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities to become donors.

NHS Blood and Transplant launched a new UK–wide organ donation and transplantation strategy in July 2013. Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020 identifies the action being taken to increase organ donation and transplantation.

01/01/2023
Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2015-11-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether evidence sessions will be held in the course of Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords, and whether those sessions will be public.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):

Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.

Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).

The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.

Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.

Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.

01/01/2023

Madeleine Moon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2015 to Question 17694, how many training courses have been completed at (a) MOD Grantown-on-Spey, (b) MOD Llanrwst, (c) MOD Fairbourne and (d) MOD Crickhowell in each year from 2010 to 2015; how many students of each service attended each such course; what the cost of each such course was per trainee; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Julian Brazier

Due to the variation in course length (from one day through to 42 weeks), the number of courses completed is not recorded. Rather, delivery is measured on the number of weeks of training delivered. For financial year (FY) 2014-15, the number of weeks of training delivered at each centre is as follows (historical data is not held).

Force Development Training Centre (FDTC) Grantown – 46 weeks

Joint School for Adventorous Training (JSATI) Llanrwst – 41 weeks

FDTC Fairbourne – 45 weeks

FDTC Crickhowell – 46 weeks

Information on the number of attendees is not held as costs are solely dependent on the maximum bed space capacity, regardless of the number of students attending.

Please see the information below giving the operating costs covering all locations for the last four financial years, for which information is available.

	FY 2011-12 £	FY 2012-13 £	FY 2013-14 £	FY 2014-15 £
FDTC Grantown	295,624	220,819	213,781	231,290
JSATI Llanrwst	292,320	302,366	382,063	281,695
FDTC Fairbourne	259,855	292,885	325,181	279,093
FDTC Crickhowell	688,808	654,010	646,027	643,985

01/01/2023