Author: admin

  • Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the licensing of e-cigarettes.

    Jane Ellison

    On 14 March 2014, European Union member states formally adopted the revised Tobacco Products Directive, including the provisions for regulation of electronic cigarettes. Article 18 of the Directive will subject electronic cigarettes to consumer products legislation, with specific additional regulatory requirements unless they fall under the definition of a medicinal product.

    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is continuing to focus on regulating medicinal nicotine containing products, including electronic cigarettes, to enable licensed products that meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy to be available. Marketing authorisation applications have been submitted and interest in licensing continues.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has given consideration to licensing e-cigarettes as medicines.

    Jane Ellison

    On 14 March 2014, European Union member states formally adopted the revised Tobacco Products Directive, including the provisions for regulation of electronic cigarettes. Article 18 of the Directive will subject electronic cigarettes to consumer products legislation, with specific additional regulatory requirements unless they fall under the definition of a medicinal product.

    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is continuing to focus on regulating medicinal nicotine containing products, including electronic cigarettes, to enable licensed products that meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy to be available. Marketing authorisation applications have been submitted and interest in licensing continues.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will put restrictions in place to prevent the promotion of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 16 years.

    Jane Ellison

    The revised Tobacco Products Directive (Directive 2014/40/EU) will prohibit the advertising of e-cigarettes marketed as consumer electronic products where there is a cross-border dimension, for example television, radio, newspapers and magazines. The Department will consult on the transposition of the Directive into United Kingdom law and seek views on the need for domestic provisions on advertising.

    It was not possible to achieve age of sale controls through the revised Directive so the Government has already moved quickly to take regulation-making powers for Ministers in England and Wales to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s, through the Children and Families Act. In England, we plan to bring this new law into effect within the current Parliament.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on which occasions performance points were accrued by private prisons in 2013-14; for what reason the points were accrued; and what financial penalties were attached in each case.

    Jeremy Wright

    On the question of what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11, I refer the Rt.Honourable Member to the response sent to him in November of 2013, under PQ 165769, which can be found on Hansard under the reference 4 Dec 2013 Column 705W.

    The data presented in table 1 below is based on total number of performance points accrued for the relevant periods. This does not take into account credit points awarded to Contractors and offset against total performance points for the period. Financial remedies are only applicable when performance point baseline targets are exceeded for the period.

    Please note, data relating to the 4th quarter of 2013/14 is pending approval and not available for release at this time. Data for the following prisons are also not available and awaiting verification and validation by the parties:

    • HMP Birmingham
    • HMP Doncaster
    • HMP Dovegate
    • HMP Forest Bank
    • HMP Oakwood
    • HMP Thameside

    This information will be available later in the year.

    It is important to note that performance points are essentially about operational efficiency, and at no point has public safety been at risk. There are no significant historical trends in the attached figures and it is fair to say that privately managed prisons achieve the majority of their contractual targets with proportionately low levels of performance points and financial remedies applied as a result. The data for each contract is closely monitored by MoJ staff and any emerging or sustained performance failures are discussed in detail with the relevant Contractor in order to rectify performance shortfalls as quickly as possible.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11.

    Jeremy Wright

    On the question of what financial penalties have been levied against those running private prisons in each year since 2010-11, I refer the Rt. Honourable Member to the response sent to him in November of 2013, under PQ 165769, which can be found on Hansard under the reference 4 Dec 2013 Column 705W.

    The data presented in table 1 below is based on total number of performance points accrued for the relevant periods. This does not take into account credit points awarded to Contractors and offset against total performance points for the period. Financial remedies are only applicable when performance point baseline targets are exceeded for the period.

    Please note, data relating to the 4th quarter of 2013/14 is pending approval and not available for release at this time. Data for the following prisons are also not available and awaiting verification and validation by the parties:

    • HMP Birmingham
    • HMP Doncaster
    • HMP Dovegate
    • HMP Forest Bank
    • HMP Oakwood
    • HMP Thameside

    This information will be available later in the year.

    It is important to note that performance points are essentially about operational efficiency, and at no point has public safety been at risk. There are no significant historical trends in the attached figures and it is fair to say that privately managed prisons achieve the majority of their contractual targets with proportionately low levels of performance points and financial remedies applied as a result. The data for each contract is closely monitored by MoJ staff and any emerging or sustained performance failures are discussed in detail with the relevant Contractor in order to rectify performance shortfalls as quickly as possible.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, at how many tribunal hearings on appeals over benefit claims in each of the last four years the relevant Department failed to send a presenting officer; and how many such hearings were lost by the Government.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The First-tier Tribunal – Social Security and Child Support (SSCS), administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), hears appeals against Department for Work & Pensions’ (DWP) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) decisions on a range of benefits. It also hears appeals against Local Authorities on Housing Benefit decisions.

    The table below shows the data requested for each year from 1 April 2010 until December 2013 (the latest period for data is available).

    It is a matter for the relevant Department or Local Authority as to whether they send a presenting Officer to an appeal unless directed to do so by the Tribunal. Departments and Local Authorities will consider each appeal on a case by case basis.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Sadiq Khan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) assaults and (b) serious assaults on staff per 1,000 prisoners there were in each prison in each of the last four years.

    Jeremy Wright

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not tolerate violence of any kind in prisons and any instance is taken very seriously.

    NOMS is committed to exploring options to continue to improve how violence is tackled in prisons to keep both staff and prisoners safe. It is currently reviewing the policy and practice of the management of violence.

    Over the last 5 years the rate of assaults has fallen by 13%.

    Risk of assault is distributed unevenly around the prison estate. Gender, age and other factors such as the size and composition of the prison population, can affect the number assault incidents that occur in a particular establishment. Therefore, careful interpretation is needed of the incident and rates tables at a prison level.

    The number of (a) assaults on staff per 1,000 prisoners in each prison has been placed in the library.

    Due to the low number of serious assaults on prison staff at prison level, the information requested on rates (b) cannot be provided in order to protect the confidentiality of those staff involved.

  • Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mary Creagh – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the document Annual Bus Statistics: Revenue, Costs and Government Support Great Britain 2012-13 will be published.

    Stephen Hammond

    The statistics on bus revenue, costs and government support were updated in March 2014 and can be found on the Department’s website at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-statistics

    in the statistical datasets section.

    “

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 37W, on rural areas: broadband, what the latest figures are for how much funding is for projects (a) granted, (b) under pre-contract approval and (c) still under consideration for funding.

    Dan Rogerson

    The current breakdown of funding to date that has arisen from the Rural Community Broadband Fund is as follows:

    a) Projects granted (contracted and in delivery) total: £0.459 million;

    b) Projects with pre-contract approval total: £0.634 million; and

    c) Projects under consideration total: £14.0 million.

    Until contracted, all costs are estimated and subject to revision.

  • Steve Baker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve Baker – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Baker on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the cases of the 67 doctors who were found to have pre-signed abortion referral forms following investigations by the Care Quality Commission in 2012 are referred to the police.

    Jane Ellison

    Allegations referred to the Department were passed on to the relevant police forces for them to investigate. Other allegations of pre-signing were investigated by the General Medical Council. Decisions about whether to prosecute rest with the Crown Prosecution Service.