Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraphs 1.296 and 1.297 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what progress his Department has made by estimated capacity of land sold since March 2016 in identifying and disposing of land to meet the Government's commitment set out in that publication.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Department for Work and Pensions does not own any land and has not owned any land since 2003.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to paragraphs 1.296 and 1.297 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what progress his Department has made by estimated capacity of land sold since March 2016 in identifying and disposing of land to meet the Government's commitment.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not own any land and has not done so since its creation in 1999.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what additional support services his Department is planning to provide for veterans with mental health problems from April 2017.
Answered by David Mowat
NHS England is currently in the process of tendering for a veterans mental health service to begin in April 2017. The service will offer consistent support across England for both veterans and serving personnel on a pathway to leave the service and build on the veterans mental health services already in place following the Fighting Fit report by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Andrew Murrison).
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the standard and availability of support for veterans with mental health problems provided by the voluntary sector.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department does not assess services provided by the voluntary sector.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in the joint commissioning of services to support former service personnel with mental health problems.
Answered by David Mowat
Following a national engagement exercise during 2016 on mental health services for veterans, NHS England commissioned a pathfinder transition, intervention and liaison mental health service for armed forces serving personnel approaching discharge and after discharge.
The service has been launched and is a joint initiative between the National Health Service and the Ministry of Defence and will run until the end of March 2017. The evidence from this service will help to shape the service specification from April 2017.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to reform the earnings limit applied to the carer's allowance.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I would refer my Hon Friend to PQ55481, my previous answer to this question given on 2 December 2016.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which month the Carers Strategy for England will be published.
Answered by David Mowat
The Department expects to publish the new national strategy for carers in the spring. No publication date has yet been set.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of identified carers in England have been assessed by their local authority under the terms of the Care Act 2014.
Answered by David Mowat
Local authorities carried out 255,750 carer assessments in 2015/16, following the Care Act coming into force in April 2015. This figure represents around two-thirds of the total number of carers identified by local authorities in England (386,910) in that year.
The diversity of caring roles – and the impact that caring might have on the carer - means that not every carer will want or need an assessment; and not every carer will want or need formal support through local adult care services.
The forthcoming national Carers Strategy will therefore take a wide view of carers and their caring roles. Crucial to this will be increasing public awareness of caring, in order to improve timely identification, ensure carers are aware of the range of support available to them, and can take advantage of that which best meets their needs.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that business rates for heat networks are calculated using the receipts and expenditure method of valuation.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has responsibility for setting Rateable Values for business rates and is in discussion with industry representatives about the method of valuation used for heat networks. This includes whether the receipts and expenditure method of valuation would be a more appropriate method and the VOA will consider any evidence put forward by the industry in support of its use.
Asked by: Mark Prisk (Conservative - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on encouraging the development of heat networks.
Answered by David Gauke
In line with the practice of successive administrations details of ministerial discussions are not routinely disclosed.