Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 35866, what the capital spend by (a) the Health Protection Agency on its National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011 at Buckingham Palace Gate and (b) Public Health England on its National Emergency Operations Centre in Wellington House was in 2015.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Public Health England was established in 2013. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre (NICC) in 2011.
The works to install the NICC was part of a wider refit of 5th Floor North in Wellington House. The project cost for this refit was £43,000; the cost of installing the NICC cannot be specifically identified.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2016 to Question 32928, what issues of prisoner payments were raised with the Palestinian Authority Finance Minister Bishara in September 2015; which prisoners were discussed with that Minister; and what representations she has received on reported payments made to Kifah and Ibrahim Ghanimat.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
No UK aid is used for payments to Palestinian prisoners, or their families. UK direct financial assistance to the PA is used to pay the salaries of civil servant and pensioners. I discussed with Minister Bishara a broad range of issues regarding prisoner payments including their administration by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The UK continues to lobby for the payments to be more transparent, affordable and needs-based.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on British farming of the Plan for Public Procurement, published in July 2014.
Answered by George Eustice
Total spend on public sector food and catering services is around £2.4 billion. The Plan for Public Procurement launched a new approach to the way the Government and its catering providers buy food. It provides a transparent set of criteria that allow contracting parties to reach agreement about the quality and value of products and services. British farmers are well placed to meet these standards and to compete for a further £400 million of business that the Plan opens up.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the current total balance is of outstanding financial penalties imposed by courts.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The total balance of outstanding financial impositions (fines, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecution costs and criminal courts charge) can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2015
At the end of December 2015 (latest published period) there were 1,226,716 live financial accounts. An account can include one or any combination of the different imposition types.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many financial penalties imposed by courts are currently outstanding.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The total balance of outstanding financial impositions (fines, compensation, victim surcharge, prosecution costs and criminal courts charge) can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2015
At the end of December 2015 (latest published period) there were 1,226,716 live financial accounts. An account can include one or any combination of the different imposition types.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the establishment of a national emergency operations centre within Public Health England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) have specific responsibilities for planning and managing the response to emergencies and health protection incidents and outbreaks in an extended team that works across government. The Department commissions PHE to exercise specific functions on behalf of the Secretary of State under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, including a duty to ensure effective plans are in place, take part in national exercises, and co-ordinate responses. The Secretary of State has cross-government responsibility to provide assurance on the health system’s emergency preparedness. Thus PHE is required to complete an annual assurance exercise for the Department to ensure arrangements are in place for a sustainable and interoperable response in the event of an incident, emergency or business continuity event.
The PHE National Emergency Operations Centre operates when the response requires national leadership and co-ordination. It coordinates PHE’s activities and as one of its functions produces briefings and situation reports for Ministers, the Cabinet Office briefing room system and officials.
PHE was established in 2013. The National Emergency Operations function was previously carried out by the former Health Protection Agency. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the emergency operations capability of Public Health England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) have specific responsibilities for planning and managing the response to emergencies and health protection incidents and outbreaks in an extended team that works across government. The Department commissions PHE to exercise specific functions on behalf of the Secretary of State under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, including a duty to ensure effective plans are in place, take part in national exercises, and co-ordinate responses. The Secretary of State has cross-government responsibility to provide assurance on the health system’s emergency preparedness. Thus PHE is required to complete an annual assurance exercise for the Department to ensure arrangements are in place for a sustainable and interoperable response in the event of an incident, emergency or business continuity event.
The PHE National Emergency Operations Centre operates when the response requires national leadership and co-ordination. It coordinates PHE’s activities and as one of its functions produces briefings and situation reports for Ministers, the Cabinet Office briefing room system and officials.
PHE was established in 2013. The National Emergency Operations function was previously carried out by the former Health Protection Agency. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the infrastructure cost was of installing a national emergency operations centre at the head office of Public Health England in 2011.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department and Public Health England (PHE) have specific responsibilities for planning and managing the response to emergencies and health protection incidents and outbreaks in an extended team that works across government. The Department commissions PHE to exercise specific functions on behalf of the Secretary of State under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, including a duty to ensure effective plans are in place, take part in national exercises, and co-ordinate responses. The Secretary of State has cross-government responsibility to provide assurance on the health system’s emergency preparedness. Thus PHE is required to complete an annual assurance exercise for the Department to ensure arrangements are in place for a sustainable and interoperable response in the event of an incident, emergency or business continuity event.
The PHE National Emergency Operations Centre operates when the response requires national leadership and co-ordination. It coordinates PHE’s activities and as one of its functions produces briefings and situation reports for Ministers, the Cabinet Office briefing room system and officials.
PHE was established in 2013. The National Emergency Operations function was previously carried out by the former Health Protection Agency. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question
To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the Members Estimate Committee, how much Short money the UK Independence Party has claimed since May 2015; and on what dates those payments were made to that party.
Answered by Tom Brake
The amount of Short money available to UKIP for 2015/16 since the May general election was £605,871. The amounts claimed and paid were as follows:
Date Paid | Amount |
24 August 2015 | £14,833.00 |
28 September 2015 | £16,434.68 |
14 October 2015 | £128,034.16 |
28 October 2015 | £31,870.36 |
25 November 2015 | £31,870.36 |
21 December 2015 | £31,870.36 |
27 January 2016 | £31,870.36 |
24 February 2016 | £31,870.36 |
28 March 2016 | £31,870.36 |
Total | £350,574.00 |
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has made representations to the Palestinian Authority on reported payments by that authority to Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
UK officials meet regularly with the Ministry of Finance and consistently lobby it at the highest levels on whether prisoner payments can be made more transparent and affordable. I raised the issue of prisoner payments in September 2015 with the Palestinian Authority Finance Minister Bishara.