The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the employment rate was for adults in Southampton with (a) mental health, (b) physical health and (c) no declared health conditions in each year since 2010.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the cost to small and medium-sized enterprises of implementing the national living wage.
Nick Boles
The Government’s Impact Assessment for the introduction of the National Living Wage estimates the cost of the initial £7.20 rate will be just under £530 million in total for small, micro and medium sized businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the proportion of the working population in Southampton which was working in small retail outlets over the last three years.
Anna Soubry
Official statistics are not sufficiently detailed to answer this question directly. However a rough estimate may be possible by combining sources.
The ONS Business Registers and Employment Survey shows that the retail sector accounted for 10 – 11% of employment in Southampton in each year between 2012 and 2014.
Furthermore BIS Business Population Estimates suggest that across the UK as a whole small firms (those below 50 employees) account for around 29% of employment in the retail sector.
Applying this assumption we could estimate that small retailers accounted for around 3% of employment in Southampton in 2012-2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.
Alistair Burt
Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.
We have been in detailed discussions with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) since December 2015 regarding the Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, including the proposal for a Pharmacy Access Scheme. In parallel, we also want to hear views on our proposals from across the sector and from patient groups. We published our open letter to the PSNC on 17 December 2015 and on 27 January 2016 we published a set of slides setting out the proposals with a foreword by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.
We announced on 16 March 2016 that the consultation period was to be extended to allow more time to develop the proposed changes with the PSNC and others. It will now close on 24 May 2016.
Once we have carefully considered the outcomes from the consultation, we are looking to communicate final decisions as soon as possible, so that pharmacy contractors are fully informed some months before the funding reduction starts from October 2016.
The role of the general practice pharmacist is distinct from the role of the pharmacist in a community setting. However, they are synergistic. Pharmacists working in general practice will, in the main, work with patients who have long term conditions to support them with their medicines and self-management of their condition by helping with the development and review of individual care plans. These patients will not generally be those with minor illnesses which can be treated by seeing a pharmacist in a community setting and for whom community pharmacy will remain the first, and most appropriate, option.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 to Question 30139, what steps she plans to take to expand grant funding projects to other local authorities to support young carers under the age of 16, similar to that provided by Suffolk family carers.
Edward Timpson
My Department will make decisions about grant funding for further work to support young carers on the basis of:
the quantitative research report on young carers in England;
the evaluation reports of the programmes of work carried out by Suffolk Family Carers and Carers Trust; and
evidence submitted to the Government’s carers strategy call for evidence https://consultations.dh.gov.uk/carers/how-can-we-improve-support-for-carers
The research and evaluation reports are due this year.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure institutions and organisations in receipt of public funds do not express a corporate opinion on the forthcoming EU referendum.
John Penrose
The rules on campaigning at the referendum are set out in the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. There is no general restriction on institutions and organisations in receipt of public funds expressing a corporate opinion on the European Union Referendum. However, there are restrictions on organisations whose expenses are met wholly or mainly from public funds publishing certain material relating to the referendum in the final 28 days.
As the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales, the Charity Commission published guidance for charities on 7 March 2016 regarding the forthcoming EU referendum. This clearly sets out the threshold necessary to justify any charitable activity on this specific issue.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has provided to local authority children’s services on the practice of breast ironing.
Edward Timpson
Breast ironing is child abuse and it is illegal. It cannot be excused as a cultural or traditional practice. Children’s services should safeguard children from this as from any other form of abuse. Statutory guidance for local authorities and others on how to safeguard children can be found in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’[1].
The Home Office is leading cross-Government work to tackle so-called honour-based violence, and the Department for Education contributes to this work. I refer the Hon. Member to the response submitted by the Home Office to the Parliamentary Question on this issue, No. 34114, on 19 April 2016.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how community resolution agreements are recorded in crime statistics.
Mr John Hayes
The Home Office publishes the number of Community Resolutions issued and recorded by police forces as part of its Crime Outcomes in England and Wales statistical releases. These show Community Resolutions that have been delivered in accordance with the College of Policing guidance on the Use of Community Resolution Incorporating Restorative Justice.
The latest figures show that in year ending December 2015 there were 120,002 Community Resolutions recorded by police forces in England and Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-03.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that postal votes and ballot papers are sent only to eligible voters for the forthcoming EU referendum.
John Penrose
The referendum will be overseen by the Chief Counting Officer, chair of the independent Electoral Commission, who is responsible for making sure the referendum is held in accordance with the legislation. The Electoral Commission made a statement on "non-eligible EU citizen voters" on the 2 June 2016 which can be found at http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to increase the availability of practical test appointments for motorcycle drivers.
Andrew Jones
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) forecasts the demand for all types of driving tests including motorcycle tests; this is done annually and reviewed quarterly. The information is used to ensure the Agency has the required number of motorcycle examiners available in order to meet its commitment of maintaining an annual six week waiting time.
Demand for tests has increased over the last three years and DVSA has responded by conducting 6,000 more test per year, as shown below.
|
Year |
M1 |
M2 |
|
2013/14 |
46,263 |
43,475 |
|
2014/15 |
52,005 |
49,194 |
|
2015/16 YTD |
46,150 |
44,068 |
Demand for motorcycle tests is seasonal; during the Summer months (April to September) DVSA increases test availability by opening summer work patterns.
Last year the Agency achieved motorcycle test waiting times of 4.7 weeks for module one and 3.9 weeks for module two. Waiting times are currently 7 weeks for module one and 5.8 weeks for module two.
As part of DVSA’s current recruitment campaign it is seeking to recruit 16 fast track motorcycle examiners. There are also currently four fast track biker recruits undergoing new entrant training.
Training has also been scheduled to provide a further 14 bike examiners before September (this includes two currently attending and 12 more booked on to the training course).