Category: Speeches

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the criteria are for a person to be eligible to receive HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis on the NHS.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England has recently announced that it would make available up to £2 million over two years to enable access for high risk individuals through early implementer test sites. NHS England will work with Public Health England and the Department to confirm the criteria for patient access and assessment of expressions of interest from local authority areas to confirm successful sites. The criteria which will be used to determine the locations of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Test Sites have not yet been established.

    PrEP is an intervention in advance of sexual exposure, and therefore is not relevant for rape victims who may require post exposure prophylaxis after clinical assessment. With regard to those having underage sex, eligibility for treatment through test sites will depend on the clinical assessment of risk undertaken.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of the commitments negotiated at the Anti-Corruption Summit of 12 May 2016 after that summit has taken place.

    Matthew Hancock

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will increase the minimum permitted flying height for helicopters in central London with a view to improving safety and reducing noise and air pollution.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government keeps the operational requirements for helicopters under constant review, but has no plans to make any adjustments at the present time.

  • Baroness Hamwee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Hamwee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2016-09-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have commenced negotiations for the disposal of the Cedars family accommodation centre property.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    On 21 July 2016, the Government announced its decision to close the Cedars pre-departure accommodation facility. The Cedars property is held on a leasehold basis. We have not yet commenced formal discussions with the landlord over the future of the site.

  • Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what cost was incurred by her Department as a result of the withdrawal of the CAP-D programme in March 2015.

    George Eustice

    CAP-D is a 10 year programme designed to enable the Department to implement the most recent CAP reforms. The programme was not withdrawn in March 2015. There had been some performance issues with the online interface that enables farmers to input data directly, but the core of the new Rural Payments system is working well. Over 88,000 farmers and agents have successfully registered on the system.

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) homes and (b) businesses that will need to be demolished in Eddisbury constituency to construct phase two of the High Speed 2 line.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Further work is needed on the remainder of the Phase Two route and stations before a final route decision can be taken. The Government intends to make this decision in autumn 2016. At that point the Department will consult on its safeguarding directions which are designed to ensure that land which has been identified for HS2 is protected from conflicting developments. We will then be in a position to provide a robust estimate of the potential impact on homes and businesses along the line of route.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2016 to Question 21704, whether spending by the EU on campaigning during the referendum campaign will be subject to those spending limit rules.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    As international governmental bodies, the spending limits set out in the European Union Referendum Act 2015 do not apply to EU institutions.

    The Electoral Commission has made clear its view that all EU institutions should nevertheless adhere to the same restrictions on the publication of promotional material that apply to governments and publicly funded bodies across the UK in the 28 days before polling day for the referendum. In addition, EU institutions should not, for example, undertake any paid-for advertising activity during the whole referendum period.

    The Minister for Europe has deposited in the library of the House of Commons a copy of correspondence with the Director General of the European Commission which says that the European Commission will not take an active part in the referendum and the related campaigns.

    Once the rules for the EU referendum have been commenced, referendum campaigners are only able to lawfully accept donations over £500 from certain ‘permissible’ sources. The permissibility rules provide that funding can only be accepted by referendum campaigners from certain sources connected to the UK, and, in the case of the EU referendum, Gibraltar. There are also rules and offences related to using permissible donors as agents to circumvent the rules.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the nature and quantity was of the nuclear materials released in terms of (a) its physical state, (b) its mass quantity, (c) the release fraction assumed for each transportation package and (d) the total released radioactivity in Becquerels for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Ministry of Defence maintains a Defence Nuclear Emergency Organisation (NEO) to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency involving the transport of defence nuclear materials. The NEO organises regular exercises to test the effectiveness of its emergency response planning and arrangements. These include the Astral series of exercises, which are designed to be challenging, and thus simulate the extremely unlikely event of a release of radioactive material from the transport containers. No radioactive materials are used or released to the environment during the exercises. The specific exercise objectives do not require assessments or estimates of decontamination, environmental or other post-incident decontamination costs or of radiological dose uptakes. The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) undertook the modelling for each Astral exercise between February 2011 and November 2012.

    I am withholding information about the physical state, mass quantity, release fraction and total released radioactivity assumed for these exercises as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice national security.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been transferred from the UK to other EU countries under Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Dublin III Regulation (a) in total and (b) for the purposes of family reunification in the last 12 months.

    James Brokenshire

    Records indicate that in 2015 there were no transfers from the UK to other EU countries under articles 9, 10 or 11 or for the purposes of family re-unification.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of e-cigarette users who have (a) resumed smoking and (b) purchased vaping supplies from black market sources.

    Jane Ellison

    The best thing a smoker can do to improve their health is to quit smoking for good.

    The Department recognises that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can help smokers quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes.

    This Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in England. The development of this plan is underway and will be published later this year. The new strategy will consider the role of e-cigarettes in further reducing the prevalence of smoking in England. To help inform this element of the strategy the Department has been engaging with e-cigarette experts to ensure that local authorities and Stop Smoking Services are provided with up to date, evidenced based advice on e-cigarettes.

    Whilst the Department has not made a formal assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have resumed smoking, the evidence suggests that in the short-term, relapse rates are lower in those using e-cigarettes to quit.

    The Department has not made an assessment of the number of e-cigarette users who have purchased vaping supplies from black market sources.