The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Duty Provider Crime Contracts have been awarded to companies in (a) the West Midlands, (b) the city of Birmingham and (c) Birmingham, Hodge Hill constituency.
Mr Shailesh Vara
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of Thursday 28 January, the crime Tender process has been withdrawn.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
The Northern Ireland Office’s wellness strategy is to promote and sustain a healthy, safe and supportive working environment for all our people. We do this by:
As a small department the Northern Ireland Office has also secured access to the Ministry of Justice’s networks and services for our staff to use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what planning his Department is undertaking on the collation of block chain data; and what discussions he has had with the Bank of England on that topic.
Harriett Baldwin
Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.
The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.
As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.
Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.
It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.
The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what research HS2 Ltd has (a) produced and (b) commissioned on the geological effect of the construction and operation of High Speed 2 in Eddisbury constituency.
Mr Robert Goodwill
HS2 Ltd has commissioned from a mining engineer (in consultation with the Cheshire Brine Subsidence Compensation Board) a study of the saltfield, which applies to Cheshire including the Eddisbury constituency.
HS2 Ltd. has commissioned from Heriot-Watt University a modelling of the geodynamic effects of high speed railway operation, which applies route wide including the Eddisbury constituency.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in Stafford constituency.
Anna Soubry
The Government is working to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business by supporting businesses across the country. In Stafford, 42 Government backed Start-Up Loans have been drawn down since September 2012 with a value of over £218,000. A Regional Growth Fund award of £4m made in 2011 has attracted private investment of £56.5 million, delivering 1,600 jobs. Since May 2010, 26 loans have been drawn down in Stafford, worth over £2.6 million, from the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme. Businesses in Stafford also have access to the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hub which was live from September 2014, which is one of a network of 39 Growth Hubs set up across England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether everyone who was registered with Skipton and received the £20,000 lump sum payment will be automatically entitled to the new annual payments.
Nicola Blackwood
The reformed scheme will provide a payment to all those with hepatitis C, even if they have been treated, for the current spending review period. A review of the scheme will take place towards the end of this spending review period.
All those who are currently bereaved partners/spouses and all those who will be bereaved partner/spouses in future will receive a £10,000 lump sum payment and will have continued access to discretionary support. Discretionary support will continue to be available to the bereaved, as well as to infected individuals.
All infected individuals who are registered with Skipton as having hepatitis C stage 1 (nearly 2,500 people) will be eligible for the new stage 1 annual payment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce levels of knotweed proliferation; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making house and land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.
George Eustice
The Department takes the problems caused by Japanese Knotweed very seriously and has taken a number of steps to tackle this invasive plant.
Defra has provided funding of £390,000 for biocontrol work to tackle Japanese knotweed. A psyllid/insect, Aphalara itadori has been identified as a biocontrol agent capable of retarding the plant’s growth significantly and therefore reducing its ability to spread and regenerate. A closely monitored, licensed release programme has been ongoing since 2010 to assess the impact of this psyllid/insect, but as with other biocontrol programme, it can take five to ten years from release to achieve success.
Defra has also provided funding for Local Action Groups (LAGs) to tackle and raise awareness of invasive non-native plants, including Japanese knotweed. Additionally, Defra is currently funding a LAG coordinator to help groups with funding bids and provide advice.
Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to allow the plant to escape or cause it to grow in the wild. Whilst landowners are under no statutory obligation to remove Japanese knotweed from their property, where they are acting unreasonably and allowing Japanese knotweed to cause a nuisance to the local community, local authorities and the police can now issue a Community Protection Notice against them to ensure that appropriate action is taken.
The issue of making land owners more responsible for uncontrolled weed growth.is complex. It could produce disproportionate or inequitable impacts such as the potentially high cost of removal and liability on landowners for clearance as a result of fly-tipping.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of interim or emergency measures to provide access to drugs for rare cancers during the period of the accelerated access review.
George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is the independent body that makes decisions on the clinical and cost effectiveness of drugs, including those for rare cancers, based on thorough assessment of the best available evidence.
The Government has also established the Cancer Drugs Fund, which has helped over 72,000 cancer patients in England to access life-extending drugs that would not otherwise have been available to them.
The Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS) was launched in April 2014 to support access in the United Kingdom to unlicensed or off-label medicines representing a significant advance in treatment in areas of unmet medical need. Eight EAMS Promising Innovative Medicines designations and four positive EAMS scientific opinions have been issued so far, including some for new cancer drugs.
The independent Accelerated Access Review is currently looking at how we can reduce the time, cost, and risk of drug development, develop a new range of flexible reimbursement models and consider the long term landscape for innovation adoption. The Review’s recommendations are expected in spring 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 on the discretionary spend of local authorities on sport and recreational facilities, and what projections they have made of future years.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Local authorities make their own decisions on how they spend their budgets on sport and other discretionary areas. Many local authorities already understand the value of investing in sport and are best placed to make the right decisions for their communities locally, whilst continuing to be supported by a strong national offer directed by Sport England. Strengthening grassroots sport will be at the heart of our forthcoming new sports strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects Libyan Investment Authority funds to be released for Libyan social and physical infrastructure projects from the Future Generations Fund, Libyan Local Investment and Development Fund and the Budget Stabilisation Fund.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
It is for the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) to decide on the allocation of funds for Libyan social and infrastructure projects. Some LIA assets are frozen under UN and EU regimes, but the LIA continues to have access to unfrozen funds. Article 8b of the EU Regulation provides a derogation such that if LIA were to make an application, the competent authorities of the Member States (which in the UK is HM Treasury) may authorise the release of frozen funds or economic resources under certain circumstances.