The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claims for universal credit were made online in each year since that benefit was introduced.
Priti Patel
A year by year breakdown of the information requested is not available for publication. We can say that since its introduction, around 90% of Universal Credit claims have been made online.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to tackle (a) all the root causes of the conflict and (b) religious persecution of minority faiths in Syria.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Syria’s conflict has developed from peaceful protests against the government in 2011 to a violent insurgency that has complex international angles. Asad’s brutal actions have fuelled sectarian violence and the growth of Daesh. His regime is ultimately responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. We support the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura, to seek agreement on a process of political transition in Syria. We are clear that there can be no military solution to the conflict. The UN led negotiations remain the best opportunity to end the conflict and achieve political transition away from Asad, leading to an inclusive government which can represent all Syrians.
The UK, as a core member of the International Syria Support Group has agreed that protecting the rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination is fundamental. This means seeking to ensure that Syrian minorities are included and safeguarded as the political process progresses. We are supporting non-governmental efforts to promote dialogue between different ethnic and sectarian groups in Syria, as we seek further progress on a political settlement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure consistency in the length of intervals between awards of personal independence payments.
Penny Mordaunt
The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to treat people as individuals, considering the impact of their impairment or health condition on their everyday life and how each claimant has personally adapted to living with a disability. The length of an award for PIP is based on the needs of the individual claimant and whether these are likely to change in the future, as a result, for example, of treatment or changes in their health condition.
The Department monitors all aspects of the PIP application process including the performance of the assessment providers, Atos Healthcare and Capita. The reports of Health Professionals who carry out assessments are subject to quality audit, to ensure accurate advice on the best time to review a case based on a claimant’s individual circumstances.
The PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments includes guidance on how to determine the length of an award – Section 2.9 Prognosis (page 54) and 2.10 Review dates (page 56).
This guidance can be accessed on the gov.uk website:
There is also guidance and information for DWP decision makers on how best to establish the length of an award.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many complaints his Department received in relation to vaccination against human papilloma virus in each month of 2016.
Nicola Blackwood
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) collects reports of suspected side effects to vaccines and medicines via the Yellow Card Scheme. It is important to note that a report of a suspected side effect does not necessarily mean the vaccine or medicine was the cause of the reported event, and coincidental illness can also be a factor. Such reports remain under continual review by the MHRA in order to detect possible new risks.
The MHRA has received 198 United Kingdom spontaneous suspected adverse reaction reports temporally-associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine between 1 January 2016 and 9 October 2016. Table 1 below provides a breakdown of these reports by month.
|
Month |
Number of reports |
|
January |
16 |
|
February |
22 |
|
March |
24 |
|
April |
23 |
|
May |
33 |
|
June |
26 |
|
July |
15 |
|
August |
7 |
|
September |
32 |
|
October to date (9 October 2016) |
0 |
More than 9 million doses of HPV vaccine have been given in the UK, with close to 90% of eligible teenagers vaccinated. As with all vaccines, safety remains under continual review, and HPV vaccine has a very good safety record.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to improve awareness of the health implications of drinking during pregnancy.
Jane Ellison
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is overseeing a United Kingdom-wide review of all alcohol guidelines so that people can make informed choices about their drinking at all stages of their lives.
The Guidelines Development Group, a group of independent experts, was tasked with developing the lower-risk drinking guidelines for the UK CMOs to consider. The group have researched and developed a proposal on the guidelines, including a UK wide approach for guidance on alcohol and pregnancy. We will be consulting on these shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of womb cancer.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) runs the ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly.
Although womb cancer is not covered by ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ specifically, Public Health England is looking at developing an approach to raise awareness of generic symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms. This work is currently in development, with the help of a number of experts, including clinicians and charities.
The NHS Choices website provides information on the symptoms of womb cancer and when to seek medical advice. This can be found by searching ‘womb cancer symptoms’ on NHS Choices: http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Featherstone on 2016-01-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money they have spent in this Parliamentary Session on support for fracking activities.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
I refer the noble Baroness to the answer my Hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change gave to the hon. Member for Huddersfield on 21 January 2016 to House of Commons Parliamentary Question 22696.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-02-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many responses they have received to their consultation on the repeal of section 73 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government received 39 responses to its consultation: “The balance of payments between television platforms and public service broadcasters". This included questions about possible repeal of s.73 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to take forward talks on reaching an intergovernmental agreement with Ireland on expanding electricity interconnection capacity in response to the conclusions of the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on Smart Power, published in March 2016.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government is ambitious for the market to deliver an increase in electricity interconnection capacity where projects demonstrate value for money and provide benefits to consumers. We are primarily focused on facilitating developer-led delivery. Already one interconnection project to Ireland, Greenlink, has been approved by Ofgem in the first round of cap and floor applications. More projects, including to Ireland, can apply to Ofgem’s second cap and floor application window which opens this month.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil servants were employed at each location by the National Measurement and Regulation Office in the last year for which figures are available.
Joseph Johnson
The number of civil servants employed by the National Measurement and Regulation Office is shown in the attached table and represents the position as at 31 December 2015. The Department does not hold centrally any location data for its agencies prior to this date.