Category: Speeches

  • Steve Baker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Steve Baker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Baker on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent progress has been made on the implementation of the Stormont House and Fresh Start Agreements.

    James Brokenshire

    Significant progress has been made, including on welfare reform, and towards the establishment of the Independent Reporting Commission on paramilitary activity. We are working closely with the Executive and Irish Government on outstanding commitments. The devolution of corporation tax powers and building consensus for the legacy bodies are top priorities.

  • Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joanna Cherry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joanna Cherry on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve the availability of off-patent drugs for novel uses through non-legislative measures.

    George Freeman

    Clinicians can already prescribe off-patent drugs off-label on clinical grounds if they judge this is the right thing to do to meet the individual clinical needs of their patients.

    The Government is keen to accelerate the adoption of innovative medicines and increase the innovative use of existing medicines where the evidence reports clinical benefits and cost effectiveness to patients. To that end, we are seeking a number of initiatives to provide innovation but whilst supporting the aims of the Private Member’s Bill on this subject, we do not believe the proposed mechanism is either practicable and desirable.

    We are working with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the General Medical Council and the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency to ensure that there is better information available to support clinicians who wish to prescribe off-patent drugs for off-label indications, and to ensure that new evidence is picked up more quickly and reliably and translated into clinical practice and can be fed through into licensing applications.

    A huge amount of work is also going on in the Accelerated Access Review which will support the “pull” of innovation through to clinical practice.

    As part of the debate on the Access to Medical Treatments Bill, we are working with officials in the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre to see how the power in the Bill, if it were to pass, could address the lack of provision of information on new uses for existing medicines via the power to create a database of innovations in order to support evidence-based prescribing.

  • Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in how many cases since July 2013 employment tribunal fees have been remitted, and at what cost to the public purse.

    Lord Faulks

    Since July 2013 and until the period of June 2015, around 11,000 cases have had fees remitted in employment tribunal cases at a total estimated cost of funding fee remissions of £4.9m. This information is published on the Government website.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the use of sealed tamper-proof bags for duty-free purchases to discourage consumption of alcohol in airports or onboard aircraft in order to reduce disruptive behaviour on flights.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government welcomes industry’s commitment to tackling the issue of excessive alcohol consumption in airports and on-board aircraft. The use of tamper-proof bags for duty-free purchases is currently being trialled at a number of UK airports and as part of that trial industry will reach a view on the potential merits of this approach.

  • Lord Smith of Hindhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Smith of Hindhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Smith of Hindhead on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times police were called to attend an incident in 2015 to establishments operating under a premises licence as defined under Part 3 of the Licensing Act 2003.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of arrests made in establishments operating under a premises licence or under a club premises certificate, or the number of arrests under the Licensing Act 2003.

    The Home Office collects data on the number of arrests broken down by offence group and police force area. This data cannot be broken down to the level of detail requested.

    The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of times the police were called to attend an incident at establishments operating under a premises licence or under a club premises certificate.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25802, for what reasons her Department does not provide SEN or disability breakdowns in the revised A-level and other level 3 results in England statistical first release.

    Edward Timpson

    At present, this statistical first release only publishes data for A level and other Level 3 qualifications. Overall, the number of pupils with SEN and disabilities taking qualifications at this level is limited. Therefore, we have not deemed it appropriate to publish separate breakdowns for these groups given the small numbers involved. We will review this decision for future publications.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with staff at his Department’s office at 2 St Paul’s Place, Sheffield, since the announcement of the proposed closure of that office.

    Joseph Johnson

    The responsibility for running the Department, including personnel issues lies with the Permanent Secretary and the BIS Executive Board. The Permanent Secretary went to Sheffield in January to inform staff of the intention to close the Sheffield office and to answer questions. Since then, many of the Department’s Directors and Directors-General have visited the Sheffield office to discuss the proposals, answer questions and provide support to affected staff.

  • Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government plans to impose financial sanctions on Russian individuals complicit in human rights abuses.

    Mr David Lidington

    EU sanctions have been imposed on Russia for its illegal annexation of Crimea and ongoing aggression and destabilisation of eastern Ukraine. The UK Government supports human rights defenders and holds the Russian Government to account, publicly and privately, when it fails to fulfil its international commitments to promote and protect human rights. For these reasons Russia also featured as a Priority Country in the annual FCO Human Rights Report released in April 2016. I also raised human rights issues with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Titov on my last visit to Moscow in December 2015.

  • Lord Young of Cookham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Young of Cookham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Young of Cookham on 2016-06-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Secretary of State will commence making grants to private registered providers under section 64 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Section 64 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 enables the Secretary of State to pay grant to private registered providers to cover the cost of the voluntary Right to Buy discount. Grant will only be paid out once a tenant has purchased their home and the provider has submitted a claim. Systems are in place with the five housing associations that are taking part in the voluntary Right to Buy pilot so that the Government can compensate them for the discount that their tenants get when they purchase their home.

    We are currently working with the National Housing Federation and the housing association sector on the implementation of the main scheme and will announce more details in due course.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what requirements are in place to ensure that the mental health of a defendant is fully considered before sentencing.

    Dr Phillip Lee

    Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, before passing sentence, the Court must obtain a pre-sentence report unless it considers it unnecessary to do so in any individual case. The pre-sentence report covers all circumstances which are relevant to the offender and highlights any links to his offending behaviour, including mental health problems.

    Under the same Act, the Court is required to obtain and consider a medical report on a defendant who is or appears to be mentally disordered, before passing a custodial sentence.