Category: Speeches

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate how many foreign direct investment projects were developed in Scotland originating from other EU countries in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and how many jobs were (i) created by each of those projects and (ii) safeguarded by those projects.

    Anna Soubry

    Below is a breakdown of successful foreign direct investment projects into Scotland from EU countries in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 together with the estimated number of jobs created and safeguarded, as recorded by UK Trade & Investment.

    Projects

    New Jobs

    Safeguarded jobs

    2012-13

    27

    2,110

    491

    2013-14

    33

    1,960

    968

    2014-15

    34

    883

    648

    Source: UKTI FDI projects database.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 25 January (HL5200), whether they have had regard to the preaching and teaching of Wahhabism in mosques and Muslim education bodies in Britain as part of their work on their Counter-Extremism Strategy.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We published our Counter Extremism Strategy in October 2015 which sets out a range of measures to deal with the broad challenge of extremism. We have placed a duty on specified authorities to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being radicalised.

    We consider vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values as extremist, whatever guise these are expressed under. This includes when religions are hijacked by those wishing to promote extremism. As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in July last year “extremist ideology is not true Islam”.

    HM Government’s Counter Extremism Strategy and counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, set out our approach to tackling the full range of factors that allow extremist and terrorist groups to grow and flourish. These include directly challenging ideologies, including those which have a theological basis.

    The Prime Minister recently commissioned a review into the funding of extremism in the UK. This will include an assessment funding that comes from overseas. The review is due to report in spring 2016.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Adam Afriyie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when the Government will introduce incentives for the adoption of new technologies designed to manage noise from aircraft on the ground.

    Anna Soubry

    The Government is supporting investment in new technologies to reduce aircraft noise through grants for R&D supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute. The Government has committed £1.95 billion for aerospace R&D to 2025/26, bringing the total joint Government and industry funding commitment since 2013 to £3.9 billion. So far, 20 projects, worth £136 million, are directly concerned with new technologies to reduce noise from aircraft engines, propellers, rotors, wings and landing gear. These projects are focused on demanding international environmental targets and ensure UK aerospace companies are leading the technological evolution to achieve these.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of winter fuel payments to eligible claimants were made automatically in each of the last five years.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    The majority of Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically from information already held by the Department. We invite claims mainly from men under 65 who meet the eligibility criteria, as the largest group not identified and paid automatically. Claims can be made up to and including 31 March and are not accepted after that date.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget.

    Alistair Burt

    Data on recipients of personal health budgets is collected from clinical commissioning groups on a voluntary basis. Numbers are not currently collected for specific conditions so an estimate cannot be made on the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget. NHS England is exploring options for formal data collection on personal health budgets and consideration is being given to the cohorts of recipients that will be included in this data collection.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the proposals to more closely align the approval process for the new cancer drugs fund with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence do not limit access to potential life-saving treatments such as Avastin for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

    George Freeman

    Since October 2010, the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has helped over 84,000 people in England in accessing life-extending cancer drugs that would not otherwise have been available to them.

    NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Fund and has consulted, jointly with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, on new arrangements for the CDF which will go live on 1 July 2016.

    NHS England has advised that, under these new arrangements, it envisages that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in ensuring that the NHS collects data on whether return out-patient appointments are being delayed beyond the clinically recommended time due to insufficient capacity or targets for new patients that are prioritised over returns.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    There are no plans to collect additional data on out-patient appointments.

    Many patients will require further planned stages of treatment after their waiting time clock has stopped. This treatment should be undertaken without undue delay and in line with when it is clinically appropriate and convenient to the patient to do so.

    Patients requiring initial or follow-up appointments for clinical assessment, review, monitoring, procedures or treatment must be given a clear expectation of the timeframe for this, as required by best clinical evidence. If the planned procedure is then delayed beyond that timeframe, a new waiting time clock should start and be reported in the waiting time statistics, to ensure that these patients are kept in sight.

  • David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Nuttall – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS treatment of craniosynostosis; and if he will take steps to increase training and awareness of craniosynostosis amongst NHS professionals.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of National Health Service treatment of craniosynostosis. All paediatricians are trained to recognise abnormality as part of general training up to Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (MRCPCH) level.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans for portable evidential breath-test machines to be made available for use by the police to tackle drink driving.

    Mike Penning

    We will type approve Mobile Evidential Breath Test Instruments (MEBTIs) as soon as possible. Type approval is a complex process and relies on the submission by manufacturers of instruments which then perform satisfactorily during testing. The Home Office has no control over these factors.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK aged 18 to 20 earning £5.30 per hour.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.