First elected: 6th May 2010
Left House: 30th March 2015 (Defeated)
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 Nick de Bois, 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.
Nick de Bois has not been granted any Urgent Questions
A Bill to provide for a discretionary power to enable the Housing Ombudsman to attempt to resolve disputes between occupants of neighbouring properties in cases where nuisance is caused by tenants; and for connected purposes.
A Bill to amend the Adoption and Children Act 2002 to allow access to information for the descendants of deceased adopted people; and for connected purposes.
Nick de Bois has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Government will continue to develop trade with Turkey through Ministerial and high-level engagement including the UK-Turkey Joint Economic Committee (JETCO); High Value Opportunity (HVO) and other campaigns that position UK companies as partners of choice; partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey; and the GREAT campaign.
Information on the number of Start Up Loans awarded in each constituency and the total value of loans made in each constituency is attached.
The Government is supporting the development of trade links with Turkey through Ministerial and high level official engagement including the Joint Economic Committee (JETCO) with Turkey, High Value Opportunity (HVO) campaigns that position UK companies as partners of choice, partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey and the GREAT campaign.
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has received no representations on LighterLife UK's business practices.
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has received no representations from LighterLife UK franchise on that company’s business practices.
All elements of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) are accessible to elderly people, depending on their precise circumstances.
How ECO is delivered in practice depends primarily on the approach taken by energy suppliers. Many suppliers work in partnership with organisations, including in the third sector, to find customers to help under the scheme.
In addition, Government has taken steps to help energy suppliers identify relevant households. This includes allowing data that is used to deliver the Warm Home Discount to be used for targeting ECO. We operate the Energy Saving Advice Service, which provides a specific service to refer low income households for support under Affordable Warmth. We have taken action to link the Warm Home Discount and ESAS call centres.
My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has received no representations in respect of LighterLife UK Limited.
Information on Apprenticeship starts and participation by Region are published in Supplementary Tables to a Statistical First Release:
Apprenticeship data are presented by academic year. Final data for the full 2013/14 academic year will be published in November 2014.
The Department's current accounting system recognises invoices when they are submitted if they are made out to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and a valid Purchase Order number is provided.
As at 1st June 2014, the following number of invoices remain unpaid:
Duration | 45 – 59 days | 60 - 74 days | 75 days | 76 days & over |
No. of creditors | 5 | 7 | NIL | 4 |
Total value of invoices unpaid | £9k | £67k | - | £42k |
In October 2013, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office conducted an assessment to identify the prospects for UK export expansion to Turkey. The report concluded that UK exports to Turkey are projected to increase from £4.9 billion in 2011 to £9 billion in 2020. The report also identified which sectors provided the greatest opportunities and are most critical to growing UK exports to Turkey. UK Trade and Investment is leading for Government in actively helping UK business to maximise opportunities.
In March 2014 there were 20 people working on trade and investment (18.9 Full Time Equivalent FTE) in Turkey. This figure was not materially different in either May 2010 or Dec 2013.
The table below shows the number of Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol) invoices that were potentially outstanding to suppliers from the date that an invoice was received on the 1 June. This table includes all invoices including those that cannot yet be authorised as the invoice was disputed or where further information was requested from the supplier.
The majority of TSol supplier invoices relate to disbursement spending on cases and in particular work undertaken by counsel.
TSol* | 46-60 days | 61-75 days | 76 days or more |
Number of suppliers | 138 | 31 | 34 |
* Tsol data also includes Attorney General's Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) records a creditor when a valid invoice is received by the CPS' payment centre and the following table shows the total number of creditors for any amount that remained unpaid on 1 June 2014.
CPS | 46-60 days | 61-75 days | 76 days or more |
Number of creditors | 6 | 3 | 12 |
The table below shows the number of creditors that remained unpaid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on 1 June 2014 for (a) 45, (b) 60, (c) 76 days and over.
SFO | 46-60 days | 61-75 days | 76 days or more |
Number of creditors | 6 | 1 | 6 |
The value of sums being claimed by non-government creditors at 31 May 2014, can be found in the table below. All unpaid invoices are in dispute.
Number of days unpaid | Value |
45 - 59 | £120,891.87 |
60-74 | £293,868.79 |
75 and over | £334,974.27 |
During the 13/14 financial year my Department paid 98.7 per cent of invoices within 30 days.
On 31 May 2014, the following creditors were unpaid by the Cabinet Office – all were in dispute:
Number of days unpaid | Number of creditors |
45 - 59 | 13 |
60-74 | 24 |
75 and over | 30 |
The number of creditors that remained unpaid by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport at 1 June were:
a | 45 days and over | 12 |
b | 60 days and over | 9 |
c | 75 days and over | 5 |
d | 76 days and over | 5 |
The new School Food Standards came into force in January 2015 ensuring schools provide heathy meals throughout the week. The Department for Education provides guidance on the standards[1] and funds the implementation support service, including a menu checker service helping schools to provide hot, healthy menu choices for all their pupils. The School Food Plan website also provides a range of support and advice on providing healthy food in schools.[2]
[1] www.gov.uk/school-meals-healthy-eating-standards
[2] http://whatworkswell.schoolfoodplan.com/
The Government has been clear that it wants to see all pupils provided with the opportunity to take a core set of academic subjects, including modern foreign languages. There are considerable benefits to learning a second language and the Government is keen to see the range of languages at GCSE and A level preserved. It is, however, up to Awarding Organisations to decide which languages they want to continue offering as reformed GCSEs and A levels.
The Department for Education has provided substantial support to help schools deliver this policy. More than £1 billion of revenue funding is being provided to schools over two years on top of almost £175 million capital funding allocated this year to support them in improving their kitchen and dining facilities. The department has also allocated £22.5 million transitional funding in 2014-15 to help schools with 150 pupils or fewer to implement the policy. All this funding has been provided to ensure that the meals provided are of high quality, and particularly that all schools are able to offer hot meals.
The department has also set up an implementation support service, staffed by school food experts, which schools can contact for advice and support to help them to increase take-up of meals by their infant pupils.
Over 1.6 million infant pupils (85.2% of all infant pupils) took a free school meal on autumn census day in 2014. This is a rise of 1.3 million from the 0.3 million infant pupils who were estimated to have taken a free school meal in the January 2014 school census.
The Department for Education publishes the final capital costs for all free schools online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-funding-for-open-free-schools
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. In common with other government departments, the
Annual Report and Accounts for the Department for Education, which are available in the libraries of both Houses, contain information on supplier payment performance.
To meet the Department’s duties under Equality Act 2010 we make suitable provision to communicate with claimants and customers who do not speak English or Welsh (for people residing in Wales), or who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. We have policy and procedures in place for staff to provide an interpreter for claimants and customers where there is a requirement to do so.
The Department has issued internal communications to staff on Interpreting Services and has embedded the policy and procedures into internal guidance. Staff use this guidance to know how to recognise when a customer or claimant is in need of an interpreter and how to make the appropriate arrangements.
Information is not held centrally on the annual cost or amount of unused or unnecessary medicines in the National Health Service.
The Department commissioned the York Health Economics Consortium and the School of Pharmacy at the University of London to carry out research to determine the scale, causes and costs of waste medicines in England. The report, Evaluation of the Scale, Causes and Costs of Waste Medicines, was published in November 2010 and is available at:
http://eprints.pharmacy.ac.uk/2605/1/Evaluation_of_NHS_Medicines_Waste__web_publication_version.pdf
This found that the gross cost of unused prescription medicines in primary and community care in the NHS in England in 2009 was estimated to be £300 million a year and that up to £150 million of this was avoidable.
A number of initiatives, led by NHS England, are currently underway to optimise the use of medicines in the NHS and better empower patients.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) receives a Grant from the Department annually for work to contribute to the achievement of the national ambitions in the Tobacco Control Plan Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England 2011.
The Department holds regular meetings with ASH to monitor delivery according to the terms of the grant awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act.
A copy of the award letter for 2014-15 is attached.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) receives a Grant from the Department annually for work to contribute to the achievement of the national ambitions in the Tobacco Control Plan Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England 2011.
The Department holds regular meetings with ASH to monitor delivery according to the terms of the grant awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act.
A copy of the award letter for 2014-15 is attached.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) receives a Grant from the Department annually for work to contribute to the achievement of the national ambitions in the Tobacco Control Plan Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Tobacco Control Plan for England 2011.
The Department holds regular meetings with ASH to monitor delivery according to the terms of the grant awarded under Section 64 of the Health and Social Care Act.
A copy of the award letter for 2014-15 is attached.
The NHS Trust Development Authority advise that London Ambulance Service has seen increases in demand, including in Enfield, and that this has put pressure on services. To address this, the Trust is already taking forward a number of measures.
We are giving a record £700 million package of support for the National Health Service in winter, including £15 million to the London Ambulance Service.
Official ambulance data are routinely published at:
http://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/ .
This is a matter for London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust. The NHS Trust Development Authority (NTDA) advises that LAS has seen increases in demand and that this has had some impact on staff retention. However, to address this issue of recruitment and retention the Trust is already taking forward a number of measures.
The information is not available in the format requested. London ambulance service (LAS) does not operate on a borough by borough geographical basis and patients in Enfield are clinically assessed and attended by the ambulance crew that can reach them most quickly.
Numbers of frontline staff* in post in the Edmonton Complex (which includes Chase Farm, Ponders End, Edmonton, Tottenham and Bounds Green ambulance stations) in the most recent years for which figures are available are shown in the following table. Numbers of frontline staff in post across London in each of the most recent five years are also shown in the following table.
Edmonton (WTE) | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
IN POST | n/a | n/a | 138 | 145 | 190 |
BUDGET | n/a | n/a | 132 | 152 | 189 |
|
| ||||
Total LAS (WTE) | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
IN POST | 2,956 | 2,893 | 2,753 | 2,652 | 2,647 |
BUDGET | 3,030 | 2,972 | 2,872 | 3,012 | 3,056 |
*’frontline staff’ includes all paramedic and non-paramedic grades that work on frontline crews.
WTE= whole time equivalent
The estimated average unit cost of a general practitioner (GP) consultation (which can include treatment) lasting 11.7 minutes1 is £37; and an attendance at a type 4 Accident and Emergency department (National Health Service walk-in centres) requiring no admission to hospital, no investigation and no significant treatment has a unit cost of £33.
Sources:
Unit Costs of Health and Social Care 2013, Personal Social Services Research Unit University of Kent
2013-14 reference costs2, Department of Health
Notes:
1. Includes direct care staff costs but excludes qualification costs.
2. Reference costs are the average unit cost to National Health Service (NHS) trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients.
This information is not collected centrally. However, we estimate 90% of prescription items are dispensed without charge.
The provision of language support, including interpretation and translation, is driven by the requirement for all National Health Service organisations to comply with the public sector equality duty. As public sector organisations, NHS bodies have a duty to ensure that all people have equal access to the information and services that they provide.
The provision of interpretation and translation services by NHS bodies is a matter for local determination based on the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 also requires those who provide a service to the public or a section of the public to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a ‘substantial disadvantage’ compared to non-disabled people, this includes communication and provision of information.
As part of their commitment to improving the experience of patients using NHS services, empowering people to be equal partners in their own care and help reduce unacceptable variation in the quality of reasonable adjustments, NHS England is developing an Information Standard for the provision of accessible, personalised information.
Information on the number and net ingredient cost of prescription items for paracetamol1 dispensed in the community in England is in the table.
Year | Prescription Items (000s) | Net Ingredient Cost (£000s) |
2012-13 | 21,963.2 | 73,793.9 |
2013-14 | 22,616.5 | 83,146.6 |
1Excludes combination medicines. Includes multiple packs per item and a range of formulations, including those produced specific to patient needs
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis system provided by the NHS Business Services Authority
Information on the number and net ingredient cost of prescription items for paracetamol1 dispensed in the community in England is in the table.
Year | Prescription Items (000s) | Net Ingredient Cost (£000s) |
2012-13 | 21,963.2 | 73,793.9 |
2013-14 | 22,616.5 | 83,146.6 |
1Excludes combination medicines. Includes multiple packs per item and a range of formulations, including those produced specific to patient needs
Source: Prescription Cost Analysis system provided by the NHS Business Services Authority
The Department supports Self-Care week and my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Earl Howe), gave the opening presentation at the 16th Self-Care Forum. In his speech, Earl Howe promoted the use of the self-care leaflets, posters and social media messages disseminated by the Self-Care Forum. He also highlighted that self-care information and guidance (including fact sheets for 13 common ailments) is available on NHS Choices, Patient UK and a number of other websites.
Since May 2014, when the Professional Standards Authority announced that it was going to carry out an investigation on the General Dental Council (GDC), the Department has received a number of representations from the British Dental Association (BDA) regarding the recent practices of the GDC.
As at 14 November 2014, these representations included a letter from Dr Mick Armstrong, Chair of the BDA. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Quality (Earl Howe) provided a response on 28 July 2014 and I provided a response on 1 August 2014 regarding the competence of the GDC and the annual retention fee.
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health (Jane Ellison), on 22 October 2014, also met with the BDA where they discussed wider regulatory issues facing dentists. Ministers have regular contact with the BDA and are aware of their concerns regarding the GDC fee increase.
As at 1 June 2014, the value of outstanding legacy creditors was £3,237,153.15.
Following the abolition of primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) on 31 March 2013, legacy PCT and SHA finance teams remained in place until 31 August 2013 to process creditor payments relating to pre 1 April 2013. Creditor payments outstanding at 31 August 2013 were transferred to successor organisations, including the Department. The above amount remains outstanding because of due diligence taking place on creditor payments in order to mitigate the risk of making fraudulent or duplicate payments.
As at 1 June 2014, the Department had three creditors that remained unpaid for between 45-59 days.
The Department had no creditors that remained unpaid for between 60-74 days.
The Department had no creditors that remained unpaid for 75 days.
Following the abolition of primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) on 31 March 2013, the Department took over responsibility for ensuring that legacy invoice payments were made correctly. Legacy PCT and SHA teams remained in place, to process creditor payments for prior to 1 April 2013, until 31 August 2013. Those outstanding at that point were transferred to successor organisations, including the Department. As at 1 June 2014, there were 270 creditors that remained unpaid. This is due to the careful diligence taking place in order to mitigate the risk of making fraudulent or duplicate payments.
The statement made by the then-Hamas Prime Minister in April 2014 was deplorable and only serves to perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The new Palestinian interim technocratic government contains no Hamas members, and has signed up to the international community's principles: non-violence, a negotiated two state solution, and an acceptance of all previous agreements and obligations, including Israel's legitimate right to exist. We now look to the new government to demonstrate these commitments through its actions as well as its words.
It is not for the government to comment on a civil matter between the franchisees and LighterLife UK.
Action Fraud is the national reporting point for fraud and cyber crime. It takes reports of crimes from members of the public and businesses online or via its dedicated helpline. These reports are then analysed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), which looks for links between separate victims of the same scams, and matches information in Action Fraud reports with other data it holds. The NFIB then prepares intelligence packages and sends these to the police force best placed to consider enforcement action. It also carries out work to disrupt the enablers of this criminality, such as having websites used by criminals taken down.
Both Action Fraud and the NFIB are part of the City of London Police, which is the national lead force for fraud. The Government brought Action Fraud into the City of London Police in April 2014 to strengthen the end-to-end process for reporting and analysis of these crimes. Action Fraud also has two dedicated single points of contact for business, and continues to host open days for industry and attend business events to ensure understanding, share protective advice and foster close relationships. Action Fraud also circulates real-time information on the latest fraud threats via its website, social media channels and though police forces and businesses.
The Government is also working closely with law enforcement agencies, industry and third sector partners to support individuals and businesses to be better protected. This includes national and local level action to increase their awareness of the risks and adopting safe online behaviours. The Cyber Streetwise awareness campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme, helps individuals and businesses understand how to stay safe online. The second phase of the campaign, including a refreshed website and online materials, launched in October last year. The Government’s Cyber Information Sharing Partnership, within CERT-UK, is also enabling industry to share
information on online threats including fraud, helping to reduce their vulnerability and the impact of online fraud on UK businesses.
The Home Office has introduced the Commercial Victimisation Survey to better understand and monitor crime against businesses, including fraud and online crime. Findings from the 2012 and 2013 surveys have been published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/crime-against-businesses
Findings from the 2014 survey will be published on 23rd April 2015.
The information requested is shown in the following table:
| Overdue period | Payments owing 0-45 Days | Payments owing 46-60 Days | Payments owing 61-75 Days | Payments owing 76+ Days |
| number of creditors | 357 | 71 | 56 | 360 |
When calculating the unpaid period, the Home Office starts counting from the
date when the invoice was due to be paid.
The above figures refer to all creditors, including those with balances below
£10,000.
Invoices may be overdue for a number of reasons including the department
disputing the amount.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) financial systems capture the length of time the invoice has been outstanding at the point the invoice is paid.
The table below represents our assessment of late payments paid during the twelve months ended 1 June 2014. This does not reflect existing unpaid bills.
Invoices Paid After 45 Days Between June 2013 and June 2014 | ||||
45-59 days | 60-74 Days | 75 Days | 76 Days and Over | Total Over 45 Days |
19 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 43 |
During financial year 2013-14 out of over 4 million correctly submitted invoices the MOD paid 94% within five working days.
Permitted development rights that allow the change of offices to residential use were introduced in May 2013. These rights are contributing to a more efficient use of our existing building stock, and are providing badly needed new homes such as studios and one-bedroom flats for young people, using brownfield land. This market-led approach reflects that business patterns are changing with new technology: as a whole, while there is increasing demand for new housing due to a growing population, modern firms need less physical office space than they used to.
My Department is considering responses to the technical consultation on planning that was published on 31 July. We will publish the Government’s response in due course.
In March 2013, my Department published new guidance for local authorities outlining how councils should stop translating and interpreting into foreign languages. As outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement of 12 March 2013, Official Report, Column 5WS, such interpretation and translation: weakens integration; discourages communities from learning English; undermines rather than strengthens equality goals; harms community relations; and is an expensive waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when councils need to be making sensible savings.
This Government is bringing forward a range of measures to make local parking fairer for residents and shoppers.
This includes changing the law to clamp down on CCTV ‘spy cars’; introducing grace periods; and giving local taxpayers the right to demand a review of parking their area.
My Department has a cross-government target of paying 80 per cent of invoices within 5 days of receipt. In 2013-14, we paid 84 per cent of invoices within that target.
As of 1 June 2014, there was just one outstanding creditor unpaid, in each case, for (a) 45-59 days, (b) 60-75 days and (c) over 76 days.
There were a further 24 outstanding creditors of shorter durations.
To place this in context, in 2013-14, my Department paid 11,937 invoices.