The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to launch its planned consultation on increasing the transparency of property ownership by foreign companies.
Matthew Hancock
In due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to support children who have experienced abuse; how much funding has been allocated to (a) mental health services, (b) therapeutic services and (c) other support services for such children over each of the last five years; and what plans there are to vary the level of that funding.
Alistair Burt
The Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in the Future in mind report and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access to high quality support across the country. This transformation is being supported by £1.25 billion of additional Government investment, as well as an extra £150 million to help young people with eating disorders.
Local Transformation Plans will set out how local organisations will use the additional investment of £1.4 billion the Government is making during the course of this Parliament to transform local child and adolescent mental health services. All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), working closely with their partners in local government, Children’s Services and education, have developed plans to transform their local offer. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. This includes those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation.
NHS England increased funding of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) from £8.98 million to £16.5 million in 2014/15 recurrently, especially to improve the paediatric response to the needs of sexually abused children. NHS England continues to make the health services response to sexual abuse a priority, and in addition to producing a five year plan for commissioning SARCs, they are planning to engage with CCGs on the delivery of therapeutic care to support survivors.
The Government has set up the first ever cross-Government Ministerial Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling abuse of children. The Taskforce’s work will build on the Government’s wide-ranging reforms to create a care system that puts children’s needs first.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to start the consultation on introducing legislative change to require transparency of the beneficial ownership of all UK properties.
Matthew Hancock
Further to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member in November to UIN 17111, I can confirm that a consultation will be launched shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects NICE to begin assessing (a) drugs for rare cancer and (b) cancer drugs under the proposed new Cancer Drugs Fund.
George Freeman
NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have jointly consulted on draft proposals on the future direction of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The consultation closed on 11 February 2016 and the responses received are being analysed and will inform the new way of working for the Fund. A consultation report will be published on NHS England’s website in due course.
NICE is working closely with NHS England to support the new way of working for the CDF. NICE’s Board is expected to consider the proposed process and methods for the Fund at its next meeting in March.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the illustrative rotas for junior doctors, published by NHS Employers on 18 February 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of doctors switching to night shifts for a single shift only on the effectiveness of those rotas.
Ben Gummer
It is a matter for employers to design rotas that meet the service needs of the National Health Service organisation and the training needs of the doctor. This would include the pattern of working night shifts subject to the limitations in the new contract. NHS Employers is committed to supporting employers to adhere to good rostering practices as the new contract is introduced and will feed this into the contract review process agreed with the British Medical Association as part of the contract negotiations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of respite care and support for family carers.
Alistair Burt
The Short and Long Term (SALT) Care data collection for 2014-15 show the number of cared-for people receiving respite or other forms of carer support;
(a) England – 55,735
(b) Birmingham local authority area – 635
(c) Swindon local authority area – 160
The data include other forms of support as well as emergency respite places; a precise figure for emergency respite places is not available. We are working with councils to improve data in this area for future iterations of the SALT Care data collection.
The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by unpaid carers and the importance of supporting them in their caring roles. That is why we continue to support implementation of the improved rights for carers enshrined in the Care Act 2014. This includes a right to an assessment on the appearance of needs for support. These assessments cover carers’ wellbeing and what support they may need in their caring role.
The Department has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these improved carers’ rights in 2015/16. We have also made an additional £400 million available to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to provide carers with breaks from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The equivalent annual allocation of £130 million for carers breaks is now included in the Better Care Fund.
The Department is also leading the development of a new cross-Government National Carers Strategy that will look at what more we can do to support existing carers and future carers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with professional bodies on the provisions in the Investigatory Powers Bill relating to bulk personal datasets.
George Freeman
Whilst the Department has not conducted any specific engagement on these provisions, the Government has consulted extensively on the development of the Investigatory Powers Bill, including the provisions relating to the additional safeguards for the security and intelligence agencies’ retention and use of bulk personal datasets.
The draft Bill, published last November, built on the three independent reviews on investigatory powers by David Anderson QC, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC), and the Independent Surveillance Panel convened by the Royal United Services Institute. The draft Bill was then subject to Parliamentary scrutiny by a dedicated Joint Committee, the ISC and the Science and Technology Select Committee. The Government has had over 60 meetings and briefings with industry representatives, academics, civil liberties groups, and charities and victims groups since the draft Bill was published in November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Government will announce the decision on the resettlement of the Chagos Islanders.
James Duddridge
No date has yet been set for a decision. The Government is still considering its policy in this area and will announce developments to Parliament and the public in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the UK’s tax treaties with developing countries on tackling poverty in those countries.
Mr David Gauke
The UK regularly reviews its treaty network and actively engages with developing countries. Discussions with Malawi over a new tax treaty began some years ago, and substantive agreement has been reached at official level. It is hoped that the treaty will be signed shortly. Although the UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD model double taxation convention, the Government recognises that developing countries will sometimes have different preferences, and treaties the UK has recently signed demonstrate that we are willing to accommodate at least some of those preferences as part of a balanced agreement. But the nature of the negotiating process is that it remains confidential to the two sides until the treaty is signed.
By governing the taxation of cross-border income flows in a predictable manner and eliminating double taxation and excessive taxation, tax treaties promote international trade and investment, leading to sustainable tax revenues, which are vital in financing for development.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child refugees have been assisted to enter the UK in the past year (a) in total and (b) who have come from Calais to join family living in the UK.
Mr Robert Goodwill
In the year ending June 2016, 49% (1,308) of those resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) were under 18 years old. In April 2016 the Home Office announced a new scheme to resettle vulnerable children from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We have worked closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to design this scheme.
Since the beginning of this year, over 120 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe have been accepted for transfer to the UK, over 70 of which are from France.