The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to evaluate the Universal Support Delivered Locally programme on completion of the pilot study.
Priti Patel
The assessment of the Universal Support trials is currently underway. The final evaluation will be published in late Spring 2016 and this will include the numbers of those who participated in the trials and the evaluation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will list by title the documents requested and not released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 relating to (a) nuclear power and (b) Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant since May 2010.
Andrea Leadsom
The information requested is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to urgently consult with medical authorities on ensuring a meningitis B vaccine is provided to all young children; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
National immunisation programmes are introduced on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters. JCVI’s recommendations are based on a comprehensive and careful review of a wide range of evidence including information from medical experts.
JCVI reviewed the available evidence on meningitis B vaccine and recommended a national Meningococcal B (MenB) immunisation programme for infants. The MenB vaccine is first offered to babies at 2 months of age, with further doses offered when they reach 4 and 12 months of age.
MenB was introduced into the NHS programme in September 2015. JCVI keeps the eligibility criteria of all vaccination programmes under review and considers new evidence as it becomes available. If JCVI provides further advice about the programme, we will consider this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will estimate how much the presence of the UK military in Cyprus contributes annually to the Cypriot economy.
Penny Mordaunt
The estimated economic benefit of British Forces Cyprus and the Sovereign Base Areas Administration to the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) economy was assessed in 2015 to be approximately 1% of RoC Gross Domestic Product.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-04-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses had signed up for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme by the 31 March 2016 application deadline; whether the number of businesses was in line with the 20,000 businesses that HM Revenue and Customs estimated could be required to register; and what steps are being taken to tackle any shortfall in numbers.
Damian Hinds
From April 2017, HMRC will be making publicly available details of alcohol wholesalers who are approved. From then, retailers who buy from unapproved wholesalers will be liable to a fine.
HMRC is now assessing the applications it has received against the scheme’s approval criteria. The number of applications received are lower than HMRCs initial estimate of 21,000 businesses that could be wholesaling alcohol. There could be a number of reasons for this, and HMRC is currently comparing the applications received with original expectations and encouraging businesses that have not applied to do so, to mitigate penalties and the likelihood of enforcement action.
Where businesses have been purposefully fraudulently trading, HMRC will take action. It is too early to report outcomes of any investigations into illicit trading that HMRC are undertaking since the introduction of the scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which teams in her Department work on counter-extremism strategy and policy; how many staff are employed in each of those teams; what the grade is of each of those staff; what the budget is for each team; and what the budget is for external expert consultancy services for each of those teams.
Karen Bradley
In May 2015 the Home Secretary established the Office for Counter-Extremism, which works on counter-extremism strategy and policy. As of May 2016 the office has 51 staff of the following grades: 7 at SCS PB2, SCS PB1 and Grade 6; 10 at Grade 7; 14 at SEO; 10 at HEO; 10 at EO.
The 16/17 budget for the Office for Counter-Extremism is £22.5 million, with a maximum of £2.57 million available for external expert consultancy services.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Chinese government on the abduction of activists from outside mainland China.
Alok Sharma
The British Government remain concerned by the case of British citizen Lee Po and the other four Hong Kong booksellers. The National Security Adviser, Mark Lyall Grant, raised the case with the Chinese authorities on 13 June at the UK-China Security Dialogue. The former Foreign Secretary my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) also raised the case with the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities on 8 and 9 April.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provision is available to help people with multiple sclerosis access the care and support they need.
David Mowat
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance Multiple sclerosis: management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care, updated in October 2014, sets out best practice on the diagnosis, treatment, care and support of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The guidance makes a range of recommendations on the drug based treatments for MS, but also highlights the importance of involving professionals who can meet the needs of the patient in the best way, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
NHS England commissions specialised neurological services nationally to meet the needs of patients with complex neurological conditions such as MS. NHS England has published a service specification setting out what providers must have in place to deliver specialised neurological care. This supports equity of access to high quality services for patients wherever they live. Although much of the routine care people with MS receive will be provided by local primary, community and secondary care services via local clinical commissioning groups, elements of their care may be provided by specialists subject to their needs. Specialised neurological care can include access to specialist nurses, orthoptists, dieticians and speech and language therapists, psychologists, continence and pain relief services, services provided jointly with specialists in rehabilitation medicine, spasticity management services and clinics for the assessment for and monitoring of disease modifying therapies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-10-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospitals in the North East are treating brain tumour patients with stereotactic radiosurgery; and how many patients have been treated in each such hospital in each year since NHS England was created.
Jane Ellison
There was no recorded activity of stereotactic radiosurgery or radiotherapy in 2013-14 for hospitals in the North East¹.
¹Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre, Hospital Episodes Statistics database 2013-14.
Notes:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen on 2015-11-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the estimated cost of the nuclear deterrent successor programme has increased.
Earl Howe
Designing and building submarines is one of the largest programmes and one of the most complex activities that the Ministry of Defence and UK Industry undertakes. It is the purpose of a design phase to improve our understanding of costs and timescales, which we have now done. The current estimates reflect what we have learned since the design phase began.