The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2015-10-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make representations to the Criminal Cases Review Commission on reviewing the case of James Thompson.
Mike Penning
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is independent, and it would not be appropriate for Ministers or officials to intervene in individual cases.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Hurd on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the privatisation of the Green Investment Bank will be by asset sale or as a going concern.
Anna Soubry
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills’ written Ministerial Statements of 25 June and 15 October make clear that the Government is moving UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) into private ownership and repealing the GIB legislation so that, following a sale, GIB can continue to operate as a going concern and be reclassified to the private sector with the freedom to borrow and raise a much greater volume of private capital without affecting public sector debt.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans the Government has to change the rate of interest on student loans (a) retrospectively for recent graduates and current students and (b) for future students during the current Parliament.
Joseph Johnson
There are no plans to change the rate of interest on student loans retrospectively for recent graduates and current students.
The interest rates are reviewed annually and the rates set from 1st September for the following 12 months. This is set out in the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations. It is too early yet to say what the rate will be from September 2016.
For the pre-2012 scheme, the rate used is the March Retail Prices Index (RPI) figure which applies during the 12 month period commencing 1st September. If, however, the base rate plus 1% across a specified group of banks is lower than RPI, then this lower rate will be applied instead.
For the post-2012 scheme, the rate is also set by reference to the March RPI figure (2.5%):
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market on 2016-01-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much council tax support funding has been passed from billing authorities to parish and town councils in 2013–14, 2014–15, and 2015–16.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The amount of Local Council Tax Support funding being passed on from billing authorities to parish and town council was £39,033,000 in 2013-14 and £31,108,000 in 2014-15. The Department does not hold figures for 2015-16.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department’s spending was allocated to (a) Nigerian state organisations, (b) non-governmental organisations and (c) the private sector in the last three years for which figures are available.
Mr Nick Hurd
No UK aid goes directly through Nigerian government systems. Our bilateral aid is delivered through commercial service providers (private sector), international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The table below provides a breakdown of our payments over financial years 2012-13 to 2014-15.
|
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
|
|
Private Sector |
£145.724m |
£185.146m |
£156.147m |
|
International Organisations |
£31.905m |
£52.343m |
£40.505m |
|
NGOs |
£22.401m |
£28.498m |
£27.667m |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to section 5.9 of the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of Tier 2 visas, published in December 2015, whether he plans to introduce an Immigration Skills Charge for employers for all Tier 2 visa workers of £1,000 per year per worker.
Joseph Johnson
Following consideration of the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations on migration and other evidence, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Immigration has made a written statement on Tier 2 migration including the Immigration Skills Charge.
The full statement can be viewed at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-03-24/HCWS660/.
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 995, whether Daesh has committed crimes that should be referred to the International Criminal Court.
Mr Philip Hammond
The Government has condemned repeatedly Daesh’s atrocities against both minorities, and the majority Muslim populations of Iraq and Syria. There is a growing body of evidence that terrible crimes have been committed by Daesh. The UK is supporting efforts to gather and preserve that evidence.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her statement of 8 April 2015. The Rome Statute provides for "situations" rather than organisations to be referred to the ICC. Therefore, referral would cover all potential crimes within a specified geographic area, rather than a specific organisation.
As neither Iraq nor Syria is a State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC has no territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed on their soil.
In order for Daesh’s crimes in Iraq and Syria to be investigated by the ICC, Iraq and Syria would have to declare their acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction, or the UN Security Council would have to refer the situation in those countries to the Court.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many diagnoses of (a) Lyme disease and (b) chronic Lyme disease have been made in each of the last five years.
Jane Ellison
The existing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance supports primary care doctors in managing Lyme disease but to further strengthen the evidence base we have commissioned NICE to develop guidelines for the recognition and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018.
Public Health England (PHE) provides information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the medical profession and the public, holds regular medical training days, and works with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients.
NHS Choices also publishes information on its website to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection.
The number of human cases can be reduced by raising public awareness of how to avoid tick bites, and by environmental measures in public places to reduce the long grass and scrub which harbor ticks. PHE works with interested local authorities to raise tick awareness, and has produced joint public information with local authorities in areas such as the New Forest with a significant incidence of Lyme disease.
The number of laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales varies annually, in 2013 there were 878 and in 2014 there were 730, but the majority of diagnoses are made clinically by general practitioners and those figures are not recorded.
Patients with late or complicated Lyme disease may be diagnosed in a variety of specialist clinics, and the numbers are not recorded. Based on the clinical information supplied with the laboratory request, only a small proportion of the annual number of cases fall into this category.
There is no clear definition for chronic Lyme disease, and no general acceptance of what the term means, so no data is available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-07-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients suffering with radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer are not denied treatment due to the timeframes applied by NHS England for access to the new Cancer Drugs Fund.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England has advised that systemic therapy is available for patients with radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer through the continued funding of sorafenib for this indication via the Cancer Drugs Fund. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been asked to develop technology appraisal guidance on the use of sorafenib and lenvatinib for this indication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much time has been allocated for the public consultation on the sustainability and transformation plans for Birmingham and Solihull and the Black Country and West Birmingham; and if he will ensure that the feedback from this public consultation will be published.
David Mowat
NHS England, with other national health and care bodies, released guidance to the local areas developing Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) entitled ‘Engaging local people’ in September 2016 which can be found on their website. Local proposals for health and care transformation are not expected to have gone through formal local National Health Service or other organisations’ board approval and/or formal public engagement or consultation at this early stage. We expect that areas will publish a version of their STPs between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will undertake public engagement during this period, building on the engagement they have already done to shape thinking. Every area will be working to a different timeframe, based on its own circumstances and how well-progressed its plan is.