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173877

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 1 October 2014 to Question 206270, what discussions and meetings (a) Ministers in his Department, (b) officials in his Department and (c) Business Bank staff have had with (i) participating lenders and (ii) business organisations where allegations of misselling relating to the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme were discussed since 2012.
tabling member constituency	Streatham
tabling member printed	Mr Chuka Umunna
uin	220928
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The British Business Bank maintains regular contact with all of the main lenders participating in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Quarterly meetings are held at a senior level and the allegations of mis-selling have been on the agenda of those meetings since early in 2014. In addition, operational meetings take place on a regular basis. From August 2014 onwards more frequent senior level meetings have taken place with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). At a meeting in August 2014 RBS agreed to our request that they should undertake to conduct an internal review. The findings of that review and a proposed course of action were presented at a meeting with the British Business Bank in December 2014, and senior executives from RBS met the Secretary of State on 14 January 2015. The British Business Bank has also discussed the ‘mis-selling’ allegations with the British Bankers’ Association and the Lending Standards Board, each on one occasion.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 20/01/2015 16:07:55 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4128 label Biography information for Chuka Umunna

173879

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept id	26
answering dept short name	Business, Innovation and Skills
answering dept sort name	Business, Innovation and Skills
hansard heading	Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 1 October 2014 to Question 206270, what the operational responsibilities of lenders under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme are; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure these are upheld.
tabling member constituency	Streatham
tabling member printed	Mr Chuka Umunna
uin	220930
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>We require all lenders participating in the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme to give clear and accurate information to borrowers and to ensure that their customer-facing staff understand the way in which the scheme operates. Lenders are provided with a comprehensive EFG scheme manual and are subject to a continuous cycle of independent external audit to monitor their compliance with the scheme terms. Following evidence of concerns of lending by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in August 2014, my officials asked RBS to instigate an internal review into this issue, and the Secretary of State has subsequently met with RBS to discuss these findings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>EFG lenders follow their normal procedures according to internal policies throughout the administrative lifecycle of an EFG-backed loan. Lenders confirm eligibility of applicants and provide a transactional record to the British Business Bank – which now administers the programme on behalf of the Department – through an on-line tool. Regular dialogue is maintained between the British Business Bank and the lenders.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 20/01/2015 16:14:05 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	4128 label Biography information for Chuka Umunna

173881

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Cervical Cancer: Young People
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many women under the age of 25 were diagnosed with cervical cancer in (a) the borough of Barnsley and (b) the UK in 2013 and 2014.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	220932
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading East answering member printed Mr Rob Wilson question first answered 20/01/2015 16:17:56 answering member 1556 label Biography information for Mr Rob Wilson attachment 1 file name PQ 220932 ONS 6.pdf title ONS Letter to Member - Cervical Cancer
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

173888

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Fuels: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if the Government will launch an inquiry into the price of fuel to identify the reasons for the disparity between global oil prices and the domestic prices paid by motorists.
tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent South
tabling member printed	Robert Flello
uin	220890
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The Government has made it clear to the industry that it is vital the benefits of plunging oil prices are passed on quickly to the domestic prices paid by motorists.</p><p>UK national average pump prices are now at their lowest levels since March 2010 for diesel and at its lowest since Dec 2009 for petrol. We expect fuel retailers to cut prices further as the decline in crude oil prices in recent weeks continues to feed through the system.</p><p>We continue to monitor price movements very closely.</p> answering member constituency West Suffolk answering member printed Matthew Hancock question first answered 20/01/2015 16:54:17 answering member 4070 label Biography information for Matt Hancock
tabling member	1569 label Biography information for Robert Flello

173891

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Non-domestic Rates: Cash Dispensing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter of 24 October 2014 to the chief finance officers of English billing authorities, which local authorities have offered a business rate discount to premises with a free-to-use cash machine since the sending of that letter; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	220871
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>We do not hold this information centrally. Councils do not need the permission of Whitehall to levy such local discounts.</p><p> </p><p>The Localism Act 2011 gave local authorities in England powers to grant business rates discounts. We have urged authorities to use their powers to provide relief to cash machines where there is a clear community benefit, such as where cash machine providers commit to introduce extra cash machines or reduce charges on existing machines. Central government now funds 50% of local discounts.</p><p> </p><p>We also announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills in England, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement measures to £1.4 billion in 2015-16.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 20/01/2015 17:25:10 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

173892

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Oxfordshire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance has been (a) requested from or (b) offered by his Department to South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils following the fire at their offices in Crowmarsh Gifford.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	220895
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Following the fire at the council offices on 15 January local business continuity arrangements were immediately put into place. Telephone calls were made to Councillor John Cotton, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, and Councillor Ian Hudspeth, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, on the day to offer support and no central government assistance was requested. I would like to pay tribute to Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service, and to neighbouring fire and rescue services that supported them, for their response to this incident, and to council officials who have maintained essential council services. Officials from Fire, Resilience and Emergencies Directorate have been in contact with Oxfordshire's Chief Fire Officer, Dave Etheridge.</p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 20/01/2015 17:24:18 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

173929

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there were in the NHS excluding London (a) on the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in each of the previous six years.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Dame Tessa Jowell
uin	220878
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 20/01/2015 16:08:26 question first ministerially corrected 20/01/2015 16:16:23 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter attachment 1 file name Table PQ220878 Vacancy data.xlsx title Vacancy data 2009-10 A&E Consultants previous answer version 39309 answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	159 label Biography information for Baroness Jowell

173930

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there are in (a) London and (b) England; and how many such vacant posts there are in each category in each of the last six years.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Dame Tessa Jowell
uin	220879
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 20/01/2015 16:08:26 question first ministerially corrected 20/01/2015 16:55:53 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter attachment 1 file name Table PQ220878 Vacancy data.xlsx title Vacancy data 2009-10 A&E Consultants previous answer version 39310 answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	159 label Biography information for Baroness Jowell

173931

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS Property Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Simon Holden, Chief Executive of NHS Property Services, has been paid for home to office travel expenses since taking up the post; for what reasons he is allowed to claim for such expenses; what salary he receives; and which other staff members at NHS Property Services claim for travel expenses.
tabling member constituency	Bristol North West
tabling member printed	Charlotte Leslie
uin	220913
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>It is standard practice for employees to claim the travel expenses incurred as a result of their work, including from their base for work to other locations. Simon Holden’s base for work is Nantwich in Cheshire.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As Chief Executive of NHS Property Services, a national business, Simon Holden travels frequently from his home base to the company’s head office in London and many of the company’s other offices and 4,000 properties across the country, meeting staff, tenants and stakeholders. His travel expenses are therefore significant, even though the Company’s expenses policy permits only standard class travel and overnight stays in hotels at £100 plus VAT per night. These limits are applied to all of the Company’s staff, including the Chief Executive.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>NHS Property Services publishes the salary details of its Chief Executive, along with those of the rest of its board members, in its annual report and accounts, available on the company website at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.property.nhs.uk/about-us/publications/" target="_blank">www.property.nhs.uk/about-us/publications/</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>For transparency purposes, the company has also begun publishing details of Mr Holden’s travel expenses, and those of the company’s other executive directors.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Expenses for the second quarter are still being audited and will be posted on the website in due course.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In 2013-14, its first year of operation, NHS Property Services was focused on setting up its systems and processes, and bringing together the systems and processes of 161 predecessor organisations. Collated figures for travel expenses for individual Directors of the company for this year are therefore not available; to establish them would require a manual trawl of every rail ticket and receipt, every expenses payment and claim over a twelve month period, which would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>An important point to note however is that by Simon Holden not having a London based location, the Company saves a London Weighting allowance of £6,279.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>NHS Property Services Ltd has been fully operational and has had a full complement of non-executive directors since 2013-14. The amounts paid to the Company’s non-executive directors is published in the Company’s annual report and accounts and is shown in the table below for the full year 2013-14; the part-year figures to the end of December 2014 are produced in the same format.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Non-Executive Director</p></td><td><p>Amount paid in 2013-14 (£000s)</p></td><td><p>Amount paid April 2014 - December 2014 (£000s)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Robin Williams<sup>1</sup></p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>50-55</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Charles Howeson<sup>2</sup></p></td><td><p>35-40</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Douglas Blausten<sup>3</sup></p></td><td><p>30-35</p></td><td><p>15-20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Martin West</p></td><td><p>20-25</p></td><td><p>15-20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Chris Kane</p></td><td><p>10-15</p></td><td><p>15-20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rachel Kentleton<sup>4</sup></p></td><td><p>10-15</p></td><td><p>5-10</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><sup>1 </sup>Robin Williams joined the Company in April 2014.</p><p> </p><p><sup>2 </sup>Pro rata – Charles Howeson resigned 31 December 2013: the whole time equivalent salary was £50,000 - £55,000.</p><p> </p><p><sup>3 </sup>Douglas Blausten received additional remuneration from 1 January 2014 – 31 March 2014 for role as Acting Chairman. His whole time equivalent pay for 2013-14 was £20,000 - £25,000.</p><p> </p><p><sup>4 </sup>Rachel Kentleton left the Company October 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The pay levels of the company’s non-executive directors are determined by the Department of Health, taking into account market rates, the required expertise, and the time commitment of the roles.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Tim Litherland was employed as Head of Asset Information at Agenda for Change band 9. He left the company in July 2014, having originally transferred into the Company from a strategic health authority, when the latter was abolished under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The role, which is now a permanent post in the company’s structure, consisted of managing the team that established the company’s estates information database and which collates, reviews and analyses the information relating to the 3,700 properties the company inherited from primary care trusts and strategic health authorities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Charles Siddons is the company’s Head of Business Development, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Markey. Mr Siddons was appointed to that role after a competitive, internal recruitment process, and he receives a salary equivalent to NHS Agenda for Change band 8d. He is entitled to claim travel and accommodation expenses incurred as a result of his work in the same way as other employees of the company, and receives no additional benefits.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In summary, the role of Head of Business Development is to produce and implement the company’s operational delivery plan for facilities management. This includes the delivery of operational targets and the management of key projects.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter grouped question UIN 220914 220915 220916 question first answered 20/01/2015 16:14:17 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	3933 label Biography information for Charlotte Leslie

173932

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS Trusts: Cost Effectiveness
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect the four per cent year-in-year efficiency savings requirement has had on (a) staffing levels, (b) patient care and (c) waiting times in NHS trusts.
tabling member constituency	Dudley North
tabling member printed	Ian Austin
uin	220912
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>The 2010 Spending Review protected health funding in real terms. However, in order to continue to meet rising demands from an ageing population while improving services, NHS Leaders estimated that up to £20 billion of efficiency savings would be required over the four years from 2011-12 to 2014-15.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The NHS is on track to deliver these efficiency savings, having reported around £15 billion of efficiencies in the first three years, all of which are being reinvested into frontline care and have enabled the NHS to continue to meet rapidly rising demands whilst improving the quality of care.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>There are now over 17,200 more professionally qualified clinical staff since May 2010 including:</p><p> </p><p>- over 9,000 more doctors;</p><p> </p><p>- over 3,300 more nurses, midwives and health visitors.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In contrast, the number of central administrative staff has fallen by over 20,200.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The NHS is experiencing high demand for many services from a growing, ageing population with complex health needs. Performance against quality measures remains high. We have put in place robust year-round operational resilience planning and performance management, backed by additional funding, to help the NHS continue to perform against the access standards.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 20/01/2015 16:32:03 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	1511 label Biography information for Lord Austin of Dudley