Author: admin

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 are currently embedded with (a) US, (b) French and (c) Italian armed forces.

    Penny Mordaunt

    No personnel directly from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron are currently embedded with the US armed forces. However, from the Reaper force as a whole, there are currently six Royal Air Force personnel embedded with the United States Air Force. There are no Reaper force personnel serving with the French or Italian armed forces.

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether personnel from Reaper Squadrons 39 and 13 have been deployed to Sicily.

    Penny Mordaunt

    No personnel from 39 Squadron or 13 Squadron have been deployed to Sicily.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the benefit to local economies of Devolution Deals.

    James Wharton

    The benefits of devolution to areas that have agreed devolution deals with the Government will be significant and far-reaching. Local leaders will be given direct control over the levers of growth in their economies, with the most ambitious deals including new powers over adult skills and transport budgets, and substantial, long-term investment funds. For example, the West Midlands will receive over £1 billion of additional investment to deliver locally determined growth priorities. By providing local partners with greater control over key policies and resources, devolution deals offer places more of the tools they need to drive forward growth for the benefit of the whole local economy.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on removing from local authorities powers to veto planning applications for fracking.

    James Wharton

    Mineral planning authorities have a responsibility to consider planning applications for shale gas exploration under the Town and Country Planning regime. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the local authority area, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Government has taken steps to ensure this locally led regime is effective, as set out in Written Ministerial Statements of 16 September, HCWS201 and HCWS202. This includes making available £1.2 million to ensure mineral planning authorities have adequate resource to reach timely decisions.

    Community involvement in planning applications and people’s safety and the environment will remain paramount. No decision has been made to take shale gas exploration out of this local authority led process.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Bolton have been included in the Bowel Cancer Screening programme for over-60s in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme is a biennial programme, in which eligible men and women are invited every two years to be screened.

    Roll out of the programme began in 2006 and completed in 2010 offering screening from the ages of 60-69. The Programme then extended the screening age up to 74.

    In the last five years, over 19 million men and women have been invited to take part in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

    Since the Programmes introduction in 2006, over 24,000 cancers have been detected and over 146,000 patients have been managed for polyps, including polyp removal.

    The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme will be publishing further data with regards to local areas at a later date.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many members of staff are employed in the Ministerial correspondence section of his Department.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department’s Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries unit currently employs a total of 31 permanent staff who work on both public and ministerial correspondence. There are also eight non-permanent workers filling vacancies within the unit who also work on public and ministerial correspondence. In 2015 the unit responded to 42,277 letters from hon. Members, Peers and the public.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on external consultancy since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Spend on external consultancy is published annually in DH accounts and can be found in the following links.

    For 2014-15, page 130:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

    For 2013-14, page 120:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014

    For 2012-13, page 112:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013

    For 2011-12, page 142, and 2010-11, page 143:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-annual-report-and-accounts-for-2011-to-2012-published

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will issue a response to EDM 337, G7 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    The purpose of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition is to promote inclusive and responsible investment. This is required to sustainably link smallholder farmers into markets, reducing poverty and to ensure that all people have access to high quality and affordable food. The £600 million pledged to the New Alliance by DFID will fund bilateral projects in six original New Alliance partner countries aimed at improving agricultural incomes, food security and nutrition of the extreme poor, including through agroecological practices.

    DFID is effectively supporting a wide range of programmes with agroecological components, from soil and water conservation and land use management to climate resilience and conservation agriculture. For example, we fund the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) for the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) to support 6 million farmers to be more resilient to climate change through a broad set of agroecological and sustainable practices.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 December 2015 to Question 20280, how many cases of meningococcal disease there have been in each year since 2010; and what the (a) case fatality rate and (b) reduction rate is in the incidence of the disease due to vaccines.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) collects data on laboratory confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in England. Data on case fatality rates is not available in the format requested. National data on the number of cases of IMD in England are published by PHE based on the number of laboratory confirmed cases. These data are available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470608/Table_1_Invasive_meningococcal_infections_lab_reports__England_by_capsular_group___epi_year.pdf

    There are three meningococcal immunisation programmes in England at present which offer MenB, MenC and MenACWY vaccines to different age groups. The MenB and MenACWY vaccination programmes were both introduced within the last six months and it is too early to confirm any impact on the incidence of the disease due to these vaccines. The MenC vaccination programme has been in place since November 1999. In 1998/99, the epidemiological year before MenC vaccine was introduced, there were 883 cases of confirmed Group C IMD in England whereas in the last five epidemiological years there have been an average 28 cases confirmed each year; a persisting reduction of 97%.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that all patients who are subject to the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 have all their rights discussed or explained to them before any treatment is carried out, as recommended by the Care Quality Commission’s sixth annual report, HC483, published on 14 October 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    The Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice, which came into force in April 2015, provides statutory guidance on how functions under the Mental Health Act 1983 (the Act) should be carried out. All providers of mental health services under the Act have a duty to abide by both the provisions of the Act and the detailed guidance on how implement those provisions contained in the Code of Practice. That includes the duty of all such mental health providers to ensure their staff know and understand their responsibilities under the Act.

    Empowerment and the involvement of patients are key principles underpinning the Act, and the Code of Practice is clear that detained patients must be informed of their rights; that it is the responsibility of those treating them to ensure that patients understand their rights; and that patients are aware that they are entitled to ask for the assistance of an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) to help them understand this information.

    The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) annual report Monitoring the Mental Health Act 2014/15 indicates that CQC have already taken action where providers are failing to effectively monitor the Act, train staff and support patients and recommends that services use the findings of that report to make sure staff have the right skills and knowledge and decide what action needs to be taken to improve the care and support available for patients.