The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moonie on 2016-04-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applicants for Maternity Allowance last year were also in receipt of a state pension.
Baroness Altmann
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is planned that the Government’s childhood obesity strategy will include measures restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
Jane Ellison
Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese. It will set out what more can be done by all.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to devolve to Scotland the areas of law and policy on the environment formerly dealt with by the EU after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
George Eustice
Until we leave the EU, current arrangements for farming, fisheries, food and drink, rural affairs and our environment remain in place. Defra will continue to ensure the right policies are in place for a cleaner, healthier environment for everyone.
We are now preparing to negotiate our exit. Defra officials will be working with the new Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future support for the environment. The Government will work very closely with the Devolved Administrations, Parliament, and a wide range of other interested parties on this approach.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed changes to pharmacy funding on (a) patients accessing services distant from where they live and (b) working age adults who travel considerable distance to work.
David Mowat
The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, under the National Health Service Act 2006.
Our assessments include consideration of the potential impacts on the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services, including the supply of medicines, access to NHS pharmaceutical services, supplementary hours, non-commissioned services, individuals with protected characteristics, impacts on other NHS services, health inequalities, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities.
An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.
Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency departments, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven day health and care services.
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.
NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective NHS primary care patient pathway.
The rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists announced by NHS England will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on tackling the illegal wildlife trade in each of the last five years.
Rory Stewart
Over the past five years, the total amount of funding committed by Defra to tackling the illegal wildlife trade is as follows:
|
Financial Year |
Total committed |
|
2010/11 |
£224,535 |
|
2011/12 |
£226,000 |
|
2012/13 |
£162,000 |
|
2013/14 |
£2,089,773 |
|
2014/15 |
£5,278,744 |
In December 2013, Defra and DFID announced that £10m of funding would be made available over the period 2014/15 – 2017/18 to help developing countries tackle the illegal wildlife trade, to be administered by Defra. In March 2015, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development announced that an additional £3m would be made available for this purpose.
The DFID funding is largely distributed through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, for which I announced the opening of a second round of applications in August 2015. In addition, Defra has supported projects which will help tackle the illegal wildlife trade through the Darwin Initiative and through direct awards to organisations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). We also supported the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in March this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners are presently held at HMP Holloway.
Lord Faulks
As published on the MOJs website, on Friday 30 October 2015 there were 544 prisoners held in HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Holloway.
A figure for Friday 27 November 2015 will be published on the 11 December 2015 on the Ministry of Justice website.
Individual prison population and capacity information for every prison in England and Wales, as well as the total population and useable operational capacity of the prison estate is published monthly on the Ministry of Justice website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been provided with advance payments of universal credit in each of the last 12 months.
Priti Patel
The information requested is not currently available.
The range of statistics published for Universal Credit has increased as quality assurance has been carried out. This process will continue on a wider range of breakdowns and Departmental statisticians anticipate being able to start releasing these, in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, during 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Strategic Defence and Security Review, what the stages will be in the staged investment programme for the Successor submarine programme; and what the estimated timetable for each of those stages is.
Mr Philip Dunne
In line with normal Ministry of Defence processes, a business case for the additional investment referred to in the Strategic Defence and Security Review is going through the formal approvals process.
Options for the subsequent investment stages, including scope, time and cost are currently under consideration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department is assessing potential alternatives to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme to which the Renewable Heat Incentive is linked.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department is in the process of working with the microgeneration industry to establish the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a legal entity that will operate independently of the Government. There is an established process for alternative schemes to MCS to come forward through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and equivalent accreditation bodies in the EU. For example, through this process the Solar Keymark product scheme for solar thermal products has been recognised and treated as equivalent to MCS. In addition, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) regulations give Ofgem the power to determine scheme equivalency; and they are currently finalising this process for equivalent schemes to be considered in specific reference to the RHI.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made of the potential effect of the changes to personal injury law and procedure on levels of employment in the legal sector before making his announcement of such changes in the Autumn Statement; and if he will make a statement.
Harriett Baldwin
The Ministry of Justice will launch a public consultation in due course on the details of the policy. This will be accompanied by an impact assessment.