Tag: Steve McCabe

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much the UK contributed to the funding of UN special envoys through (a) the UN regular budget, (b) the UN peacekeeping budget and (c) voluntary contributions in each of the last five years.

Alok Sharma

This response answers PQ 44298 and PQ 44301. For the purpose of these PQs we have defined ‘UN special envoy missions’ as Special Political Mission thematic cluster I, which covers special and personal envoys and advisers of the UN Secretary General.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office pays the UK’s assessed contributions for these as a part of our contribution to the UN Regular Budget, which are mandatory under the UN Charter. The UK’s fixed percentage share of the budget for each Special Political Mission was 6.604% during 2011 and 2012, and 5.179% from 2013 to 2015. The peacekeeping budget does not fund Special Political Missions. The UK does not hold a central register of UK voluntary contributions to SPMs.

The table below provides the total number, annual budget and UK contribution to the cluster I SPM for calendar years 2011-2015.

Year Number Total budget (UK contribution) in US$ millions
2015 11 $37.3m ($1.93m)
2014 10 $24.9m ($1.29m)
2013 8 $16.7m ($0.866m)
2012 7 $11.43m ($0.755m)
2011 6 $8.69m ($0.574m)

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make representations to the National Association of Estate Agents to encourage private-rented accommodation sector agencies to reduce the fixed costs that those agencies charge to tenants moving into private-rented accommodation; and if he will make a statement.

Gavin Barwell

Since 27 May 2015, through Section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, letting agents have been required to publish a breakdown of their fees, which redress scheme they are a member of and whether they are a member of a client money protection scheme, in their offices and on their websites. A breakdown of fees enables tenants to compare prices and assess value for money, creating effective competition that should force agents to keep their fees fair and strengthening consumer choice.

The Government has established a Private Rented Affordability and Security working group to explore new approaches to remove entry costs and removal costs for tenants in the sector. The working group which includes representatives from across the PRS and Housing sector, including Crisis, Shelter, the National Landlords Association, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, is expected to provide its findings in the Autumn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England in achieving high quality community care for all.

David Mowat

Patients rightly expect the highest quality of care from all health and care services they access.

The Care Quality Commission registers and inspects community care providers and community trusts to ensure that they follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall.

The trends in patient satisfaction for community services are tracked and reported monthly through the Friends and Family Test (FFT). The FFT is an important tool that gives patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience and helps the National Health Service to drive improvement in the services it provides.

The latest FFT Results from July 2016 showed that 95% of respondents would recommend the services they have used in community services settings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44481, for what reasons the 26 clinical commissioning groups referred to were rated as inadequate for 2015-16.

David Mowat

This information is publicly available in the Year-end CCG Assurance Annual Assessment for 2015/16, on NHS England’s website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/07/annual-assessment-rep-2015-16-upd.pdf

Further detail can be found in the legal directions issued by NHS England to all clinical commissioning groups rated as inadequate. These are published on NHS England’s website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/ccg-auth/directions/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of people who would have been entitled to a larger income due to the proposed changes to the Pension Protection Fund’s compensation cap and who have died since the proposals were first included in the Pensions Act 2014.

Richard Harrington

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2016 to Question 44488, when he plans to tighten the Planning Guarantee for minor planning applications.

Gavin Barwell

We will make an announcement about the timetable for tightening the Planning Guarantee for applications for minor development as part of our response to the consultation on implementing the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 40130, how Child Support Agency (CSA) (a) client and (b) former client activity requests collection of any CSA arrears held by the Child Maintenance Service.

Caroline Nokes

We have interpreted this question to mean “how Child Support Agency (CSA) (a) clients and (b) former clients actively request collection of any CSA arrears held by the Child Maintenance Service.” If a client or former client of the Child Support Agency (CSA) would like their arrears collected they should call the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). When debt is moved from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service system, clients receive a letter that includes contact details for the CMS.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the 12 Portas Pilots.

Mr Marcus Jones

I chair a refocused Future High Street Forum to lead an ambitious programme of town centre restructuring. The Forum runs the Great British High Streets Awards which champion innovation, sharing best practice around the country.

Entries to this year’s competition have come from a number of the 27 former Portas pilots. One of these – Rotherham – won the accolade of best town centre. And I congratulate them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page nine of her Department’s response to the Education Committee’s Fifth Report of Session 2014-15, Life Lessons: PSHE and SRE in schools, published in July 2015, CM 9121, when her Department plans to report back to the Committee on its full consideration of the arguments made by the Committee on introducing PSHE and SRE as statutory subjects in primary and secondary schools.

Edward Timpson

The Government wants all young people to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. High quality personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) teaching has an important role to play in providing young people with a ‘curriculum for life’, which equips them with the skills and understanding they need to manage their lives, to succeed and to stay safe.

We have committed to improving the quality of PSHE and intend to make significant progress on this issue during this Parliament. The Department for Education is currently working with headteachers and other experts to identify how we can improve the quality of PSHE for every pupil.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recourse is available to patients who believe they have undergone poor or harmful NHS psychotherapy treatment.

Alistair Burt

Complaints about poor or harmful National Health Service psychotherapy treatment are handled through the NHS complaints process. Details are available at the following link:

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/complaints/Pages/NHScomplaints.aspx

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