Category: Speeches

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to employment and support allowance for new claimants in the work-related activity group on the mental health of those affected.

    Priti Patel

    We have fully assessed the impacts on equality of the welfare measures in the Bill and the wider budget, meeting our obligations as set out in the Public Sector Equality Duty. An impact assessment was published on 20 July last year.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to increase the availability and uptake of innovative technology available to patients on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The Government is actively supporting a number of initiatives to accelerate access to innovative treatments. These include the Early Access to Medicines Schemes which supports access in the United Kingdom to unlicensed or off-label medicines and represents a significant advance in treatment in areas of unmet medical need and the Accelerated Access Review, which aims to speed up access to innovative drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital products for National Health Service patients, and to make the UK the best place to develop these innovations.

    NHS England supports the invention and adoption of transformative healthcare technologies. This includes existing technologies, where the benefits are already proven but wider adoption is critical to benefit all patients, and new technologies, which require larger scale trials to test out their impact individually and in combination. Current initiatives include the sponsorship of 15 Academic Health Science Networks (£48 million core funding in 2015-16), the Small Business Research Initiative (£20 million in 2015-16), and the Test Bed programme which is providing funding for frontline health and care workers to evaluate the use of novel combinations of interconnected devices such as wearable monitors, data analysis and new ways of working.

    NHS England has been tasked under section 7.1 of the NHS Mandate to “Implement the agreed recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review including developing ambition and trajectory on NHS uptake of affordable and cost-effective new innovations”.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times she has attended public meetings of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee since her appointment.

    George Eustice

    Attendance at Committee meetings is a matter of public record and transcripts of such appearances can be found in Hansard and on Committee web pages.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-05-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any officials of his Department have been transferred, disciplined or dismissed in relation to management of the contract for SS Gairsoppa.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    It would be inappropriate to give any details that might allow an individual who might have been subject to disciplinary proceedings to be identified. However, any lessons learnt from the case will be implemented if any future contracts of this nature are let.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-07-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the financial contributions made by her Department to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in each of the last five years.

    James Wharton

    The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Between 2011 and 2015, the UK contributed £1.32 billion to Gavi. No additional administrative support was provided during this time.

    The UK investment over the five year period between 2011 and 2015 immunised over 60 million children against vaccine preventable diseases which is estimated to have saved over 1 million lives.

    Between 2016 and 2020, the UK is investing £1.44 billion in Gavi. This investment will deliver the Government’s manifesto commitment to immunise 76 million children against vaccine preventable diseases and save 1.4 million lives.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-10-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce tax incentives for people who engage in regulated and supervised exercise to off-set the likelihood of diabetes; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government published the ‘Sporting Future’ strategy last December to support and fund sport and physical activity and the Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published in May, committed to spend at least 25% of their funding on those that are classed as inactive. The Government’s “Cycle to Work” scheme includes an annual tax exemption allowing employers to loan cycles and cyclists’ safety equipment to employees as a tax-free benefit.

    The Government keeps all tax policy under review.

  • Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Drew Hendry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of trends in in-work poverty.

    Priti Patel

    Work is the best route out of poverty, which is why this government is focused on getting people into employment.

    With over 2 million more people in work since 2010, and the highest employment rate on record, significant progress has been made.

    The latest figures show that there are 200,000 fewer people in working families that are in relative low income, than at its peak in 2008/09.

    The latest figures also show that there are half-a-million more people living in working families and not in relative low income than in the previous year.

  • Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Charles Walker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to ensure that water companies build sufficient capacity and tolerance into their infrastructure to cope with low rainfall years or weather cycles.

    Rory Stewart

    We have a statutory planning framework through which water companies demonstrate how their water supply systems will cope with future demands, taking account of population and economic growth and climate change. Their long-term plans set out how they will ensure they can continue to supply sufficient water, taking account of these changing pressures, weather cycles and drought.

    We are currently considering how to enhance our policy framework to ensure we have a strategic approach to delivering resilience over the very long term.

  • Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Maria Eagle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the intelligence and surveillance technology components that will be retrofitted to Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft procured by his Department will be supplied by UK manufacturers.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 3 December 2015 in response to Question 17838.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the report it commissioned entitled Evaluating the role and contribution of innovation to health and wealth in the UK, published in January 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The Department is funding RAND Europe and the University of Manchester to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW). The project is expected to complete in 2017 and the report on the first stage of the evaluation, including an assessment of progress towards actions within Theme 8: High Impact Innovations, can be found on the RAND Europe website:

    http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1143.html

    This report represents the first phase of a three year evaluation aimed at mapping progress towards the IHW strategy and its component actions. The Department will be considering the outputs of the evaluation as they emerge over the next three years including as part of the evidence feeding into the Accelerated Access Review.

    “