The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Prime Minister, if he will make representations to bodies campaigning on the EU referendum to ensure that members of the Royal Family are not referred to in the debate on that referendum; and if he will make a statement.
Mr David Cameron
This is a matter for the campaign groups. Government activities in respect of the EU Referendum will be in line with published propriety guidance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.
Mr Julian Brazier
Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. This would include some senior civil servants, such as ambassadors and chargés d’affaires. The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.
The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. The Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on whether there have been any meetings between HS2 Ltd and King Street Energy Ltd to discuss the proposed gas storage project near Northwich.
Mr Robert Goodwill
According to the Department for Transport’s records, representatives from HS2 Ltd met with King Street Energy on 25 September 2013 and 22nd May 2014 to discuss interactions with the proposed HS2 route.
A further meeting between HS2 Ltd and King Street Energy is scheduled to take place later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many meetings of the British-Irish Council Ministers of his Department took part in since May 2013.
Joseph Johnson
Information on Ministerial attendances can be found on the British-Irish Council website:
https://www.britishirishcouncil.org/communique/ministerial-meetings
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the treatment of strokes of withdrawing access to patent foramen ovale closure and left atrial appendage occlusion during the commissioning through evaluation analysis phase.
David Mowat
NHS England’s Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) programme enables a limited number of patients to access treatments, such as patent foramen ovale closure and left atrial appendage occlusion, which are not routinely funded by the National Health Service. These are usually treatments which show significant promise for the future and enable a small number of patients to access them while new clinical and patient experience data are collected within a formal evaluation programme. This approach ensures that each CtE scheme provides valuable new data, beyond that already available from clinical trials, or where there is no clinical trial data, to inform future commissioning policy decisions.
During the analysis phase, NHS England’s published policy position for the treatment concerned will continue to apply. For patent foramen ovale closure and left atrial appendage occlusion this will mean that these procedures will not be routinely available within the NHS. However, patients already being treated as part of a CtE scheme will continue to receive appropriate follow-up care.
Once the CtE evaluation report is available, or if other significant clinical trial information becomes available more quickly, NHS England’s published policy for the treatment concerned will be reviewed and a decision will be made about whether NHS England will or will not make the treatment available within the NHS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to introduce national prescribing guidelines on medical nutrition.
Nicola Blackwood
Prescribing guidance is already available to clinicians on individual medical foods, known as foods for special medical purpose (FSMP). Guidance on prescribing is published within Part XV of the Drug Tariff by clinical indication and product name.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to (a) promote the installation of domestic solar photovoltaic systems and (b) provide funding streams for such installations.
Andrea Leadsom
In 2014, renewables provided nearly one fifth of the UK’s electricity needs[1] and we are on track to reach our aim of delivering 30 per cent by 2020. Generation from solar PV is making a significant contribution to achieving this aim, partly due to the support the technology receives through the small-scale Feed-in Tariff (FITs) scheme, and partly through the support to larger, mostly ground mounted solar PV, through the Renewables Obligation (RO); as of the end of October, we had a total of nearly 8.2GW of solar PV deployed across the UK.
We are required by our EU state aid approval to carry out a review of FITs this year to ensure that tariff levels provide sufficient incentive to potential generators whilst not over-compensating applicants to the scheme. The Government proposed changes to FITs as part of that review, on which we consulted widely between 27th August and 23rd October. We are currently analysing feedback submitted during the consultation and intend to publish a Government response in due course.
This review, along with other measures to control costs under the levy control framework, should help ensure that renewables deployment remains affordable. Consultations have closed and we expect to provide the government responses in due course.
[1] Energy Trends
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 18 November (WS305), whether the assertion that every home and small business will get smart meters means that it will be compulsory to have them installed.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has placed an obligation on energy companies to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters at all domestic and smaller non-domestic premises by the end of 2020. However, there is no obligation on customers to accept a smart meter if they do not wish to have one installed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Garnier on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account he took of the manner in which the NHS Litigation Authority has carried out its duties and responsibilities in defending clinical negligence claims when approving the proposed fixed recoverable costs in the clinical negligence scheme.
Ben Gummer
The planned consultation on the introduction of fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims is also looking to streamlining claims for clinical negligence, focusing conduct by both claimants and defendants on what is required for a fair and proportionate resolution and encourage an overall system and process that is more resource efficient and that incentivises the right behaviours by all parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administrative costs of delivering means-tested benefits were in each of the last three years.
Justin Tomlinson
The information is not available.