Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Quality during Oral Questions on 17 November 2015 on the establishment of a working party to examine issues regarding the availability of off-patent, repurposed drugs, when the working party was established; what the working party’s scope and terms of reference are; which organisations and individuals have been invited to join the working party; and when the next meeting of the working party will be convened.

    George Freeman

    The Government has not established a working party in relation to the Off-Patent Drugs Bill. We did hold a roundtable event in February 2015 with key stakeholders including charities and agreed several follow up actions. We have now agreed additional further actions:

    – arrange a further roundtable event specifically for those charities who would like to explore the Bill in more detail;

    – input in to the work of the Off-Patent Drugs Bill All Party Parliamentary Group; and

    – hold a Ministerial drop-in session on 30 November, for those who would like to discuss the Bill further. This will be hosted by myself.

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of (a) the level of funding required to cover local authority spending on social care in the period to 2020 and (b) how much the proposed two per cent increase in council tax intended for the social care levy will have raised in funding by 2020 if every authority implements that proposal to the full.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Ahead of the Spending Review, the Local Government Association estimated the gap in adult social care funding to be £2.9 billion – arising from a growing elderly population and introduction of the National Living Wage.

    At Spending Review the Government outlined a package of support worth up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their older and most vulnerable residents. That included giving authorities with social care responsibilities the flexibility to raise council tax in their area by up to 2% above the referendum threshold for each year between 2016-17 and 2019-20, to fund adult social care services. It is also providing £1500 million additional funding for local authorities to spend on adult social care by 2019-20, to be included in an improved Better Care Fund. Taken together, these measures provide significant resources to address the demographic pressures facing the social care system.

    In terms of what the social care flexibility could raise, I refer the hon. Member to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark), announced to the House on 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

    “

  • Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Tornado and (b) Typhoon aircraft have been temporarily taken out of service as a result of weather damage sustained during (i) combat operations and (ii) training exercises in each of the last six years.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Data on weather damage to Typhoon and Tornado aircraft is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether it is his policy that his Department’s changes to security of tenure for council tenants will apply to (a) the tenancies of existing tenants and (b) existing tenants when they transfer to a new local authority property; and when he plans that those changes will come into effect.

    Brandon Lewis

    The changes will not apply to existing lifetime tenants who remain in their own home.

    If tenants are required to move home by their landlord, for example to allow demolition and regeneration work to take place, they will be granted a tenancy with no less security in their new home.

    Where existing lifetime tenants seek to transfer, local authorities will retain a discretion to offer the tenant a further lifetime tenancy in their new home. We will set out the circumstances in which local authorities may exercise this discretion in regulations. We expect these will include where tenants downsize into a smaller home or move for work.

    We expect that the provisions will come into force early next year, subject to passage of the Bill and implementation of the regulations.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-03-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 10 March (HL6471), whether the Secretary of State for Health or any other Minister was made aware of NHS England’s plan to introduce a sugar tax on its premises by 2020 before it was made public; if so, which Ministers were made aware; when they were made aware; and what was the reasoning for the Secretary of State or Minister being informed.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We have a range of conversations about key issues at Ministerial and official level with NHS England. NHS England is independent and the decision on a sugar levy on the National Health Service estate is a matter for them operationally. We are interested to see the results of their consultation on a sugar levy.

    The Childhood Obesity Strategy will be published in the summer.

  • Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the introduction of measures for country-by-country reporting of profits for UK-listed companies.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID Ministers and officials have regular discussions with other Government Departments on a wide range of issues relating to international development, including tax.

    The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

    The UK leads international efforts to help developing countries tackle tax evasion and avoidance. DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other donors to fund Education For All: the fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch. The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. An example is UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to create a new independent system operator to remove any potential conflict of interest between National Grid and its electricity balancing and management responsibilities.

    Jesse Norman

    There is a case for greater independence for the system operator to promote more competition and flexibility in our electricity system. We are working alongside National Grid and Ofgem to this end, so that the electricity system continues to be operated in the best interest of consumers.

  • John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    John Pugh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of staff on the payroll of her Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.

    George Eustice

    All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.

    More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people held in immigration detention are (a) foreign national offenders convicted of immigration related offences, (b) foreign national offenders convicted of other offences and (c) non-foreign nationals.

    James Brokenshire

    At the end of June 2015, the proportion of people held in immigration detention who were foreign national offenders was 25% (884).

    It is not possible to provide a break-down of foreign national offenders convicted of immigration offences and foreign national offenders convicted of non-immigration offences. Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean these questions could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.