Category: Speeches

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government who are the members and the associate members of the UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and to which UK political party each belongs.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was announced by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), in a Written Ministerial Statement on 3 November 2015. [HCWS287]

    A list of full and alternate UK members of PACE, as well as their party affiliations and European political groupings, is as follows:

    FULL MEMBERS

    Sir Roger Gale MP (Leader) Con

    Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP OBE SNP

    Lord Anderson of Swansea Lab

    Guto Bebb MP Con

    David Crausby MP Lab

    Geraint Davies MP Lab

    Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson MP DUP

    Earl of Dundee Con

    Baroness Eccles of Moulton Con

    Nigel Evans MP Con

    John Howell MP OBE Con

    Ian Liddell-Grainger MP Con

    Sir Alan Meale MP Lab

    Kate Osamor MP Lab

    Lord Prescott Lab

    Mark Pritchard MP Con

    Christina Rees MP Lab

    Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP SNP

    ALTERNATE MEMBERS

    Lord Balfe Con

    Rt Hon Lord Blencathra Con

    Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP Lab

    David T C Davies MP Con

    Baroness Eaton DBE Con

    Suella Fernandes MP Con

    Rt Hon Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Lab

    Khalid Mahmood MP Lab

    Baroness Massey of Darwen Lab

    Huw Merriman MP Con

    Baroness O’Loan DBE CB

    Mary Robinson MP Con

    Paul Scully MP Con

    Virendra Sharma MP Lab

    Paula Sherriff MP Lab

    Kelly Tolhurst MP Con

    Phil Wilson MP Lab

    Mike Wood MP Con

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

    Lord Rea – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rea on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to advise drivers of the risks involved in driving after drinking alcohol.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The Government advise drivers of the risks involved in driving after drinking alcohol in a number of ways.

    The Department for Transport’s THINK! drink drive campaign raises awareness of the risks and consequences of drink driving. The campaign aims to reinforce the social unacceptability of drink driving and achieve positive behaviour change amongst drivers.

    In December 2015, THINK! ran a £2.9 million drink drive campaign. This campaign targeted males aged 17-34, who are disproportionately represented in drink drive killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualty statistics. We advertised this campaign on TV, online video and radio, and supported this with wider PR and social media activity.

    In addition we work with partners including Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Johnnie Walker to provide incentives to drivers (such as buy one get one free soft drinks) to avoid drink driving.

    THINK! also provide materials to road safety professionals to run campaigns and provide information on the risks of drink driving to drivers locally.

    The driving theory test addresses the subject of drink driving and the topic is covered extensively in driving learning materials.

    The Government also works with organisations to provide Drink Drive Rehabilitation Schemes (DDRS) for first time offenders. The courses aim to allow reflection of behaviour and achieve behaviour change.

  • Baroness Hollins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Hollins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hollins on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that the transfer of commissioning responsibility for Tier 4 obesity services from NHS England to Clinical Commissioning Groups does not have a negative impact on patient services or clinical standards, and how they will ensure that patients receive high quality, safe and effective care should that transfer proceed in April 2016.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Specialised commissioning teams at NHS England are in contact with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and a formal process has been agreed to transfer the technical and service aspects of the commissioning responsibility.

    This process includes NHS England leading on the contract negotiation for 2016/17 on behalf of CCGs based on the current service provision. Although the transfer is effective from April 2016 in terms of the contract values, the timing of the handover will be agreed between local specialised commissioning teams and CCGs, in line with their preparedness.

    NHS England will continue to work with CCGs to provide support as appropriate.

    NHS England does not expect the services patients receive to be affected following the transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities to CCGs from April 2016, as the change is primarily to commissioning responsibilities.

    No service changes are included as part of the transfer process. The transfer process will include providing information to CCGs on pathways, provider performance and any quality issues relating to this service.

    The transfer should support better integration between Tier 3 and Tier 4 services (which include obesity services) which in turn should improve access for eligible patient and streamline pathways. Clinical teams remain responsible for the quality of their services.

    NHS England through its clinical reference group has finalised clinical guidance to support commissioners and clinical teams. We would also look to leadership from royal colleges and professional groups to promote best practice in this area. CCGs already have mechanisms in place to monitor provider performance and quality through the existing quality assurance processes.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much was received in the UK in net earnings from direct investment in companies based outside the UK in each of the last five years.

    Mr Rob Wilson

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

  • Graham Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Graham Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the role of chief superintendent for Nottingham at Nottinghamshire Police was removed on 1 May 2016; what consultation was carried out prior to that decision being made; and if she will make a statement.

    Mike Penning

    The decision on the deployment of available resources, including roles for chief superintendents, are operational matters for individual chief constables, working with their police and crime commissioners.

  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-07-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance the operator of Southern Rail services is given on the safe passenger loading capacity for Sussex Coastal services.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Transport safety is a key objective of the Government and the UK has one of the safest railways in Europe. Each operator is responsible for the safety of their staff, passengers and services. The Office of Rail and Road’s duty is to ensure that those responsible for keeping Britain’s railways safe for passengers, and providing a safe place for staff to work, do so.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-10-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the creation of a lorry area in Kent, intended to address problems caused by Operation Stack, will cost, including the cost of improvements required to the local infrastructure.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    In the Spending Review and Autumn Statement of November 2015, the Government announced up to £250 million for a major permanent lorry area. Highways England is developing a scheme that is close to the M20 motorway and minimises the impact on the local infrastructure.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of doctors working in hospitals are from non-UK countries.

    Ben Gummer

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre collects data on the number of doctors working in National Health Service hospital and community health services in England.

    Nationality is a self-reported field within the electronic staff record system and of the 98,894 full time equivalent number of doctors (not including locums) who declared their nationality 25,607 (25.6%) are non-United Kingdom nationals.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place greater emphasis on improving cancer diagnosis rates when forming his Department’s policies in future.

    Jane Ellison

    Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government. We will continue to work with NHS England, Public Health England and other partners to achieve early diagnosis through improved screening programmes, Be Clear on Cancer campaigns to raise awareness of symptoms of cancer to encourage people with symptoms to present promptly to their general practitioner (GP), and help for GPs to refer more accurately.

    We have committed to implementing recommendation 24 of the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report Achieving World-Class Outcomes that by 2020, everyone referred with a suspicion of cancer will receive either a definitive diagnosis or the all-clear within four weeks. NHS England is working with partners across the health system to consider how best to take this forward. This standard will be underpinned by investment of up to £300 million more in diagnostics each year by 2020.

    NHS England has launched a major early diagnosis programme, Accelerate, Co-ordinate, Evaluate (ACE), working jointly with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support to test new innovative approaches to identifying cancer more quickly. Outputs from the first wave of test sites, which commenced in April 2015, will be delivered on a phased basis, with the majority falling between September 2015 and December 2016. It is expected that ACE Wave 1 evaluation will be complete by mid-2017.

    In June this year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an updated guideline ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’. The guideline focuses on key symptoms, to make it easier to use and will continue to support GPs to identify patients with symptoms of suspected cancer, and urgently refer them as appropriate. The guideline recommends a lower referral threshold for urgent referrals where cancer is suspected.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 13 January (HL4703 and HL4074), by what means they give public access to the grounds for retention linked to retention instruments in order to explain which official records are being withheld from transfer to the National Archives and why.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    I refer the noble Lord to the responses to HL4703 and HL4704. The attached Access to Public Records Manual is published by The National Archives and sets out the grounds for retention.