First elected: 6th May 2010
Left House: 30th March 2015 (Retired)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Ian Swales, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Ian Swales has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Ian Swales has not been granted any Adjournment Debates
The Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session. This means the Bill will make no further progress. A Bill to require the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lay before Parliament an independent report on methods for supporting the domestic bioethanol production industry; and for connected purposes
Ian Swales has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Department does not estimate the value and proportion of UK content of individual offshore windfarms.
The Department does not require Developers to submit to it the value and proportion of the UK content for each completed UK offshore wind farm. However, many Developers already report on the UK content of their wind farms and it is a priority for Government to support the development of a UK-based supply chain for offshore wind and to increase the UK content of wind farms.
The Government publishes annual statements on special adviser numbers and paybill costs, including severance pay. Information for each financial year going back to 2010/11 is available at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs-october-2013
The Government publishes annual statements on special adviser numbers and paybill costs, including severance pay. Information for each financial year going back to 2010/11 is available at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will deliver direct debits for vehicle excise duty in two phases. Initially, the DVLA will partly use its existing contract for IT service provision with elements being subcontracted via an open competition which will include small/medium enterprise interest.
The full strategic solution will be pursued in an open competition which will start in 2015. This open competition will also invite interest from Government frameworks which support small/medium enterprise involvement.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has in place a dedicated project team which is working on the systems and other changes needed to deliver direct debits for vehicle excise duty. Progress is being monitored in line with departmental governance procedures.
DWP can provide a total figure for UK benefit bank transfers for 2013/14 (including pensions) by BACS, broken down by benefit as follows:
Benefit
| Volume | Banking Costs |
ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE (AA) (inc Overseas) | 14,914,870 | £65,625.43 |
DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE (DLA) (inc Overseas) | 47,522,463 | £209,098.84 |
EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND (ESF) | 288 | £1.27 |
CARERS ALLOWANCE (CA) (inc Overseas) | 27,066,880 | £119,094.27 |
INCAPACITY BENEFIT (INCAP) | 10,093,974 | £44,413.49 |
INCOME SUPPORT (IS) | 146,845,498 | £646,120.19 |
INDUSTRIAL INJURIES (IIDB) | 11,975,719 | £52,693.16 |
OVERSEAS DIVISION (ODIIDB) | 73,828 | £324.84 |
JSA | 30,546,139 | £134,403.01 |
MORTGAGE DIRECT (JSA MD) | 239,080 | £1,051.95 |
LPS | 71,171 | £313.15 |
LPS MID | 1,900 | £8.36 |
MORTGAGE DIRECT (MI) | 1,299,364 | £5,717.20 |
RETIREMENT PENSIONS | 339,855,838 | £1,495,365.69 |
THIRD PARTY PAYMENTS (TPP) | 44,715 | £196.75 |
WINTER FUEL NEW RULE (WFNR) | 953,886 | £4,197.10 |
SOCIAL FUND (SF) | 1,157,008 | £5,090.84 |
DWP ESA MID | 617,369 | £2,716.42 |
DWP ESA | 44,349,674 | £195,138.57 |
DWP CPS LOCAL PAYMENTS | 1,930,311 | £8,493.37 |
PIP | 282,631 | £1,243.58 |
Universal Credit | 13,556 | £59.65 |
Benefits Total | 679,559,975 | £2,990,063.89 |
Excluding CSA/SPVA/CMS | 686,118,046 | £3,018,919.40 |
TOTAL BACS
| 699,386,621 | £3,077,301.13 |
The Department does not have the breakdown for Faster Payments by benefit type, however the total volume figure of payments is 3,261,640 and a transaction value of £526,273.
NHS England has advised that there is currently one anti-cancer therapy available through the Cancer Drugs Fund that is used in pancreatic cancers. This is Abraxane (albumin bound paclitaxel).
NHS England has estimated that, since Abraxane was added to the national Cancer Drugs Fund list in March 2014, the estimated spend in that financial year was approximately £13,000.
Based on current application rates for this drug, NHS England estimates that approximately £4.09 million will be spent on this drug in 2014-15.
Prior to April 2013, information on the indication for which a cancer drug was provided through the Fund was not collected.
The Department does not hold information on the number of nurses recruited by the National Health Service in England from the United Kingdom and other EU member states and outside the European Union in each of the last five years.
It is the responsibility of each NHS organisation to determine how many nurses it employs and from where these nurses are recruited.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), holds data on the nationality of staff working in the NHS as at 30 September 2013, the latest published data available. September data for the years 2009 to 2014 inclusive will be published, for the first time, by the HSCIC on 23 January.
The information as at September 2013 is set out in the table below:
Hospital and Community Health services: Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff, by nationality | |
|
|
England | Headcount |
British | 269,390 |
Other EU | 12,347 |
Rest of the World | 27,792 |
Unknown | 38,415 |
Total | 347,944 |
Notes:
These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave.
Data Quality:
It should be noted that well over 100,000 staff do not have a specified nationality in the whole data set which included all staff so the figures above do not show the exact numbers of each nationality, but rather an indication of the numbers with known nationalities.
Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre, Provisional NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics.
The number of pre-registration nursing places (degree and diploma courses) that were filled as at 31 March 2014 was 17,568.
In December 2014, Health Education England published their Workforce Plan for England which includes their planned Education and Training Commissions for 2015/16.
Research led by the University of Sheffield on the effects of bisphosphonate treatment on recurrence and cause-specific mortality in women with early breast cancer was presented in 2013. We understand that NHS England’s Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group plans to incorporate this research into guidance it will be publishing in 2015.
The Department has not issued any such guidance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is an independent body and is responsible for the development of its methods and processes.
Since the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued its supplementary advice to its appraisal committees on the appraisal of life extending, end-of-life treatments in January 2009, NICE has not published final technology appraisal guidance on any treatments for advanced pancreatic cancer.
NICE is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on two treatments for pancreatic cancer:
- Abraxane (paclitaxel) in combination with gemcitabine for treating previously untreated metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas (final guidance is expected in January 2015); and
- Theraloc (nimotuzumab) for the first line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer (final guidance is expected in August 2015).
Since 1 September 2013, no cancer drugs have been added to the national list of approved cohort policies for drugs available through the Cancer Drugs Fund and subsequently not been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in final technology appraisal guidance.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), to today's Parliamentary Question 200473.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) includes information on bank charges in its annual report and accounts (Page 138 Other Administration Costs and Page 140 Programme Costs):
All providers are required under the COMPASS contracts to provide a minimum level of support to asylum seekers accommodated in their properties, this includes briefing the service user in a language that they understand, on how to contact the provider and the Home Office to make complaints.
G4S does make a record of all telephone calls they receive from asylum applicants accommodated in their property and refers service users to their interpreters where it is clear that an interpreter is required.
The COMPASS contract lays down requirements for accommodation standards and for the receipt of enquiries and complaints from service users. The providers are contractually required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation to comply with relevant mandatory and statutory requirements in relation to housing, including the Housing Act 2004 and the Decent Home standards.
G4S provide a 24-hour helpline which provides support, advice and opportunity to raise complaints for service users. In addition, G4S and the Home Office conduct regular accommodation inspections across G4S’ property portfolio which presents the opportunity to ensure appropriate accommodation standards are being met and that service users are getting the right level of service.
Complaints regarding the operation of the Asylum system can be made by email or in writing to UK Visas and Immigration.
Information regarding the UK Visas and Immigration complaints procedure and how to contact the Complaints Allocation Hub is available to the public at the following website link:
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and-immigration/about/complaints-procedure
Asylum seekers are encouraged to raise any issues they have with the Home Office in person when they attend their reporting office or the asylum screening unit.
Where someone is unhappy with the service provided to them, they are advised to raise this immediately so that the issue can be resolved at the
point where the service was provided. Where someone is not happy with the way their verbal complaint was handled or would like to make a formal complaint they are advised to make a written complaint.
Written complaints are handled by Responder hubs who aim to respond to the complainant within 20 working days following an investigation of their complaint. All complaints are acknowledged and contact information is provided both at the initial stage and at the outcome.
Advice on how to make a complaint is available on the Home Office website at: www.gov.uk/visas-immigration. Leaflets and posters providing this information are displayed in most Home Office premises open to the public.
No redundancy payments have been made to special advisers in the Home Office since May 2010.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr Maude) on 19 June 2014 (Official Report, column 678W).
We do not hold this information centrally.
Information on staff strength and roles, by fire and rescue authority, is published annually in the Fire and Rescue Operational Statistics bulletin. The latest figures refer to end March 2014, and are available in Tables 3a and 3b of following publication: