Category: Speeches

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information he holds on the proportion of women with fibroadenoma who went onto develop breast cancer in 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of women who were diagnosed with fibroadenomas in each of the last five years, and the proportion of women with fribroadenomas who went on to develop breast cancer in 2015, is not held.

    In addition, information on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years is not held.

    There are several types of benign breast lump, including fibroadenomas. Although most lumps are not breast cancer, any unusual changes to the breasts should be checked by a general practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. If a GP finds a lump on examination, they will routinely refer the patient to be seen by a hospital specialist.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of embryonic stem cell research for the development of treatments for patients.

    George Freeman

    Treatments based on the use of stem cells including those obtained by embryos must be demonstrated to be both safe and effective before they can receive authorisation.

  • Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Oates – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 14 July (HL1014), whether it is the policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to refer to all ministers of foreign countries without using their title or forename, as with Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa; and if so, when that became their policy.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have amended the record so that it provides Zimbabwean Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa’s full title.

  • Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to analyse and expand health service capacity in areas of expected high population growth.

    David Mowat

    Neighbouring National Health Service providers, commissioners, and other health and care services are currently developing strategic plans across 44 sustainability and transformation ‘footprints’ to deliver a sustainable NHS. These are geographic areas in which people and organisations are collaborating to develop plans to improve the way that health and care is planned and delivered in a more person-centred and coordinated way for local people. In places where high population growth is identified as a need it is expected that the plans will contain a locally developed approach to ensure the service can manage demand.

  • Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Karl Turner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl Turner on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many temporary agency staff were recruited by the Legal Aid Agency to work on the procurement process for crime duty provider contracts; and what proportion of staff assessing the bids for such contracts were external staff.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    13 temporary staff were employed through the Brook Street Agency and a Crown Commercial Services Recruitment framework and were selected by the Legal Aid Agency and interviewed by permanent members of staff to ensure their suitability. These individuals made up 19% of the overall assessment team. In addition contracts were entered into with legal practices to provide additional resource.

    The key criteria for employment were analytical skills and the ability to conduct a qualitative assessment. A legal or procurement background was considered an advantage but not essential, given that they would be supervised by permanent staff from the Legal Aid Agency.

    The procurement was undertaken in line with the Public Contract Regulations and applicant organisations were required to pass a number of stages of assessment in order to be considered suitable to hold a duty provider contract. The criteria against which organisations were assessed is set out in the Information For Applicants which govern this procurement process.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement on (a) the UK economy as a whole, (b) each region and nation of the UK’s economy, (c) each business sector in the UK economy, (d) large UK businesses and (e) UK SMEs.

    Anna Soubry

    An independent assessment of the potential economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the UK as a whole was carried out by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). The CEPR analysis includes an assessment of the impact on twenty broad sectors of the economy, with estimated impacts on output, trade and shifts in employment. This can be found on the GOV.UK website.

    The CEPR assessment demonstrated that TTIP offers an enormous economic benefit: in growth, exports and high quality jobs, worth up to £10 billion a year. Small businesses in particular will benefit from removing unnecessary barriers to trade.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions his Department had with manufacturers prior to its decision to close the Manufacturing Advisory Service.

    Anna Soubry

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills did not consult specifically on the decision to close the Manufacturing Advisory Service as this was a commercially sensitive decision. However, through our ongoing discussions with manufacturers and their representatives, there has been wide recognition that the best way for Government to support manufacturers is by getting the fundamentals of the economy right. We are creating a highly competitive business environment to make the UK an attractive location for manufacturing investment, supporting export success, boosting skills and protecting spending on innovation and the cutting edge smart digital manufacturing technologies which will drive the strong UK productivity growth in the future.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many new housing developments were built in the period 2010 to 2015 against advice given by the Environment Agency.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The information requested is not collected by the Department. The Environment Agency’s most recent report ‘Managing flood and coastal erosion risks in England’ indicates that between April 2011 and March 2015, over 99 per cent of proposed new homes had planning outcomes in line with Environment Agency advice where they had objected because of concerns about flood risk and had been made aware of the decision.

  • Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Angela Rayner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing a fiduciary duty for the governance committees of pension funds to their members.

    Justin Tomlinson

    Under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules introduced in April 2015, independent governance committees (IGCs) have a clear duty to challenge providers on the value for money of their workplace pension schemes, acting in members’ interests, raising concerns and making recommendations as appropriate. The provider must also make arrangements for member views to be directly represented to the IGC.

    The provider’s board has a “comply or explain” duty in response to recommendations from the IGC and if the IGC is not content with the board’s response it can escalate to the FCA, to members of the scheme and to the public. When coupled with the IGC’s duty to act in members’ interests, this provides a practical and direct way of ensuring good member outcomes.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the way in which the shared accommodation rate is calculated to mitigate the effect of the housing benefit cap in the social sector.

    Justin Tomlinson

    There are no current plans to review how the shared accommodation rate is calculated within the Local Housing Allowance scheme.

    For those under 35, not in supported housing, the existing exemptions that already apply to the shared accommodation rate for private rented sector tenants will be applied to the social sector as a minimum.

    In addition, for those in supported housing, we are working closely with the supported housing sector to ensure appropriate protections are in place. For this reason we are awaiting the outcome of a Support Accommodation research project and subsequent policy review, to ensure support is focused on the most vulnerable, and appropriate safeguards are in place.

    In addition, an enhanced package of Discretionary Housing Payment funding (£870 million over 5 years) will enable Local Authorities to provide support to the most vulnerable claimants.