Category: Speeches

  • Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Natalie McGarry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what recent steps he has taken to decide the immigration system to be implemented upon the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr Robin Walker

    My Department is working closely with the Home Office and other Government Departments to identify and develop options to shape our future immigration system, including considering how best to control the number of people coming to the UK from the following Brexit. We are already fully engaged with the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure a UK-wide approach to our negotiations. My ministerial collegues and I have also discussed the next steps with a range of organisations, including the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress and key business groups.

  • Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Smith on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with supermarkets to discuss ensuring their packaging for produce and goods is recyclable.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Department has regular meetings and conversations with retailer stakeholder groups and representatives from the packaging industry, including representatives of supermarkets. The Department also works through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on wide-ranging initiatives aimed at increasing recycling. Many of these initiatives, including the Courtauld Commitment, involve supermarkets.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons representatives from Syria were not invited to the peace talks in Vienna commencing on 20 October 2015.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The US convened discussions in Vienna on 30 October with a view to binding key international players into a process. All participants agreed that any process must involve Syrians, noting in the communiqué that: “This political process will be Syrian led and Syrian owned, and the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.” The UN has been asked to launch a new political process which will involve all the relevant representatives from Syria.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which faith-based organisations Ministers of his Department have visited since June 2015.

    Justin Tomlinson

    There has been one visit undertaken by a DWP Minister to a faith-based organisation since June 2015.

    Minister

    Organisation

    Date

    Justin Tomlinson MP

    The Message Trust

    6Th October 2015
  • Baroness Howe of Idlicote – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Baroness Howe of Idlicote – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Howe of Idlicote on 2015-12-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation took place with relevant stakeholders before the announcement that video-on-demand programme services would be regulated by Ofcom from 1 January 2016.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    From 1 January 2016, Video on Demand (VOD) services will be regulated by Ofcom, following an internal review to ensure the regulation of broadcast is as effective and efficient as possible, for the benefit of customers, audiences, and the industry. Ofcom will act as the sole regulator for VOD services, rather than two separate bodies carrying out this work, creating operational efficiencies and allowing editorial content on VOD services to sit alongside Ofcom’s existing regulation of broadcasting.

    Ofcom has communicated the outcome and reasons for its decision to stakeholders. More information can be found here :http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2015/1520333/

    “

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

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centre and Genomic England have made of the barriers to adopting national molecular pathology.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Genomics England undertook a comprehensive assessment of the technological and scientific challenges faced by molecular pathology in the context of the 100,000 Genomes Project. As part of the Project there has been extensive experimental work to identify best practice for molecular pathology (and more specifically genomics). In particular, the sequencing of whole tumour genomes at scale poses a significant scientific and clinical challenge. The Project is pushing these boundaries, driving new scientific knowledge and transformational change. Like all transformative projects there are barriers but the Project is providing the impetus to address those challenges.

    Genomics England is working in partnership with NHS England, Health Education England and the newly inaugurated NHS Genomic Medicine Centres to facilitate the translation of scientific developments into practice, and to support the development of the molecular pathology workforce.

    The Project will involve in-depth analysis of tumour genomics, creating new scientific discoveries which will in turn inform precision oncology. The Project includes both common and rare tumours to spread the transformative impact of the project across a range of cancer types.

    In 2014, theNational Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centreadvised the NHS England Molecular Testing Group (cancer) on the potential for horizon scanning in the use of genomic tests for cancer.

  • Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to prevent the mis-selling of domestic energy to pensioners.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Energy companies are required under their licence conditions to ensure all information that they or their representatives provide to domestic customers during a marketing activity is complete, accurate and easily understood.

    Ofgem has powers to investigate and impose sanctions, such as financial penalties, on energy companies when they are found to have breached their licence conditions, including mis-selling.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government plans to take during the present Parliament to reduce the number of people dying as a result of smoking.

    Jane Ellison

    Smoking continues to be the leading cause of premature deaths in England. This Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan this year to further reduce the prevalence of smoking. The new plan is currently being developed but key priority within the plan will be reducing the impact of smoking on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society.

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

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on healthcare of the introduction of a registry of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in England; and what support his Department has provided for that registry.

    Jane Ellison

    The IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) Registry provides a United Kingdom-wide repository of anonymised IBD adult and paediatric patient data for prospective audit and research purposes. Patients must consent for their data to be added to the registry. The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has allocated transitional funding this year to incorporate IBD audit data collection into the IBD Registry, providing an enhanced system for data capture and quality improvement that will be available to every hospital in the UK. This will allow the entry of data locally and support service improvement. Initially the focus will be for IBD patients receiving biologic treatments, but the system will address other key aspects of IBD care in the future.

    The second step of data collection will be to focus on new patients with IBD to begin to understand the incidence of IBD in the UK. This picture will build up over a number of years and be dependent on the engagement of clinicians.

    No specific assessment of the potential effects on healthcare due to the introduction of a registry of patients with IBD in England has been made. However, the data provided through the register can support National Health Service services in areas such as the assessment of local IBD populations as well as in measuring incidence and outcomes with services in other parts of the UK.

    Although there is no direct Department funding, HQIP have given £290,000 for a year’s transition funding to join the audit data with the registry.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends faecal calprotectin testing as an option to help doctors distinguish between inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and non-inflammatory bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

    The NICE IBD Quality Standard states that general practitioners (GP) and GP practices should ensure that testing is offered and clinical commissioning groups should ensure the diagnostic services are in place to support this.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2016 to Question 35476, whether the apprenticeship levy will be at the rate of 0.5 per cent on employers’ pay bills over £3 million in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.

    Greg Hands

    Tthe government has confirmed that the apprenticeship levy will be set at a rate of 0.5% of company paybill and every employer will have a £15,000 allowance to offset against their levy liability. In practice, this means only employers with paybills greater than £3million will pay the levy. As with all policies, the government will keep the apprenticeship levy under review.