The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether any grant monitoring forms in relation to funds awarded by his Department to Action on Smoking and Health were submitted late.
Jane Ellison
Action on Smoking and Health provided grant Monitoring Reports on completion of each project. The timing of the submission of these reports was agreed with the Tobacco Control policy team.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what arrangements are in place to ensure that grants made by his Department under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 are awarded transparently.
Alistair Burt
The majority of grants made under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 are awarded through competed schemes where the assessment criteria are published. A small number of non-competed grants are also made by the Department and these are all assessed against the same criteria.
The standard business case criteria includes a Strategic Case, Economic Case, Financial Case, Commercial Case and Project Governance.
All grants awarded under Section 64 powers require both HM Treasury and Ministerial approval as set out in the legislation.
A standard set of terms and conditions are used for all Section 64 grant awards, these have been agreed by the Departments legal team.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-10-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has taken disciplinary action in respect of section 64 grants made to Action on Smoking and Health and their subsequent use.
Jane Ellison
Grants awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act are awarded at the discretion of the Secretary of State. They are recoverable or can be discontinued if they are not used for the purposes for which they are given.
The Department considers that the Section 64 grants made to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) have been used for the purpose for which they were given. There have been no grounds on which to take disciplinary action in respect of any section 64 grants made to ASH and their subsequent use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that participants in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 are prevented from staying in the UK illegally after the Games have finished.
Karen Bradley
The rigorous Accreditation Process that contributed to the success of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 has also been central to our preparations
for Glasgow 2014.
To minimise attempts to abuse our hospitality after the Games have ended,
comprehensive record checks on all Commonwealth Games participants and Games
Family Members are conducted before they are cleared to enter the UK. We have
also introduced arrangements to confirm that people given Commonwealth Games
clearance have left the UK within their permitted time limits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what financial rewards her Department makes available to kinship carers.
Mr Edward Timpson
Children placed in a kinship care arrangement by a local authority are looked after children, in which case their carer must be approved as a foster carer. In these circumstances, kinship carers must receive the same support, including financial support, as all other foster carers.
The majority of kinship carers will be caring for children who are not looked after.
Relatives caring for a child in these circumstances are entitled to support, such as child benefit and any other benefits available to parents, subject to the usual eligibility criteria.
In 2011, the Department for Education issued ‘Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’ which sets out a requirement on local authorities to develop clear, publically accessible policies to describe how they will assess and support children cared for by kinship carers. Such support could include financial help for carers of children who are not looked after, where the local authority assesses this is appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much Bradford Metropolitan District Council received from central government in grants in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2014-15; and if he will make a statement.
Kris Hopkins
In 2014-15, Bradford Metropolitan District Council is forecast to receive £655 million in government grants, excluding mandatory housing benefits, equivalent to £3,112 per dwelling. Per dwelling, this is in the top 20 highest in England. Including mandatory housing benefits, the forecast is £838 million (source: Revenue Account budget returns).
In addition to this, Bradford Metropolitan District residents will also benefit from government grant funding to the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, to the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority and to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
We do not hold detailed information on all the individual grants paid out across government departments over the time period.
However, leaving aside schools spending which has changed due to the funding shift from local authorities to academies, in 2014-15, Bradford Metropoliton District Council’s net current expenditure excluding education is forecast to be £596 million (source: Revenue Account budget returns). This compares with £548 million in 2009-10 (source: Revenue Outturn returns), and is thus an increase in cash terms.
Of course, every bit of the public sector needs to do its bit to pay off the deficit left by the last Administration, including local government which accounts for a quarter of all public spending. Yet these figures illustrate how claims in some parts of the local government sector about “cuts” are over-stated and mislead the public.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of police hunts for all prisoners who have absconded or escaped from prisons in each of the last five years.
Damian Green
This information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential for misuse of the kinship carer system.
Mr Edward Timpson
Children live with kinship carers for a wide range of reasons: parental difficulties, mental or physical ill health, divorce or separation, imprisonment or bereavement. The circumstances and legal statuses of children and carers in these arrangements vary widely. There is not, therefore, a single “kinship carer system” and for this reason the Government has not given consideration to making an assessment of the potential for any general misuse of kinship care arrangements
In 2011, the Department for Education issued ‘Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’,[1] this guidance is clear that children and young people unable to live with their parents should receive the support they and their carers need to safeguard and promote their welfare, whether or not they are looked after.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-act-1989-family-and-friends-care
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the extent of dog fighting in the UK.
George Eustice
We have not been provided with any recent estimate of the extent of dog fighting by either the police or animal welfare organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the police hunt for Michael Wheatley who absconded from HM Prison Standford Hill on 3 May 2014.
Damian Green
This information is not held centrally.