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  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to hold NHS bodies accountable to the recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review, which was set up to look at speeding up access to innovative drugs including those for rare diseases, devices and diagnostics for National Health Service patients, has been making strong progress since it was first announced in November 2014.

    The review is independently chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor and has been engaging stakeholders extensively since the summer to gather evidence on the big questions the review is considering, and has developed a number of emerging solutions.

    Sir Hugh published his interim report of the review on 27 October 2015. The report is high-level, direction-setting and grounded in evidence gathered through the review’s stakeholder engagement to date. Included in the report were proposals for a National Innovation Partnership of key bodies in the innovation pathway who would be party to a Concordat committing them to the ambitions set out in the review. The review has used a second phase of engagement to work closely with industry stakeholders, Government, the NHS and arm’s length bodies on these and other proposals set out in the interim report.

    In April 2016 the review will conclude with Sir Hugh making his final recommendations to Government. The Department will review these recommendations and consider how best to respond.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to decriminalise drug use and encourage the implementation and enforcement of anti-discrimination and protective laws, based on human rights standards, to eliminate stigma, discrimination, social exclusion and violence against young people who inject drugs based on actual or presumed behaviours and HIV status.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government has no intention of decriminalising drugs in the UK. Decriminalisation would not eliminate the crime committed by the illicit trade, nor would it address the harms associated with drug dependence and the misery that this can cause to families and communities.

    The Government’s approach to drugs, based on our balanced 2010 Drug Strategy, remains clear. We must prevent drug use in our communities and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery. At the same time, we have to stop the supply of illegal drugs and tackle the organised crime behind the drugs trade.

    There are promising signs our approach is working, with a downward trend in drug use over the last decade and more people recovering from dependency now than in 2009/10.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees were referred to her Department by the UN High Commission for Refugees under (a) the Gateway Protection Programme, (b) the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme and (c) the Mandate Refugee Scheme in each year since 2009-10; and how many such refugees in each year and for each scheme her Department refused after carrying out checks.

    James Brokenshire

    We do not report on how many people have been identified for resettlement in the UK under these schemes. Not all referrals translate into arrivals for a variety of reasons. In some instances, refugees choose to withdraw, for example, following the death of a family member, marriage or childbirth. Furthermore the Home Office also retains the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. In addition we do not currently differentiate between cases that are refused or withdrawn and therefore do not hold the information on refusals in the format requested.

    Notwithstanding this, the Home Office is committed to publishing data on arrivals through the resettlement programmes in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 25 February 2016 and will cover the period October-December 2015. These numbers will be updated each quarter.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the £20 million funding for English language tuition to isolated women announced by the Prime Minister on 18 January 2016 will come from the Home Department’s counter-terrorism budget.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    No. The £20 million community-based English language training offer is new funding which will be routed through DCLG and will form part of its Integration Programme.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made by the College of Policing in its review of the operation of Police Information Notices.

    Mike Penning

    The College of Policing has completed its review of Police Information Notices and has consulted with key partners.

    The College Of Policing has produced draft guidance and this will be included in the Authorised Professional Practice on Stalking and Harassment due to be published in the Spring.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many websites encouraging recruitment to Daesh or al Qaeda her Department has helped close down in the last six months.

    Mr John Hayes

    Extremist and terrorist organisations are exploiting the internet to disseminate propaganda and recruit individuals to their groups or to support their aims. Some vulnerable individuals, including young people are being misled by this damaging propaganda through its use of social media sites.

    Since 2010, over 130,000 pieces of terrorist-related material have been removed by industry from various online platforms at the request of the dedicated police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). Approximately 31,000 removals were made in the last 6 months alone. Removal requests are now at over 1,000 a week and approximately 70% of CTIRU’s caseload is Daesh related.

    The Counter Extremism Strategy, published in October 2015, sets out further work to uplift efforts to outmatch the scale and pace of terrorist and extremist use of the internet. As part of this we are pressing industry to take a lead in tackling the abuse of their services by terrorist and extremist groups.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which local authorities have contacted their local regional strategic migration partnerships to provide support for Syrian refugees.

    Richard Harrington

    We do not routinely disclose which local authorities participate in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

    Participation in this scheme is voluntary and it is often the case that local authorities do not wish to have their participation published. The relocation of refugees can be a sensitive issue for some local areas who have agreed to participate. It is a matter for each local authority to decide whether they want to publish the fact of their participation and the numbers of refugees they take.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will discuss with the Secretary of State for Defence the possibility of using RAF pilots to assist in the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has pledged over £1.1 billion in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. For example, by the end of June 2015, UK support inside Syria and in the surrounding region had delivered almost 20 million food rations; over 2.5 million medical consultations; and relief items for 4.6 million people. In addition, we have provided ongoing support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria.

    The Department for International Development works closely with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office as part of a whole of government response to the Syria crisis. When it comes to helping Syrians in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, we do not rule anything out but at this time air drops are not the most appropriate way of getting help to those in need.

    Alongside this, our efforts will continue whether through supporting a political solution to deal with the root cause of the crisis or through humanitarian efforts, which provide immediate, life-saving relief. A key moment is the ‘Supporting Syria and the Region’ conference in London, which we will co-host this week.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2016 to Question 22005, on developing countries: space technology, if she will publish the criteria referred to.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID published its new ‘UK Aid Strategy’ in November 2015. This document outlines the Government’s new approach to aid spending which will “meet our moral obligation to the World’s poorest and also support our national interest.”

    It also sets out the four strategic objectives of: Strengthening global peace, security and governance; Strengthening resilience and response to crises; Promoting global prosperity; and Tackling extreme poverty and helping the World’s most vulnerable. Aid will be allocated according to these principles.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2016 to Question 21501, how much of the Operational Plan budget relates to funding to assist with the effect of the refugee situation in Syria.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID’s entire £47 million Operational Plan budget for Jordan in the financial year 2015/16 has been allocated to respond to the effects of the Syria crisis. Around £37 million of this funding will provide humanitarian assistance and services to refugees in camps and living in host communities. The remaining £10 millionwill support the delivery of basic services in those municipalities with most refugees, and support basic education services to support the integration of Syrian refugee children into the education system.

    As a result of Daesh’s brutality, a separate humanitarian crisis has also emerged in Iraq. To date, the UK has committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. DFID’s operational budget for Iraq in 2015-16 is provided on the basis of need and does not differentiate between internally displaced people and refugees.