Category: Speeches

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent progress has been made on the Government’s application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to councils on the payment of homecare workers for their travel time.

    Alistair Burt

    It is for providers to ensure that they are complying with legislation and paying workers for the time they are legally entitled to be paid for.

    The Care Act 2014 is clear that local authorities should ensure that care workers are paid at least minimum wage, and are paid for travel time between appointments.

    We are working with local authorities and the care sector to improve social care commissioning, including supporting the sector to commission in a way that promotes quality, including meeting legal requirements on staff pay in relation to travel time.

    There is clear Government Guidance on the issue of payment for work related travel time. It can be found in full on this website:

    http://www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work/overview

    “

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people with epilepsy there are in Plymouth.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no national measures or means by which the Department monitors frequency of patients reviews, either by consultants or nurses. Guidance is issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence however this does not replace the skills and knowledge of health professionals in managing patients. The arrangements for the management and follow up of people with epilepsy are a local matter and decisions on the frequency with which patients are seen should be made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual circumstances of each patient.

    NHS England advises that the maximum wait for outpatients to receive a neurology appointment is 12 weeks currently. Additionally 92% of patients are being seen under the specified ‘Referral To Treatment’ waiting times of 18 weeks which is within the national target.

    The information on the number of people with epilepsy in Plymouth is not available in the format requested.

  • The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The Earl of Listowel – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Listowel on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the value of Discretionary Housing Payments made to care leavers up to the age of 25 in each local authority area in England in 2015–16.

    Lord Freud

    The information requested is not available.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects NICE to publish guidance on the use of bisphosphonates for the indication of preventing secondary breast cancer.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guideline on early and locally advanced breast cancer: diagnosis and management (CG80) recommends the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates for the management of breast cancer treatment-induced bone loss in specified clinical circumstances. This guideline is currently being updated and the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates has been identified as one of the key areas that will be covered in this update. NICE expects to publish its updated guideline in July 2018.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to improve broadband services in urban areas (a) generally and (b) for small and medium-sized businesses in 2015-16.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Access to broadband is of vital importance to small and medium-sized businesses, which is why the Government-funded Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has provided over 50,000 small and medium sized enterprises with access to high speed broadband.83 per cent of homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband services, and thanks to the Government’s investment in the superfast broadband rollout, this is set to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017. In addition, the Government is supportingseven pilot projects exploring options for delivering superfast broadband services to the hardest to reach parts of the UK.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many complaints his Department has received about the DVLA from people resident in Northern Ireland since 1 July 2014.

    Andrew Jones

    The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency received 327 complaints from customers with a Northern Ireland postal address between 1 July 2014 and 16 December 2015.

  • Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Dholakia – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dholakia on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of individuals diagnosed with hepatitis C within prison who will commence treatment (1) within prison, and (2) upon release.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England collect data on the offer, uptake and outcome of testing for hepatitis C for people in prison using a system of metrics co-designed with Public Health England (PHE) called the Health & Justice Indicators of Performance (HJIPs). This dataset includes information on whether those requiring treatment were referred to specialist services but does not record details of the treatment provided.

    PHE has been working with NHS England and Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) and others on a dataset which would allow for more detailed monitoring of treatments but these have not yet been introduced. Therefore, we do not currently have any data on the number of individuals commenced on treatment for hepatitis C within a prison or other prescribed place of detention in the last 12 months. Further, we do not have data on those former prisoners commenced on treatment in the community.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to extend the post-vaccination wait period for puppies entering the UK from three weeks to six months.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The requirement for vaccination against rabies prior to movement into the UK from other European Union Member States and certain other low risk countries is set out in of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, the Pet Travel Regulation. The Regulation requires effective rabies vaccination prior to movement. This means that dogs must be a minimum of 12 weeks of age before being vaccinated against rabies as there is a risk that vaccination at a younger age may provide ineffective protection. The requirement for 21 days to elapse between vaccination and movement is to allow rabies immunity to develop. These rules were amended on 29 December 2014 and included an increase in the minimum age at which a dog could be vaccinated. We are not aware of any plans by the Commission to bring forward proposals to further amend the rules and we have no plans to seek an amendment.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterparts in countries that are members of the International Syria Support Group on reported Russian violations of the ceasefire in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK has been providing regular reports on violations of the Cessation of Hostilities (CoH) to the International Syria Support Group’s Ceasefire Task Force, of which we are a member. The Ceasefire Task Force meets twice weekly to consider such reports and to discuss measures to bring all parties into compliance with their obligations under the CoH.