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Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to act upon the Resolution of the House of 20 April 2016 on the recognition of genocide by Daesh against Yazidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government shares the House of Common’s condemnation of Daesh atrocities and we remain very concerned about appalling crimes committed against Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim populations in Iraq and Syria. Daesh’s victims, whether in Iraq and Syria or elsewhere in the world, must receive justice. This is why the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), announced on 21 July that the UK will work with our international partners to drive a global campaign to hold Daesh to account for its crimes.

01/01/2023
Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the statement in his article in The Telegraph of 27 March 2016, on his Department’s hesitation in using the term genocide, what his assessment is of whether Daesh has committed genocide.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government maintains that genocide should be a matter for judicial authorities rather than a political decision. The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), announced on 21 July that the UK will work with our international partners to drive a global campaign to hold Daesh to account for its crimes.

01/01/2023
Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the US administration on the extension of the use of British Indian Ocean Territory by the US for defence and other purposes in accordance with the agreement of 1966.

Sir Alan Duncan

We regularly meet the US at senior official level to discuss cooperation on Diego Garcia. The most recent meeting was held in June in Washington.

01/01/2023
Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the latest arrangements are between the UK and US governments on holding detainees in Diego Garcia.

Sir Alan Duncan

The US provides the UK with an annual assurance that they have not held any detainees in, nor transported any detainees through, the territorial land, air or seas of the United Kingdom or its territories. The latest assurance was sent on 27 June 2016. Diego Garcia is one of the UK territories.

01/01/2023
Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether there have been contraventions of the (a) 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and (b) 1972 World Heritage Convention during the conflict in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about any damage to cultural property in Yemen and are aware of reports of alleged damage by actors in the conflict. Yemen and many members of the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition are parties to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict and to the 1972 World Heritage Convention. We have raised our concerns regarding protection of cultural property with both the government of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

01/01/2023
Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether there have been contraventions of the (a) 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and (b) 1972 World Heritage Convention during the conflict in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have no diplomatic presence in Syria and so are unable to provide an accurate assessment of the damage to cultural property ourselves.

The Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill introduced to Parliament in May 2016 will enable the UK to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of Armed Conflict. We are also working with Counter-Daesh Coalition partners to tackle the illicit trade in antiquities through UN and EU sanctions.

The 1972 World Heritage Convention is policed by the World Heritage Committee, supported by UNESCO. At present all six World Heritage Sites (ancient cities of Aleppo, Bosra, Damascus & N Syria, Crac des Chevaliers & Qal’at Salah El-Din, site of Palmyra), in Syria have been placed on the "World Heritage in Danger" list. The continuing concern of the World Heritage Committee was expressed at its annual meeting held in July, but its conclusions are yet to be published.

Earlier this year the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in partnership with the British Council launched a Cultural Protection Fund, which will allocate £30 million to projects which will foster, safeguard and protect cultural heritage in global conflict zones.

01/01/2023
Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) hon. Members, (b) members of the local authority and (c) the public are consulted about the sustainability and transformation plans being developed for Warrington and its surrounding area.

Mr Jeremy Hunt

We acknowledge that local government are vital in helping to set the strategic direction of health and care service development locally.

The March guidance to Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) leads clarified that submissions should state how:

– partnership arrangements should include local government and explain fit with existing plans, including Health and Wellbeing Strategies and Joint Strategic Needs Assessments;

– systems will work with local government to deliver prevention and public health improvements; and

– the footprint will engage other employers, working with local government, to improve health and wellbeing of local people.

At a regional level, National Health Service arm’s length bodies (ALBs) have:

– worked initially with local authority colleagues to agree footprints and STP leadership;

– offered membership of the four new regional STP boards to Local Government Association representatives (including the potential for involvement in the assessment of initial returns); and

– asked their regional colleagues to continue to work with the STP footprints in their area to encourage them to reflect the knowledge, expertise and experience of local government colleagues where appropriate, e.g. Health and Wellbeing Board leads’ insight into the plans for, and effects on, the local system.

As set out in the NHS Shared Planning Guidance, published in December 2015, the success of STPs will depend on having an open, engaging, and iterative process that involves patients, carers, citizens, clinicians, local community partners, parliamentarians, the independent and voluntary sectors, and local government through health and wellbeing boards. The arm’s length bodies responsible for the NHS Five Year Forward View – NHS England, NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, Public Health England, Health Education England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – have asked for local engagement plans as part of the STP process, building where appropriate on existing engagement through health and wellbeing boards and other local arrangements. Where plans propose service changes, formal consultation will follow in due course in line with good practice and legislative requirements. The arm’s length bodies will be holding conversations with each area to assess their plans for local engagement.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how long his Department estimates the Commissioning through Evaluation analysis phase will last for (a) selective dorsal rhizotomy, (b) patent foramen ovale closure, (c) left atrial appendage closure, (d) percutaneous mitral valve leaflet repair, (e) selective internal radiation therapy and (f) stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.

David Mowat

Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) is an innovative £25 million programme introduced by NHS England in 2013. It specifically aims to generate valuable new evaluation data in promising areas of specialised care where the current evidence base of cost and clinical effectiveness is insufficient to support routine National Health Service commissioning, and where further formal research trials are thought to be less likely.

Each scheme – put forward by senior clinicians and other stakeholders – is funded on a time limited basis in a small number of selected centres, and then evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Once the planned number of patients has been recruited across the participating centres, each scheme closes to new patients and analysis begins. This means that the funding identified for each scheme can then be reinvested into the evaluation of additional potentially life changing specialised treatments to maximise the value and impact of the overall evaluation fund for patients. As an example, routinely funding Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy contrary to the currently published clinical commissioning policy and in advance of a formal review of any new evidence would mean that between £2 million and £4 million per year (covering the surgical costs and immediate follow up only) would then be unavailable to support the evaluation of other promising treatments.

The analysis phase for each CtE scheme will typically take between one and two years depending on how long we need to follow up patients after their treatment to identify its effectiveness. The three cardiology based CtE schemes are currently scheduled for a 15 month analysis and reporting phase, after which the data can be used by NHS England to support policy review.

However, CtE is only one form of data that might be put forward in considering a new (or revision to an existing) policy and clinicians do not need to await the final report from CtE schemes if they feel that other new substantive data becomes available more quickly.

NHS England’s published clinical commissioning policies (which set out eligibility for NHS funded specialised care on the basis of the available evidence) can be reviewed at any time where there is thought to be substantive new evidence available, and around 100 such proposals were developed and considered by NHS England during 2016/17.

The policy development process is subject to both informal stakeholder testing and formal public consultation, including the opportunity for patients, clinicians and industry representatives to review and comment on the evidence base considered and the assessed impact on patients, existing services and cost.

Where a new service is routinely commissioned as a result of a policy review, NHS England works with commissioned providers to ensure that sufficient clinical expertise and supporting infrastructure is in place to provide a safe service to patients in line with nationally set requirements.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the NHS plans to take to maintain the availability of selective dorsal rhizotomy for children with cerebral palsy during the Commissioning through Evaluation analysis phase.

David Mowat

Recruitment of patients for the commissioning through evaluation process for the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy procedure has now concluded, and an evaluation of the long term benefits is now in the analysis phase. There are no plans to provide Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery to additional patients during this time.

01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the Commissioning through Evaluation programme to date; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat

Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) is an innovative £25 million programme introduced by NHS England in 2013. It specifically aims to generate valuable new evaluation data in promising areas of specialised care where the current evidence base of cost and clinical effectiveness is insufficient to support routine National Health Service commissioning, and where further formal research trials are thought to be less likely.

Each scheme – put forward by senior clinicians and other stakeholders – is funded on a time limited basis in a small number of selected centres, and then evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Once the planned number of patients has been recruited across the participating centres, each scheme closes to new patients and analysis begins. This means that the funding identified for each scheme can then be reinvested into the evaluation of additional potentially life changing specialised treatments to maximise the value and impact of the overall evaluation fund for patients. As an example, routinely funding Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy contrary to the currently published clinical commissioning policy and in advance of a formal review of any new evidence would mean that between £2 million and £4 million per year (covering the surgical costs and immediate follow up only) would then be unavailable to support the evaluation of other promising treatments.

The analysis phase for each CtE scheme will typically take between one and two years depending on how long we need to follow up patients after their treatment to identify its effectiveness. The three cardiology based CtE schemes are currently scheduled for a 15 month analysis and reporting phase, after which the data can be used by NHS England to support policy review.

However, CtE is only one form of data that might be put forward in considering a new (or revision to an existing) policy and clinicians do not need to await the final report from CtE schemes if they feel that other new substantive data becomes available more quickly.

NHS England’s published clinical commissioning policies (which set out eligibility for NHS funded specialised care on the basis of the available evidence) can be reviewed at any time where there is thought to be substantive new evidence available, and around 100 such proposals were developed and considered by NHS England during 2016/17.

The policy development process is subject to both informal stakeholder testing and formal public consultation, including the opportunity for patients, clinicians and industry representatives to review and comment on the evidence base considered and the assessed impact on patients, existing services and cost.

Where a new service is routinely commissioned as a result of a policy review, NHS England works with commissioned providers to ensure that sufficient clinical expertise and supporting infrastructure is in place to provide a safe service to patients in line with nationally set requirements.

01/01/2023