Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
What steps he is taking to secure a free trade agreement with the US.
Answered by Liam Fox
In July 2017 I launched the UK/US Trade and Investment Working Group which has since met on four occasions. As well as looking at delivering continuity for British business post-EU exit, this group is laying the groundwork for an ambitious UK/US free Trade Agreement.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
What support his Department is providing to enable repairs to be made to road network infrastructure.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport is providing £6.2 billion to local highway authorities in England, outside London, from 2015 to 2021 to enable repairs to be made to all highway infrastructure assets maintainable at public expense. The funding includes a £296 million Pothole Action Fund. Highways England are also spending £400 million per annum for renewal of the road surfaces for which they are responsible.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, assessment he has made of recent trends in anti-semitic hate crime.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government condemns all forms of hate crime including antisemitism. Nobody should be attacked because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability. In July 2016, we published Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s Plan for Tackling Hate Crime, which we will be refreshing this year.
We work closely with the police and the Community Security Trust (CST), who are members of the Cross Government Working Group on Tackling Antisemitism, alongside other Jewish stakeholders. In their recent report, the CST recorded 1,382 antisemitic incidents reported across the UK in the 2017, a 3 per cent increase from the 1,346 incidents recorded during 2016.
Individual police forces collate and analyse intelligence on the number of antisemitic incidents, in order to inform local operational decisions and to provide adequate protection at times of demand. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) analyses this intelligence to inform forces of any emerging challenges.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent doctors there were in the NHS in (a) 1985, (b) 1990, (c) 1995, (d) 2000, (e) 2005, (f) 2010 and (g) 2015.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS Digital data for monthly workforce statistics is not comparable to figures before 2009 due to a change in data collection methods.
NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics, and the following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) hospital and community health service (HCHS) doctors that were employed by the National Health Service in October in 2010 and 2015.
Year | HCHS Doctors (FTE) |
October 2010 | 97,103 |
October 2015 | 104,719 |
Source: NHS Digital monthly workforce statistics
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on ensuring that Northern Irish interests are represented in the UK's negotiations with the EU.
Answered by James Brokenshire
As Secretary of State I will continue to ensure that the interests of NI are heard and remain at the heart of the negotiations and wider discussions across Whitehall as we prepare to leave the EU.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications of the new National Funding Formula for areas experiencing rapid housing growth.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Through the national funding formula, local authorities will receive growth funding to help them to respond to significant increases in pupil numbers. In 2018-19, we will allocate this funding based on local authority growth spending in 2017-18. This represents an improvement on the current system, which fails to recognise growing areas.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to encourage innovation in the defence industry.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
With an equipment plan worth £178 billion and a rising defence budget, there are great opportunities for innovative suppliers. We have launched the Defence and Security Accelerator and an £800 million innovation fund to pursue innovative solutions to meet defence requirements.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK aid to people displaced by the crisis in Syria.
Answered by Priti Patel
UK aid is making a real difference in Syria, providing life-saving and life-changing support to millions of people displaced inside Syria, and millions more who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.
Since 2012, UK aid supplied over 26 million food rations that feed a person for a month, and 10.3 million medical consultations that can mean the difference between life and death.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total NHS pay bill has been in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The total Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) pay bill for the previous five years is as follows:
Year | Total HCHS pay bill (£) |
2011-12 | 43.284 billion |
2012-13 | 43.663 billion |
2013-14 | 44.140 billion |
2014-15 | 45.085 billion |
2015-16 | 46.112 billion |
Source: Department of Health’s Headline HCHS Pay bill Metrics, which are based primarily on earnings statistics published by NHS Digital, supplemented by employer pension and national insurance contributions estimates informed by unpublished and unvalidated data from the Electronic Staff Record Data Warehouse.
The HCHS pay bill data for 2016-17 is not yet available.
The HCHS workforce comprises of staff working within hospital and community health settings, and so excludes general practitioners (GPs), GP practice staff and General Dental Practitioners.
The HCHS pay bill for 2015/2016 is around £46 billion. National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts spend around 60% of their entire expenditure on pay. NHS pay systems have an inbuilt pressure because of incremental pay of around £790 million a year. The value of increments for non-medical staff employed under the national Agenda for Change pay framework ranges from £176 to £4,599; and from 1.0% to 6.7%, which is in additional to annual pay awards.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to improve the enforcement of regulations against the discrimination of guide dogs and their owners by taxis and private hire vehicle operators.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Under the Equality Act 2010 it is illegal for the driver of a taxi or private hire vehicle to refuse to carry an assistance dog unless they hold a medical exemptions certificates issued by the local licensing authority. It is unacceptable that some drivers continue to discriminate in this way and I am determined that this practice must stop.
Guidance has previously been issued to licensing authorities to support their implementation of these legal protections, and we are currently reviewing Best Practice Guidance to strengthen the recommendations relating to taxi and PHV accessibility more generally.
I am clear that the local licensing authorities should play their part in eradicating such harmful discrimination.