The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of medication given to patients with 22q11 syndrome; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
No such assessment has been made. There are no medicines currently licensed to treat 22q11 syndrome, but many of the problems experienced by people with the condition can be monitored and treated if necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Howe of Idlicote on 2016-01-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 22 December 2015 (HL4650), why children’s visits to their fathers in prison continue to be part of Incentives and Earned Privileges schemes when children’s visits to their mother in prison are excluded from such schemes under issue 297 of Prison Service Order 4800.
Lord Faulks
Men and women prisoners have the same entitlements to visits. Both are eligible to family days where relevant, in addition to the normal visits entitlement. Prisons should not treat men and women prisoners differently with respect to visits solely on the basis of their gender.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 22 February (HL5978), how many, and which, management consultancies engaged in failed initiatives from the previous rounds of consultancy-driven recovery initiatives will be excluded from NHS Improvement’s current round.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS Improvement undertakes its procurements in compliance with procurement rules and good practice. As such, no consultancies are automatically excluded from any consultancy driven recovery initiatives. However as part of this, NHS Improvement takes into account past performance of suppliers to the fullest extent permissible in its procurements.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2016 to Question 28603, how many cleaners working in her Department are paid at the rate of (a) £7.85 and (b) £9.15.
Andrea Leadsom
The number of cleaners in the Department paid at an hourly rate of a) £7.85 is five and b) £9.15 is fourteen.
From 1 April 2016, the rate of pay will be increased to the 2016 Living Wage Foundation rates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-04-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether it is planned that the BIS 2020 programme will make greater savings than the savings required under the Spending Review 2015 set by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Joseph Johnson
The Department has committed to reduce total operating spending by £350m a year by 2020, which is consistent with Spending Review 2015 outcomes. The BIS2020 programme aims to achieve the agreed savings by focusing on maximising efficiency so as to prioritise front line activity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to define a target for the number of out-of-area placements for non-specialist mental health care.
Alistair Burt
In April 2016, the Government announced a national ambition to eliminate inappropriate out of area treatments for adult acute inpatient care as a result of local acute bed pressures by 2020/21 at the latest. We expect areas to put in place local action plans and achieve year on year reductions from 2016/17.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willoughby de Broke on 2016-07-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 1 October 2015 (HL2378), in the light of the fact that a substantial number of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments have not yet been made and that no date for completion of payments has been given, why they stated that the majority of BPS payments would be made in December 2015, and the vast majority by January.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) achieved the target of making the majority of BPS payments in December 2015, paying 44,408 (50.9%) of eligible claims by the end of December. The agency also delivered on its target of making the vast majority of payments by end of January, paying 66,800 (77%) of eligible claims with a value of around £1bn.
The Government understands the importance of BPS payments for farmers. The targets, ‘majority’ and ‘vast majority’, were established in line with the RPA’s priority to pay as many farmers as possible, as quickly as possible, from the opening of the payment window back in December.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44621, what information his Department holds on levels of investment from the public purse into mental health services in the community between 2010 and 2015; and what level of funding his Department has committed to investing in mental health services in the community until 2020.
Nicola Blackwood
Information on investment in community mental health services is not held centrally. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for commissioning community mental health services for their local population. CCGs are required to increase their spending on mental health each year, at least in line with the growth in their overall funding allocations. From this year, NHS England’s financial reporting will be aligned to mental health priorities, increasing transparency and allowing resources to be tracked at CCG level.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to expand the role of the National Crime Agency in (a) West Africa and (b) the Sahel region.
Mike Penning
The National Crime Agency (NCA) engages with a range of overseas partners in the both West Africa and the Sahel Region to tackle serious and organised crime threats to the UK, including drugs trafficking, money laundering, organised immigration crime and child sexual exploitation and abuse. This engagement is subject to continuous review by the NCA and is being expanded to enable the UK to respond to changing or emerging threats such as organised immigration crime. The Prime Minister announced the creation of a new multi-agency Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) Taskforce in June to tackle people smuggling in June and as part of this Taskforce the NCA has expanded its coverage in West Africa from where it also covers the Sahel.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what change there has been in the number of passport applications waiting for more than two months to be processed between 1 July 2013 and 2015.
James Brokenshire
Due to the way that data on passport applications is captured, it is not possible to show the proportion of applications taking over two months to process. However, the numbers and proportions of straightforward properly completed passport applications taking over 20 days are represented in the table below.
|
Period |
Total Processed |
More than & equal to 20 days |
% more than & equal 20 days |
|
August 2013- July 2014 |
3,896,735 |
197,110 |
5% |
|
August 2014-July 2015 |
4,448,436 |
91,101 |
2% |
|
Overall |
8,345,171 |
288,211 |
3% |
|
Days are working days and exclude bank holidays Straightforward cases are those that do not involve a complex nationality decision and where the customer has provided a complete application with all required documentary evidence Non-straightforward applications are not included in the figures above. |
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