Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to review the list of medical conditions eligible for a medical exemption certificate.

    Alistair Burt

    We cannot be sure from our records how many times the list of medical conditions which provide eligibility for a medical exemption certificate has been reviewed since its introduction in 1968.

    The most recent external review commenced in 2008 when the then Prime Minister announced the addition of cancer to the list of conditions which would be eligible for a medical exception certificate, and announced at the same time that there would be a review by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore on how to implement exemptions for all those with long term conditions. The report of the Gilmore review was published in May 2010, and it was announced in the 2010 spending review that the recommendations made in the report would not be implemented in light of the financial situation. There are no current plans to undertake a further review of the list.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff his Department (a) employs and (b) plans to employ in the next 12 months; and how many such staff will be located in (i) London, (ii) Brussels and (iii) elsewhere.

    Mr David Jones

    The new Department for Exiting the European Union will be made up of staff and officials from various departments across Government. The Department has already started drawing together expertise from a wide range of departments where there is specific relevant knowledge.

    The overall size and scope of the Department, including staffing and budget, are now under consideration. The Department now has over 200 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and is still growing rapidly with first class support from other government departments.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with supermarkets to discuss ensuring their packaging for produce and goods is recyclable.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Department has regular meetings and conversations with retailer stakeholder groups and representatives from the packaging industry, including representatives of supermarkets. The Department also works through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on wide-ranging initiatives aimed at increasing recycling. Many of these initiatives, including the Courtauld Commitment, involve supermarkets.

  • Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Teverson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Teverson on 2015-11-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the current visa regime has had on international student numbers in the UK.

    Lord Bates

    The student migration system we inherited was too weak, and open to widespread abuse, damaging the UK’s reputation as a provider of world-class education.

    We have clamped down on immigration abuse from poor quality institutions selling immigration rather than education, and since 2010 we have struck off more than 900 bogus colleges. Visa applications for the further education sector, where abuse has been most prevalent over recent years, are down 74 per cent compared with 2010.

    At the same time, we have maintained a highly competitive offer for international students who would like to study at our world-class institutions. This is borne out by the figures: visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up by 17 per cent since 2010, whilst visa applications to our world-leading Russell Group institutions are up by 33 per cent since 2010.

    We will continue to reform the student visa system to tackle abuse and deliver an effective immigration system that works in the national interest.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of homeless people (a) are ex-service personnel, (b) have mental health problems and (c) identify as LGBT.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The information requested is not held centrally.

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

    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.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    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

    “

  • 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 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.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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.

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    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.