The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she plans to delay or revisit the (a) bilateral aid review and (b) multilateral aid reviews in response to the EU referendum result.
Rory Stewart
The Secretary of State is currently considering the outcomes of the Department for International Development’s Multilateral and Bilateral Aid Reviews, ahead of their publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed changes in the level of community pharmacy funding on 100 hour pharmacies.
David Mowat
The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health under the National Health Service Act 2006. Our assessment considers a range of potential impacts in respect to the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services and access to NHS pharmaceutical services, including supplementary hours and 100 hours per week pharmacies. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.
Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the number of additional midwives that would be required to enable all women to receive one-to-one care from a midwife during labour.
Ben Gummer
Health Education England has responsibility for commissioning training for the National Health Service workforce and for working with NHS organisations to ensuretheright numbersof midwives are available to deliver the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, published 27 February 2015, which includes the need for every woman to have at least one registered midwife present during established labour.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they treat UK citizens in Iraq and Syria who participate in ISIL actions and activities as enemy combatants or criminals, and whether in making such assessments they consider what the actions of those individuals were, in particular whether they are violent or of violent intent, and whether or not their violence is targeted at the UK or UK citizens.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
More than 750 Britons of national security concern have travelled to the region since the start of the conflict and we estimate that around half of those have returned. Those who have committed criminal offences (including financing terrorism, training for terrorism and murder) should expect to be prosecuted for their crimes on their return to the UK.
The British Government is carrying out air strikes to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces’ efforts against Daesh in Iraq. UK citizens who are part of Daesh in Iraq are in no different position to other Daesh members there. The current position in Syria is that the UK will only take military action if there is a critical British national interest at stake or there was the need to act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. In relation to the airstrike against Reyaad Khan on 21 August, I refer the noble Lord to the oral statement of 7 September 2015 made by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), which was repeated the same day in the House of Lords by The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston), (Official Report, column 1249).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has commissioned or assessed on potential links between pancreatic cancer and gum disease.
George Freeman
The Department has not commissioned research on this topic.
An international study published in the journal Gut in 2013 found that gum disease might increase the risk for pancreatic cancer. The research measured antibodies to oral bacteria in prediagnosis blood samples from 405 pancreatic cancer cases and 416 matched controls, nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC). The United Kingdom EPIC cohort was supported by the Department and six other funders.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants his Department estimates will have moved on to universal credit by the end of 2017.
Priti Patel
The number of people on benefits is driven by a range of factors. Because of this, the programme measures progress by the successful achievement of milestones of its delivery plan rather than targets for numbers of claimants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the local licensing authorities on the introduction of five-year private hire operator licences by local authorities.
Andrew Jones
Five-year private hire vehicle operator licences were introduced in October 2015. Since that time, local licensing authorities have not made any representations to me on the subject.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what benefits and support services are not available to non-UK nationals leaving care that are available to UK citizens.
Edward Timpson
Care leavers who are not British citizens usually receive the same range of support and services provided under the Children Act 1989 as British citizens. However, if they are aged over 18 and fall into one of the classes of ‘ineligible person’, under Schedule 3 to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, they may only receive some of these. The most common class of care leavers who are ineligible persons are failed asylum seekers who have exhausted all appeals to remain in the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will apply the principles of the Responsibility to Protect to the situation in North Korea.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a governing principle of the British Government’s work across the conflict spectrum, including in human rights and development. R2P imposes an obligation on all UN member states to protect their populations and for the international community to assist.
The British Government continues to maintain pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to engage with the international community and take concrete steps to improve their appalling human rights record. We have urged the North Korean regime to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK Human Rights free and unfettered access to investigate the disturbing reports of human rights violations as documented in the UN Commission of Inquiry report.
The Government strongly supported the recent Human Rights Council Resolution on DPRK which created a Panel of Experts to investigate the issue of accountability for those accused of committing human rights violations. We will continue to support this process to ensure that those who are responsible for human rights abuses are held to account.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Report 2015 designated the DPRK as a Human Rights Priority Country. Improving the human rights situation in the DPRK remains a key objective of our engagement with the North Korean government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the East Coast Main Line infrastructure is adequate to provide a robust and reliable inter-city service, and of any modifications required in order for it to do so.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Her Majesty’s Government has not undertaken an assessment of the adequacy of the infrastructure to operate the planned service. It will be for Network Rail and the relevant train operators to work together to ensure that the East Coast Main Line infrastructure is adequate to provide a robust and reliable inter-city service, making use of the normal industry processes.