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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville on 2015-10-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the cost of housing benefit to the public purse of requiring local authorities to sell their housing stock.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Everyone needs to live within their means. People on benefits should have to make the same decisions and choices about where they can afford to live as people who are not on benefits, and should not expect to be housed in properties that most working households are unable to afford.

    The Housing and Planning Bill will require local authorities to make a payment to Government based on the estimated value of their high value housing that is expected to become vacant.

    This policy is about councils making best use of their housing stock – selling vacant high value housing to fund the building of new homes which reflect housing need and increase overall housing supply, and to increase home ownership, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.

    At the heart of this legislation is the building of more homes. A portion of receipts generated from sales of vacant high value local authority housing will be used to build homes that better meet housing need and increase overall housing supply. In addition to this, housing associations will retain the sales receipt from each home sold through Right to Buy to enable them to re-invest in the delivery of new homes.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that a sufficient supply of large goods vehicles drivers is available for the road haulage industry.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department is working with its motoring services agencies to reduce times and delays in obtaining a driving test appointment and medical licence renewals.

    In order to reduce waiting times for LGV driving tests the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is currently recruiting examiners and is focusing its efforts particularly in areas where waiting times are higher. To date, DVSA has recruited 78 new driving examiners during 2015/16 with a further 65 either attending or are booked on to new entrant courses. DVSA has also offered posts to a further 41 potential examiners.

    The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are now dealing with vocational applications with no declared medical condition within 5 working days. DVLA has also made some changes to improve the processing of applications where a driver has declared a medical condition. However processing these applications relies on the timeliness of third parties including medical professionals and drivers.

    The latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that the number of HGV drivers employed across all sectors such as manufacturing and retail has continued to grow since the 259,000 low in 2013 to 299,000 drivers in 2015.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the announcement of 4 January 2016, The Government will directly build affordable homes, whether the new high street, schools and leisure facilities and commercial and office space are intended to be open at the same time as new homes take their first residents at the direct commissioning site at Old Oak Common.

    Brandon Lewis

    The direct commissioning pilots will follow the normal planning and commercial processes for determining the phasing of homes and associated facilities.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his policies are of the findings of the 2015 report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, Sepsis: Just Say Sepsis on delayed diagnosis.

    Ben Gummer

    In January 2015, we announced a package of measures to focus attention on sepsis and raise the awareness of this potentially devastating condition amongst professionals and the public. These included new incentives to encourage hospitals to recognise sepsis in adults and children, and to provide timely treatment with intravenous antibiotics within 60 minutes of a diagnosis of severe sepsis.

    The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death report outlined many important findings about awareness and treatment of sepsis both in primary care and hospital settings, and many of these findings are being addressed through the work of the NHS England Cross-system Sepsis Programme Board. The Board published its report, Improving Outcome for Patients with Sepsis, A Cross-System Action Plan, in December 2015.

    This sets out the actions being be taken forward to (a) Prevent avoidable cases of sepsis; (b) Increase awareness of sepsis amongst professionals and the public; (c) Improve the identification and treatment of sepsis across the whole patient pathway; (d) Improve consistency of standards and reporting; and (e) Underpin all actions with the principles of appropriate antibiotic use and antimicrobial stewardship.

    A copy of the report can found at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/part-rel/sepsis/

    “

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2015 to Question 14463, what the timetable for the equality impact assessment referred to will be.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government and NHS Employers have made clear that an Equality Impact Assessment will be published alongside the new national contract, 90% of which was agreed with the British Medical Association in talks up to 10 February 2016.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 8.18 of the Airports Commission Final Report, July 2015, what the estimated cost is of the tunnelling work required for the M25; and whether that cost would be incurred by the public purse or Heathrow Airport Limited.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Alongside its Final Report in July 2015, the Airports Commission published a range of supporting analysis and assessments. The Cost and Commercial Viability: Financial Modelling Input Costs Update report included estimated costs for the surface access proposals for each of the Commission’s three short-listed options for airport expansion.

    The report set out the estimated capital expenditure costs for the works associated with M25 tunnelling (south of junction 15) as £576m for the Heathrow Airport North West runway option and £864m for the Heathrow Airport Extended Northern runway option.

    The Airports Commission made clear in its Final Report (paragraph 16.33) that Government would need to agree the nature, scale and financing of the surface access transport improvements associated with expansion, and the Government has been clear that it expects the scheme promoter to meet the costs of any surface access proposals that are required as a direct result of airport expansion and from which they will directly benefit.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-04-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning reports that a further 77,000 Jewish settlers are due to be relocated to illegal Israeli settlements around Ramallah.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We consistently express our opposition to illegal settlements. On 18 February, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), raised our concerns about settlements with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly raises the UK’s strong opposition to illegal construction of settlements with the Israeli authorities, and raised these specific plans on 17 November 2015.

  • Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Julian Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Lewis on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the proposed transfer of land and historic buildings from his Department to Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust by the end of 2016 has been delayed; and whether it remains his policy to carry out that transfer.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, confirmed that both carriers will be operational concurrently. This changes the level of activity, security and safety considerations for Victory and Sheer jetties. Such operational consideration and financial challenges faced by the Department have resulted in the need to plan a deferral of the transfer, the Department is working to identify and limit the length of this delay.

    Consideration is being given to deferring the transfer of some elements of the adjoining estate until the Naval Base better understands the challenges of maintaining the flow of logistics through the area in question and the security and safety aspects of operating two carriers in the vicinity of what could potentially become a tourist zone.

    We have not made an assessment of the merits of preserving the historic assets now that the project has been delayed. The assessment made previously was that their preservation would be best delivered by transferring them to the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust (PNBP).

    The Department remains committed to preserving these assets and will examine how best to do so in light of this delay and will work with the PNBP in doing so.

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Shabana Mahmood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that there are sufficient resources at a local level to manage the needs of (a) asylum seekers and (b) local residents using the same services as asylum seekers in Birmingham.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office maintains active partnerships with local authorities across the UK and funds regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMPs) to plan the dispersal of asylum seekers across the regions. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments can be made where appropriate. This ensures that community cohesion, social welfare and safety issues are properly considered.

    SMPs act as a focal point, allowing the sharing of expertise and vital information between the Home Office, its asylum accommodation providers, local government, health, education and the police. This coordinated planning ensures leadership on asylum dispersion and assesses its impact on the requirements of local government duties towards the resident population.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to ensure that children have access to professional careers advice in schools.

    Robert Halfon

    Providing young people with the right information at the right time is key to ensuring every young person goes as far as their talents will take them. This is why we are investing £90 million over this Parliament to ensure that every young person has equal access to the life-changing advice and inspiration they need to fulfil their potential and succeed in life. This includes £20 million to increase the number of mentors from the world of work, supporting 25,000 young people a year by 2020. We also fund the National Careers Service, which received £77 million in 2016/17, to provide careers advice to young people via the National Contact Centre and the National Careers Service website. The vast majority of people (87%) were happy with the service they received using the website.

    We need to make available the support to help young people negotiate this information and to help guide them through the decision-making process. Maintained schools must ensure that pupils receive independent careers advice and that this is presented in an impartial manner; includes information on the range of education or training options and promotes the best interests of the pupils to whom it is given. We know that pupils can gain confidence and motivation from the opportunity to explore career ideas through individual, face-to-face discussions with a range of people, including careers professionals. We trust schools to know what is best for their pupils and to tailor what they offer and who delivers it.