Category: Speeches

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect to publish a progress report on the 10-year PET-CT NHS England contract awarded to Alliance Medical in January 2015.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has put in place robust governance arrangements to support the national positron emission tomography–computed tomography (PET CT) contract, including regular reviews of the national contract, to ensure that services are commenced as planned, securing significant benefits for patients. As the contract was not fully mobilised until December 2015, NHS England plans to review the progress made over the first year in April 2016 and would be happy to make this report available.

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23290, whether it is his policy for the House to be given an opportunity to debate in advance any decision to (a) launch airstrikes against ISIL/Daesh targets outside Syria and Iraq and (b) deploy UK military personnel, embedded within other nations’ armed forces, on military operations against ISIL/Daesh targets outside Syria and Iraq.

Michael Fallon

The Government is committed to the convention that, before UK troops are committed to conflict, Parliament should have an opportunity to debate the matter, except when such action is necessary in an emergency. The Government will inform the House of any exceptional operation where there has not been prior debate in Parliament, as the Prime Minister did on 7 September 2015 in relation to the precision airstrike that took place on 21 August 2015.

The embedding of UK forces in the armed forces of allies is a valuable and commonplace activity governed through long standing and frequently reciprocal international arrangements. Although it is not policy for the House to be given the opportunity to debate their deployment we are committed to continued transparency about UK Service personnel embedded in other nations’ armed forces on operations and I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 17 December 2015 (Official Report, column 97-98WS) which updated the House on this.

01/01/2023
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to ensure that the NHS Supply Chain wound dressing generics project takes account of evidence comparing the cost of managing unhealed and healed wounds, and of the total cost of wound care in the NHS currently as compared with previous estimates.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The review of wound dressings by a dedicated working group resulted in the development of a number of clinical specifications for wound care products.

In order to progress this work, from April 2016 a new NHS Clinical Evaluation Team will be put in place. The Clinical Evaluation Team will assess wound care products through a comprehensive evaluation process, which will have extensive engagement with NHS clinical staff. Included in the process will be tissue viability and infection control nurses, clinical procurement specialists, doctors, nurses and midwives along with medicine management practitioners from community trusts.

The project’s remit is to review clinical products to identify those that enable high quality patient care whilst delivering the best outcomes for the NHS. The secondary consideration will be to identify products that could be procured more effectively through combined NHS buying power, to deliver greater overall value for money.

The Clinical Evaluation Team is made up of practising clinicians.

The project will therefore undertake assessments of the total costs and benefits of any recommendations to the overall NHS.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the contribution of the arms export industry to the UK economy in 2014.

Anna Soubry

The Department does not collate data on the value of the total contribution that arms exports make to the UK economy. However, we do publish official statistics on defence exports, which show that the UK’s defence export total in 2014 was an estimated £8.5bn. Further details of defence exports can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-defence-and-security-export-figures-2014

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01/01/2023
Alan Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Campbell on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households are in receipt of (a) feed-in tariff payments from solar PV installations, (b) domestic renewal heat incentive payments and (c) both such payments.

Andrea Leadsom

By the end of March 2016, there were
- 722,559 households with solar PV benefitting from feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments.
- 45,789 households with installations benefitting from renewable heat incentive (RHI) payments
The number of households in receipt of both FIT and RHI payments is not available.

Source data:

FIT: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/sub-regional-feed-in-tariffs-confirmed-on-the-cfr-statistics

RHI: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rhi-deployment-data-march-2016-q1-2016 (table 2.10)

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01/01/2023
Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2016 to Question 37099, if the Government will support an independent investigation into allegations of attacks on Syrian asylum seekers by Turkish border guards.

Mr David Lidington

Turkey continues to show extraordinary generosity by hosting over 2.7 million Syrian refugees. This has included granting Syrian refugees the right to work, and providing education and committing to increase access to it. Turkey also offers humanitarian support to refugees across its border with Syria. I refer the Honourable Gentleman to my answer of 25 May 2016 in response to his Written Question of 18 May 2016 (37099). It remains our understanding that the Turkish government has made preparations to accept more Syrian refugees should conditions in Syria necessitate so, but that its approach is to enable humanitarian aid to be provided to affected populations in northern Syria. Turkey has confirmed that its border remains open to the most vulnerable Syrian refugees. We take all allegations about Turkish treatment of migrants seriously, and raise them regularly with the Turkish authorities.

01/01/2023
Stewart Malcolm McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to stop the shipment of UK nuclear waste to Andnyamantha homelands in Australia up to 2020.

Jesse Norman

There is a very small quantity of Australian owned radioactive waste currently stored in the UK. We anticipate that this will be returned to Australia in due course in line with contractual commitments. The location of any storage and disposal facilities for this waste will be a matter for the Australian authorities.

Any shipment of radioactive material out of the UK will comply with all relevant international laws and use ships which meet national and international requirements.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government has taken to assess levels of awareness of the sensitivity of personal data and the importance of protecting such data among (a) consumers and (b) small businesses.

Matt Hancock

The Cyber Aware (formerly Cyber Streetwise) campaign aims to drive behaviour change amongst small businesses and individuals so they adopt simple secure online behaviours to help protect themselves from cyber criminals. Research carried out by the campaign found 41% of respondents were “concerned a lot” about their personal details being accessed without permission, whilst 48% were “concerned a little” and 11% were “not concerned.” 40% were “concerned a lot” about providing personal information via an email scam/phishing email and losing money, whilst 40% were “concerned a little” and 20% were “not concerned.”

The Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey states that 69% of businesses say cyber security is a high priority for senior managers. 36% of businesses say the main reason they invest in cyber security is to protect customer data and 34% of businesses have rules specifically around personal data encryption.

The Data Protection Act requires of businesses that “appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as the independent regulator of the Data Protection Act (DPA), conducts an annual tracker survey which measures individuals awareness of rights under the DPA and gauges individuals’ perceptions of the way organisations handle their personal information. The latest version, which can be found at www.ico.org.uk, states that 97% of respondents were aware of the Data Protection Act.

01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-06.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when developing his Department’s policy on local authority procurement policies and companies’ investment and divestment decisions announced on 3 October 2015.

Matthew Hancock

Cabinet Office will shortly issue guidance that reminds public authorities of their international obligations when letting public contracts. Foreign policy is not a matter for local authorities. The guidance will make clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate and may be illegal, outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions that have been put in place by the Government.

01/01/2023

Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much income from passengers was earned by the Isle of Wight Island Line in each of the last five years.

Claire Perry

We do not have the running costs of the Isle of Wight Island Line in each category of expenditure in each of the last three years. What we do have are the figures for 2014/15 as supplied by SSWT:

Costs	£m
Staff costs	2.093
Station Lease costs	1.298
Depot Track Renewals, Maintenance, Materials	0.66
Track access and Electric Traction	0.123
Other	0.443
Total Costs	4.617

SSWT have informed us that the Island Line generated the following income in each of the last five years:

2010/11 = £0.9m

2011/12 = £1.0m

2012/13 = £1.0m

2013/14 = £0.9m

2014/15 = £0.9m

01/01/2023