Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department paid out in attendance allowance in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department publishes historic benefit expenditure and caseload data consistent with the annual Budget and Autumn Statements. These are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2015
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether Veterans Welfare Service staff are permitted to represent ex-servicemen and women at tribunal hearings to contest War Pension Scheme decisions made by Veterans UK.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Veterans Welfare Service staff are not permitted to act as representatives for veterans engaged in Pensions Appeal Tribunal hearings. They would, however, provide advice about the range of organisations that would be able to act as representatives, or explain how they could request someone of their own choosing.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by what process the trade supplement for an RAF weapon technician was decided under Armed Forces Pay Reform.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
For Other Ranks, the Ministry of Defence uses a long-standing and rigorous process of Job Evaluation (JE) to determine the pay treatment of each trade. In the current binary pay model which consists of High and Low Pay Bands, JE evidence assigns the role of the RAF Weapon Technician to the High Pay Band. In the new pay system, with its four supplements and greater flexibility, the same JE evidence assigns the Weapon Technician to Supplement 2, while other trades in the RAF's Trade Group 1 (TG1) (Aircraft Engineering) are assigned to Supplement 3. This does not mean there has been a reduction in the Weapon Technician's technical status or intrinsic value. It reflects the fact that the other trades in TG1 continue to score higher in the JE process and therefore continue to be treated differently in pay terms.
No-one will take a pay cut on transition to the new model and Service personnel will continue to be eligible for any Government approved pay award. Incremental progressions will also continue to be a feature of the new pay model, though rationalised.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the trade supplement for a RAF weapon technician is no longer grouped with aircraft engineering trades under Armed Forces Pay Reform.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
For Other Ranks, the Ministry of Defence uses a long-standing and rigorous process of Job Evaluation (JE) to determine the pay treatment of each trade. In the current binary pay model which consists of High and Low Pay Bands, JE evidence assigns the role of the RAF Weapon Technician to the High Pay Band. In the new pay system, with its four supplements and greater flexibility, the same JE evidence assigns the Weapon Technician to Supplement 2, while other trades in the RAF's Trade Group 1 (TG1) (Aircraft Engineering) are assigned to Supplement 3. This does not mean there has been a reduction in the Weapon Technician's technical status or intrinsic value. It reflects the fact that the other trades in TG1 continue to score higher in the JE process and therefore continue to be treated differently in pay terms.
No-one will take a pay cut on transition to the new model and Service personnel will continue to be eligible for any Government approved pay award. Incremental progressions will also continue to be a feature of the new pay model, though rationalised.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what restrictions exist for local authorities in respect of charging for membership of public libraries.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 restricts local authorities in England and Wales from charging for library facilities made available by the authority unless permitted by the Library Charges (England and Wales) Regulations 1991. These regulations empower local authorities in England and Wales to make certain charges for the provision of library facilities but this does not include charging for ordinary library membership.
The Government has no plans to amend the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to allow local authorities to specifically charge for ordinary membership of public libraries..
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department plans to allow local authorities to charge for membership of public libraries.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 restricts local authorities in England and Wales from charging for library facilities made available by the authority unless permitted by the Library Charges (England and Wales) Regulations 1991. These regulations empower local authorities in England and Wales to make certain charges for the provision of library facilities but this does not include charging for ordinary library membership.
The Government has no plans to amend the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 to allow local authorities to specifically charge for ordinary membership of public libraries..
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many ambulances were diverted from hospitals in West Yorkshire to the A&E department at Dewsbury and District Hospital in 2015; and what the reason was for each such diversion.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times the A&E department at Dewsbury and District Hospital was closed in 2015.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Information is not available in the format requested. Information is available at National Health Service trust level only and not by individual hospital site.
NHS England advises that information is collected in the winter daily situation reports from NHS trusts about whether there was an unplanned, unilateral closure of an accident and emergency department to admissions without consultation, which occurred without agreement from neighbouring NHS trusts or from the ambulance trust.
Published figures are available covering the periods 1 January 2015 to 27 March 2015 and 5 October 2015 to 31 December 2015. Figures for the remainder of 2015 are not held centrally. Published figures can be found using the following link.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times the A&E department at Pinderfields General Hospital was closed in 2015.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Information is not available in the format requested. Information is available at National Health Service trust level only and not by individual hospital site.
NHS England advises that information is collected in the winter daily situation reports from NHS trusts about whether there was an unplanned, unilateral closure of an accident and emergency department to admissions without consultation, which occurred without agreement from neighbouring NHS trusts or from the ambulance trust.
Published figures are available covering the periods 1 January 2015 to 27 March 2015 and 5 October 2015 to 31 December 2015. Figures for the remainder of 2015 are not held centrally. Published figures can be found using the following link.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/
Asked by: Jo Cox (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of patients attending each A&E department in the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust were seen within four hours in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information is not available in the format requested. Information is available by National Health Service trust and can be found using the following link.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/winter-daily-sitreps/