Category: Speeches

Kevin Barron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Barron on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to substitute the prescribing of high volume branded medicine with generic equivalents.

George Freeman

Generic substitution has happened in secondary care for many years, but is not currently permitted in primary care. The Department consulted on introducing primary care generic substitution in 2010, but did not progress the proposals following concerns about the potential impact on patient safety.

Most general practitioner practices and clinical commissioning groups, formerly primary care trusts, have been pursuing and supporting policies of increasing generic prescribing for 15 years or more. Generic prescribing rates are already relatively high in England at 84.1% in 2014, as reported in the Health and Social Care Information Centre report: Prescriptions dispensed in the community: England 2004-14.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Public Sector Transparency Board last met.

Matthew Hancock

The Public Sector Transparency Board has been replaced with the Data Steering Group.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure private landlords do not exploit vulnerable tenants.

Brandon Lewis

We are determined to crack down on the small number of landlords that let unsafe and sub-standard accommodation. The Housing and Planning Bill will establish tough new measures, including a database of rogue landlords and property agents, banning orders for serious or repeat offenders, a stricter fit and proper person test, extending Rent Repayment Orders and introducing civil penalties of up to £30,000

In addition, we have made nearly £12 million available to local authorities to help them tackle rogue landlords in their areas. Since 2011, nearly 40,000 inspections have taken place with over 3,000 landlords facing further enforcement action or prosecution through renting out unsafe, squalid and often illegal property.

01/01/2023
Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-03-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 March (HL6926), on what date the Department of Health was informed that NHS England was going to introduce a sugar tax in NHS premises by 2020.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We have a range of conversations about key issues at Ministerial and official level with NHS England. NHS England is independent and the decision on a sugar levy on the National Health Service estate is a matter for them operationally. We are interested to see the results of their consultation on a sugar levy.

The announcement of a soft drinks industry levy by the Chancellor in the Budget is the first step in our comprehensive Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, and gives companies strong incentives to reformulate their products.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34235, whether the UN Economic Commission for Europe Regulation 10 specifically covers the potential health risks of electromagnetic emissions by multiple driverless vehicles as well as those from single vehicles.

Andrew Jones

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regulation No 10 seeks to limit the maximum emission of electromagnetic radiation from vehicles. Recognising the rapid changes in technology in new vehicles, the relevant UN-ECE technical committee has established a task force to consider the implications of new technologies such as those used by driverless vehicles.

The Department is participating in the work of the task force.

01/01/2023
Angela Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Crawley on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pregnant women are in detention at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre.

James Brokenshire

The Home Office will not necessarily be aware that a woman is pregnant unless she chooses to make this known to us and a woman may not know herself that she is pregnant when she is detained. It may not always be appropriate for healthcare professionals to disclose information that the patient has asked not to be disclosed.

Subject to these limitations, management information for 21 June 2016 shows that there were no pregnant women detained under Immigration Act powers at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre.

Information on the number of pregnant women deported from the UK in each of the last five years is not held centrally and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to review their policy of freezing state pensions of British citizens residing in overseas countries, where there is no existing reciprocal social security arrangement in place.

Lord Freud

The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so – for example in countries where a reciprocal agreement is in place that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this or to assess the impact of British citizens’ choosing to retire abroad.

01/01/2023
Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to evaluate formally the National Stroke Strategy before the end of 2017.

David Mowat

The National Stroke Strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues. There are, therefore, no current plans to renew it. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. This includes:

– ongoing work in virtually all parts of the country to organise acute stroke care to ensure that all stroke patients, regardless of where they live or what time of the day or week they have their stroke, have access to high quality specialist care;

– publication of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy in 2013, which includes many stroke specific strategic ambitions;

– a CVD expert forum, hosted by NHS England, to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy; and

– NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke works with the Strategic Clinical Networks, clinical commissioning groups, voluntary agencies and individual providers to support better commissioning and provision of stroke care.

More generally, the NHS Five Year Forward View recognises that quality of care, including stroke care, can be variable and that patients’ needs are changing and new treatment options are emerging. The Five Year Forward View sets out high level objectives to address these issues.

There are no current plans for a formal evaluation of the National Stroke Strategy. However there is a continuous evaluation of the quality of stroke care via the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). This measures most of the key indicators defined as important in the strategy and findings are freely available on the SSNAP website at:

https://www.strokeaudit.org/

“

01/01/2023

Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions there have been for owning a dog banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each of the last two years.

George Eustice

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts for possession, without exemption, of a prohibited dog, in England and Wales from 2013 to 2014 (latest available), can be viewed in the table below.

Defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for possession, without exemption, of a prohibited dog ⁽¹⁾, England and Wales, 2013 to 2014 ⁽²⁾⁽³⁾

2013	2014
232	216

(1) An offence under Section 1(3) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services – Ministry of Justice.

Ref: PQC 599-15 to PQ 16503

01/01/2023

Mark Tami – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Tami on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to improve international cooperation on increasing the number of people on the stem cell and bone marrow registers.

Jane Ellison

International cooperation is an essential element of the provision of stem cells to patients requiring a transplant. Worldwide, 50% of adult stem cell donations and 30% of cord blood donations move across national boundaries.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the provision stem cells through the Department’s delivery partners, NHS Blood and Transplant and the Anthony Nolan, is as effective as possible and this includes adopting innovative practice to maximise the chance that donors will be able to donate.

The ethnic diversity of the United Kingdom is reflected in adult bone marrow donors through the targeted recruitment of donors. The diverse nature of the UK stem cell resources means that they will play an important part of the global network matching donors to patients. The information supplied from the UK unified registry (Anthony Nolan and NHS Stem Cell Registry) to the global registry (Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide) directly increases the chances that patients across the globe have a chance to find a suitable donor.

01/01/2023