Steve Darling MP: written questions
356 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust: StandardsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 6 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36168More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which services GIRFT have been reviewing as part of the healthcare system that impacts on Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in the last two years.
Answer: The Getting It Right First Time team has been supporting the One Devon Programme with a particular focus on orthopaedics, spinal surgery, cardiology, gynaecology and ophthalmology services.
Answered 17 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordHealth Services: StandardsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 6 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36167More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister has oversight of the Getting It Right First Time programme.
Answer: The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through an in-depth review of services and benchmarking, and by presenting a data-driven evidence base to support ...
Answered 13 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordResettlement: AfghanistanMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 5 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35806More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will meet with the hon. Member for Torbay to discuss the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answer: Please write to ministers to outline your area of interest for discussion on the Afghan Resettlement Programme. As this is a cross-government programme your area of interests will determine which department is best to respond.
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordWinter Fuel Payment: Telephone ServicesDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 4 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35394More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) average wait time and (b) number of calls received were for the Winter Fuel Payment helpline in each winter since 2015.
Answer: We have provided a response from 2017 only as we do not hold the required data for the years prior. The tables in the response show Total Calls Offered (Volume) and Average Speed of Answer (in an hh:mm:ss format) for each month within each business year f...
Answered 7 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordHumanitarian Aid: UkraineTreasuryTabled 4 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35393More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered tax breaks for companies that donate humanitarian products to Ukraine.
Answer: The Corporation Tax regime includes provisions that allow the deduction of qualifying charitable donations from a company’s total taxable profits for the accounting period in which they are paid. Following certain conditions, companies are also able to ob...
Answered 12 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordUkraine: ChildrenForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 4 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35392More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to reports that around 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly deported or transferred into Russia or Russian-held territories, what steps his Department
Answer: The UK continues to track Russia's deportation of Ukrainian children. Our efforts focus on communications, sanctions, and accountability. We have raised this issue at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the UN and the Human Ri...
Answered 13 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFisheries: Civil ServantsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 27 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34339More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many full-time-equivalent civil servants are working on trading corporation agreements with the fishing industry.
Answer: There are no civil servants working on trading corporation agreements. The Defra EU negotiations team of 12.2 full-time-equivalent civil servants works on implementing the Fisheries Heading of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), amongst other...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFishing Catches: White FishDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 27 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34338More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has considered increasing the trawler by-catch limit for bass.
Answer: Negotiations between the UK and EU concerning the allocation of fishing opportunities for over 70 stocks, including bass, take place on an annual basis. This year on the 9 December annual bycatch limits for commercial trawls and seines were agreed. Fisher...
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPost-mortems: ChildrenDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32696More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many parents who have experienced the death of a child have waited more than three months to receive the final post-mortem report.
Answer: The Department does not hold post-mortem reporting data. It is likely to be held by National Health Service trusts and Coroner’s Offices for the post-mortems they are responsible for.
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordNational Insurance Contributions: Voluntary ContributionsTreasuryTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32273More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have made use of the National Insurance Credit buy-back scheme in each year since 2015.
Answer: All costs involved in promoting the National Insurance (NI) Credits buy-back scheme campaign will be published once it has concluded, as part of the regular transparency reports on GOV.UK. HMRC and DWP are not able to confirm levels of staffing back to 20...
Answered 26 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordNational Insurance Contributions: Voluntary ContributionsTreasuryTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32272More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent civil servants have worked on the National Insurance Credits buy-back scheme in each year since 2015.
Answer: All costs involved in promoting the National Insurance (NI) Credits buy-back scheme campaign will be published once it has concluded, as part of the regular transparency reports on GOV.UK. HMRC and DWP are not able to confirm levels of staffing back to 20...
Answered 26 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordNational Insurance Contributions: Voluntary ContributionsTreasuryTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32271More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of promoting the National Insurance Credits buy-back scheme for each year since 2015.
Answer: All costs involved in promoting the National Insurance (NI) Credits buy-back scheme campaign will be published once it has concluded, as part of the regular transparency reports on GOV.UK. HMRC and DWP are not able to confirm levels of staffing back to 20...
Answered 26 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: AppealsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 12 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31122More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Personal Independence Payment requests that were initially refused were subsequently accepted after appeal in the latest period for which data is available.
Answer: Of the 721,100 claimants who had their claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) cleared in the Financial Year 2023-2024, 332,800 (46%) were disallowed at assessment. Of these, 13,500 were subsequently awarded PIP following an appeal, which is 4% of a...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPension Credit: ApplicationsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 12 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31105More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which local authorities have engaged with the Government on increasing applications for pension credit since November 2024.
Answer: As part of our nationwide Pension Credit campaign, the Department has engaged with all councils in Great Britain, via the regular LA Welfare Direct bulletins. In response to our call to action in 2024, 200 councils across Great Britain have engaged and su...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordWork Capability AssessmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30808More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment on the Child Poverty Strategy.
Answer: The Work Capability Assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced. We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must als...
Answered 17 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: ChildrenDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30805More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children live in households in which at least one person is subject to a Limited Capability to Work Assessment in (a) the UK and (b) Torbay constituency.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 19 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment Rights BillDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30778More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what his planned timetable is for when each consultation attached to the Employment Rights Bill will have reported to the Government.
Answer: The department launched an initial package of three public consultations last October covering: the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers; creating a modern framework for industrial relations; and, strengthening remedies against a...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordEmployment Rights BillDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30777More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will list the consultations his Department is undertaking in connection with the Employment Rights Bill; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of each listed consultation.
Answer: The department launched an initial package of three public consultations last October covering: the application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers; creating a modern framework for industrial relations; and, strengthening remedies against a...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordCryptocurrencies: RegulationTreasuryTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30772More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges to prevent their use in financial crime.
Answer: Cryptoassets, specifically cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers have been regulated under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Regulations 2017 (MLRs) since January 2020. The MLRs require UK cryptoasset firms to register w...
Answered 18 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordFraud: InternetHome OfficeTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30771More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen cooperation with other nations to help tackle online fraud.
Answer: The Government recognises the serious threat posed by fraudsters targeting UK citizens from abroad. In October 2024, the UK played a pivotal role in helping pass the first ever UN Resolution on Fraud at the 12th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention ...
Answered 19 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30724More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will pause the safety valve scheme until it's review is published.
Answer: Over time, 38 local authorities have been supported to manage their high needs budgets through the Safety Valve programme. We will continue to work with local authorities with Safety Valve agreements to deliver their plans, and to provide the additional f...
Answered 25 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational Needs: FinanceDepartment for EducationTabled 10 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30238More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authorities are part of the review into safety valve schemes.
Answer: The areas taking part in this research are: Barnsley, Croydon, Darlington, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kent, Kirklees, Torbay, Salford, Surrey and York.
Answered 13 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordIndependent Commission into Adult Social CareDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 7 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 29991More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the expected timeline is for Baroness Casey's Commission into Adult Social Care, including the dates for evidence submission.
Answer: Baroness Casey’s commission into adult social care will begin in April 2025. The Commission is independent and the timetable, beyond the reporting stages (Phase 1, reporting in 2026, Phase 2 in 2028) will be developed by the commission itself and set out ...
Answered 18 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordTickets: Sales MethodsDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 6 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 29627More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with ticket vendors on the potential impact of the use of apps for purchasing tickets for events on (a) all digitally-excluded people, (b) people with disabilities an
Answer: Provided consumers are not misled and are able to make informed decisions, firms should be free to offer their products and services under conditions of their choosing. To support digital inclusion the Government encourages businesses to provide alternati...
Answered 14 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordDental Services: TorbayDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28665More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of NHS dentists in Torbay constituency.
Answer: We are determined to rebuild dentistry in the National Health Service. It will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the ...
Answered 12 Feb 2025
Original Parliament record
Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →