Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the East of England Ambulance Service improves its response to fluctuations in seasonal demand.
Answered by Philip Dunne
NHS Improvement (NHSI) has been working with East of England Ambulance Service to ensure that its winter plans are robust, with the appropriate level of resource necessary to provide a safe service and cope with the increase in demand. That includes the use of private ambulance services as appropriate.
NHSI has also worked alongside NHS England to ensure that additional funding has been made available from commissioners, as part of a Remedial Action Plan, to secure additional capacity to cope with the increased demand.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will make it his policy in immigration negotiations with the EU that (a) there is no discrimination between applicants on the basis of their country of origin and (b) no preferential access is granted for citizens of EU member states.
Answered by David Jones
The Department for Exiting the European Union is working closely with the Home Office to consider the range of options as to how migration of EU nationals might work once we have left. We are assessing the pros and cons of each potential option, including how EU nationals might be treated compared to others under these options.
Our ambition is to create an immigration system that allows us to control numbers and encourage the brightest and the best to come to this country, as part of a stable and prosperous future with the EU and our European partners.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will direct HM Passport Office to design a passport with a blue cover.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Romford on 9th November, UIN 47644.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what due consideration was given to alternatives to the Unified Patent Court before the announcement of the proposed ratification of the UK's membership of the Unified Patent Court.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government considered its announcement to become a signatory of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court very carefully, in the light of the benefit to business in being able to protect their patent rights across Europe in a more streamlined way and the value of having a division of the court in London.
The announcement should not be seen as pre-empting the UK’s objective in the forthcoming negotiations with the EU and is without prejudice to the UK’s future position on the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the UK has left the EU. The Unified Patent Court is established by a non-EU Intergovernmental Agreement which is currently only open to EU member states.
The announcement demonstrates that the UK will continue our approach of constructive engagement as long as we remain a member of the EU.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to ensure that the East Anglia rail franchise has integrated operating teams between train services and infrastructure.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State outlined his vision for the future alignment of track and train in the Written Ministerial Statement laid on 6 December. East Midlands and South Eastern are the first franchises in the franchise pipeline and we will continue to develop this model as further franchises are renewed.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to increase parliamentary accountability of Defence Equipment and Support.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) became a bespoke trading entity, an arm's length body of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on 1 April 2014. As detailed in the DE&S Framework Document, which sets out the governance arrangements of the organisation, the Secretary of State for Defence is accountable to Parliament for all aspects of DE&S's performance. In addition, the DE&S Chief Executive Officer is designated as an Accounting Officer and is therefore fully accountable to Parliament for the stewardship of DE&S resources.
The Framework Document contains more details about these arrangements and is available on gov.uk at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defence-equipment-and-support-framework-document.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on the extension of tolls on the Severn Bridges once his powers to levy tolls under the Severn Bridges Act 1992 expire.
Answered by John Hayes
The government has made it clear that after the existing concession finishes, crossing users will continue to pay to use the crossing so that expenses incurred by the taxpayer outside of the concession can be recouped, and maintenance and operating costs of this important asset covered. The government will consult on proposals for the tolls in due course.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to give local authorities full financial autonomy for social care funding.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Department distributes funding to local government through the Local Government Finance Settlement. In addition local government raises its own finance through local taxes. Social care funding is not ring-fenced and local government already has autonomy to determine how best to manage its own finances to ensure it delivers the appropriate level of services for its residents.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effects of the EU's Common External Tariff on the patterns of freight transport in the UK.
Answered by John Hayes
The Government has not undertaken a historical analysis of this particular effect. Indeed it would be difficult to separate out the effects of the common customs tariff from the effects of other developments in the economy, such as more complex supply chains and online retail.
As part of its preparations for leaving the EU, the Government is considering the full range of implications for transport, including those arising from the customs regime applying after exit.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with the Secretary-General of the World Trade Organisation on commencing work on trade agreements.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In conversations with the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has discussed our on-going membership of the WTO and the future of the multilateral trading system. Both agree that the UK has an important role to play in promoting global free trade.