Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of whether there has been an increase in the use of mental health services by chemsex drug users in the last 12 months.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England is due to publish a briefing for commissioners and providers of drug and alcohol services highlighting issues for men who have sexual contact with other men (MSM) and chemsex. The briefing contains background information, recent data and survey findings, and prompts for local areas and drug services – including liaison and referral for sexual, mental and physical health problems. Information is also collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre on contacts with drug and alcohol support teams, however data is not broken down by drug type or by behaviours associated with drug use.

  • Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the self-exclusion pilot schemes introduced by bookmakers in Medway and Glasgow.

    Tracey Crouch

    I refer the honourable member to the written response given in UIN number 14483 on 16th November 2015.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many benefit claimants who are considered by his Department to have a limited capability to work are in receipt of universal credit in (a) Burnley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK.

    Priti Patel

    The information you have requested is not currently available.

    During 2016 we will be increasing the range of statistics on Universal Credit which will be published in accordance with the relevant protocols in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-04.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5039), what specific recommendations the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has made in order to resolve any conflict between the demands of research and the best interests of patients, in particular regarding (1) a demand for sufficient numbers of human embryos at the single-celled zygote stage in order successfully to perform genome editing by means of CRISPR-Cas9, and (2) the usual practice of transferring embryos to the uterus after assessing their potential to develop further after either two to three days or five to six days.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it requires, through its Code of Practice, that embryo donors will be recruited in a manner compliant with standard licence conditions. These conditions prevent conflict between the demands of research and the best interests of patients.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17278, what progress Public Health England has made on investigating the use of Office for National Statistics data on drug-related deaths to assess the impact of increased naloxone availability; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    In October 2015 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency changed medicines regulations to widen the availability of naloxone. Public Health England provided advice on local implementation.

    Drug poisioning deaths – which include drug misuse deaths – are published annually by the Office for National Statistics. These statistics are for deaths registered in each year.

    Since there are often delays in registering drug-related deaths, it is likely to be some time before we can meaningfully assess what impact the wider availability of naloxone has made on the numbers of drug related deaths.

  • Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that public bodies under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 comply with their duty to pick up roadside litter.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government is committed to localism and the transfer of power to local communities. This is particularly relevant in dealing with litter, which requires a local approach, tailored to the characteristics of the area and the community in which the problems occur.

    It is up to councils to decide how best to meet their statutory duty to keep their relevant land clear of litter and refuse and how to prioritise this against other local services.

    Councils are responsible for keeping their “relevant land” clear of litter and refuse, including local roads. Highways England (formerly the Highways Agency) is responsible for clearing litter from motorways and some trunk roads. Standards of cleanliness for litter and refuse are set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, which provides a practical guide to the discharge of councils’ cleansing duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA).

    If a litter authority which is responsible for publicly-accessible land fails to keep land clear of litter and refuse, it can be taken to court. If the court agrees that the complaint is justified, it can issue a Litter Abatement Order (LAO) requiring the litter authority to clear land of litter within a certain time. The litter authority can also be ordered to pay the complainant’s costs.

    It is a criminal offence not to comply with an LAO – anyone not complying can be fined up to £2,500. They can also get further fines of up to £125 a day for each day the offence continues after conviction. Court action can be avoided if litter authorities clear the land within five days of being notified of the complainant’s intention to seek a Litter Abatement Order.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support annual executive pay votes by shareholders, and whether they intend to legislate to stop three-year votes on that issue.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-06-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding they have made available to the Free Yazidi Foundation and other organisations in Iraq and Syria to aid the collection of evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We have a long-standing commitment to accountability for human rights violations and abuses and have supported efforts to document them in Syria and Iraq. The UK co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution in September 2014 mandating the investigation of Daesh abuses in Iraq. We continue to support the UN Commission of Inquiry’s investigations into human rights violations and abuses in Syria.

    We have provided over £8 million to support the documentation of human rights abuses and violations in Syria and Iraq. We also supported the translation of the International Protocol for the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict into Arabic and Kurdish to further build the capacity of human rights, justice and healthcare professionals to respond to and document these terrible crimes.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent violence and instability in South Sudan on the deployment plan of British armed forces as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in that country.

    Mike Penning

    Following the recent instability in South Sudan, we reviewed our deployment and judged that we should proceed as planned. We are now assessing with UN leads and the Government of South Sudan the timelines for the deployment of our forces. We have already deployed a small team to support the UN Mission in South Sudan and to pave the way for further UK military personnel.

  • George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the provision of (a) medical and (b) nursing training in hepatology.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators such as the General Medical Council or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

    Hepatology is a medical sub-specialty of gastroenterology. In Health Education England’s 2016/17 Workforce Plan for England, there are 450 training commissions proposed for gastroenterology, an increase from 431 in 2015/16.

    Whilst the NMC does not recognise hepatology in its standards for specialist education and practice, the Royal College of Nursing has written a comprehensive competence framework which outlines the training, skills and competence required to develop and maintain a special interest in hepatology:

    https://www2.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/641425/004-983_WEB.pdf

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